"Excuse me, Mate, there's something wrong"
Posted: 15 Jul 2018, 08:30
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
"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