Ask a Shiter

[Cavcraft]

http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=9106030503

No idea if that works soz as on my phone, but that's how I've got the one on the estate set up. I don't like it as much as my other one because the straps to hold it to the car and the ones to hold the bikes on are fiddly. It looks like the side straps are supposed to go on the tailgate but sod that as that area is just glass!
Anyhow the roof ones are shed loads easier as others have said. There seems to be two types of fasteners though, one of which are lots quicker/easier

[Richard]

The link will only work if you delete the "m." from the start. That seems to be the case with mobile versions of most sites.

 

[dollywobbler]

Should the best tyres always be on the back or should they be on the drive wheels?

I thought the former but someone i know insists its the latter. Grateful for advice!

 

As Bollox suggests, this one could run and run. Official guidelines tend to suggest putting fresh rubber on the rear wheels for one simple reason - more grip at the rear means less chance of oversteer. Understeer is generally easier to deal with - you just ease off a bit and hopefully it'll turn in. If you've got poor grip at the rear, doing this will cause the back end to step out.

 

As an aside, putting fresh tyres on the rear of an FWD car makes a lot of sense. You move the rears to the front and spread the wear out. If you just keep putting fresh rubber on the front, there's a good chance that the rear tyres will degrade rather than wear out, which is dangerous in itself.

[SambaS]

This was my mates car he sold it  after being unable to fix the very strange shake it had on tickover, like it was ticking over on 3 or 2, it would rock the whole car about. Any ideas what could cause that? Give it revvs it was fine, and it drove perfect, just wouldn't tickover. And he did Yorkshire to Brighton with it like that.

 

The new owner obvs cant mend it either, and he's on about wanting it back.

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A4-2-5-Tdi-quattro-sport-/111102644328?roken=UpH4Ci

[Mr Lobster]

As Bollox suggests, this one could run and run. Official guidelines tend to suggest putting fresh rubber on the rear wheels for one simple reason - more grip at the rear means less chance of oversteer. Understeer is generally easier to deal with - you just ease off a bit and hopefully it'll turn in. If you've got poor grip at the rear, doing this will cause the back end to step out.

 

 

As I found when I put two snow tyres on the front of mine and had normal tyres on the back, an excess of front grip and corresponding lack of rear grip can keep you very, very alert 

[Albert Ross]

Ref: Grumbly Audi... Coil packs and plugs are a regular thing on these.

[willswitchengage]

Can I pour Coleman petroluem distillates fuel in the tank of my pez powered car? Bought the wrong stuff from Millets innit.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

 

[Junkman]

Can I pour Coleman petroluem distillates fuel in the tank of my pez powered car? Bought the wrong stuff from Millets innit.

 

Try it out in the lawn mower first.

[Cavcraft]

Ref: Grumbly Audi... Coil packs and plugs are a regular thing on these.

 

Not on this one, me old china, it's a diesel.

 

SambaS: these (2.5 diesels) have a rep for expensive fuel pump failures, it's not the first sign of that is it?

 

*Edit: Richard, thank you.

[catsinthewelder]

Home safe,  no fireballs or need to disturb Gary and the kitten is fine

 

 

cheers all

[worldofceri]

...insurance ... chinese lanterns...

In my recent experience no insurer will agree to provide a policy where the policyholder is not the registered keeper.  Hence having two policies on the same car will probably turn out to be impossible.

 

As for chinese lanterns, we've never had another since we had one fly straight into a friend's neighbour's tree, where it continued to burn profusely - on a warm, dry night this was quite worrying, especially as the neighbours in question were a bit nuts and had a large dog.

 

 

Should the best tyres always be on the back or should they be on the drive wheels?

I thought the former but someone i know insists its the latter. Grateful for advice!

 

 

Best tyres should be on the back for safety reasons.  This was demonstrated to me conclusively in a lecture when I was at uni, although I can't remember the science as I have a memory like a sieve.

