BMW Mini Wheel bearing-Our customer thought it was just tyre noise to start with?

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BMW Mini Wheel bearing

BMW Mini Wheel bearing-This was one of those customers that are not your customer if you get what I mean. Let me explain? The owner of this BMW Mini wheel bearing problem had taken the car with its noise problem to two other garages, before finally bringing his car into us.

The first garage put the problem down to the tyres. They were Mini run-flat tyres, 205/45R17 and these tyres were fitted to the original alloy wheels. I personally think that the early Minis were noisy to drive. I thought it was the run-flat tyres, due to the fact that they are very stiff and hard tyres. These tyres have

BMW Mini Wheel bearing

BMW Mini Wheel bearing -Dale one of our mechanics stripping down the wheel bearing

strengthened sidewalls and are a different tread compound to give them the extra strength, for if a puncture occurs and the tyres are then driven to safety at 50 MPH.

BMW Mini Wheel bearing

The guy paid them for an hours labour and then moved to the second garage. They told him more or less the same. The tyres are noisy due to construction and noisy roads. The guy was still not happy and so came to us for our advice.

Pellon Auto centre, Halifax, Yorkshire, UK, have a large number of customers that own BMW Minis. We have come across customers with noise complaints before. We did, however, check the tyres and the tyre pressures and they were fine. The next step was the wheel bearings. This has been a common problem for us in the past.

Just as we suspected one BMW Mini Wheel bearing was found to have a little play in it. It did not look to be much, but with the weight of the car and the wheel turning then the noise would have been replicated many times.

We told the relieved customer and carried out the work on the wheel bearings. The outcome was a much quieter BMW Mini and a happy customer.

Kia Sportage Clutch problem-Customer had bought a second Sportage but the clutch was slipping?

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Kia Sportage Clutch problem

Kia Sportage Clutch problem-This is the sort of thing that we have seen before? A customer of ours has bought another second car and the first decent journey has ended up with some sort of problem. In the case of this Kia Sportage, the clutch started slipping.

The worse part about it was that after being the owner for 4 weeks, the guy took the Kia on a two week trip to France. This particular model was a 2.0 CRD

Kia Sportage Clutch problem

Kia Sportage Clutch problem-Showing old worn out clutch

injection and had clocked up twenty-three thousand miles.

Everything went well until he drove down the French AutoRoute (French Motorway) on his way to the South. The Kia Sportage Clutch Problem started. He felt

Kia Sportage Clutch problem

Kia Sportage Clutch problem, showing gearbox

the cars clutch slipping on some of the very steep inclines that are common on the French motorways. They build their motorways over the top of the hills, where we cut through the hills to make the inclines less steep.

Kia Sportage Clutch problem

The clutch did not slip all the time only when the car was overloaded and also when the guy had to accelerate quickly. Otherwise, the Kia performed well. The customer finished off his holiday, without any further problems and made it back to Halifax in Yorkshire.

After a few more weeks he noticed that the gears were getting more difficult to engage. Finally, it became almost impossible to get any gears and so he brought into us at Pellon Auto Centre, to try to solve the problem.

Ryan Lynton our service manager, checked the car over and had no hesitation in declaring that the clutch needed replacing. The guy left his Kia and the clutch was replaced by Alex.

The guy had bought the car privately and so had no real comeback for any compensation. It is just a chance you take when buying a car privately.

Car Brake Pads-Could be poisoning our rivers and lakes?

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Car Brake Pads

Car Brake Pads-As a garage owner I often wonder what will be coming next. We are constantly being told that we are all breathing in too many particles of this and that, and yet, on the other hand, the experts are telling us that we are going to live to 100 years old.

It is not that long ago that you were lucky to get to 65. I can remember when I was a kid how dirty the river Calder was, in my local town. One thing is for sure, there were NO fish living in it. Now in 2016, we not only have a large population of fish but also many species of birds that we would never dream of seeing in the dirty river.

We too are breathing in much better air quality than when I was a kid. Then I suppose came the car. The car has undergone major surgery, since I first started to work on cars, in days gone by. I suppose if the truth is known, then much of the air pollution, is to do with car emissions.

We then had a savior? The diesel engine car. We were told that the new type of diesel engine cars was going to be the answer. Millions of drivers switched to diesel engines. Then came the asbestos scare. If we touched the stuff, then our hands would drop off. If we breathed the dust in then we would be afflicted with cancer.

car brake pads

Copper-less Car Brake Pads

All the brake companies had to put their thinking caps on and come up with an asbestos free brake solution. The dust that came from the wearing out brakes was cancer genic. A million mechanics including myself have been breathing this stuff in for years.

A new type of brake pad and linings was invented, using asbestos-free materials. We thought that this would be the end of it? But no.

In California USA, they noticed that the fish that they caught were too saturated with copper that they were unfit to eat. The fish in the Bay area were not fit for human consumption. For years, they could not find a solution to the whereabouts of the pollution.

The problem was spotted by motor mechanics, who had heard about this and reported that they could see small particles of copper coming out of the brake pads as they wore away.

Car Brake Pads, have certainly had their problems. Throughout the history of the automobile, and it has caused yet another environmental problem. It is a fact

Car Brake Pads


worn-brake-pads-showing-metallic-pieces

that every time we break, tiny particles of dust come away from the brake pads. This is magnified a million time, because of the number of cars on the road.

This has resulted in the passing of new laws to stop brake manufacturers from adding copper to their otherwise secret brake pad ingredients. I wonder if this affects other parts of the world. The brake pads must have been made for the whole of America and not just California?

http://www.sightline.org/2010/02/11/tapping-the-brakes-on-copper-brake-pads/

http://www.copper.org/environment/impact/copper-brake.html

Locking Wheel-Nut Problem-BMW garage quotes extortionate price to remove locking wheel-nuts?

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Locking Wheel-Nut Problem

Locking Wheel-Nut Problem; It is easy see that the big main dealer garages, have much larger overheads than a small garage like my own, here at Pellon Auto-centre, in Halifax UK. Probably all of us small garage owners have heard horror stories from our customers about the charges that main dealer garages charge their customers.

We have heard of a couple recently? One was a lady customer who was charged £700 for a standard service on her Audi. The garage was, of course, an Audi garage, and she was threatened with the old story of, “if you have your car serviced elsewhere, it would cancel the cars warranty”

Locking Wheel-Nut Problem

315-35R20 Bridgestone Runflat BMW X5 tyre

We all know that this is not true. Going back to the lady customer, I asked if I could see the garages invoice because we all know that there could have been add-ons, such as other parts. This does sometimes put up the price of a service. But no the bill was for a service and service alone. I did notice that washing the car was extra, and a few other extras totted the bill up-to-the £700 that she paid.

The lady has been one of our customers ever since and all the rest of the family now bring their car problems into us. The most recent price shock came from the BMW garage. A tyre customer of ours asked the BMW garage to change his winter tyres back to his summer tyres. His car was in for some warranty work. He thought that he would ask them “just to change the tyres whilst they had the wheels off “, The BMW garage agreed but later in the morning phoned our customer with a locking wheel nut problem? The locking wheel nut tool was missing and they could not remove the locking wheel nuts.

The shock came when they explained that the job was going to be difficult and it would cost them a whopping £500 to remove the lockers and supply a new set? WOW

The terrified customer rang Deb our depot manager? Deb told her to get the car and we worked out that the job was going to be £54. The BMW came in and Ryan removed the lockers in 10 minutes, with no problem, like many other small garages we have invested in a special tool that helps us to remove the wheel nuts on 90% of vehicles.

Ryan also noticed that one of the summer tyres to be re-fitted had a nail in the shoulder area of the tyre. The Bridgestone tyres were special run-flat tyres that

Locking Wheel-Nut Problem

BMW X5 with locking wheel nut issues

were specific to this particular BMW X5 model. This BMW comes with the  i-Drive System. On this vehicle, the tyres must be of the same tread depth, on the same axle or this interferes with the cars drive system and handling.

The Bridgestone run-flat tyres are marked with a star on the sidewall. This star denotes that these are the correct tyres for this specific BMW car.

The customer paid a total of £640 for the Locking Wheel-Nut Problem solving and two new tyres fitting. There must be a moral in this story somewhere?

Tyre Price Match-Independent tyre companies like Pellon Tyres, can always Give a better deal?

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Tyre Price Match

Tyre Price Match-One of the things that have come out of the internet price war, is the ability to price-match. Tyre price match has become part of our weekly diet of working out the right price for our tyres to sell online.

Like many other independent tyre retailers in the UK, we always try our best to satisfy the service levels that we offer to our customers. Some of these customers, have been coming to us for years and trust us to give the best quality of work and service at a fair price.

