and today i have mostly been...

[Doggy]

Hope that heap hasn't damaged the tree.

[steve_earwig]

I'd imagine both will burn quite nicely.

[GingerMagic]

I can't tell if the tree has fallen onto the Audi, or the car has been parked for a very, very long time....

[steve_earwig]

Ooh yes, like those pictures of Edsels etc. in the US with trees growing up through them.

Oh, there's a vid:
oyQcN6__ZPQ

[lozz]

nice plant pots

[steve_earwig]

So anyway yes, tyres. Last Friday I pulled the winters out ready to fit them. I was a bit iffy about them as they've got 5mm left but become illegal at 4 so I was wondering how much tread they have before they become dangerous. In the end it turned out to be irrelevant because, as I checked them over with the depth gauge, I noticed small cracks all over them - hold on, these were new 2 years ago, what's the date on them? Umm, 2003 They're scrap! Time to buy some new ones

Because I don't like changing tyres on the same rims twice a year with the risk of damaging the tyres I'd been thinking about trying some decent all season mud & snow tyres, I know I had a crap time with them on the Navara but maybe they were knackered too. Opinion seems to be Yoko ATs are the ones to go for, so I had a look about and found a place in ZG that were doing them online. Great! No messing about However, as I was ordering them, it suddenly occurred to me that I was seeing any stock levels - they usually say how much stock they have or if they're on order etc. So, smelling a rat, I got the other half to give them a ring. Nobody answered until the next day ( ) and the guy said they could get them but they'd take a few days. He also suggested that we don't order them with a credit card, it'd be better to come down, pay a deposit and we'd save some cash. Ok, they're actually in the multi-storey car park of a shopping centre we'd never been too. Buy tyres and go shopping - sounds like a plan.

When we got there they seemed to be doing a roaring trade and we had to wait a while to get "done" (I choose my words wisely here...). I'd printed out the web page with the tyres on them so the wife wouldn't have to do much translating, she read out the tyre and size off of it, then handed it across and confirmed with the guy that the price marked on it was correct. The guy then asked us to pay for them in full. Umm, ok, I guess. I headed off to find an ATM, came back and was about to hand the reddies over when I asked him one more time "Yokohama AT/S G-0-1-2?" "Oh no, but these are cheaper." WHAT THE F...?? What are they then? Yokohama V902A I hadn't heard of them. "Are they all season?" "Er no, they're winters but you don't want all season tyres because they're a compromise. And these are cheaper" I explained about changing the tyres twice a year and he suggested I just leave the winters on - ffs that's an even worse idea than all seasons!!!

I politely declined. We then went shopping and bought.... cat food

When I got home I checked the V902s out - I hadn't heard of them because I was using SUV and 4x4 as search terms and they hadn't come up because THEY*RE FFFFFFFLIPPING CAR TYRES!

There didn't appear to be anyone in Croatia able to supply these Yokos, so I looked for more recommendations and saw Pirelli Scorpion ATs. Oh yes, they look rather gnarly. Check for them with all the dealers and suppliers and... once more come up empty handed

That was it for the all season 4x4 tyres, apart from Wranglers which I could get but already know from reading forums are rubbish. So I decided to look at just plain winter tyres. I just couldn't find anything recommended so I thought that perhaps the Bridgestones I'd just binned were ok-ish and would look for them. Without success. So, are there any of them? No, not with an H speed rating but there are some Rs, what's wrong with them? I had to explain to the wife what the speed rating was about. "They must be rated the same or higher, like these old ones here.... which are rated... Q"

Sn the end I ended up not looking for anything recommended, just anything at all, and today I had a set of Toyo Open Country W/Ts fitted for near enough 450 quid. And the date on them? 27th week 2011, they're already 2 and a half years old

It's true what they say, all the stuff they can't get rid of in the rest of Europe ends up in Croatia where we pay a premium for it because we don't have any choice.

[steve_earwig]

Sorry, that's a lot to read

Ah well, have a Toyo on the yoyo.


Btw the place I had them fitted is a Ford & Fiat dealer (que? ) I was there for an hour or so and I had a look around for something to do. I see Alfa's got pretty again, although at a distance I couldn't tell the difference between the Giulietta and the Festers. There was a used XC90 for sale on the lot, one misty headlamp and one clear but crazed Interesting brushed aluminium centre console lid with that "oops, I shouldn't have sat on that hold on while I straighten it out again argh I'm just making it worse" look. What I did like the look at was the 607 evec out the back, immaculate with polythene bags all over the seat & steering wheel so I guess it's a customer's. They still look nice, shame neither my wife nor my back would agree

[Welly]

I hate tyre places as a rule, they try to impart their (mostly narrow-minded) views on you in a kinda "well hurry up there's customers waiting" way and you risk driving away with very expensive but sh*t tyres that your stuck with for 3 years

Sounds like you did the right thing though and I wouldn't be bothered about popping tyres off the rims a few times they're pretty tough, they have to be.

£450.00's worth though merry christmas

[steve_earwig]

The "stuck with for 3 years" bit was what I was worrying about the most

I used to go to Advance Tyres in Freezywater because the old boy in there seemed to know what he was talking about, sadly I've not found anyone like that here yet...

That's kind of what Goran says, damage while changing them only really applies to cheap sh*t from Taiwan.

Tell you what though, after all this stupidity I guess I'd better start investigating my summer tyres now

[Welly]

I'm off to the tyre shop this Saturday to get the Winters on (and yet another f*cking alignment since my dubious experience with the rear sussy recently - he 'marked' the rear setting and put it back where it was but it's gotta be out of alignment with new bushes in there.) << longest bracketed statement evAr.

It was 0 deg C this morning and I was inconvenienced by a layer of frostage upon my window screen

[steve_earwig]

I guess how near the rear sussy is depends on how worn the bushes were the last time it was tracked.

[Welly]

I guess how near the rear sussy is depends on how worn the bushes were the last time it was tracked.

Indeed, however last time I had the tyre-swapping (£40.00) they threw in the Hunters alignment for £25.00 - I'd rather pay £25.00 than scrub-out an expensive tyre (and use more fuel as a result) - I've had it before on the back end, N/S/R tyre wore down all by itself and evenly across the tread - it was puzzling but the rear end was 'dragging its feet' as it were.

[GingerMagic]

Hmmm, maybe I should get my cars arse end aligned too - every time I hit a bump or a wet drain cover the car skips to the left slightly..

Maybe do the rear bushes first though as I think I can see daylight through them ( is the bush the one on the end of the curved black bar from rear of back-plate to chassis by rear doors? )

[steve_earwig]

Err, Welly's is a Volvo

If you've got worn bushes hopefully changing them will bring the alignment back (but it still needs checking...)



I usually park the yoyo in exactly the same spot in front of the gate here all the time but I had to move it over so I could get the Pug out for the sump guard fun. Going out to it I noticed something familiar-looking lying on the ground in its usual spot. I've only just got around to checking it - yep, very familiar - http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/ ... ?p=1237323

Oh dear, it's starting to fall apart

[Welly]

Sorry, I don't have their "permission" to even view said pictures