Thursday, December 19, 2002
Kam’s New Year Column
Hello Again!
I don’t know about you, but I think that I’ve eaten enough to see me through until next Christmas! Why is it that you can never say “No” at Christmas?
“Just one more mince pie?”
“Well, I really shouldn’t… but it’s Christmas… Pass some of that whipped cream while you are there, oh and a slice of cake too.” See what I mean?
We have had a skeleton staff on over the Christmas period (well fed skeleton’s admittedly) and thankfully haven’t been swamped with jobs – perhaps it is because all the cars are staying nicely tucked up in their warm garages while you all get on with your partying. Nevertheless, the workshop Santa didn’t forget us and delivered a perplexing problem in the shape of a ‘52’ registered Peugeot 406 TDI.
“Raj, I’ve had a noise from my front wheels ever since you put that new set of Stunner tyres on last month. It is really starting to drive me batty!” Mr Simms (name naturally changed!) reinforced the point by jabbing one finger into each temple. “Would you have a look at it for me and make it go away!”
“No worries Mr Simms,” I replied. “If you take one of our courtesy vehicles I’ll give you a call just as soon as we’ve diagnosed the problem.”
Now, you and I know that we here at Kam think very highly of Stunners and that a tyre change isn’t a difficult job. So why there should be a strange noise was initially beyond me.
A swift road test confirmed a scraping, thudding, thumping noise that only appeared between 40 and 50 miles per hour. Curious as to what it might be, I took the wheels off and inspected the braking system (including the ABS). Nothing to report back, so I checked the suspension. Still nicely sprung.
Even the wheel bearings were fine. Getting slightly perplexed I even checked the wheels, to make sure that the hubs were still perfectly round – and they were (if Mr Simms had curbed the vehicle then it is possible, although unlikely, that he might have deformed one of the rims). This wasn’t making any sense.
Scott chimed in with a helpful comment at this point – “Why not swap the wheels from Mr Simms’ car with our 406 courtesy car? At least then you’ll know if the problem lies with the wheels or something in the car itself.”
A stunner of an idea indeed – especially as our courtesy car had a new set of Stunners on as well. Once the wheels where changed around I took Mr Simms’ car out on the road again – and this time there was no noise!
That meant the problem lay with the actual wheels themselves. But as they were still perfectly round I couldn’t imagine what it could possibly be. Shaun was kind enough to help me put the right set of wheels back on the right car (it was getting nippy by this time) and we were discussing the problem while rolling Mr Simms’ wheels over to his vehicle.
As we all know, wheels have a habit of doing just what they want to do when you are trying to hand roll them from A to B, one of them decided to take a dip in one of the large, icy puddles in the car park. As I hauled it out, Shaun noticed something very odd – a little bead of white just where the tyre met the rim. You couldn’t see it before as it was covered with black road film.
“It looks like this tyre’s had a puncture,” Shaun said. “And,” he said, scratching at this white bead with his nail, “it looks like Mr Simms has used one of those foam-injection tyre repairers on it!”
Sure enough, once we had removed the tyre, we discovered a large, hard ball of foam rattling around inside! I called Mr Simms to give him the good news.
“Of course, if you had brought your tyre back to us, then you would have had a brand new one fitted free of charge under your guarantee!” I thought I’d better remind him.
“Oh, erm, yes… Well, I was very busy and erm…” How many times have I heard that?
That’s one of the great things about Stunners, they are covered for accidental damage, meaning that you can claim a free replacement for 12 months and a 50% reduction in price after a puncture for a further 12 months. If only Mr Simms had listened when we told him the first time!
The clock is now ticking towards 2003, so I’m going to get my party shoes on and prepare to dance the night away. The workshops are closed on New Year’s Day but we are back on the 2nd January for all of your motoring needs.
Until next year then!
Dr Raj
I don’t know about you, but I think that I’ve eaten enough to see me through until next Christmas! Why is it that you can never say “No” at Christmas?
“Just one more mince pie?”
“Well, I really shouldn’t… but it’s Christmas… Pass some of that whipped cream while you are there, oh and a slice of cake too.” See what I mean?
We have had a skeleton staff on over the Christmas period (well fed skeleton’s admittedly) and thankfully haven’t been swamped with jobs – perhaps it is because all the cars are staying nicely tucked up in their warm garages while you all get on with your partying. Nevertheless, the workshop Santa didn’t forget us and delivered a perplexing problem in the shape of a ‘52’ registered Peugeot 406 TDI.
“Raj, I’ve had a noise from my front wheels ever since you put that new set of Stunner tyres on last month. It is really starting to drive me batty!” Mr Simms (name naturally changed!) reinforced the point by jabbing one finger into each temple. “Would you have a look at it for me and make it go away!”
“No worries Mr Simms,” I replied. “If you take one of our courtesy vehicles I’ll give you a call just as soon as we’ve diagnosed the problem.”
Now, you and I know that we here at Kam think very highly of Stunners and that a tyre change isn’t a difficult job. So why there should be a strange noise was initially beyond me.
A swift road test confirmed a scraping, thudding, thumping noise that only appeared between 40 and 50 miles per hour. Curious as to what it might be, I took the wheels off and inspected the braking system (including the ABS). Nothing to report back, so I checked the suspension. Still nicely sprung.
Even the wheel bearings were fine. Getting slightly perplexed I even checked the wheels, to make sure that the hubs were still perfectly round – and they were (if Mr Simms had curbed the vehicle then it is possible, although unlikely, that he might have deformed one of the rims). This wasn’t making any sense.
Scott chimed in with a helpful comment at this point – “Why not swap the wheels from Mr Simms’ car with our 406 courtesy car? At least then you’ll know if the problem lies with the wheels or something in the car itself.”
A stunner of an idea indeed – especially as our courtesy car had a new set of Stunners on as well. Once the wheels where changed around I took Mr Simms’ car out on the road again – and this time there was no noise!
That meant the problem lay with the actual wheels themselves. But as they were still perfectly round I couldn’t imagine what it could possibly be. Shaun was kind enough to help me put the right set of wheels back on the right car (it was getting nippy by this time) and we were discussing the problem while rolling Mr Simms’ wheels over to his vehicle.
As we all know, wheels have a habit of doing just what they want to do when you are trying to hand roll them from A to B, one of them decided to take a dip in one of the large, icy puddles in the car park. As I hauled it out, Shaun noticed something very odd – a little bead of white just where the tyre met the rim. You couldn’t see it before as it was covered with black road film.
“It looks like this tyre’s had a puncture,” Shaun said. “And,” he said, scratching at this white bead with his nail, “it looks like Mr Simms has used one of those foam-injection tyre repairers on it!”
Sure enough, once we had removed the tyre, we discovered a large, hard ball of foam rattling around inside! I called Mr Simms to give him the good news.
“Of course, if you had brought your tyre back to us, then you would have had a brand new one fitted free of charge under your guarantee!” I thought I’d better remind him.
“Oh, erm, yes… Well, I was very busy and erm…” How many times have I heard that?
That’s one of the great things about Stunners, they are covered for accidental damage, meaning that you can claim a free replacement for 12 months and a 50% reduction in price after a puncture for a further 12 months. If only Mr Simms had listened when we told him the first time!
The clock is now ticking towards 2003, so I’m going to get my party shoes on and prepare to dance the night away. The workshops are closed on New Year’s Day but we are back on the 2nd January for all of your motoring needs.
Until next year then!
Dr Raj
