HELP.. what is wrong with my Car?!!??

h4zel

OK.. where do I start.. well, sorry if this is in the wrong place for a start!

My car is a 2004 Ford Fiesta. In November some mad moo drove her Sieara into the side of my car, right into the rear passenger side wheel.. smack centre in the wheel knocking me over the other side of the road. :eek:

It was repaired at my local Churchill appoved repair centre within a couple of weeks :j

Well, 6 months on and I'm doing 70 down the M1 and BANG.. the tyre blows out and I'm on my knees on the hard shoulder.. there's a big scuff mark all the way round the outside wall of tyre, it's RED HOT and there's about a half inch slit in the outside wall too.

Didn't think much of it at the time, just happy to be OK.. was a bit scarey!

Had a new tyre (top range) put on the next day and ever since then the car's been all over the road.. feels like it's wobbling all over the place. At 70+ it's really scarey, feels like a paper boat in a hurricaine where as before the new tyre it was solid.. even at 90

Took it back to the tyre place, they checked it and said "it's probably the tyre settling down!" ...hmm... took it back again a week later and told them it hadn't 'settled down' yet, so they took it off the back and put it on the front. Now, the steering feels much better, much more solid (at slower speeds) where as before when it was on the back it felt like I was steering and the wheels weren't touching the floor properly

So I still thought it was the tyre today and took the wheel with the new tyre off and put the spare back on.. EVEN WORSE! So, I guess it's not the tyre.. WHAT ELSE COULD IT BE??????????? HELP ME PLEASE.. it's doing my head it.. I hate driving my car at the moment

Savvy_Sue

No idea, but the people who really know about cars are at Honest John, and there's a forum there called The Back Room - you can register and post there.

But I think generally the advice is to replace tyres in matching pairs: if you've got unmatched tyres then I'd expect problems, even if one of them is top of the range!

Glad

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pompeyrich

Hopefully it is all a coincidence, the 1st tyre may have just blown out, unusual but not impossible, the new tyre and the spare may just need balancing, an out of balance tyre does cause wheel wobble.
Take the car to a tyre fitting place and get them to check it over and balance the wheel.

trigger_mike

The first tyre may off blown due to the damage from the accident, the wobbyness maybe from a knocked out tracking which the repairing garage should of fixed, it could be a damaged wishbone or bend track rob end.

Either way you need to take it to a garage to have the tracking looked at.
Has the tyre started to wear badly on the edge of the thread?, this would be a sign of a tracking problem.
Does the steering feel slightly lighter then before?, again another sign of a steering fault.

The best opition would be to take it a local tyre and exhaust centre, (not kwik fit or the like as most haven't a clue) and having it looked at.

elaine373

Sounds like the tracking may be out. Take it to a garage to be checked.

emilyt

Hi Emilyt Hubby here.
1/
When replacing tyres try and make it a rule of thumb to replace both front tyres or both rear tyres as a matching pair. Always have tracking and ballance checked when your new tyres are fitted.
2/
Ref the slit in the rear tyre, when you go to get your tracking checked ask them to jack up the rear of the car where the tyre blew out,and spin the wheel to see if it is catching on the inside of the wheel arch, which can act as a blade and cut through in to the tyre if the chassis has been twisted or the wheel rim has buckled on impact.
3/
When swapping wheels around on the car as long as all tyres are the same size and non directional it shouldnt cause a problem, However somtimes the wheels at the front on the inside of the wheel have a small cut out to allow them to sit over a clip which fastens on to the brake disc. When you swap the wheels over and and the wheel you put on the front does not have this cut out the wheel will wobble at speed and also when braking at low speeds.

Hope the above helps
Kind regards
Emilyt's Hubby

h4zel

Well thank you all for your replies :beer:

In answer to a few of the questions.. the blow out was on the back and so was the new trye. It's not a directionals one, and the garage have check and balanced the wheel twice now. They also told me that the alignment doesnt look out (after jacking up and spinning the wheels)?! ...and that it's only the front wheels they can align anyway so it wouldn't make a diference?? Is this true? The garage always seems to know what they are talking about normally.

Could the blow out have knocked the suspension geometry out? My Dad said it may be that?

To be honest, the car was fine after the accident repair and only started this behaviour after the blow out.

Oddly though, it feels slightly better after the wheel with the new tyre was put on the front. Still feels unstable at high speed but the steering feels much better - felt really light before.

The repair centre did a rubbish job of the respay because the paint is already flaking off on the wheel arch so I have to take it back there anyway.. maybe I should ask them to check it all out, but I don't have much faith in them to do a good job :rolleyes:

Anyone know any GOOD garages in the Northants area?

Jorgan_2

Suspension alignment & tracking should be checked, it involves a bit more than jacking the car up & spinning the wheels.

Was the wheel replaced after the accident? If it wasn't it may be buckled, causing uneven wear.

Quinny_2

If you are unhappy about the quality of the repair to the bodywork,inform your insurer asap,because a lot of them give a guarantee on repairs.

And also mention that since you got the car back,you have had problems with vibration and the car being unstable at speed.

It maybe that,as suggested,there is something more to this,than at first thought.

Ken.

nej

"Tyre settling down" :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: