Things to check when you get a new Yeti that I didn't

[Hairball]

This post rambles a bit so if you're about to have some hot food feel free to pass over it.

Being a project manager I always try and add time for unplanned work or time off by the great team of individuals working miracles to get development done. However today would be a tad different....

The day started off as usual, the alarm went off at 4:30am as usual on week days. Logged in to check for any really urgent stuff then got ready for the casual amble into the office of doom. A thick layer of ice on the screen and windows scraped (that's the alarm call for the neighbours :-) still in slumber mode) and I was on my way to work. Today however would be one of those days......

Today was the day Mr Tyre fitter man would drive his van over to the office of doom and fit some brand spanking new Conti Winter Contact 830s to my beloved Jana, the call came in at about 9:00 to say he'd be over between 2 and 4 in the afternoon which was great as I could re-arrange some life force depleting meetings of at which more new and exiting excuses (sorry reasons) would be given why we were going to be late 'by just a few more days' (same as the previous weeks report) to the morning and early afternoon.

Mr Tyre van man turned up about 3:00 so I moved a couple of cones in the car park (to allow access to some containers that would not be use during that time) and moved Jana to give him plenty of space to perform chiropody on Jana, lots of old bubble wrap was loaded into the back to protect the inside of the boot to carry the summer tyres home without damage or scuffs to the interior. Printed labels to mark which boot came off each paw were all ready along with the anti theft wheel nut key. All was going well, I had the little plastic tweezer things to get the wheel bolt caps off and all was well, light was OK, no rain my weather app said we'd have had not arrived. No drama, we were all prepared.......

Until.....

Bolt caps off on the drivers side by me with the tweezer things, caps off on the other side by Tyre van man then the first wheel nuts come out followed by....."this anti theft bolt adapter does not fit" emanates in a calm voice from the tyre guru.... $hit, the adapter was completely wrong!

Skoda dealer where I adopted Jana was only up the road so we agreed that If I could get there and back with the adapter in 15 mins we could complete Janas' chiropody otherwise we would have to re schedule. Bolts put back and off I go to Mr Skoda......

Arriving at the dealer after getting stuck at every single set of traffic lights and behind a recently exhumed candy floss wigged Micra driver who was clearly scared of second gear my heart sank. The show room was empty, the usual full to brimming used car lot was like a the Sahara only a lot colder. I thought the dealer had gone to the wall. I spotted a chap walking into the now deserted showroom and asked what has happened. The reply was that they had moved to new premises but some bits hadn't moved yet... Remember the clock was ticking back at the tyre van.

I explained the situation about the wrong anti theft adapter and was told that some one would be able to use a skeleton set to take the bolts but would be unable to let the adapter out of his sight for fear of a painful and slow death of him and his pets (I understand and oddly agree with this view). Some minutes later all anti theft bolts were removed... now back to the office of doom with only 4 of 5 bolts holding Janas' feet taking it all very carefully in a similar manner to the candy floss micra driver mentioned earlier.

Back at the office of doom in 13 minutes, phew..... but my parking space was now occupied by she who has the spacial awareness of a blind moon so I found a new spot, all would be well.

30 mins or so later Mr Tyre van man was done, cracking job, new boots inflated 0.2 bar above summers, old boots chalked with the location that they came from and all loaded on the boot.

Now those bolt covers.... Mrs blind moon may have parked over one of them but I retrieved the others. Ho hum, I can live with that. I can get it later. The clock ticks, dealer will shut soon....

Back at the dealer after once again getting stuck at every single traffic light now in rush hour as the bods are closing for the day my fifth bolts were fitted and all was once again well and new adapter should be with me next Tuesday. Any rubber related problems between now and them I will be given a loan car.

So, after the ramblings above, when you pick up ANY new car please check the adapter bold thingy is the right one.

