After reading all the negative posts about build quality of new vans I thought this thread might interest members. Being an old school type of guy I thought that I'd ''rotate'' the spare wheel on our new Avan with the wheels already on the van to get even tyre wear.The spare wheel is housed in a lockable plastic cowling out of sight. Before setting out on our first few trips I just removed the cowling & checked the pressure in the spares tyre without removing it from its mounting. After a few trips I decided to swap the spare for the left-hand side wheel on the van while at home in our driveway. I tried to fit it but to my to my surprise it didn't fit even though it was the same diameter rim. Instead of 5 stud holes it had 6 stud holes. I took it back to our local Avan dealer where we'd bought our van new & swapped it for the correct rim off another van. Obviously a factory ''stuff up''. THE LESSON IS, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE CORRECT SPARE WHEEL BEFORE SETTING OFF ON YOUR FIRST TRIP! I still shudder to think what would have happened if we'd got a flat tyre on the Barrier Hwy between Cobar & Broken Hill on a 40 degree day, hundreds of kilometers from help with no phone reception!
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Cheers Desert Dweller.
Our land abounds in Natures gifts. Of beauty rich and rare.
You would do what I would do. Crack a Frothy or two While you wait for Mum to return with the goods.
Seroiusly Keith I know what your saying.
We had five new tyres fitted to our Parado before out 2008 trip around the gulf of Carpenterrier on the Savanria Way.
We did not get a flat or blowout. On our return we had the tyres rotated. The wheel nuts on the front left had three cross threaded and one completly seized. The same people who fitted the tyres denied all responsibility and charged us back then, $140 to replace the wheel nuts / Studs.
If we had lost that tyre we would have been on a flat top recovery.$$$$$$$$
Jim
-- Edited by Hey Jim on Wednesday 23rd of March 2016 06:53:40 PM
