New goodies.....
- Thread starter Palmball
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Palmball
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Well, here is the vibrating old girl in all her glory....this is currently the only state that I'm enjoying it at the minute....stood still!
From this angle, it's far more satisfying with the wheels sitting a little further out a giving a much less 'tucked-under' look....
Although this picture doesn't highlight it well, the car does have a wider stance now and looks less over-bodied....
Even the centre caps have a lovely 'turned aluminium' look (although they are plastic!)....
It's just a shame that it now drives so sh!t and it's a fair point raised that the wider track could do with aligning again...but then I've never known alignment issues to cause vibration?? It'll be going to Graypaul with the instruction to fix it before they even attempt to give it back. I'll pay for the alignment and for the tyres to be refitted but other than that everything else should be up to them to fix and pay for as I bought everything except the tyres from them!
From this angle, it's far more satisfying with the wheels sitting a little further out a giving a much less 'tucked-under' look....
Although this picture doesn't highlight it well, the car does have a wider stance now and looks less over-bodied....
Even the centre caps have a lovely 'turned aluminium' look (although they are plastic!)....
It's just a shame that it now drives so sh!t and it's a fair point raised that the wider track could do with aligning again...but then I've never known alignment issues to cause vibration?? It'll be going to Graypaul with the instruction to fix it before they even attempt to give it back. I'll pay for the alignment and for the tyres to be refitted but other than that everything else should be up to them to fix and pay for as I bought everything except the tyres from them!
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Palmball
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Dem - I have a garage but I just park it on the driveway. Too much hassle putting it in and taking it out everytime and my garage has other stuff in it like 3 massive filing cabinets full of about 3-4000 car brochures from 1990 onwards). Anyway, the old heap doesn't deserve even the driveway at the minute 
Palmball
New Member
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Yeah, it's fine on the drive....if someone wants it, they're welcome to it!
Interestingly, I weighed the new wheels before the tyres went on and have just weighed the old wheels (again, without tyres as these had to be removed to get to the pressure sensors off). The specs are as follows which is not the same weight saving that Maserati claim (I think they claimed something like 15kg across all four wheels). However, one aspect of the drive that is good is the ride which is noticeably better - not sure whether this is down to the nominal 4kg saving across all four wheels or because the tyres are now marginally higher in profile (and I mean marginally....they're new for a start and they also a 35 profile tyre of a 10mm wider tyre meaning a 3.5mm bigger sidewall)
Front
Old 13.8kg
New 13.0kg
Offset on both et52
Rear
Old 16.0kg
New 14.8kg
Offset on both et37.5
As the offsets are the same, I assume this does mean that all the extra 1" width is all on the outer side of the hub? Please correct me if I'm wrong there!
Interestingly, I weighed the new wheels before the tyres went on and have just weighed the old wheels (again, without tyres as these had to be removed to get to the pressure sensors off). The specs are as follows which is not the same weight saving that Maserati claim (I think they claimed something like 15kg across all four wheels). However, one aspect of the drive that is good is the ride which is noticeably better - not sure whether this is down to the nominal 4kg saving across all four wheels or because the tyres are now marginally higher in profile (and I mean marginally....they're new for a start and they also a 35 profile tyre of a 10mm wider tyre meaning a 3.5mm bigger sidewall)
Front
Old 13.8kg
New 13.0kg
Offset on both et52
Rear
Old 16.0kg
New 14.8kg
Offset on both et37.5
As the offsets are the same, I assume this does mean that all the extra 1" width is all on the outer side of the hub? Please correct me if I'm wrong there!
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GransportFan1
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Pop the GTS round my house tonight, i will look after it.
Palmball
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Its official....Kwik Fit are sh!t!
I'm off on holiday today so have left the car at Graypaul for them to see to the vibration and a few other niggles (such as peeling trim on one of the rear panels and a new passenger door armrest - my other half's father managed to put his elbow through it when he leant on it to hard!). However, to settle my mind before I went away, they put the wheels on their balancing machine to see how bad they were. Despite two Kwik Fit's attempting to balance the wheels, the margin by which they were out is incredible - over 107g on two of the wheels! The weights weren't even stuck on in the right place across the width of the wheel! They rebalanced them and sent me off to try it and low and behold, up to the speeds I managed to get it to (which was more than the point where the steering column was shaking previously) there was no vibration! Thanks the Lord above....I'm happy and can relax now!
Interestingly they said that Kwik Fit hadn't even put any care into how they fitted the tyre to the rim as the wheels needed a LOT of balancing weights....apparently wheels and tyres have heavy/light and high/low spots that should be taken into account when fitting a tyre to a wheel. This hadn't been done hence the need for so many weights so they're going to refit the tyres properly for me. Lesson learnt - even if Sh!t Fit are cheapest, spend a few more quid and go elsewhere!
I'm off on holiday today so have left the car at Graypaul for them to see to the vibration and a few other niggles (such as peeling trim on one of the rear panels and a new passenger door armrest - my other half's father managed to put his elbow through it when he leant on it to hard!). However, to settle my mind before I went away, they put the wheels on their balancing machine to see how bad they were. Despite two Kwik Fit's attempting to balance the wheels, the margin by which they were out is incredible - over 107g on two of the wheels! The weights weren't even stuck on in the right place across the width of the wheel! They rebalanced them and sent me off to try it and low and behold, up to the speeds I managed to get it to (which was more than the point where the steering column was shaking previously) there was no vibration! Thanks the Lord above....I'm happy and can relax now!
Interestingly they said that Kwik Fit hadn't even put any care into how they fitted the tyre to the rim as the wheels needed a LOT of balancing weights....apparently wheels and tyres have heavy/light and high/low spots that should be taken into account when fitting a tyre to a wheel. This hadn't been done hence the need for so many weights so they're going to refit the tyres properly for me. Lesson learnt - even if Sh!t Fit are cheapest, spend a few more quid and go elsewhere!
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Can't believe you took your GTS and brand new wheels and tyres to a bunch of muppets without expecting disaster! The old phrase 'buy cheap, buy twice' springs to mind. Even on less expensive/desirable cars I take them to a local tyre specialist (Black Boots/Wheels in Motion) to do any tyre work - they also have a fabulous Hunter alignment machine which made my GT a different handling car. The tyre machines are the type which don't touch the rim and they use nitrogen to inflate tyres. Dearer than anyone else around, but peace of mind knowing that guys who deal with £100k+ cars daily are looking after my property.
Palmball
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I know, I'm disappointed in myself and although Ive heard plenty of bad things about Kwik Fit, I've never personally experienced them as I've always used other places (Inc Elite and WiM despite both being well over 150 miles away from me. I bought the tyres from Kwik Fit as their online deal was so competitive (over £100 cheaper than anywhere else) but they insisted they fit the tyres.
Oh well, I'll live and learn...especially as when Graypaul took the wheels off they found one of them was chipped on the inside right on the rim. Although this is not at all visible when the wheels are on, as these were brand new wheels and they've already p!ssed me off enough, I've complained to Kwik Fit customer services who due to the seriousness of the issue with the now damaged wheel have escalated it to the area manager. I wonder how he's going to deal with my demands for not only a refund on fitting and balancing but also for a new wheel?
Oh well, I'll live and learn...especially as when Graypaul took the wheels off they found one of them was chipped on the inside right on the rim. Although this is not at all visible when the wheels are on, as these were brand new wheels and they've already p!ssed me off enough, I've complained to Kwik Fit customer services who due to the seriousness of the issue with the now damaged wheel have escalated it to the area manager. I wonder how he's going to deal with my demands for not only a refund on fitting and balancing but also for a new wheel?
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