Looking back on all this I take away the positives. The adapter problem was found in a non emergency situation, A new one is on the way, I only had to drive a very short distance to the dealer (on 4 bolts on the way back to the OOD) they were open and the winter tryes are now on.

A huge thanks to Event Tyres for putting up with a project manager having to do some of that unplanned work and Fish Brothers Skoda in Swindon for helping me out and dare I say it the exhumed micra driver who taught be how to take it all very carefully when you only have 4 of 5 bolts in the wheels. Luckily only a very short distance.

Jana and I are back home, Summer boots stacked in the garage (is this the right way to store boots?) and I may partake in a glass of wine later to relax.

[countryboy]

Tyres stacked on their sides on the floor, preferably on a board to keep them from getting a cold from the concrete, if you don't have a carpet lined garage that is, also covered with a sheet or something to stop that nasty light degrading the rubber.

Ian

[Hairball]

Tyres stacked on their sides on the floor, preferably on a board to keep them from getting a cold from the concrete, if you don't have a carpet lined garage that is, also covered with a sheet or something to stop that nasty light degrading the rubber.

Ian

Many thanks Countryboy, they are currently stacked on top of a big cardboard box off the ground in the garage, I'll swap the order of stack every so often although I have no idea if it will make any difference.

[Brijo]

Good story, Hairball! A real nail-biter!

(Thinks: 'Must check my own nut thingie in the morning....' :think: )

[vegit8]

Ah ha, what you need is one of these

http://www.conrad-uk.com/ce/en/product/857371/Tyre-Tree-Suitable-for-Tyre-Widths-up-to-225mm/SHOP_AREA_17276&promotionareaSearchDetail=005

Know what you mean about unexpected delays, our chief developer fell over in the ice today and whacked his head badly, fortunately he remembers that he is a programmer, but not much else.

How do you back up a brain?

[john999boy]

Verily thy writing skills runneth over.

[33q]

Oh to be a PM in IT again..........well perhaps not ...... The ice scraping bit made me chuckle as my neighbour occaisionally has to fly to Germany on an early flight

[GlenAnderson]

In my experience, the only person ever to suffer problems/delays/expense at the hands of the dreaded "security wheel bolt" is the owner of the car they're fitted to.

If someone wants to steal your wheels, they will come suitably equipped to do so - and in this day and age that means with something to undo your "security" bolts. Personally, when I fitted the winter wheels/tyres to SWMBO's yeti, I took the opportunity to swap the odious items for standard ones.

[bahnstormer vrs]

A nice whimsical interlude to my day; read while eating a plate of salad & a sandwich for my lunch at my office desk.

Hopefully all well that ends well.

Easiest way to store your spare wheels/tyres is to use a tyre tree. stacks them horizontally but with the weight taken on the hub so that the tyres have no load/weigh going through them. Covered with a garden chair cover to keep dust off them. Inflated at normal pressures (at least that's what I do).

PS> I've used Event Tyres for my Company's cars for the last 5 years or so - straight forward, convenient and reliable.

PPS> Is Fish Bros new dealership nearer or further away for you?

[PastyBoy]

I forced my other half to endure a 200 mile round trip to a track day with very increased noise levels due no back seats and a boot full of "track wheels"

On arrival at the circuit I jack the car up only find i didn't have the locking nut adaptor to get the original wheels off!

I had had at earlier in the week when i trial fitted them.

Clearly I left it on the bolt nut upon putting road wheels back on and then commuted to work, sending it firing into the undergrowth.

I swore at the car.

I swore at myself.

She swore at me..... a lot.

The RAC man i told i had "a flat tyre but no locking nut" swore at me.

He swore at me again when he hammered his hand using the cutting tool to get the locked nuts off.

As said nothing but misery caused by them, not like anyone was likely to steal horrid looking alloys from a 1999 Seat Ibiza gti anyways!

