Getting An MOT

[Deleted User]

elsien said:

With apologies to the OP for going completely off topic, just had a conversation with the AA man (who I waited for in the comfort of my own home) about the increasing number of new cars that don’t have any sort of spare wheel. 

He said they have to get them to the nearest tyre place, then leave them there. Even if it’s closed for the night. (Im presuming that’s for folks who don’t have onward travel etc.)
Now that does baffle me, buying a car without even a space saver. 

Our firm had a policy we did not change a wheel no matter how easy it looked. Call out every time (commercial contract though).

One of ours has a tub of glue and a special pump. Which is next to useless for some punctures. But when a car comes sans spare, that is what it is. Space saver is on my list of things to get when the loot situation says yeah. Other half will just be calling breakdown and most certainly on the M Way (get out of the car and to safety).

AdrianC

elsien said:

With apologies to the OP for going completely off topic, just had a conversation with the AA man (who I waited for in the comfort of my own home) about the increasing number of new cars that don’t have any sort of spare wheel. 

He said they have to get them to the nearest tyre place, then leave them there. Even if it’s closed for the night. (Im presuming that’s for folks who don’t have onward travel etc.)
Now that does baffle me, buying a car without even a space saver. 

It's an inevitable corollary of the sheer size of some of the wheels and tyres being fitted to cars now, even fairly small ones. You simply cannot fit a same-diameter spare in the boot, and if you did, you wouldn't be able to fit the flat in.

Where there is space, it's simply driven through turning a cost-saving into profit. It has become acceptable to buyers for the spare to be an extra-cost option.

Thesaltmustflow

elsien said:

With apologies to the OP for going completely off topic, just had a conversation with the AA man (who I waited for in the comfort of my own home) about the increasing number of new cars that don’t have any sort of spare wheel. 

He said they have to get them to the nearest tyre place, then leave them there. Even if it’s closed for the night. (Im presuming that’s for folks who don’t have onward travel etc.)
Now that does baffle me, buying a car without even a space saver. 

But it's an interesting discussion regarding lot's of new cars not having spare wheels, I'm sure the OP would agree. Having recently bought a 'new' car I noticed there was no spare, not even a spacesaver, just a can of tyre 'gunge'. I've never used the tyre stuff and after a brief conversation with my tyre pal, his conclusion is they are garbage, ok for a slow puncture but anything worse forget it.

This left me with a dilemma, my car doesn't really allow for a spare as it's modified BUT after a bit of research and headscratching by myself and mechanic pal, I now have a spacesaver stood up and bolted to the inside of the boot . It was a bit of a pain to suss out how to fit a reverse coachbolt with BIG!! washer and wingnut but I did it eventually and now I've got a perfect spare with a nice cover over to hide it/make it look neat which also doesn't intrude on the needed space in the back, no tyre 'gunge' for me should I have a puncture    

Grumpy_chap

elsien said:

For me, changing a wheel, nope.  I’m sure I could work out how to but I’m also fairly sure that I’d struggle to loosen the nuts in the first place, and I’d then be worried about not tightening them enough and said wheel sailing past me as I drive off. 

There’s a reason I have breakdown cover and I’m happy to call them out for a puncture if needed. Although I do carry a pump to deal with slow punctures till I can get to a garage.

Last time I had a puncture, I began wheel removal only to find that the final nut was immovable with the wheelbrace versus power drive last used by the tyre place to affix the wheel so ended up calling the breakdown service anyway.

What is important is being able to tell you actually have a puncture in the first place and I learned in the past day that is not always something drivers are necessarily aware of.  Yesterday afternoon, I saw a BMW X3 crawling along the road with a totally flat front tyre.  I assumed they were crawling to the garage 200 yards away, but they pulled up after 100 yards.  This morning the car was still there and still with the flat tyre.  Just now, I saw the driver pull away, turn back around and drive off, tyre still flat as a pancake.  With observation skills like that, the whole idea this driver would ever check washer fluid, oil, etc is laughable.

elsien

Thesaltmustflow said:

elsien said:

With apologies to the OP for going completely off topic, just had a conversation with the AA man (who I waited for in the comfort of my own home) about the increasing number of new cars that don’t have any sort of spare wheel. 

He said they have to get them to the nearest tyre place, then leave them there. Even if it’s closed for the night. (Im presuming that’s for folks who don’t have onward travel etc.)
Now that does baffle me, buying a car without even a space saver. 

But it's an interesting discussion regarding lot's of new cars not having spare wheels, I'm sure the OP would agree. Having recently bought a 'new' car I noticed there was no spare, not even a spacesaver, just a can of tyre 'gunge'. I've never used the tyre stuff and after a brief conversation with my tyre pal, his conclusion is they are garbage, ok for a slow puncture but anything worse forget it.

