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My car was fine, nice clean inspection report, until just as they were finishing, they noticed Tyre Pressure Warning on n/s Rear. I couldnt understand it as there had been no warning while out driving...
As the one-site Dunlop guys were packing up, they pumped up the tyre to 30psi and I set off home. However, by the Silverstone exit it was already down to 27psi so I went back to see whether the Dunlop guys could help. Half-packed up they explained they were there for tyre fitting only and if I wanted one I'd have to go back to NMGB to get it authorised..
After a bit more discussion, they suggested adding more air as a get me home measure, so they pumped it up to 48psi!!
A steady journey home found me parking it up at 36psi so a better than expected run. I was working next day so next evenin found it was down to 26psi. Pumped it up to 35psi, ready to sort on Friday morning when I found it had gone to zero overnight!! Pumped it back up to 45psi and set off gingerley for the 40 mile run to Micheldever tyres. Lo and behold, it didnt go down at all on that run!!
Now it gets confusing. MT looked at it (in the recpetion queue) and said it had a large split and would need a new tyre. Offered to examine it further but as they cant get the Dunlops, I decided to proceed down to Westover and book it in early for its service the following Wednesday!
Another 50 miles and it still hadnt lost any pressure, so checked it in with Westover, and asked for a lift to the Station to get home (where I already had a Westover courtesy car in lieu of the 350Z having cosmetic surgery). Gerard disappeared and came back and said, I'm awfully sorry, we're short of cars at the moment, but I can find you a Micra. I said a lift to the station would be good, but while they were trying to sort that (they were very busy and short of drivers too!) there was a little discussion and then they offered me a Qashqai until the service was complete the following week. So I drove away in a QQ with 300 miles on the clock and became a two courtesy car household!
On the Wednesday, the Techinician, Darren phoned to say that a) they couldnt get hold of any Dunlops at the mo (all used up at Silverstone?) but
I had only a small puncture in the middle of the tread. So I drove down and elected to get the puncture repaired while Darren did the service, and drove away with just a quote for a set of tyres!Why did MT think the tyre was split? I think they saw a lip of rubber pickup on the inner edge from the track at Silverstone. As I driven home I'd heard long strips of rubber hitting the wheel arches and even a week later the amount of picked-up rubber on the tread was amazing - good for an extra thousand miles I reckon...
