First puncture for over 20 years in my S3

[prt57]

Hi, on checking the tyre pressures on my S3 I found that the rear passenger tyre was down by about 6psi.
A close inspection revealed a nail head poking out between the tread near the edge if the tyre. I pulled it with a pair of pliers and I heard the hiss of air.
Why did it have to be the S3, why not our GTI 1.8T that needs a pair of rear tyres or even my 19 year old Nova runaround.
I dread the thought of having kwik fit etc ruining the rim as they have done in the past.
So I rang up my local Audi garage to see if they could fix it for me. I had the wheel off so I took it down for them to have a look. The nail was too near to the edge of the tread for a repair so it was time to order a new tyre.
I made it very obvious that I expected a perfect job and that my pristine alloy wheel was not to be damaged. They assured me that there would be no problem so the wheel is going in tomorrow for the job to be done.
I will reinforce about no damage to the rim and hopefully they will do a perfect job. I know that I will be paying more that your normal tyre place but I am looking for no issues what so ever.
On the other hand if they damage the rim will I be able to claim for a replacement?
Fingers crossed!!
prt

 

[stevec]

My experience is that all Audi garages subcontract the work of tyre fitting out to a third party. If you are lucky then they will do a good job as they see a lot of Audi’s.

My experience if damage to alloys on my last S3 of 5 1/2 years was that most tyre fitters do a good job, best thing is to watch them as the process they follow varies considerably.

The problem I noted after 5 years was nothing to do with tyre fitting or the alloy rims, nor stick on weights, the issue was the underside of the car where all garages failed to use the correct block type and so bent the seam where the sills met the floor pan which got bent over by the mechanics.

Worth taking a look after the tyres have been changed.

My current S3 tyres seem to be wearing about the same as the last ones were, just a bit quicker at the moment as under 4K, am still doing too much welly round corners...

 

[Staz]

Yeah I went to bedford audi recently for a tyre rebalance and they said it'd be best to go to the tyre place they use direct. They were very good. No problems. And cheap!

 

[steve184]

might seem ott but put it in writing to them that any damage however slight - you will not accept a 50 quid repair but you will require a brand new £300+ wheel) they will know you are serious then. repaired paint on wheels aswell as bodywork is never as good as the original and will not last

 

[rich1068]

Like the others, I prefer the 'standing there, glaring' approach rather than just leaving a wheel with them.

I always find it odd that so many tyre 'specialists' don't use the plastic coated attachment for the air gun. Metal scratches, plastic doesn't.

 

[Staz]

plastic doesn't.

That's not true.

I scratched my hand on a dvd case yesterday.

 

[prt57]

The saga continues:
I took the wheel to the Audi garage this morning at the allocated time and reinforced about the good job that I was expecting. I sat down to wait along with some work to pass the time.
After about an hour the service chap comes across to say that there is a problem. The tyre that I ordered had arrived and had been sold to someone else on Saturday by mistake!!
They were now looking for another tyre to match on a new car which they would take off. A new tyre could not be found and it would take until Thursday to locate exactly the same tyre.
Apparently the tyres on my 5 month old car have been discontinued. (Conti sport 2)
This is starting to be a pain in the **** !!!

prt

 

[JamS3]

Thats news to me....

Or they might say that thinking you don't know much about them to try and bluff you off...

 

[prt57]

Got it sorted at last!
But not without a struggle. Thursday afternoon came and I had a call to say that my S3 wheel was ready for collection. Couldn't make it on Thurs so went on Friday pm. The wheel was in the service manager's office, the outside face looked super, no marks. I turned it to look at the back to find in horror that the edge of the rim had been damaged by the trye fitter in a fairly major way. Right down to the alloy in places!!
I made it fairly obvious that I was somewhat unhappy, especially as I had come to the Audi garage to avoid this very thing. Out comes the boss of service who had booked the wheel in on Tuesday and he appreciated that the job had been done badly.
So my new tyre was sitting on a knackered rim ( I know you can't see the back but once the laquer is broken, in gets the water and oxidation takes place)
I thought that he was going to suggest that the rim was refinished so before this was suggested I stressed that a new wheel was required. The chap agreed and so I left leaving him to sort it out. I would have been happy to have a wheel from another new S3 but all of the stock had Michelin tyres on, not my Conti Sport 2.
After getting home the phone went and they had just had a delivery of another S3 that was going to be used as a demo and it had the Conti Sport 2 tyres on. They would give me one of the wheels + tyre on already fitted.
I went to inspect this morning and phew it was OK!!

My big dilemma is where to go for new tyres where they really will do a fantastic job. I can't go through all this again!!

Chers prt