[happy-kat]

Snow is perhaps more enteraining then rain for driving
4 weeks off, slakening thought you would be in the garage during those 4 weeks, but flu means bed and rest to get over. Still you are feeling on the mend now
Bit longer to wait for the parts, at least they are there, as long as they don't loose them

[ssulti]

Snow is fun to drive, until you found yourself stuck on it on the outside of the road... tried twice...

4 weeks flu, no sick leave. Had no fever so doc won't write sick days... Luckily I have work which I can do from home.

Parts... I won't be amazed if they manage to lost them again...

[ssulti]

After hearing nagging from my wife I had to dig to wheel-shop website and crawl a bit. Three choices, one fits spot-on to specs by Ford, other is ET52 and 16" third is 15" 4x108 with 38ET, but it's 7x15 instead 6.5... Bummer...

16" Ford Fiesta (4x108, ET52, 6.5x16, FORD:1505627) http://www.vannetukk...ta-p-13562.html
15" Motec (4x108, ET38, 6.5x15) http://www.vannetukk...ne-p-12338.html
15" Ford Focus/Mondeo RS (4x108, ET38, 7x15) http://www.vannetukk...rs-p-13564.html

About my wife's nagging: she was driving on highway at speed of 100km/h... rear end (probably the tyre and wheel is giving up) started to wobble... not violently, but amount you will feel on the butt. So I have quite soon to go to tyre shop and request new set of winter tyres to good wheels, and abandon bent one and get rid of those three good/ok ones. (5 spoke propeller style)

And question is; is ET52 good to go with spacers... or are spacers a bad idea (to go 52 -> around 38-42) ? And which one would look good under silver Puma?

This post has been edited by ssulti: 20 November 2009 - 11:16 AM

[FlashBastd]

ET52 is a BAD idea, 7J is fine, I am running 7Jx16 ET35 with a 195/45 tyre.

To get from ET52 - ET35ish, you would need a min 15mm spacer, which would cost around £100/pair. Fitting this would mean longer studs, which would mean stripping down the front hubs, which in turn means new wheel bearings.

If you want some spacers, I have a pair of 15mm Eibach's, that just need the extended studs.

I would go for a wheel with the right offset though, rather than trying to correct with spacers.

Is there nothing around in ET35?

[ssulti]

FlashBastd, on 20 November 2009 - 11:54 AM, said:

ET52 is a BAD idea, 7J is fine, I am running 7Jx16 ET35 with a 195/45 tyre.
Is there nothing around in ET35?

So I figured it out right... 52 = Bad Idea.
Have to look round to find ET35 wheels, ET38 goes bit more in, than ET35. Few mm's ?

Thanks for the info about that. Helps me a bit again.

[FlashBastd]

Yes, with ET38, the centre line of the wheel sits 4mm further in than with the original ET34.

I suggested ET35 as it is a more common size.

Good luck with it!

[ssulti]

FlashBastd, on 20 November 2009 - 01:13 PM, said:

Good luck with it!

Luck, that's just what I need right now.

Just sorted out with my brother (working as an MOT tester)... All kind spacers are illegal in Finland, except those which has been made by wheel manufacturer to use specific wheel on a specific car. Great... So, I have to dig deeper on wheel shops. I have managed to find one 6.5x15 ET35 set, all others tend to be 37 or 38.

Luckily I have 2 sets of original wheels, so I get winter tyre problem sorted out by swapping wheel from summer set... Costs few euros.

Only ET35 which I have found 15 inch 4x108 ET35:





Not exactly the style I'm looking for...

[happy-kat]

But equally not a very ugly wheel either.

[ssulti]

I could say many-many-many bad words now. I have banging my head to wall last 30 minutes or so...

Took Puma to tyre-shop, only to find out that rear wheel (passenger side) is around 6cm twisted - can't be saved. Front one (passenger side) is over 2cm twisted - can't be saved. The spare tyre (from summer set) which I took with me to take it's wheel and install it to winter set... Yes, you guessed it RIGHT. It was +2cm bent too. So, I have 3 bad, 5 unchecked. Not good chances to get full set wheels from that pile.

So, I guess I need not one, but two sets of wheels. And one of those set's like "yesterday".

...back to the wall, to bang my head some more.

Only good news was that tyre shop bloke didn't take any money to check and diagnose those wheels...

[happy-kat]

That is just so rotten on luck there. Still better ound out now then when you are not driving in a straight line.

[ssulti]

happy-kat, on 25 November 2009 - 05:26 PM, said:

That is just so rotten on luck there. Still better ound out now then when you are not driving in a straight line.

It's always better to find out this kinda things when car is not moving... I was hoping that I would get thru this with few euros, but no. And worst of this, I don't know how I have managed to bent so many wheels. Year ago all 4 summer wheels were ok, when new summer tires were put under. One wheel has been changed on spring 2008, just after I got that Puma. Just guessing that reason is that small road I drive every day ( road where I'm living), sometimes it has more potholes than flat surface - gravel road, and tarmac expected ... never.

Have to try if city office has something to say (or pay) due this...

Any ideas, which manufacturer (and model) is making hardest alloys... Seems that I either need WRC spec wheels (to survive local roads...) or convert my puma to 4x4 with fat all-terrain tyres.

[zedder]

How are those wheels twisted exactly? 6cm sounds a lot I think. Are you sure they cannot be fixed professionally? There are few places in Finland who can repair twisted and oval wheels (do not know if repairing is possible in this case or economically good idea,though). A bit "bad" wheels can usually be used as rear ones, so I guess these are in really bad shape.

Now it seems I was lucky when I found a set of propellers from nettiauto.com for 115€. All wheels were and still are in usable condition and have brand new Toyo´s on them waiting for next summer. It is quite hard find Puma props here and shipping from UK or Germany is expensive if possible at all...