We are always busy from word of mouth recommendations and we believe that this is still the best form of advertising. We do however offer our customers the

chance to look at our tyre website at www.pellontyres.co.uk and check out the price of their tyres. This is always helpful and the internet tyre market has now

Tyre Price Match

Tyre Price Match;Range rover for 4×225/55R20 Michelin tyres

grown to 20% of all tyre sales in the UK.

The only downside to this is the fact that, we are probably not the cheapest prices for every tyre that a customer wants to buy online. It is the same scenario for all the internet tyre stores. This also applies from the smallest to the largest. There are also some tyre products that you can buy on one website but not from another. If you want a general grabber for your 4×4 in the Halifax area, then we are the only place that you would be able to buy from in the Halifax area of the UK.

We always pride ourselves on being able to source a tyre for a customer. We have a supply chain that stretches all across Europe. To my knowledge, we have never failed to be able to match a tyre for one of our customers and this is a great benefit of dealing with a local tyre company. We are there to help you, the customer can see a great effort and the many contacts that we have with other tyre companies.

Our prices are very competitive, I fact the new buzz word is “Tyre Price Match”. We are finding that our loyal customers with knowledge about our excellent service will ask us to tyre price match. We are delighted to do this? We realise, that some of us are price driven and we are happy to help if possible.

In fact, our latest tyre price match came from a driver with a beautiful Range Rover SUV. His tyre size was 255/55R20 and he needed 4 tyres. Because of the price decided to look at different websites for a price. The price on our website was a little more expensive than another tyre company. He wanted to deal with us, Tyre Price Matchbecause of his past service and trust in our work standards. He rang deb in reception and asked for a tyre price match.

The tyres he wanted were top of the range Michelin Latitude Sports tyres and the most expensive. We shopped around our suppliers and to his surprise, we were able to beat his previous quotes. The customer was delighted and we fitted his tyres on a Saturday morning. If you like dealing with us we will gladly price match is possible, we are a small family business and as they say “every little helps”.

Alfa Romeo Exhaust Problem- Back-Box matched and fitted from Bosal Fiat Part?

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Alfa Romeo Exhaust Problem

Alfa Romeo Exhaust Problem;There was a time when certain exhaust manufacturers would do a replacement exhaust system for every car model on the market. If the car makers made it, then companies such as Bosal would make a replacement.

In fact, come to think of it, Bosal actually made the exhausts that were fitted to many of the European cars that were produced. This means that an exact copy could be purchased when the exhaust system needed a replacement.

Last week we had a customer with an Alfa Romeo Exhaust Problem. The backbox was perished and needed replacing. We put the car in the air on one of our hoists and checked to see what needed replacing.

Over the years, we have learnt about many ways of repairing cars and this Alfa Romeo Exhaust Problem, would turn out to be one of them?

When we were checking our exhaust book to find a replacement we soon noticed that this Alfa Romeo Exhaust Problem, would not be covered in the replacementAlfa Romeo Exhaust Problem market. This usually means that the only route for us then is the main dealers.

As with all other parts the main dealers are very expensive, and exhaust parts are no exception. The original Alfa part was a one piece system from the catalytic converter back. The price from the Alfa garage was expensive, to say the least.

Alfa Romeo Exhaust Problem

Our other alternative was to match up a similar back-box as the old one and sleeve it to the centre-pipe exhaust. With the customers wallet in mind, we decided to go down this road.

We contacted our local exhaust wholesaler for advice. He said that we should look at other similar Italian car back-boxes because some models inter-changed. Sure enough, we found that a back-box from a Fiat model was almost exactly the same.

The only difference was that the exhaust diameters were the same. This was not a problem for us. All we do is to sleeve the two parts together and so that is whatAlfa Romeo Exhaust Problem we did.

The customer was highly delighted that we had put ourselves out for him and also saved him £100. The exhausts carry exactly the same warranty as the main dealer would have been.

Here at Pellon Auto Centre in Halifax, Yorkshire UK, we offer a full range of exhausts for all makes and models of cars, and will even put ourselves out to help you.

Nissan Navara Clutch replacement-Duel Mass Flywheel replaced.

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Nissan Navara Clutch replacement

Nissan Navara Clutch replacement;One of the car problems that increase after the winter driving period, is a noticeable rise in the number of clutches that we fit. The other day was no exception. One of our first jobs that were booked in was a Nissan Navara Clutch replacement.

Clutches fall into two main categories. These are cars that are fitted with manual gearboxes and also automatic gearboxes. In the UK, the most popular type of gearbox, by far is the manual type of gearbox

Other types do exist, but they are mainly on the upmarket car models and motorsport cars.

