Mr A N Noyed from Brackley

[AndrueC]

Took the car for its service today. Took 'em best part of a day to do it. Anyway they noticed the front tyres were getting worn (<3mm) and they offered to replace them for £140 which isn't too bad. So I asked them to put the new tyres on the rear because that's what I prefer.

Anyway I went to pick the car up and noticed they hadn't done what I asked. But it was too late to complain so I decided I'd live with it. Coming back I got slightly lost (I always do from that side of Northampton) and ended up on the back road that the sat nav prefers.

I hit a hellacious pot hole. Or something. Dunno what really but it was a helluva bang.

Get back home and guess what? The near side tyre has a slash in it. It's on the sidewall just above the (also damaged) rim. I've got no choice but to drive on it for 30 miles as I have an eyetest shortly but first thing tomorrow I get to spend £90 on a new tyre and a wheel alignment test.

If only the dealer had done what I asked I'd only have lost an old(ish) tyre. Although I suppose me being me I'd have replaced them both anyway for symmetry so perhaps this is cheaper. But replacing a tyre after it's only driven 35 miles is annoying.

 I wish my damn sat nav wouldn't keep trying to get me to take that road through Blisworth. Stupid machine.

[Timmon]

Bad luck Andru. Only good thing is that it didn't happen at speed on the A43. And that the tyre stayed up. The gunk stuff we have in the boot would not be much good in that situation. Glad you are OK.

[oldcodger]

Strange, as at most tyre shops they have posters telling you to put your new tyres (pairs) on the rear as a safety issue, wonder why your Toyota dealer did not advise to do that and ignore your request ?

Some consolation , the extra rubber on the new tyre might have absorbed enough of the bang to prevent any more expensive damage to the rest of the suspension.

Thankfully we never use Sat Navs...

[TonyHSD]

What a bad luck , I had similar experience last year on the motorway, I bought a new tyre but the garage who fixed didn’t tell the wheel has been buckled a bit and I only had reimbursement for the tyre and wheel alignment from highway agency, although the garage messed up my car more than they helped so I had to pay myself for another alignment after I made a claim. Stories to tell 🤭 You better claim too, ask the dealer to check the wheels too. 👍
 

[AndrueC]

Well I've booked a trip into my (and @Timmon's) local Tyre Whareouse tomorrow morning. They would have been my choice for the new tyres anyway but the dealer price was surprisingly competitive.

And yes the foam in the boot would not have helped if I'd ripped the side out. Still - my record remains technically unbroken. 34 years without a puncture 🙂

[TonyHSD]

Now I remember when I had my new set of wheels and tyres fitted last spring I had a large nail straight into the new tyres in the first week, was crying and pulling my hair. 😂 

[AndrueC]

The courtesy car was a Yaris. It was okay I suppose but the hybrid system didn't seem very clever. I suppose it has a smaller Battery but basically it wouldn't go into EV mode above 30 mph. Driving back from the dealer I managed a trip mpg of 53. By comparison my Corolla managed a trip mpg of 58.

That also suggests (quite strongly) that forcing your car into EV mode when practical significantly helps fuel consumption.

Still - if I can only get 53 mpg from a small car like a Yaris and 58 mpg from my beloved Corolla there's something strange going on.

[john p williams]

20 minutes ago, AndrueC said:

Well I've booked a trip into my (and @Timmon's) local Tyre Whareouse tomorrow morning. They would have been my choice for the new tyres anyway but the dealer price was surprisingly competitive.

And yes the foam in the boot would not have helped if I'd ripped the side out. Still - my record remains technically unbroken. 34 years without a puncture 🙂

You must report the pothole to your local authority soonest Andrue.

[Mikw]

I sympathise.

I drove my Yaris today, 18 miles around town, got an indicated 81 mpg, brilliant!

Unfortantely smashed into a newly formed pothole not far from home. Probably damaged wheel/tyre/suspension, was a heck of a bang, roads are in a terrible state at the moment.

[Auris James]

I try and avoid them. It's good if you know where they are. Not good if driving in a new area and raining and filled with water! Only, so far had a screw through the very edge. Thankfully only a budget tyre.

I buy Michelin Energy savers for my 1996 Volvo 940 and always buy the Tyre insurance for the reason above!

James👍

[john p williams]

47 minutes ago, Mikw said:

I sympathise.

I drove my Yaris today, 18 miles around town, got an indicated 81 mpg, brilliant!

Unfortantely smashed into a newly formed pothole not far from home. Probably damaged wheel/tyre/suspension, was a heck of a bang, roads are in a terrible state at the moment.

And will remain as Potholes unless you and others report them to your Local Authority Mike.

[Catlover]

You can claim from councils re damage to car via potholes, but you need to report to council and they will want evidence ie photos of pothole and damage, so don’t dispose of the damaged tyre/wheel. Do a search for “(your council name) pothole damage to car” or something like that, and get these bad potholes reported and genuine claims put in. The more claims on a council the more likely they will want to sort out the pothole.

The lock down would have been a good time for road authorities to sort potholes but they claim, maybe genuinely, they been starved of money. My local council is spending 10’s of thousands pounds creating cycle lanes. I don’t mean simply painting lines on a road, but actually digging up verges, laying a base, then tarmaccing. Costing loads. 

