Wheels Rant.

For a while now Elsie has been wobbling at around 60mph and as a result I have been driving at max 55, generally sticking to 45 unless i can go past the shakes at 70mph. Now I thought that if I went 45 for ten minutes then 70 for another ten all the way to Stanford this weekend you'd all go mad and chase me off, let alone being rear-ended several times by unsuspecting lorries and larger vehicles (because lets face it, other than Brum all cars are larger!). Therefore, I thought a nice wheel balancing and tracking session was in order.

This afternoon, I took her into the place and half an hour later, after a nice look underneath on the ramps showing my mini is indeed a mini as it has a rusty subframe, i'd paid my fee and off I went. I took her straight to a stretch of 60 to experience the new smooth ride... or so i hoped. On reaching 52 my feet quivered on the pedals, 54 started the steering wheel going and by 58 my knees were knocking together. At 60mph I felt like the wheels were about to fold inwards and let me take off like a cumbersome airplane so I braked down to thirty (whoops sorry truck behind me) and crawled back to the centre.

Shame faced, because it was 4.50pm and therefore near closing time, I told them the problem was and could they try again. This time the balance weights were put on the outside of the rims, looking rather odd and 'chromey', and each wheel was popped back on Elsie in double time. When it came to the last wheel the guy simply couldn't get any wheel nuts on so after watching him struggle for a while, I offered a hand. We got two on before he exclaimed 'Oh, here's the problem' and showed me a sheared off bolt thingy (that the nuts go onto, can't remember the name) that shone silver showing it was a recent break. He then went on to assure me that I could drive happily to Stanford and back with only three wheel nuts whilst shoving and forcing the remaining few on. All my worried questions on unbalanced strain were shooed aside and he proceeded to do up the other wheel nuts on Mini before hurriedly sending me on my way.

With his words in mind I tested Elsie on the 60mph stretch again and she was back to somewhere near where I first started with a little judder at speed but now there was a rattle too. I went back to the place again to find that as it was 5.30 by now they'd all buggered off home. Dejected, I drove to grandmas (only half a mile from the centre) and spoke to dad who said it was awful to drive with 3 wheel nuts only and i'm lucky the wheel didn't come off on my test runs. On speaking to Harry, he reiterated this and now I am left without a car, having left her outside Grandma's house.

There wasn't much point to this story except to vent some pent up annoyance that someone could go so wrong with just a simple job. We're going to source another 4 bolts to replace that entire wheel and take her to another garage in the morning. Wished i'd come to see Peter in Swaffham now! Anyway, is Dsn the best place to get the parts from? and what on earth could the wobble be due to if a specialist tyre garage can't solve it? As far as i'm aware the ball joints etc are fine. Also, has anyone else ever had something like this happen to them too?

Thanks for reading, sorry it's a little long

Kimi

P.S: on previewing my essay I realise it is a lot long.

new wheel stud will set you back a max £2.50.

I remember seeing a mini on the devon run with only 2 wheel nuts on each wheel lol.

I would say you could get away with a short drive on three, but diff no major runs.

as for the wobble. try 'borrowing' a full set of wheels off your new project mini and see if the problem is still there. if it is then probably best checking your front wheel bearings.

ditto "craig"

If you can get it to mine in the morning ill have a look at it for you and ill probs have some studs i can nick of another hub to get you going again

Hey Leigh, I think we are just going to have to go in my car instead as Kimi and I are both working tomorrow and the mini is in Fakenham. It's so annoying it happened so close to Stanford but at least we can still go I guess. Will have to get the studs at Stanford as I guess they will be cheap there. How I wish my mini was insured just for a few more days