My new Tyre & failed boiler tale (1 Viewer)

Mar 29, 2011
961
639
Rugby UK
Funster No
15,848
MH
C Class RS
Exp
2011
Sorry it’s a long tale !!

We were needing six new tyres because, even though only one of them is showing a slight crack, they were seven years old and having had a Michelin go at seven years old on my T5, I decided to change them.

Always excellent advice on here so I contacted two or three people and finished up with E Tyres – that’s after ascertaining that no-one had six camping tyres in stock of either brand with the rating and size I wanted. Tom from E Tyres told me that their regular suppliers didn’t have any but they would bring in Michelin camping tyres from Germany, which was a result and for a change something was going to go right for me, I also decided, having had them on my caravans before, that I would fit Tyron bands as well. The fitting date arrived, one of their independent operators was driving a brand new XLB Sprinter, fully fitted inside, very impressive! That was until he looked at my van. Firstly, he didn’t know how to take the Euroliner trims off and when he did he said that the hole in the wheel was too big. He then asked me how heavy the van was as nobody had told him it was an Iveco chassis. I told him 5.2 tonnes, to which he replied that he wasn’t insured to fit anything over 3.5 tonnes and neither were any of their other fitters.

This left him with a bit of a problem – he couldn’t fit the tyres for both reasons and it appears that he was stuck with six of them, made worse for him because both the weight and model etc were fully explained to Tom from E Tyres when I ordered them. So they then proceeded to ask whether I would like to buy them as they were!

He was a really nice guy, so I got on the telephone and found that indeed Ivecos are a bit different, having a bigger hole in the wheel centre, so it took me three phone calls before I found a tyre fitting centre who had the necessary blank for the hole in the middle so that they could be balanced and also had the necessary equipment to fit Tyron bands. They were quite good on the deal they gave me and in fact I ended up making a slight profit on the deal after paying HighQ tyres £20 each to fit them, which I didn’t think was bad considering I was there for two and a half hours having them fitted.I was lucky finding highQ as they had the contract to do all the Police vehicles in Coventry and on the Police fleet are several 4.5 ton Iveco’s with the same running gear.

Yes, I would use E Tyres again and I’m sure that if their fitters do do anything over 3.5 tonnes, it’s probably easier for them because on FWD chassis its more of a straightforward job and they can balance the wheels as the centre is a regular size!

Prior to this, I had problems with my Truma water heater which is gas and electric. It was taking me up to six times to get it lit and it would usually heat up then stop again. So off I went to see Paul from Northampton Motorhome Services who had it in and out twice to try to trace the fault. He changed two things on it with the used ones he had and it worked at first then faulted out again. So it really needed bench testing which he didn’t have the facility to do. During this time, he was talking to the technicians at Truma UK to try to solve the problem and he suggested that I book it in with them and go to Derby to their main workshops, which I duly did. I only had to wait for about ten days and I was in. What a great place – two immaculate service bays, more like operating theatres than anything, they put me in the staff restaurant with lots of free coffee and whipped it out to test it. I was pleased to hear them saying that Paul had done an excellent job in replacing it back when he’d put it back in. Anyway, the board had gone, I was there for two hours, left £200+ lighter but the important thing was that the fault was identified, it was fixed and I had a guarantee on it too. The hourly rate was reasonable and I did ask them if they generally took service jobs on the boilers and he said that they try to avoid it by pointing people instead to their service dealers. But he did understand that there was a problem with some because he had heard that there were people waiting for up to three months for an appointment, which is probably about true.

Well, I thought that was all my problems but it never ends with motor homes as we read a lot about what happens on here. I now have the electric step-out warning going while I’m driving along even though the step is in and … the fridge freezer has decided not to run on 12 volt, so when I drive along now it’s running on gas. I haven’t located a fuse yet but I’m sure there is one although I did search to see how much a new step warning buzzer switch was – a little tiny black switch situated just underneath the top of the step looks to be worth about £2 from China – and they want nearly £50 with postage, that of course if you can find anybody who actually has one. I think I’ll just disconnect the warning buzzer if it’s not a fuse!

It’s a good job that we use our van a lot. We’re off to Anglesey tomorrow where my wife is taking a training seminar all next week so I’m hoping it doesn’t pour down with rain on us as well and of course that I do not have to drive all the way with the step out warning buzzer going !! .
 
Feb 24, 2013
12,991
101,181
Bolsover, Derbyshire
Funster No
24,833
MH
Hymer S800
Exp
not long enough
Great read, thanks for sharing, we had a similar issue with our step warning buzzer but it was integrated with the controller, a tea towel wrapped round it helped a lot and the radio turned up!! We had ours looked at, I couldn't even find it! it cleaned up and got resealed, been fine all year, so far. (y)
 
OP
OP
TheDogMan
Mar 29, 2011
961
639
Rugby UK
Funster No
15,848
MH
C Class RS
Exp
2011
I should put an addition on this, the originals were Michelin commercial tyres and there has been a marked improvement in both noise, comfort and the bump when I go over ridges in the road surface with the new camping ones, I am really pleased I had camping tyres put on it

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