[TonyHSD]

That’s right picture of the damage and pothole will be useful, when I claimed last year I read that you should not return to do pictures of the potholes if on motorways or A roads for safety reasons, just note the place and do pictures of the damage plus invoices, I done so and got full payment from highways agency. Another reason why 18” wheels are not the best for the Corolla, 35 tyres are too low, 45 or 55 is much better, tyres are much cheaper and wider choice, the cars doesn’t look bad with smaller wheels these days as manufacturers off set the wheel position outside the hub to match the larger wheels so no ugly looking like back in the days. Corolla GR or Excel with nice 16” wheels will look as good as with 18”, the ultimate size for the car perhaps will be 17”. 

[AndrueC]

I was pleasantly surprised by the cost of mine. 225/40r18 92Y £75 including fitting per corner. Even more surprising the dealer was actually marginally cheaper than my local fitter, albeit only by a couple of quid and they don't do exactly what you ask.

And for the record the car's tracking was absolutely fine. Amazing considering how much of a bang it was.

My Honda Jazz was worse. The top of the range uses a slightly odd 195/50R16 and they cost over £100 each.

[Catlover]

Couple years ago my Prius needed front tyres replacing. The originals were Toyo and were fine for my needs. My Toyota dealer offered a price of £50 each which included everything, fitting, valve, balancing, vat and disposal.  No brainer, I had them fitted over a quiet gap inbetween Xmas and new year.

[olddriver]

21 hours ago, AndrueC said:

I hit a hellacious pot hole. Or something. Dunno what really but it was a helluva bang.

I have an eyetest shortly but first thing tomorrow I get to spend £90 on a new tyre and a wheel alignment test.

Perhaps you should have concentrated more on your driving and kept your eyes on the road, and or got your eyes tested previously.

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, olddriver said:

Perhaps you should have concentrated more on your driving and kept your eyes on the road, and or got your eyes tested previously.

Sometimes potholes can’t be seen due to water, darkness, shadows etc,  or it’s too late to avoid them, in general many other countries has much worse roads but here in Uk we do get bad potholes in a very short time because of the traffic, heavy lorries, salt and a lots of rain. 👍

Here much worse example 

 

[Roy124]

23 hours ago, AndrueC said:

 I wish my damn sat nav wouldn't keep trying to get me to take that road through Blisworth. Stupid machine.

BLISWORTH! I diverted through there a couple of years back and reported the pothole.  I was many others had reported it too.  Have a look at Fix My Street, there was a report earlier this month on the road I used.  You might be able to claim for it.

[AndrueC]

41 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

BLISWORTH! I diverted through there a couple of years back and reported the pothole.  I was many others had reported it too.  Have a look at Fix My Street, there was a report earlier this month on the road I used.  You might be able to claim for it.

Yeah I saw that report. Might be worth a punt although dealing with NCC can be painful. To be honest what I'd really like to work out is why I can never get back from East Northampton (Riverside Retail Park) without getting lost. It's maddening. I'm generally pretty good at navigating and normally once I've driven somewhere I can find it again or get back without needing any help. But while I can drive to the dealership without using the satnav coming back I always get lost.

I think it might be because of the signage. I want the A43 but on a couple of signs they show A45 M1/Oxford (A43) and that throws me. 

https://goo.gl/maps/vCtMzgGDQGkM9eL38

I know that going to the dealership I join the A45 at one point so coming back I know that I need to get off it. But I can never work out when 😞

[Catlover]

Andue, a lot of sat navs allow you to avoid places, or choose the shortest, fastest. Maybe the journey you dont want to do is the shortest (sat nav usually shows the route before you choose). Take a look and see what options you have.

[john p williams]

1 hour ago, Roy124 said:

BLISWORTH! I diverted through there a couple of years back and reported the pothole.  I was many others had reported it too.  Have a look at Fix My Street, there was a report earlier this month on the road I used.  You might be able to claim for it.

If it has been reported many times and reportings can be evidenced, then sue the Authority for the cost of repairing the damage, via the Small Claims Court.

[AndrueC]

1 hour ago, Catlover said:

Andue, a lot of sat navs allow you to avoid places, or choose the shortest, fastest. Maybe the journey you dont want to do is the shortest (sat nav usually shows the route before you choose). Take a look and see what options you have.

Unfortunately the Corolla sat nav has limited options. You can tell it to avoid highways, toll roads, tunnels and ferries. And you can set the default route to be fast, short or eco.

Sadly there is no option to avoid Blisworth 🙂

[Velvet--Glove]

24 minutes ago, AndrueC said:

Unfortunately the Corolla sat nav has limited options. You can tell it to avoid highways, toll roads, tunnels and ferries. And you can set the default route to be fast, short or eco.

Sadly there is no option to avoid Blisworth 🙂

Maybe you could work out where that critical junction is and set it as a waypoint on your route home?

[Mooly]

4 hours ago, olddriver said:

Perhaps you should have concentrated more on your driving and kept your eyes on the road, and or got your eyes tested previously.

I think that's rather harsh tbh. I notice new potholes and surface breakup on roads I use regularly, and these things can appear literally overnight. These are main roads as well.   

[AndrueC]

10 minutes ago, Mooly said:

I think that's rather harsh tbh. I notice new potholes and surface breakup on roads I use regularly, and these things can appear literally overnight. These are main roads as well.   

It was also late afternoon, a cloudless day and at that point I was heading south west so the sun was a bit of a nuisance. But most important was simply that while I do like to keep track of and avoid potholes I don't drive around with my eyes glued to the road surface. That's not a very safe way to drive.