[Hairball]

Easiest way to store your spare wheels/tyres is to use a tyre tree. stacks them horizontally but with the weight taken on the hub so that the tyres have no load/weigh going through them. Covered with a garden chair cover to keep dust off them. Inflated at normal pressures (at least that's what I do).

PS> I've used Event Tyres for my Company's cars for the last 5 years or so - straight forward, convenient and reliable.

PPS> Is Fish Bros new dealership nearer or further away for you?

Many thanks for the advice bahnstormer and others, unfortunately I don't have the old summer tyres on rims yet and it may be a couple of months or so before I do but I will get a tree when I get some. Currently the are horizontally stacked but I will reshuffle them every week. I'm not sure if they would be better stood on the tread and rotated. Over the years I have seen them stacked both ways in the tyre fitters.

Event Tyres came out to my work in Swindon with Fish Brothers maybe a mile away to the old place and maybe twice that (but no traffic lights) to the new place.

Edited 10 December, 2012 by Hairball

[speedsport]

Goodyear, Continental & Avon (so presumably other tyre manufacturers too) recommend storing tyres that are mounted on rims in a stack, inflated at normal pressure, in a dry location, covered to exclude daylight, max 4 tyres per stack.

Ideally a tyre tree should be used, but "tyre to tyre" is permissible as long as nothing else is then stacked on top of them. They also recommend "rotating" the stack so that the bottom tyre is brought to the top every 4 weeks or so.

They should not be stacked directly on a concrete/stone/Tarmac floor, and not on their treads if mounted on rims. The floor must be flat/smooth and not porous.

However if not mounted on rims they should be stored upright on their treads (as you will normally see at a tyre depot) but must not carry any additional weight.

And I too highly recommend Event Tyres. In fact, if you can find their local depot (eg Old Trafford, Manchester) and go to them, they will usually reduce their on-line prices still further, though it's best to phone first to make sure the tyre you want is actually in stock at the chosen depot.

Hope this helps

John H

Edited 10 December, 2012 by speedsport

[Hairball]

Many thanks John. I'll re-arrange them to sit on the treads. Hopefully they will not have been damaged being stored the wrong way for a few days.

[speedsport]

Many thanks John. I'll re-arrange them to sit on the treads. Hopefully they will not have been damaged being stored the wrong way for a few days.

Given the abuse that the "average motorist" gives their tyres in everyday use (bumping up & down kerbs, potholes, speed humps etc), I'm absolutely certain that yours will have suffered no ill effect from being stacked on top of each other for a few days, or even weeks. It's long term storage that affects tyres, the main issue actually being rubber degradation due to the UV in direct sunlight and/or the tyre supporting a vehicle that is not moved regularly. This is the main reason for tyre failures on caravans & boat trailers that sit idle for considerable periods of time. Your unmounted tyres kept in a garage or shed will suffer no damage even if stored incorrectly for a couple of months at a time - as long as they are not supporting additional load (like a tool box or similar).

You have nothing to worry about!

[Hairball]

Given the abuse that the "average motorist" gives their tyres in everyday use (bumping up & down kerbs, potholes, speed humps etc), I'm absolutely certain that yours will have suffered no ill effect from being stacked on top of each other for a few days, or even weeks. It's long term storage that affects tyres, the main issue actually being rubber degradation due to the UV in direct sunlight and/or the tyre supporting a vehicle that is not moved regularly. This is the main reason for tyre failures on caravans & boat trailers that sit idle for considerable periods of time. Your unmounted tyres kept in a garage or shed will suffer no damage even if stored incorrectly for a couple of months at a time - as long as they are not supporting additional load (like a tool box or similar).

You have nothing to worry about!

Thank again John. The Summer shoes are not sitting on the treads with nothing on top. I'll get around to making a little 'shoe rack' to keep them of the ground. That should do until I decide to get a spare set of Spitzburgs or something similar.

[Hairball]

New anti theft bolt key arrived today.... which was nice.

Now to check it's the right one when I get the chance :think: