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Original poster

Not to know what whether or not my car has alloy wheels

189 replies

Rascalls3 · 01/07/2014 18:41

Just been told off by the Green Flag operator because I didn't know if my Mini had standard or alloy wheelsBlush Apparently ( he said ) that as I hold a driving licence I should know ALL about my car!!!! Interested to know how many ladies out there know what a alloy wheel is. My lovely car mechanic has told me that I am the proud owner of four alloy wheels!

OP posts:
bigdog888 · 03/07/2014 09:40

*My car has alloys. 18inch Wolfrace alloys, to be precise. it also has low profile run flat tyres (which I know how to change). it also has a 3.2l naturally aspirated V6 engine with an uprated intercooler which pulls 308 bhp and has an average MPG consumption of 29 (if I'm careful!)

I, and many other "ladies", do know quite a bit more about our cars than just how to change a tyre....*

The fail is so strong here. Wolfrace alloys are one of the cheapest/nastiest aftermarket wheels you can get - heavy, cast wheels usually sold in places like halfords for the chav brigade. A naturally aspirated engine does not have an intercooler, uprated or otherwise. You clearly know fuck all about cars!

AnsonsVoyageRoundTheWorld · 03/07/2014 09:46

Wow bigdog You are a right charmer aren't you. Hmm

Did you just come on this thread to be unpleasant. Weird choice, it's hardly the most contentious of threads. Confused

bigdog888 · 03/07/2014 09:51

I'd also be interested in which NA 3.2 V6 can be tuned to 308bhp - Alfa, Merc, VAG, VX or something else? I also have an NA 3.2 which produces more power than that out of the factory. Your fuel consumption is very impressive though, I struggle to get 20mpg.

bigdog888 · 03/07/2014 09:54

Did you just come on this thread to be unpleasant

No, but when you get a know-it-all who knows fuck all, they just have to be told.

AnsonsVoyageRoundTheWorld · 03/07/2014 09:58

Correct people if you want but don't be a smug twat about it.

bigdog888 · 03/07/2014 10:02

It was a smug response to a smug post!

LadyFlumpalot · 03/07/2014 10:08

bigdog888 Mercedes C320 coupe. 53 plate. yes, the alloys are cheap and nasty, can't afford the BBS ones I want, although I'm thinking of changing my car to go more Eurodub. Having some issues with the Cmcat and sensors at the moment, plus the age of the car means my BHP isn't as good as it should be. the car is running lean though so I am getting good MPG!

I do know quite a bit about cars, not as much as I'd like to though!

LadyFlumpalot · 03/07/2014 10:09

And I'm not a smug know it all, thank you very much. Sad

thenightsky · 03/07/2014 10:10

A naturally aspirated engine does not have an intercooler

I was assuming the poster of his had made a typo.

LadyFlumpalot · 03/07/2014 10:13

Sorry, cold air intake. thought they were the same thing. See - I don't know it all! Smile

LadyFlumpalot · 03/07/2014 10:20

Although I am slightly chavtastic so can't argue with your description of my character there. Definitely not a know it all though. if I were a know it all I wouldn't be driving a 14 year old car, I'd know enough to earn enough to be driving a GTR or something!

bigdog888 · 03/07/2014 10:22

I apologise in that case! I'm fascinated to know what you've done to that motor to gain 90bhp! Much more than an induction kit I guess!

LadyFlumpalot · 03/07/2014 10:29

I haven't done anything to it (apart from chav it up a bit), only had it 2 months. The BHP figures I have are from a rolling road printout. I do have my reasons to think they may not be entirely accurate but until I get her to a rolling road myself I can't say how true they are - hence it's the figure I quote. I bought it because it was dirt cheap, is in fantastic condition for it's age and had only done 58k miles.

bigdog888 · 03/07/2014 10:31

Also in case you don't know I wouldn't want to be driving a lean running car! That may not end well! I'd suggest sorting that ASAP

beccajoh · 03/07/2014 10:38

I haven't got a clue if my car has alloys but I can do routine maintenance and know how to change a tyre. Knowing how to do it doesn't mean I can physically do it, though. That's why we have breakdown cover.

LadyFlumpalot · 03/07/2014 10:39

I am doing, thank you. It's proving a tadge tricky to diagnose so in the meantime I'm using my husbands car. I would never put my children in a car that wasn't running right.

bigdog888 · 03/07/2014 10:47

Yeah the last thing you want is a melted/holed piston. Is it running a remap or a standalone ecu?

FraidyCat · 03/07/2014 10:51

Changing a tyre is not a matter of 'mastering a skill'.

That's what I thought (and posted) earlier, I think I must have become brainwashed into thinking it was by the number of posters preening about their wheel-changing skills and looking down on others.

happyyonisleepyyoni · 03/07/2014 11:06

My car doesn't even have a spare tyre, just some bizarre puncture repair kit thingy, so if I have a puncture I'll be calling the AA for a tow.

FyreFly · 03/07/2014 11:35

Oh no! I was never asked to learn changing a tyre during the government-approved driving test because it's not considered standard practice! My driving license and my value as a competant human being are worthless! swoons, hand to forehead

Bollocks. Most cars don't even come with spare tyres now. I know mine doesn't. They might come with optional repair kits (whose usefulness is questionable) or run-flat tyres though. By the time I've taken or had the recovery service take my car to Halfords and paid for a new tyre I'd expect fitting it to be part of the service.

It's all very well saying "but what if a tyre goes whilst you're out on your own on a back road in the arse-end-of-nowhere with no mobile signal and packs of cannibal hillbillies on the loose?", but equally what if the engine conks out on you? Bugger-all you can do then, eh?

There are hundreds of things it's incredibly useful to know when you have a driving licence. But I bet you don't know all of them. I, for instance, know how to treat some quite extreme injuries such as collapsed or puctured lungs, and penetrating head injuries. Both these can be very common in car accidents - every driver should know at least basic first aid but preferably advanced so you know how to treat patients in case they happen upon an accident. What do you mean you don't? Shock wanders off muttering about incomptetant people she has to share the roads with

McBear · 03/07/2014 12:17

I'm with the green flag guy. Cars are big metal boxes that we drive pretty fast. In the wrong hands they're killing machines. We should all know the basics.

In the grand scheme of things, alloys or steels won't make much difference. They're both wheels and both round but it's the principle.

I know how to change a tyre, doesn't mean I'm gonna do it! I drive an old --antique Beemer. Maintenance is key Grin

Watercolourfootballs · 04/07/2014 20:44

Bigdog and WMittens "common among whom" well most people on this thread for a start...

"People who haven't got a clue" Changing a tyre (or if you insist wheel) isn't rocket science, there's no great mystery. You don't have to have a 'clue' in order to be able to change one.

I suggested earlier in the thread that it was a good and sensible thing to be able to do (I like to be self sufficient) but it's not something that requires one to be an automotive expert, so you might want to take the unpleasant superiority down a peg or two.

WMittens · 04/07/2014 22:00

Watercolourfootballs

but it's not something that requires one to be an automotive expert, so you might want to take the unpleasant superiority down a peg or two.

These are in no way purely automotive terms - do you say your pet rodent exercises in a hamster tyre? Do you go on the ferris tyre at a fairground? (Back on the auto theme) do you steer your car with a steering tyre? That gameshow would have been very different if it was the Tyre of Fortune.

Is there anything wrong with being accurate? Learning, expanding knowledge, growing, improving, evolving? Being wrong isn't the problem, choosing to remain wrong and adamantly insisting that's fine, is. It's not like we don't have the most amazing tool in the history of everything for accessing the entirety of the world's combined knowledge at our fingertips.

XiX · 04/07/2014 22:20

It's not difficult to be 'accurate' and to correct people AND to be pleasant about it.

It the being condescending and rude that people have a problem with.

Plus, there is NOTHING wrong with saying changing a tyre, I don't think you were confused by it for a second. You just wanted to show off.

Nicknacky · 04/07/2014 22:53

I was mortified when I had to call the AA to change a tyre. I was on way to work, in my suit when I became aware of a puncture. I began to change the tyre and couldn't get the locking nut off. Neither could the member of the public, guys from my work, my dad.....or the AA man who turned up thinking "jeez a woman in a suit who can't change a tyre". At one point I was getting towed to a garage until he got it off and I was 3 hours late for work. And phoned Audi who immediately loosened the other nuts.

Everyone should know how to change a tyre.