This left me with a dilemma, my car doesn't really allow for a spare as it's modified BUT after a bit of research and headscratching by myself and mechanic pal, I now have a spacesaver stood up and bolted to the inside of the boot . It was a bit of a pain to suss out how to fit a reverse coachbolt with BIG!! washer and wingnut but I did it eventually and now I've got a perfect spare with a nice cover over to hide it/make it look neat which also doesn't intrude on the needed space in the back, no tyre 'gunge' for me should I have a puncture    

I had to get my last car in a hurry so it was more a case of going in and saying "what have you got/what can you get hold of." Having a "proper" spare tyre was one of my criteria. My own fault for not checking the details of all the specs but it turns out I have a space saver, not the full size wheel I thought I was getting. 
But at least I've got something - as you say, a squirty can of gunge probably wouldn't have sorted out today's puncture caused by a huge screw through the tyre. 

Grumpy_chap

elsien said:

Having a "proper" spare tyre was one of my criteria. My own fault for not checking the details of all the specs but it turns out I have a space saver, not the full size wheel I thought I was getting. 
But at least I've got something - as you say, a squirty can of gunge probably wouldn't have sorted out today's puncture caused by a huge screw through the tyre. 

Having a spare wheel with tyre is useful, as it allows you to exchange the wheel yourself if required and keep mobile.

Though, if you cannot loosen the nuts to remove the wheel with punctured tyre, you still need to call the breakdown service.  When I did so, the breakdown service would not simply fit the spare wheel and let me be on my way as, apparently, it was their policy on not to do that as the tyre could have deteriorated in the boot well.  So, my car was loaded on a flat bed and taken to a tyre place to be sorted there and then.

This would not have been linked to hazardous location as I had the car in a short residential cul-de-sac.  I would understand the "scoop-and-go" mentality had the location been more hazardous like motorway hard shoulder.

Thesaltmustflow

Grumpy_chap said:

elsien said:

Having a "proper" spare tyre was one of my criteria. My own fault for not checking the details of all the specs but it turns out I have a space saver, not the full size wheel I thought I was getting. 
But at least I've got something - as you say, a squirty can of gunge probably wouldn't have sorted out today's puncture caused by a huge screw through the tyre. 

Having a spare wheel with tyre is useful, as it allows you to exchange the wheel yourself if required and keep mobile.

Though, if you cannot loosen the nuts to remove the wheel with punctured tyre, you still need to call the breakdown service.  When I did so, the breakdown service would not simply fit the spare wheel and let me be on my way as, apparently, it was their policy on not to do that as the tyre could have deteriorated in the boot well.  So, my car was loaded on a flat bed and taken to a tyre place to be sorted there and then.

This would not have been linked to hazardous location as I had the car in a short residential cul-de-sac.  I would understand the "scoop-and-go" mentality had the location been more hazardous like motorway hard shoulder.

That's a new one on me, could you have been unlucky and got a real 'jobsworth'. Surely the spare could have been checked and decision made then as to whether it was safe to fit or not?

Grumpy_chap

Thesaltmustflow said:

That's a new one on me, could you have been unlucky and got a real 'jobsworth'. Surely the spare could have been checked and decision made then as to whether it was safe to fit or not?

You would think and I did ask.

The response was that the wheel has been in the well of the car and there is no way for him to visually inspect the wheel as age or I may have spilled chemicals that reduced the integrity of the rubber compound, but not visibly apparent.

The fact the wheel with the fitted tyre was evidently brand new and still with the "wear stripes" all round the tread was irrelevant.

The waffle about chemicals is just that, but he may have had a point about age degradation given the car was 12 yo at the time.  I suspect the tyre was the original spare - it was in the boot of the car when I purchased in 2016 and unlikely the previous owners ever swapped the tyre either.

dipsomaniac

Breaker bar. One be of the best tools I have bought together with a Dremel

Ectophile

AdrianC said:

Changing wiper blades is trivially easy. They're a cheap consumable, and need replacing regularly - I do mine annually, and you can tell the difference.

Why would anybody leave them until they're SO bad they fail the MOT...?

Trivially easy?

Grab the old blade.  Wiggle and shove the old blade in every possible direction to see if it will come off.  Discover that there's an unlabelled button you have to press, while wiggling and shoving.  Eventually, the years of accumulated grime gives way, and it comes off.

Open the box with the new blades.  A small pile of plastic adaptors falls out.  Trial fit each of the adaptors against the wiper arm.  None of them fits.

Gently pry the old adaptor from the old blade, hoping the aged plastic doesn't shatter.  Then try to get the adaptor on the new blade it was never designed to go on.

Now try to work out how the blade goes back onto the arm.  There are at least four ways to try, and all of them are wrong.  It's like USB, only worse.  Eventually get lucky.  Wiggle and shove the new blade onto the slightly old and rusty arm.  Hope it doesn't fall off again the first time you use the wipers.