As most of my readers probably know the clutch fits between the engine and the manual gearbox and this Nissan Navara Clutch replacement, was no different.

Nissan Navara Clutch replacement

Nissan Navara Clutch replacement

The clutch enables the driver to change gears, in response to the car engine speed. This enables a smooth transfer of power, from the engine to the gearbox.

The clutch plate is made from a similar material to your brake shoes and eventually, wear away. Like anything else it depends on how the driver treats the clutch, as to how long it will last. The guy with the Nissan Navara could feel the clutch slipping when the truck was fully loaded. He also had problems engaging his gears on occasions.

Nissan Navara Clutch replacement

He brought it into us here at Pellon Halifax UK, for us to check it out. Sure enough, the clutch was slipping and in need of a new one fitting.

The Nissan Navara Clutch replacement, meant us removing the gearbox away from the engine. The Navara is an inline unit, which means that the engine and gearbox are lined from front to rear, driving the rear wheels.

Alex was allocated the job and he soon started to remove the holding nuts and bolts. The Navara is a big vehicle, compared to the clutches that we normally fit and Alex had to use hydraulic engine stands to take the weight of the extremely heavy gearbox when it was removed.

When we checked out the parts, the computer informed us that this model could be fitted with a Duel mass Flywheel (DMF). These were invented to take out many of the stresses and vibrations that were associated with diesel engine cars. In my opinion, some vehicles do not need it. This has become more obvious to me, when certain clutch manufacturers, make an alternative solid “Blue-Print“clutch to replace the DMF.

We contacted the customer and explained to him about the DMF and the solid clutch. He phoned back and gave us permission to fit the solid clutch. This was fitted and the gearbox built back up. The Nissan Navara Clutch replacement was complete and the customer collected his car and away he went.

Tyre registration-Will Europe follow the Path of the American Tyre Market?

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Tyre registration

Tyre registration- When I first saw this tyre law coming out of America, the thought crossed my mind that what started out over the pond, usually ended up here in the UK or even Europe. In other words, would we have to start registering every tyre that we sold?

I suppose the big difference is that the USA have a much bigger culture of suing people and companies for every little thing. However, when looking at the whole picture, then it could make a little sense, on behalf of the tyre Manufacturers.

The story is that every consumer that buys a new tyre has now to register their purchase, under the requirements of the federal law. Tyre retailer and dealers,

tyre registration

Tyre registration-Image courtesy of Pirelli from their tyre registration website

must provide a registration form to fill in, or an electronic platform so that you can register the purchase online.

The reason for this is that the consumer can be notified by the tyre manufacturer if there is a tyre recall or a problem with a certain batch of tyres. This will give an early warning should any problem occur and also cover the tyre producers from possible further problems from faulty tyres, say causing accidents when running too much on these tyres.

I must say that we in the UK do not have these problems. On the contrary, I think that tyre products have improved over the years and faulty tyres are far and few between. We do not have the legal culture of the states and do not take everybody to court when a problem arrives.

Tyre registration

What strikes me though is the fact that the tyre makers are going to have a heap of information about who buys their tyres and where from. Although I have read that the consumer’s personal information, will be protected by federal law, I can’t help seeing the number of tyre manufacturers that offer registration forms online.

This information could give them a mass of details about who, what and where their tyre products were purchased and many other things that I don’t know

tyre registration

Tyre registration-Image from Michelin tyres registration website.

about. I am sure that tyre manufacturers in Europe will catch onto this idea as will give them a huge insight as to who and why consumers buy their products.

As for the consumer? It will give them the responsibility to register their tyres and help become more aware of the safety aspect of their tyres. If they do not carry out tyre registration then I presume that they could not sue the tyre company, if a faulty tyre caused an accident.

As for the tyre dealers, well it is just extra work for us?

For more information… http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Test+Procedures

Michelin Energy EV-tyres- Fitted to a Renault Zoe in Halifax UK.

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Michelin Energy EV-tyres

Michelin Energy EV-tyres -Saturday’s at Pellon Tyres, in Halifax. Are filled dealing with tyre customers and tyre enquiries. Thus, like many UK tyre dealers, we attract a varied amount of different models and makes of cars. Saturday is generally a tyre day?

This Saturday just gone was no exception?. It was a steady day with cars calling in and out at regular intervals. We often jack car’s up outside to remove their wheels and fit tyres or carry out puncture repairs. Especially, if the weather is dry, and this Saturday it was.

