Crappy Audi weekend....

[quk@sievers.com (Phil Payne)]

In message <97May27.141309edt.8066-2@gateway.nwh.org> "Sean Ford" writes:

> and 2) does anyone have any faith in tire repair when fixing a puncture in
> the tread?

This is a kind of an issue with me and BR Motorsport ...
 
As I think I must have said a dozen times or more, BRM is a participatory 
operation.  You take your car in, tell your mechanic what you think is wrong 
with it, and they then tell you what's really wrong with it, how you're driving 
it incorrectly, what's wrong that you haven't even spotted, what you should 
have checked and adjusted and didn't, etc.
 
Generally, you pay a lot of money for a pretty reasonable guilt trip - but you 
come away with the distinct impression that your mechanic thinks a great deal 
more of your car that he does of you.  As your knowledge of the vehicle 
improves, you become more accepted.  They will sometimes even (at least appear 
to) consider your suggestions.

All this is done in the friendliest possible way, and you know these guys care.

To punctures.  Every time I've _EVER_ visited BRM I've taken the opportunity to 
walk around under the car, checking all sorts of things.  It's an ideal time to 
find nails and screws in your tyres ...
 
And on _EVERY_ occasion - I've found a small nail (what we call a "panel pin") 
in the rear left tyre.  And on every occasion, they've gone to a little 2' 
square area reserved for tyre repairs, brought the soapy water brush, painted 
the tyre and pulled the nail out.  Every time - it's blown bubbles.  So I now 
have plugs in all four running tyres and in two of my three spares.
 
A couple of weeks ago, I went in and took a tyre with a screw in it with me.  I 
looked over the car as usual - _NOTHING_!  For a few minutes, I thought I had 
beaten the jinx, perhaps by bringing in a damaged tyre.  Brian Ricketts heard 
the commotion of Tim and Martin both steadfastly refusing to believe I had no 
running tyre damage, and as the hilarity started to wane I suddenly noticed 
that the car on the stand next to mine had a nail in my usual rear left tyre!
 
(It was a VR6, too, with those hideously expensive asymmetric tyres and a 
square nail.)
 
It was some time before order was restored.
 
Anyway, I now have plugs in all four running tyres.  I've watched the BRM guys 
put them in, and I'm fully confident that none of mine are the slightest source 
of concern - all were small punctures, with no sign of the nail/screw "working" 
at the structure, and all were well within the flat part of the tread.  I 
suspect that BRM's ideas of what is repairable and my ideas of what I will 
drive on are similar - if the object is large (more than 3mm), or has moved 
about, or is within 1/2" of the sidewall, then "no way".  Small, rigidly held 
and in the tread body - then I have no problem with a professionally applied 
internal plug.   

And I throw the car about.  All the time.

--
 Phil Payne
 phil@sievers.com
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club