Hey, Argabarga!

[Deserted]

I was thinking of you last night.




Nothing like a blowout at 75 MPH to really get your heart pounding. (It got towed back to base because the driver couldn't get the lug nuts off.)

ETA: The best part of this? It's a loaner cuz "my" van is in the shop with a burnt-out... uh... computer that controls the gear shift. (Put it in drive, won't shift out of 1st gear.) Since the shop was closed (this being about 10 PM) I had to get a loaner on the loaner.

[Buzzard]

Sounds like some nitwit at the shop put the lug nuts on with an airgun and just let the gun chatter a while. It makes getting them back off rather annoying, and can damage the damned studs when they're put on so hard. Still, if it's not your machine, and you don't get dinged for the repairs...

[Deserted]

It's not that. The nuts are chrome and covered by some sort of cap, and they're some odd size to boot. The guy tried a few times, then gave up before he stripped it bare, and told me that he wasn't surprised he couldn't do it, cuz Yeller Cab has a lot of cabs with these things.

[Buzzard]

Caps *should* be removable somehow. Oddball lugs should, again, be removable with tools on board the vehicle. Needing to call a tow truck for a simple flat is a damn waste of money.
Yes, oddball sizes and various locking devices tend to save on theft and such, but tow truck plus time not driving... on top of the cost of the theft-preventer that keeps you from changing the flat to begin with... I'm seriously not seeing the big picture profit here.

[Blue Ginger]

Sounds like some nitwit at the shop put the lug nuts on with an airgun and just let the gun chatter a while. It makes getting them back off rather annoying, and can damage the damned studs when they're put on so hard. Still, if it's not your machine, and you don't get dinged for the repairs...

And this ^ is why my mum (and all of my family) insists that the nuts are tightened by hand.

One place said that if she gets a flat and can't get the nuts undone, they will send someone out to her. Her response still makes me giggle. It was something like: Will you send someone on a 5 hour round trip to come change my tyre? Because if I get a flat near my mum's house, that how far you will need to go? Our car was ready 10 minutes later, after they had loosened that nuts with the gun then tightened them by hand.

[Deserted]

My thoughts on the shop here are quickly turning into fratching material. I mean, some of them seem to know what they're doing. Some. Seem. And I'll leave it at that.

Hopefully I get my van back Monday. I'm still in the 2nd loaner; the one pictured got sent out with another driver before I even woke up.

As for the lug nuts being over-tight... yes, of course. But there's a world of difference between "should" and "is", as we know all too well.

[Buzzard]

As to the shop, I'd start talking with some of the guys there to get a better feel for who knows their crap, and who knows crap. That way, when something needs attention, you *might* be able to get it routed to someone who can actually make it work like it should instead of making repeated visits.