 

Essentially, a front wheel skid is far easier to control than a rear wheel skid.  If the front breaks traction (understeer) it is generally harmless enough and you can usually ease off the throttle and the tyres will presently grip again.  However, lifting off can cause the rear wheels to skid, and if they do you will more than likely spin the car around and end up in a ditch/hitting a tree/t-boned by oncoming traffic.  This is known as lift-off oversteer and has nearly killed me at least once and is probably the cause of a lot of accidents that are put down simply to excessive speed.  Thus your car should be set up such that understeer is experienced waaaay before the rear tyres are on the limit of traction.  So put the best (grippiest) tyres on the back.

[Mr Lobster]

MOT and windscreen chips -

 

Mazda has a small (1mm at most) chip roughly in front of the steering wheel. Is this a fail?  Can I get Gavin from Autoglass with his special resin or do I just need a new screen?

[wuvvum]

I remember the fun I had in the snow in my Justy which had snow tyres on the front and rather worn normal tyres on the back.  Being 4WD I used to get both power oversteer and lift-off oversteer in that.  Only in the snow though.

 

 

Question:  Is there an effective way of reversing a FWD car up onto ramps, without said ramps buggering off across the car park every time the rear wheels touch them?

[wuvvum]

I think the size limit for windscreen chips at MoT is 10mm.  Don't quote me on that though.

[Sigmund Fraud]

MOT and windscreen chips -

 

Mazda has a small (1mm at most) chip roughly in front of the steering wheel. Is this a fail?  Can I get Gavin from Autoglass with his special resin or do I just need a new screen?

 

For all your MoT queries, check here.

 

As wuvvum said, damage must be smaller than a 10mm circle if it's in the prescribed area.

 

The Autoglass repair may be worth a try, I've used the DIY resin kits off ebay in the past but the results were underwhelming.

[Sigmund Fraud]

Best tyres should be on the back for safety reasons.  This was demonstrated to me conclusively in a lecture when I was at uni, although I can't remember the science as I have a memory like a sieve.

 

 

From my perspective, on a front-wheel-drive car it is the front tyres that are responsible for acceleration, steering and most of the braking. Hence, it makes sense to ensure that the front wheels have the most traction by using the fresh tyres at the front.

 

I agree that this would predispose the car to lift-off oversteer, but I have no fear of this as I am well versed in OMG DRIFT driving techniques*.

 

*Or, rather, I drive too slowly to ever risk breaking traction.

[cobblers]

I once had a MK4 Astra. I got it for free so don't tar me as someone who'd buy one.

 

Anyway I sold it this lad I know who's your usual MK4 astra type owner - his first mod was george cross flags on the numberplate, you know the type. Anyway he got pulled over because the front tyres were 100% bald a week after I sold it him (they were OK when I sold it!) so had to replace them, He put the new ones on the back cos that's what his dad said.

 

On the way back from the tyre place he hammered it round a roundabout, the brand new tyres were still shiny and new and he oversteered up one of those 12" bus stop kerbs and wrote the car off. haha!.

 

Once a tyre is past the first few hundred miles there's fuck all difference in how much grip it has up until it's nearly illegal, unless you're driving on piss wet roads at speed so by that regard I just put new tyres on the end that wears fastest.

[Junkman]

I also got told in one of those advanced driving techniques* training, that even on wrong wheel drive cars, the better tyres go on the back. I can remember they even explained why, but being a mad scientist myself, I also forgot what the actual reason is.

 

Being someone who gives a moist fart about tyres on a general principle, such philosophies are completely lost on me anyway. I did 258 mph (no, this is not a typo) on bicycle tyres up front, and a lot of miles in my life in environments where the good tyres are mounted on the rims that go on the right side of the vehicle.

[hairymel]

 on a front-wheel-drive car it is the front tyres that are responsible for acceleration, steering and most of the braking. Hence, it makes sense to ensure that the front wheels have the most traction by using the fresh tyres at the front.

on a fwd car i would put the good tyres on the front as i corner slowly but brake too hard/late,

 

also you can't suffer from oversteer in snow if you can't get moving.

[worldofceri]

That sounds like one of those questions that gets argued for hours in the pub when really there is no proper answer to it.

Correct, as ever, however, I shall continue.

 

Whilst you may not drive 'spiritedly' enough to break traction in cornering, you never know when you're going to have to perform an emergency stop or take evasive action at speed.

