Viking

I have a local tyre fitter (a mate) who is prepared to do it for me if I want him to. But as it's on the car and the wife drives the daughter backwards and forwards every day I'm not going to. Also I asked another local guy who I trust if he knew anywhere that does vulcanised repairs, and he asked why. I showed him the tyre and he said it would probably last half a day if he did it, so wouldn't. All things considered, it's got to be done properly or it's scrap. As for the nail coming through from the inside, you're the second person to say that. But the nail head has just worn away on the outside where it's been catching the road as it rotates.

Yeah, found a couple of places near me (well, about 50 miles or so) who can do them, just waiting for replies back from the emails I sent 'em with the pics.

Tyre pressure monitor came up this morning as I moved the car of the drive. Checked round and found this... Nailed one of my winter tyres. Any experience with hot vulc repairs anyone? Or know anywhere round North Yorks that can do it?

Also known as "wobble bolts" I think?

You're telling the insures about the size change, I presume? Also the steel wheels instead of alloys. They love an excuse to get out of a claim.

Yes, but I'm not getting good feedback about putting them on the web for you bunch of lecherous pervs.... In all seriousness, I'm not one for posting family stuff on the web anyway. I don't like too much personal stuff out there for all the world to view, but I'll ask and see what I'm allowed to post.

All done and sorted. She's a very happy young lady.

Should be a video. Not sure if I'll be allowed to post it though.

T minus 12 hours & counting.

Well, being perfectly honest she's not actually my daughter. She and her sister came with the wife when we got married, but I class us all as a family. There's so much I'm no good at when it comes to being a dad, but I try and get the car bit right.

Saturday morning is presentation time, so before then I've got to fit the handsfree kit and fix a top boost hose which is blowing off (common problem), fit a new set of wipers, and Autoglym the dash etc. Then there's "Happy Birthday" stuff to stick on the inside and stuff. Wife needs to do that.

All is now sorted on my part anyway. The old ones are gone from the car as a set of alloys and tyres have been fitted. As above, these were also what you'd call part worn, but came from a known source and are all matching with 7mm tread. Surplus to requirements is somewhat different to second hand damaged, and fitted to save money.

Well spotted Liner. The originals were steels with trims, and I fitted a set of alloys.

Last nights work... You can't see much difference on phone camera pics, but it's now shiny and the glass is clean enough to see through. 6 hours of wash & polish.

Eyebrows? No, she's not into that sort of thing. She wants the flower, whether she likes the one that comes with it or not is another matter, but after that she might put some cuddly toys in the back.

It's already insured. She was insured on her Seat Ibiza with Diamond, and when this was sold last week they froze the insurance. When we found the Beetle for sale and subsequently bought it, my wife phoned and put the car on the policy and paid the difference (£112 extra for the rest of the year). Both myself and the wife are named drivers, and the wife has authority on the policy etc. The only slight hiccup was that Diamond sent an email to the daughter thanking her for the payment and for reinstating the policy. We fudged it by telling her that we'd put some random details on for when we go car shopping at the weekend so that I could drive any car we went to see on my policy. It was vague enough for to believe us.

As it happens the near side wheel trims were well kerbed, but the part worns were fitted very recently and the car had hardly been used due to there being 3 vehicles in the household and only 2 drivers. The tyre is cracked all the way round the entire sidewall, so it was fecked anyway, irrespective of the bulge. However, it was the near side.

Our daughter has had 2 years out of her old Seat Ibiza and it was time to move it on. She hadn't hit anything or bumped anything, so I reckoned it was time to get her something a little better. So, off to South Wales at the weekend (600 miles round trip) and bought this. First thing was a stop at my local VW dealers where they fitted a cambelt / water pump. It's a 8 year old car and has 72k miles on it, and the belt change interval is 60k miles or 4 years. The eagle eyed ones amongst you will see a dent in the bonnet. So after VW did their bit it came home, and Paul at Just Dents went round the car and knocked out all the dents and suchlike, while I ran the VAX over the inside. To be fair to the previous owner it was remarkably clean, and very little dirt came out. Also fitted a new set of tyres to a set of genuine VW alloys I'd bought, so the scabby wheeltrims and crap tyres have gone. A new set of numberplates are on order, and the handsfree kit is ready to go onto a new Brodit mount which will be fitted sometime soon, Right now the car is hiding at my mates in his barn until we can get time to properly wash & polish it, fit the goodies mentioned above, and then on Saturday morning (her birthday) we're going to present it to her.

On a new purchase (see other thread) the seller had fitted new tyres to the rear and part worn tyres to the front. The rears were Fullrun things which made an awful drone at certain road speeds and the fronts were a Triangle and a Michelin. Strangely, the Michelin was the worst of the lot, not because it had less tread or anything, but because of this... Now, who decided that fitting a cracked bulging tyre to a young ladies car (or anyones car for that matter) was a good idea? Needless to say, as soon as the car was home all four wheels & tyres have been removed and replaced with genuine VW alloys fitted with new Uniroyal Rainexpert tyres. The droning noise at speed has gone, and I'm sure the vehicle safety has been improved massively. How do I know they fitted part worns? Because the writing is still on the tyre in white marker pen saying "part worn".

Just looking at local sales on Ebay. Irrelevant now as someone just bought the EOS 550 on a buy it now which came with 1 year Canon warranty anyway, and that was really my first choice. Having a mooch about now and found an EOS 500 with a couple of lenses which might be a replacement. I've tried an EOS 400 which one of my customers was good enough to let me use in his garden.

Quick one, which camera would you go for? Canon Eos 1100D less than a year old with 18 -55 Image Stabilised lens, and a nice Lowepro bag - £270 Canon Eos 550D as new with same lens but no bag - £450

Freezer spray, plumbers use it for freezing pipes prior to repair rather than draining down a system.

I'm still running my winters on the van, as I always do til they're shot. Not had any strange noises ever with mine, although we did on the car last year due to rear wheel camber issues.

They merged recently, but I think it was more of Goodyear buying Dunlop than the other way round.

Yep, that works. :wink: