All four diectional tyres the wrong way.
Discussion
I had the wheels refurbed at the weekend.
Used a very reputable company I have used before. reputable or so I thought.
My wife was driving the car this morning and I was with her. We were on a motorway doing the NSL when she pulled off at a junction saying "there is something wrong with the car". We completed the journey as a slower speed on slower roads.
Got home to find all four directional tyres were on the wrong way.
I was amazed, especially as the guys at the pace took great pains to tell me they'd made sure the bigger tyres had gone on at the back as they should.
The car is an MGF with the club reccomended Toyos - 400 miles old. I know how these cars can be a handful in the wet.
Fortunately no harm one and yes we should have checked the tyres before the journey, but with five guys round the car fitting the wheels and the chief one explaining to me about offset etc, I did assume they knew their stuff.
Added to tjis one of the centre caps - rare and hard to get on this particular (Trophy) wheel had fallen off on the way home.
They are pretty tight fitting things. I have whacked a spare on which I happened to have but it's off an old scrap wheel and looks crap, considering I paid a lot to have these wheel acid dipped, blasted and re finished from scratch.
Me and a mate will swap the tyres tomorrow.
I've not called the company yet. Am I right to be angry? Was this a dangerous thing that they did? Will 50 or so miles going the wrong way have damaged the tyres?
Used a very reputable company I have used before. reputable or so I thought.
My wife was driving the car this morning and I was with her. We were on a motorway doing the NSL when she pulled off at a junction saying "there is something wrong with the car". We completed the journey as a slower speed on slower roads.
Got home to find all four directional tyres were on the wrong way.
I was amazed, especially as the guys at the pace took great pains to tell me they'd made sure the bigger tyres had gone on at the back as they should.
The car is an MGF with the club reccomended Toyos - 400 miles old. I know how these cars can be a handful in the wet.
Fortunately no harm one and yes we should have checked the tyres before the journey, but with five guys round the car fitting the wheels and the chief one explaining to me about offset etc, I did assume they knew their stuff.
Added to tjis one of the centre caps - rare and hard to get on this particular (Trophy) wheel had fallen off on the way home.
They are pretty tight fitting things. I have whacked a spare on which I happened to have but it's off an old scrap wheel and looks crap, considering I paid a lot to have these wheel acid dipped, blasted and re finished from scratch.
Me and a mate will swap the tyres tomorrow.
I've not called the company yet. Am I right to be angry? Was this a dangerous thing that they did? Will 50 or so miles going the wrong way have damaged the tyres?
If the car was driving badly enough that you could feel it on the motorway, I'd say that yes it's dangerous and yes you're right to be annoyed. I wouldn't expect to get any comeback from it, though.
In my experience some directional tyres disperse water OK in reverse, others are terrible. Presumably none of them work as well in reverse as the correct way around though, or they wouldn't be sold as directional.
In my experience some directional tyres disperse water OK in reverse, others are terrible. Presumably none of them work as well in reverse as the correct way around though, or they wouldn't be sold as directional.
I don't know if it makes a difference to safety, but the car has no ABS, traction control or any of the midern systems. Just four disc brakes which I guess are Rover 600/800 parts.
I'm not after compo.....Luckily there is no loss apart from the bloody centre cap which does spoil the look of the car.
This is a well known outfit. Some very nice new presumably directional tyre wearing cars in there when I was there.
To get all four wrong.......I am a total incompetent when it comes to cars, but there's words and a bloody arrow on the tyre wall to tell even the dimmest of the dim what to do.
I'm not after compo.....Luckily there is no loss apart from the bloody centre cap which does spoil the look of the car.
This is a well known outfit. Some very nice new presumably directional tyre wearing cars in there when I was there.
To get all four wrong.......I am a total incompetent when it comes to cars, but there's words and a bloody arrow on the tyre wall to tell even the dimmest of the dim what to do.
You can swap then round on the car.
Imagine sitting the car at one spot, taking all 4 wheels off, then lifting the car with a crane, spinning it around 180 and putting it back down facing the other way.
It has to work, unless the wheels are staggered, or they are some sort of air scoopy design.
Imagine sitting the car at one spot, taking all 4 wheels off, then lifting the car with a crane, spinning it around 180 and putting it back down facing the other way.
It has to work, unless the wheels are staggered, or they are some sort of air scoopy design.
TheEnd said:
You can swap then round on the car.
Imagine sitting the car at one spot, taking all 4 wheels off, then lifting the car with a crane, spinning it around 180 and putting it back down facing the other way.
It has to work, unless the wheels are staggered, or they are some sort of air scoopy design.
Be much easier to just swap fronts and rears over on the same axle.Imagine sitting the car at one spot, taking all 4 wheels off, then lifting the car with a crane, spinning it around 180 and putting it back down facing the other way.
It has to work, unless the wheels are staggered, or they are some sort of air scoopy design.
Yes from what I can tell they have put the fatter tyres on the back . Just the wrong way round.
Silly basic question. I can use two jacks to lift each end for the swap? Obviously making sure they are both at the front and both at the back. Not diagonal.
Is it best to loose off the wheels on the ground then swap them?
I know that's probably a dumbass question, but when it comes to DIY I am a f
kwit.
Silly basic question. I can use two jacks to lift each end for the swap? Obviously making sure they are both at the front and both at the back. Not diagonal.
Is it best to loose off the wheels on the ground then swap them?
I know that's probably a dumbass question, but when it comes to DIY I am a f
kwit. wildcat45 said:
Yes from what I can tell they have put the fatter tyres on the back . Just the wrong way round.
Silly basic question. I can use two jacks to lift each end for the swap? Obviously making sure they are both at the front and both at the back. Not diagonal.
Is it best to loose off the wheels on the ground then swap them?
I know that's probably a dumbass question, but when it comes to DIY I am a fkwit.
Might be safer to get another garage to do this for you Silly basic question. I can use two jacks to lift each end for the swap? Obviously making sure they are both at the front and both at the back. Not diagonal.
Is it best to loose off the wheels on the ground then swap them?
I know that's probably a dumbass question, but when it comes to DIY I am a f
kwit. 
Gave them a call. More to let them know because they needed to know.
They have a procedure to prevent just this sort of thing they told me but they were really concerned. They checked CCTV -it must be very high definition - and it showed a guy making the error.
The guy responsible's been given a written warning after being shown the video. Sounds like the whole place got a bit of a nasty shock, so let's hope it's a lesson learnt and remembered.
They apologised, what else could they do?
I'd still reccomend them. A nice bunch of people who apart from the wheel fitting did a great job.
They have a procedure to prevent just this sort of thing they told me but they were really concerned. They checked CCTV -it must be very high definition - and it showed a guy making the error.
The guy responsible's been given a written warning after being shown the video. Sounds like the whole place got a bit of a nasty shock, so let's hope it's a lesson learnt and remembered.
They apologised, what else could they do?
I'd still reccomend them. A nice bunch of people who apart from the wheel fitting did a great job.
wildcat45 said:
They have a procedure to prevent just this sort of thing they told me but they were really concerned.
I had my wheels refurbed by a highly recommended place and the tyres (Michelin Primacy HP's) have the sidewalls marked inside and outside. Also the inside is much plainer - doesn't have the diagonal hatching that the outside does - so it looks "wrong" as soon as you look at it.When I pointed this out to them they talked about "the procedure" too and were absolutely adamant that it had come in like that and they insisted that I must have driven, washed, checked the tyre pressures and had the car serviced and MOT'd for the last 5yrs and no-one had ever noticed.
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