 

If you slam on the anchors and the front wheels skid, you'll just slide gracefully into whatever it is you're trying to avoid.  If your rear wheels skid first, the car will likely perform an elaborate pirouette and you'll hit half a dozen other things as well, both backwards and sideways.  (See posts a couple of pages back about what happens when you deploy the air-handbrake on a Pickfords 7½t'er or a Plaxton Paramount at speed). Brake-bias on all vehicles is set up so that maximum effort is at the front for this very reason, but there's still the possibility you could overcome this fail-safe if, for instance, your front tyres are brand spanking but your rears are fifteen years old because they've never worn out in that time.

 

If you buy a pair of tyres from Costco, I'm told they will only fit them to the rear axle even if it's the existing fronts you're replacing.

[cobblers]

Question:  Is there an effective way of reversing a FWD car up onto ramps, without said ramps buggering off across the car park every time the rear wheels touch them?

 

Bit of a late reply but 2 ways, one I have never tried.

 

Tie some rope to the front of the ramps and trap it under the front tyres to stop the ramps sliding off. I don't own rope so I never tried. If you have a couple of ratchet straps this would probably work even better.

Or if your drive is a complete fuppin mess like mine, just screw the ramps down to the asphalt.

 

TBH I've never found them worth the hassle so my ramps are in the back of the lockup under piles of shit.

[red5]

Deffo new tyres on to the rear -

 

under heavy braking weight distribution shifts to approx 80/20 front to rear - rears are lightly loaded and much more likely to lose grip on either front or rear wheel drive.

 

under 'spirited' cornering/cornering on slippery surfaces the same principle applies to sideways force on the tyre (Slip angle).

 

and one which is influenced by the driver - a change of front tyres from worn to new does change the handling characteristics in one fell swoop, as opposed to the gradual change brought about by the incremental wearing of the steered wheels tyres.

 

Sam.

 

For what its worth I teach this stuff and no-one believes it. 

[willswitchengage]

MOT and windscreen chips -

 

Mazda has a small (1mm at most) chip roughly in front of the steering wheel. Is this a fail?  Can I get Gavin from Autoglass with his special resin or do I just need a new screen?

 

 

I have several much larger ones on both sides and they have only been advisories on the past dozen MOTs. Original oem NSG quality 

[Albert Ross]

I tend to replace sets of tyres.... 4WD and all that, different diameters and "wind-up" through the props makes for expensive motoring. I prefer to use Premium brands like Michelin and Goodyear. Not the shite way, I know.

[Spiny Norman]

Chips on the windscreen in a space within the width of the steering wheel must be no bigger than 10mm across. http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_830.htm

The tyre thing IIRC was demonstrated on either Top or 5th gear once. They mixed a new pair with a pair on the legal limit and with the worn pair on the back the car entertainingly spun off the track.

 

Of course if it was Top Gear then it's wrong and doesn't count because Jeremy Clarkson is a wanker etc....

[The Moog]

I'm going to look at it as it's in my village! It does look crispy - the doors and side steps always go in these and certainly the passenger side door is showing evidence of frilliness. Interesting to see what the box on the back is like - they're aleady hinting at a little damp - damp and wood frames, what can go wrong?

 

Engines are good though - I always liked mine and this does have the advantage of only having a cab that rusts.

Campbell had a poke and it was shagged. Made £530 on the bay which was way above what it is worth.

 

Sent from my BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[messerschmitt owner]

Campbell had a poke and it was shagged. Made £530 on the bay which was way above what it is worth.

 

Sent from my BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps using Tapatalk 2

I did say it was worth the £300!

 

I'm guessing it'll be off with the box on the back and it weighed in for scrap aluminium and then off to Nigeria to become a pick up for some lucky poor sod.

 

I shall report back about it when it moves!!!

 

I would like to say that the handbrake may have been on and that it is sitting on a slope and that the brakes may be seized, with no access to one side!

 

What could go wrong ...

[cobblers]

I'm not mental and looking at buying a towing dolly, but I saw this on gumtree:

 

 

 

So, once there's a car on the back and it's strapped down, how would you be able to go round a corner?

 

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/car-towing-dolly/1022658001#photo-content

[cort16]

The front wheels will be off the ground so it'll just be like towing a caravan with the 2 wheels trailing I guess.