The Big Lap!

[ktford]

bdennis,

great to see things are going well on your trip. Even better to see another auto car eating up towing time with your van on board. Enjoy the rest of the trip, do what "macktheknife" says. Get that trailer off & let her rip in all that open country.

Scotty

[bdennis]

Hey Guys / Girls.

Just thought I would update you all again..

What can I say.. Had a bad couple of days.

Hole in side of road 1, 17" alloy rim Nil!.

I was in Litchfield national park (150km suth of Darwin at the Buley water holes - Nice spot!).

There is a narrow tar road leading down to the car park (not towing the van).

Had a nice swim then decided to go to the next place. Was driving out along this windy road at about 60-70km/h.

Got a little too close to the inside of the corner where there was a fair size hole (at the edge of the tar).

Bang... Bang... as the car hits the holes on the left.. Then grind, grind, grind from the back of the car....

Oh SH!T.. (plus others!) I said to the wife!!!..

Expecting to have punctured / ripped a tyre. I pull over, Only to find that all 4 tyres are still inflated..!

I asked the wife to get in and drive the car slowly forward. I found that the rear left 17"" wheel had a buckle in it large enough

to be hitting the IRS control arm... Oh Sh!t..

So time to get one of my sheel wheel spares out and remove the stuffed one.. I also found small cuts in the side wall of the tyre.

Not happy Jan!!

As we were in the middle of nowhere! and in north NT with at least 10,000km of towing a 12ft van to be done a new 17" wheel was needed.

I then made my way to the nearest pay phone at Wangi falls (30km away).

I reached the phone and made a call to the Ford Dealer in Katherine, (Jalyn Ford) and spoke to the spare parts guys.

they advised that they did not have one on stock and the Darwin dealer did not have one either. The closest dealer that had one in

stock was Adelaide. (this is Monday afternoon at 4:50PM - Central Darwin non daylight saving time! - Adelaide guys had gone home!)

I was left with no choice but to order one. I was advised that it would take until Friday for it to arrive..

(Darwin was going to take longer! plus was in the wrong direction)

I called the Katherine Beaurepaires (4:55pm) to be advised that they have 8 x Dunlop Sp3000A's in stock. (well you win some, some times)

I called Michael and Sean in Darwin (Xr forum) just to see if they had ordered their cars with a spare Alloy wheel. But unfortunately they had not. (thanks for your help guys!!)

So it was off to Katherine by Thursday. We arrived in Katherine on Wednesday arvo and dropped into the Katherine dealer on Thursday morning at 10:00

as this is when the new wheel was to be delivered from Adelaide... But alas.. Foiled agian. It did not arrive and was still at the couriers

in Adelaide.. It would not arrive until the following Monday.. Oh Bugger!.

I then had a few kind words to the parts guy (who then spoke to the francise manager) at Jalyn Ford, I convinced them that it was a good idea to give me a

new wheel and tyre from a White XR6 N/A that is was on the lot while they wait for the new rim to come from Adelaide.

So a big thanks to Jalyn Ford for getting me out of a bind!..

It was then off to the local Beaurepaires store to get the new wheel and tyre transfered from the new White XR6 to my car.

I also asked them to check the other front left wheel and tyre to make sure that that tyre and tie rod ends were OK.

They found that the front left Sp3000A also had small cuts in the side walls also. (tie rod ends / sway bar mounts were OK)

They then also checked the remaining 2 Sp3000A tyres that were left on the car.

We found that the other front right tyre also had cuts in the side wall but the right rear was OK.

Up until this point we had not been on any dirt roads this far on our trip and I had been running the tyre pressures up around the 38 to 42 KPI.

So we believe that the cuts in the side walls of all 3 tyres were due to faulty tyres. The pot hole that I hit had made the back left tyre worse than

the others.

It was agreed that I would pay full price for 1 tyre and wear usage for the other 2 (they had done 25,000km this far).

So after all this rambling I now have 1 new rim and 3 new tyres (sp3000A's) One rim and tyre for the Xr6 N/A and 2 other new ones. When the new rim comes in at the

dealer they will go and get the 3rd new tyre fitted and put back on the floor stock car (currently sitting there with the steal spare on the back!!!)

So now down to cost...

1 x 17" BA XR6 rim from Ford $583

1 x new SP3000A tyre to replace the damaged one $259 inc fitting!

2 x new SP3000A tyres to replace the other 2 tyres that had cuts in the side walls under warranty, less usage $259 all up..

So one pot hole on the side of the road has cost $1101. - Oh well back to the lease company I go!!!

So all of a sudden the $380 for the additional spare alloy wheel and tyre does not seem so bad!

Can I suggest that you guys with the standard Sp3000A tyres check check the side walls for cracks (mainly the ones with big K's on them) on both

the inside and outside walls of the tyres. The guys at beaurepaires advised that they had not see this before but it would pay to check.

None of my tyres broke down or seperated but they could!!

I dont want to start a frenzy re this issue but would like to know if anyone else has had or can see the problem starting!!!

I have attached photos of the cracks in the side walls for you to see. You will need to check closely!!

Oh well..

Back on the road again. Off to Kununurra and Broome this week!..

Keep on motoring!

Regards

Brendan.

The wheel... (ouch!)

[bdennis]

gash in tyre.. May or may not have been from the hole I hit as this tyre also has other cuts around it. (not near the impact site!)

[bdennis]

one of thew other tyres where there are cuts in the side wall!!!

[bdennis]

poor old Phantom looks crap with the steel wheel on it!!!!

[ktford]

bdennis,

goog to see you are away again. What a pain towing trips can be. Tyres we take for granted, you've probably damaged them prior to leaving if you believe you've avoided all holes on your journey thus far, barring of course that final dousy.

Scotty

[ktford]

$259 fitted for that tyre is an excellent price. $254 is the best I've come across, in my recent investigations in the Redlands, as I'm within sight of needing 4 newies. So to be all the way where you are you can rest that you've gotten an honest deal on your new bag.

Scotty

[DavoWA]

Hey BDennis, sorry to hear the bad news.

I did my 2 left 17" alloys on my Jag a few months back under the same conditions.

We have a place here in Perth that can repair such damage. My 2 Jag wheels cost $170 each to repair, better than $600 each for new ones, so when you're in town you can get the other one fixed if you like.

The crowd that fix them are Alliance Rim Repairs in Northbridge. Phone 08 93288373, fax 08 93288463, mobile 0411 150 019, email - rmrepair@tpg.com.au.

See you when you get here

[Macktheknife]

Hey BD,

Yeah, stuff like that you can surely do without.

However its all the experiences, good and bad that make up the total trip.

Hope the going gets smoother as you progress.

ATB.

[rjn]

Sorry to hear about the extra cost and time delay to you trip but good to see you got it sorted out nicely.

Just a quick thought though, I'm not a 100% sure but isn't the std spare a 16" wheel? If this was put onto the back of the car would this make the diff work a little harder I.e. in your case travelling in a more or less straight line would the left side of the diff turn alot more than the right?

Or is the tyre fitted to the 16" spare a slightly higher profile so that the circumference of the 16" wheel and tyre is the same as the 17" wheel and tyre??

Not sure........