There had been nothing special in on this day, we fitted a couple of General tyres onto a Toyota, an odd Bridgestone and few economy tyres. This was until one ofMichelin Energy EV-tyres my staff pointed out a sort of plain looking car, a Renault Zoe.

The Zoe was jacked up and having a damaged Michelin tyre replaced. Because this was exactly the same tyre that came off. The guy had brought the car in for a puncture repair. As a result, to be repaired. But the screw was too close to the shoulder, and could not be repaired.

I noticed that the 195/55R16 91Q Michelin EV-Tyres were, in fact, double A rated. Not forgetting that the two companies, Renault and Michelin have deep roots in France and have been developing tyres together, ever since tyres were invented? The joint tyre development for the Zoe tyres began over four years ago. Both companies worked very hard in the development, to design a tyre that would achieve

Michelin Energy EV-tyres

Both an increased driving range and would also fit in with the French emission standards, and the Michelin EV-Tyres, are what they came up with.

When I had a chat with the customer, he said” I bought the car for my wife?.  Most of her driving is done at a local level around town, so we tried the Zoe, it’s great, and we just plug the car in on a night and recharge it for her next day’s driving”.Michelin Energy EV-tyres

Vincent Rousset-Rouvière, Head of the Michelin Passenger Car tyre Replacement unit in Europe, and Bernard Dumondel, who is the “Customer Specifications Electric Vehicle Director” with Renault, look back on this exciting developments and the technological challenge and the major stages in the fruitful collaboration between the two groups, to develop and introduce the Michelin EV-Tyres.

Engine Overheating Problems-Can cause permanent engine damage.

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Engine Overheating Problems

Engine Overheating Problems-When driving home up the M1 motorway, here in the UK, I counted four cars that were pulled into the hard shoulder and were broken down. We all see this common event, but as a garage owner I often think about what may have caused the problem in the first place?

One of the cars had white steam coming out of a lifted bonnet (hood). This looked like a typical case of an overheated engine. The guy did the correct thing and pulled over. The car engine overheating can turn out to be a costly and dangerous thing, especially for your car engine. It could come to having a new engine.

If this happens to you there are one or two tips that I can give you. First, try to pull over in a safe place and turn your engine off. You would have been warned by

Engine Overheating Problems

Engine Overheating Problems-A typical water expansion tank ina modern car.

your car’s instruments, either flashing on the dashboard or the temperature gauge hitting the roof.

The guy on the M1 , with the Engine Overheating Problems, did the right thing by lifting the bonnet to allow the engine to cool down quicker. A good tip is that if there is not a safe place to pull over, then turn the car heater to full. This acts as an extra radiator and helps cool down the engine. Even if it is a hot day, you must try to peek the engine as cool as possible.

Engine Overheating Problems

If your car is equipped with air-con, then turn the air-con OFF. The air-con produces more heat, and this is the last thing that you want.

At this stage, you would want to call for help? Another tip is NEVER to try to remove the radiator cap if your car has one when the engine is overheating. This happened to an apprentice mechanic that I worked with back in the day. The engine cooling system is under great pressure and when the lad removed the radiator cap, he was burned by steam and red hot coolant. He did recover but spent a couple of days in the local burns unit.

Most modern cars are now fitted with a plastic expansion tank. This tank is filled with a special water and coolant mix. The same applies to the expansion tank as to the radiator. You will get the same results as with a radiator cap. Some vehicles are fitted with a pressurized expansion tank. If you have one of these then there is a warning on the tank cap.

It may be that your car just needs some more water and coolant.

Engine Overheating Problems

You have access to a water supply then you could top the tank up. Therefore, if are confident enough to do this then make sure that you only use warm water, to mix the already boiling water in the engine. Finally, if you have no coolant available then it should be fine to use water only, until you can get the car to your local garage for a check over.

In my experience, the Engine Overheating Problems can occur when the car has had recent engine work carried out. Say a new head gasket or rubber hose fitted. The water system has had an air lock, and this can cause the engine to overheat. If this is the case then take the car back to your garage and ask them to bleed and check the water system, because of overheating. At Pellon, we find that it is always better to recheck the coolant levels after the car has had engine work carried out. The engine is run, keeping an eye on the temperature. We switch the engine off and recheck the levels after a good ten minutes. This will get rid of any trapped air that may cause later problems.

Although some drivers will think this article as pretty basic, many drivers will be thankful for the advice as they may have never come across such a problem. Thanks,  Eric Roberts.