The 'Rover Project (Cont'd)
July '97: Disasters, one after another. I decide that the ancient, bias-ply tires on the rear of Coleen have to go. $250 later, she sports a new pair of Goodyear Wranglers on the back. Within less than a week, I discover that the curb in front of my house has a metal edging that has been broken by the snow-removal equipment, over the winter. In parallel parking the 'Rover, the metal bit rips out the side-wall of the left front tire, flattening it instantly. Off to Goodyear once again. And this is where the disaster really strikes. I decide to do a bit of tire rotation, putting two new Wranglers on the front, to match the back, and put the old driver-side wheel up on the bonnet as a spare. The problem comes when, at the Goodyear, I don't watch them like a hawk: In the course of putting the spare on the hood, the grease-monkey, unable to figure out the simple mounting system --It's two long bolts with handles that swing out sideways to hold the tire down-- uses an air-wrench to unbolt both bolts, sticks one through a lug-hole on the spare, and throws the other bolt away!!. This is doubly bad. First, the two bolts are kept in the holes because, at the bottoms, they have holes drilled in them, and cotter-pins inserted through the holes. Removal stripped the holes quite handily. Second, the mounting bracket, never meant to be placed under the kind of pressure created by an air-wrench, was pulled up and buckled. Trusting fool that I am, I didn't think to check how they'd attached the spare, until the next day, when I went to check my oil. Ten minutes later, I was at the Goodyear shop, chewing on the Manager's ear. Now I get to see what happens, as I have the local 'Rover Dealership doing an estimate on repairs to a '69 Rover, as the Manager at Goodyear sweats and promises he'll make sure the "problem is resolved as quickly as possible".
August '97 : Well, the fun continues. The 'Rover shop gave me an estimate of $235 to repair the bonnet's spare bracket, which is almost what the tires and service from Goodyear cost. Unfortunately, now, the Goodyear's manager is stating that his superiors won't put out the $135 of labour being charged by the 'Rover shop. Instead, they wanted me to aquire the replacement parts, for which they would reimburse me, then they would do the labour, since "(thier) rivets are as good as Land Rover's, right?". Obviously, I'm less than pleased with this,since I'm none too keen on the idea of having an unliscenced body-shop do body-work on my car, espescially since it was thier genius mechanics who screwed it up in the first place. So, it looks like I'm going to have to chat with my insurance company about dealing with the problem. In the mean-time, let this be a warning: if you're on the road, avoid the Vespia Goodyear Service Center, in Plainfield New Jersey. Goodyear is a great company, but this franchise is doing thier rep a dis-service.