Stranded
We were stranded and it was midday on a Saturday with a big rugby match scheduled and everything closing.
The AA plays dumb
We took out the phones and phoned AA. I have been a member of AA for over 25 years and never used them. They even sent me a long service certificate. The operator asked where I was and then asked for my ID and membership number. They could find no trace of me on their system. Sorry they cannot help me! They left me stranded. When I begged them for a phone number for whoever they would refer us to they gave me a Joberg number. We were in the Free State. Sorry they said that is the only recovery they use. Goodness knows how long that would have taken, maybe we had a lucky break when they refused to recognise us.
When I got home after the trip I checked and found they were still taking a monthly membership debit from my account. I phoned them. Oh yes they say, I am a member. No there is no problem. They could not understand why they could not help me. I resigned.
We break the wheel studs again
Wheel studs are made of relatively soft metal, not high tension steel. The stud and wheel rim sort of wear and fit each other. So you need to tighten them correctly. We phoned a garage in the next town and an hour later an old truck pitched up. Oom Piet and his side kick climbed out. He took a look, said something unintelligible and drove off, returning 2 hours later with the studs. We were sitting by the road drinking tea and watching the sun go down. He calmly hammered the broken ones out and pulled the new ones in. We were amazed at how easy he made it look and we followed him into town to pay him. After 4 hours and counting by the side of the road it was time for a cheap motel and a cheeseburger dinner.
We were lucky it was a back wheel. The front wheel studs are different form the rear and you need to undo the front wheel assembly to replace the studs. It is possible on the side of the road if you know what you are doing but a bit more tricky. Mind you when the cause of the tyre carnage is being overweight then 9 times out of 10 its the overloaded back wheel that bursts.
The next puncture found us anxious not to repeat our mistakes. I sent Emily (50 kg soaking wet) to tighten the wheel nuts to make sure and she ran and jumped on the wheel spanner with rather misplaced enthusiasm. She snapped the stud off by over tightening. We were mortified and drove very carefully 500 kilometres to Namibia where it was replaced. We now carry rear and front studs.
The best way to tighten wheel nuts is with a torque wrench, set to 125 newton force. That way you cannot over or under tighten them. My wheel spanner is a torque wrench.
How not to plug a tyre
We always carry tyre repair kits. We were at the top Van Zyl's pass in Namibia by ourselves, although about to team up with people we had just met who are now lifelong friends. We had 4 tyres on the vehicle and no working spares. Van Zyl's is not a place for a car without its full tyre capacity. I took out the plugs and plugged the tyre with the smallest stone cut. It held so we now had a spare tyre to go down the pass. We eventually got about a 1000 kilometres out of these plugs. Enough to get us to a place to buy another tyre.
Tyre plugs work well for thorns and nails but no much else. Stone cuts in the tyre usually need to be scrapped, even gaters and patches bulge and are, at best, temporary fixes, not permanent. If you are driving by yourself in remote areas, tyres are everything. Take the best you can.
Silly reason to have a puncture
Our experience recently has been a slow tyre leak from the metal wheel rim cutting into the nipple and damaging the valve so you can have a puncture with a perfectly good tyre. This is usually from sloppy workmanship when they are replacing the tyre on the rim at the workshop.
I now check that a new nipple is fitted every time a tyre is changed. Some tyre places do not do this.
The AA plays dumb
We took out the phones and phoned AA. I have been a member of AA for over 25 years and never used them. They even sent me a long service certificate. The operator asked where I was and then asked for my ID and membership number. They could find no trace of me on their system. Sorry they cannot help me! They left me stranded. When I begged them for a phone number for whoever they would refer us to they gave me a Joberg number. We were in the Free State. Sorry they said that is the only recovery they use. Goodness knows how long that would have taken, maybe we had a lucky break when they refused to recognise us.
When I got home after the trip I checked and found they were still taking a monthly membership debit from my account. I phoned them. Oh yes they say, I am a member. No there is no problem. They could not understand why they could not help me. I resigned.
We break the wheel studs again
Wheel studs are made of relatively soft metal, not high tension steel. The stud and wheel rim sort of wear and fit each other. So you need to tighten them correctly. We phoned a garage in the next town and an hour later an old truck pitched up. Oom Piet and his side kick climbed out. He took a look, said something unintelligible and drove off, returning 2 hours later with the studs. We were sitting by the road drinking tea and watching the sun go down. He calmly hammered the broken ones out and pulled the new ones in. We were amazed at how easy he made it look and we followed him into town to pay him. After 4 hours and counting by the side of the road it was time for a cheap motel and a cheeseburger dinner.
We were lucky it was a back wheel. The front wheel studs are different form the rear and you need to undo the front wheel assembly to replace the studs. It is possible on the side of the road if you know what you are doing but a bit more tricky. Mind you when the cause of the tyre carnage is being overweight then 9 times out of 10 its the overloaded back wheel that bursts.
The next puncture found us anxious not to repeat our mistakes. I sent Emily (50 kg soaking wet) to tighten the wheel nuts to make sure and she ran and jumped on the wheel spanner with rather misplaced enthusiasm. She snapped the stud off by over tightening. We were mortified and drove very carefully 500 kilometres to Namibia where it was replaced. We now carry rear and front studs.
The best way to tighten wheel nuts is with a torque wrench, set to 125 newton force. That way you cannot over or under tighten them. My wheel spanner is a torque wrench.
How not to plug a tyre
We always carry tyre repair kits. We were at the top Van Zyl's pass in Namibia by ourselves, although about to team up with people we had just met who are now lifelong friends. We had 4 tyres on the vehicle and no working spares. Van Zyl's is not a place for a car without its full tyre capacity. I took out the plugs and plugged the tyre with the smallest stone cut. It held so we now had a spare tyre to go down the pass. We eventually got about a 1000 kilometres out of these plugs. Enough to get us to a place to buy another tyre.
Tyre plugs work well for thorns and nails but no much else. Stone cuts in the tyre usually need to be scrapped, even gaters and patches bulge and are, at best, temporary fixes, not permanent. If you are driving by yourself in remote areas, tyres are everything. Take the best you can.
Silly reason to have a puncture
Our experience recently has been a slow tyre leak from the metal wheel rim cutting into the nipple and damaging the valve so you can have a puncture with a perfectly good tyre. This is usually from sloppy workmanship when they are replacing the tyre on the rim at the workshop.
I now check that a new nipple is fitted every time a tyre is changed. Some tyre places do not do this.