This post has been edited by zedder: 25 November 2009 - 08:43 PM

[ssulti]

Twisted on normal driving, without hitting any hard corners. That 6cm is just eyesight measurement, wheel was bouncing and hopping like a rabbit on balancing machine... Two others was bouncing little. Rear wheels could be bit out of shape. I don't know if those wheels are beyond repair or not. But I won't fix them, just trying to gather full set "ok" wheels for winter.

You were really lucky, Ford dealer asks almost 300euros per wheel...

If it seems that I won't get full set from that pile, I'll put under all "best you get" and drive car to garage, take it out of traffic (no TAX, no insurance) until summer comes. At the meantime; split it to parts and rebuilt it as much as I can afford.

[FlashBastd]

Have you considered steel wheels?

All Puma's have a full size steel spare, plus I think in some countries the 1.4 had steel wheels as standard, which were the same size and offset as the alloys. This may be a cheaper solution? Plus steel wheels can often be straightened a bit more easily.

[ssulti]

FlashBastd, on 26 November 2009 - 07:16 AM, said:

Have you considered steel wheels?

That's one option. I have that spare steel wheel on my garage to start with. If I cannot get full set for winter tyres from my propellers, I will probably go alloy for summer, steel for winter way.

Bad thing is that most of the Pumas imported to Finland are 1.7 models... Hunting steel wheels could be a bit of "fun", or burn a big pile of cash on a Ford spare part desk.

[zedder]

ssulti, on 26 November 2009 - 07:24 AM, said:

That's one option. I have that spare steel wheel on my garage to start with. If I cannot get full set for winter tyres from my propellers, I will probably go alloy for summer, steel for winter way.

Bad thing is that most of the Pumas imported to Finland are 1.7 models... Hunting steel wheels could be a bit of "fun", or burn a big pile of cash on a Ford spare part desk.

I have a full Puma 15" steel wheel set stored somewhere and I don´t think i have any use for them... Previous owner of my car used them as winter wheels. They were bit rusty If i remember correctly but not too bad otherwise (wasn´t really interested on them when I bought my Puma). I have also a 14" alloy set if I run out of usable propellers...

[ssulti]

Not an bad offer. Have to consider that option if those 8 are bent. You are not asking fortunes from those?
I could offer on exchange 8 of propeller wheels in different conditions. One _must_ be straight, because it has been changed on spring 2008...

I'll know the outcome today evening and depending on it, we could sort something called business.

[ssulti]

The sun sometimes shine to the wreckage...

I had quite surprised when I heard that all other 5 wheels was ok. How good luck you need to get 3 bad from 8 by taking 3. One was random pick from garage floor (summer wheels) and two was from passenger side of the car. All those were not repairable, but all others were good or perfect condition. So, I have now 4 good and 1 almost good (very minimal bend) wheels, 4 goes to winter tyres and one is waiting summer tyre to go under the car (or to be stored as an spare part).

For anyone interested: no I don't have those bent ones with me anymore, I left them to wheel shop to be sent for recycle.


Now looking for summer wheels, not hurry, but would be good to find something before summer...

[ssulti]

Great news! At last I got those strips and things picked up from Ford dealer. Also heard entire story about them...

At the beginning I ordered parts, reason why parts guy spent 10 minutes to find rear seat plastic locks... Yeah, some way they are labeled in finnish "PUMPPU - KESKUSVOITELU" (translation is about: "pump - central lubrication") ... Finis code: 6776120. Others were labeled right way on Ford parts list.

Order taken in and sent, as known, to Helsinki instead of Tampere. At this point there was one week gone, and I found out that parts are in wrong city. Some calling, and promises to send them right place. After that I didn't hear about those parts for a loooong time, reason was that those parts were gone missing for a FIVE weeks, and nobody at Helsinki was willing to say it to me when I called few times.

They found them again, 2 weeks later (8 weeks from order) they managed to get them to truck going to Tampere (200km). I got information that parts are now ready to pick up from Ford.

At that time I wasn't able to pick them up. What happened from that day to today was bit shocking to me. At some point parts almost got to truck going to somewhere on lapland. Parts clerk rescued them from truck. After that, or so I was told, they were tired to stole...

Now parts are safely (so far) at my garage. This weekend I'll put those parts in and hope that nobody tries to stole em...

Still laughing loudly when reading paper describing parts which I bought. How small plastic clip can be called "Central lubrication pump"...

Parts waiting to be installed:
- 1068404 - Weather strip to door (22 euros, 22% VAT)
- 1068402 - Weather strip to door (21 euros, 22% VAT)
- 6776120 - Plastic lock for rear seat lower part (1,32 euros/pc, 22% VAT)
- 1052839 - Roof strip, left side (40 euros, 22% VAT)

[ssulti]

Spent a moment on garage and car wash (too cold to do it by myself).

New roof strip, both sides door weather strip and rear seat locking clips. Also changed worn out wipers, attached light to trunk and reassembled rear seat. Small things, but makes car look way better now. One thing got wrong, all others got ok. I managed to snap antenna when removing it before car wash...

Weather strips to doors; FINIS 1068404 & 1068402 (I have no idea which is left and which is right...)

Some pictures, this time I used EOS, not my usual "garage cam" PowerShot.

Car Photos:


Interior parts:
Rear seat locking clip : FINIS 6776120


Exterior New roof strip : left FINIS 1052839



Missing In Action : Antenna...



Passenger door, old weather strip



Passenger door, new strip


Driver door, new strip


Driver door, closeup to strip



Driver side

This post has been edited by ssulti: 06 December 2009 - 12:31 PM