"Excuse me, Mate, there's something wrong"

All things round and their alignment to your direction of travel

Moderators: User administrators, Moderators

Post Reply
diggerdigger
Registered user
Posts: 23
Joined: 13 Sep 2015, 20:25
80-90 Mem No: 15142
Location: Stroud

"Excuse me, Mate, there's something wrong"

Post by diggerdigger »

While stopped at some lights for some roadworks a few days back, I had a tap at the driver's window...
"Excuse me, Mate, but there's something wrong with your back wheel - it's really wobbling quite a bit. I hope you don't mind me mentioning it but I used to have one of these...."
This was in rural Kent, at around 6 pm, having just done about 100 miles on our wonderful motorway system, at the start of a short break, and my heart sank.
Anyway decided to press on (taking it easy) for another 6 miles to the supermarket, for supplies, with co-pilot keeping an eye on wheel behaviour out of passenger window. Yes, she said, it was noticeably wobbling , particularly on roundabouts, corners etc.
So, got to supermarket, car park nice and quiet. Jacked it up, couldn't feel anything loose by hand, or move anything. Couldn't see any obvious cracks or buckles with the (alloy) wheel. Put it back on the ground and had a go with the wheel brace, and, Ah-ha! I could tighten up a few of the bolts on one side quite easily by hand, unlike any of the other wheels. So I tightened them all up as best I could (maybe one half turn, three quarters turn, at most) and then, on the way to the pub/campsite, for another 10 minutes, she reported all was well. Problem solved, it would appear.

The van has alloy (Mercedes?) wheels and I wonder if our unusual weather has been a factor here, or whether it's just a sloppy workshop, wear and tear, etc.

Anyway - thanks to the guy who bothered to get out of his car - hopefully that's a disaster avoided :)

User avatar
volks_womble
Registered user
Posts: 326
Joined: 12 Aug 2014, 14:46
80-90 Mem No: 13821
Location: West Sussex

Re: "Excuse me, Mate, there's something wrong"

Post by volks_womble »

Do you have the right size and shape wheel nuts and studs for the merc alloys? I believe they should be a reduced size radius rather than the standard radius or tapered bolt? Might be worth checking
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

User avatar
itchyfeet
Registered user
Posts: 12427
Joined: 23 Jul 2007, 17:24
80-90 Mem No: 12733
Location: South Hampshire

Re: "Excuse me, Mate, there's something wrong"

Post by itchyfeet »

I can't believe you drove it 6 miles
I would have found the first side road and checked it.
1988 DG WBX LPG Tin Top
1989 DJ digijet WBX Holdsworth Villa 3 Pop Top
itchylinks

User avatar
R0B
Moderator
Posts: 18852
Joined: 07 Oct 2005, 17:33
80-90 Mem No: 864
Location: Cheshire

Re:

Post by R0B »

Agreed.I would not of driven 6 miles before checking.
2.1 LPG/Petrol Auto Caravelle

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits"

Post Reply