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  I have a simple technique for removing clipped-in window winder’s when you don’t have the correct tool for the job. It seems a bit primitive but with a bit of practice this technique works like a champion!

  First take a cloth or rag, preferably a piece with a seam for strength but that’s not absolutely nescessary.

  Next wind up the window and then turn the handle back until it is straight up and down.

  Then take your piece of cloth or rag and slide it down the handle and position it BETWEEN the handle and the spacer or washer that sits up against the door trim.( see picture)

  Then grab each end of the cloth in each hand and pull down. You may also need to rotate the cloth back and forth to loosen the clip.( see picture ) 9 times out of 10 the clip will be caught in the cloth, but please do this step somewhere were you can see the clip if it falls down i.e. not on the front lawn!

  To refit simply fit the clip onto the winder first with the open end facing down the handle, fit the washer/spacer first and then push the winder on and you will feel it click into place once it’s in far enough.

  Too easy!

Craig

 While carrying out a service or before doing any front-end work it is advisable to give the Steering a thorough health check to identify any problems before they become major issues. Worn steering can result in increased tyre wear and a vehicle that is both unsafe and difficult to drive. Thankfully the majority of car manufacturers are using the rack and pinion steering system these days, leaving behind the old steering box set-up which had many moving parts to wear out.

  The first step is to lift one side of the car with the jack until the wheel is off the ground. It’s a good idea to check for noisy wheel bearings while your at it and by spinning the wheel as fast as you can and listening for any ‘deep, growling’ noises. Generally you will know if you have a noisy wheel bearing, a ‘deep growling’ type noise that increases with road speed is a dead give-away. For repacking and replacing wheel bearings see my wheel bearing post.

  Once you have determined the condition of the wheel bearings place your hands at 12 and 6 o’clock on the tyre and using a push-pull motion check for any play in the wheel bearings. If there is play in the wheel check the wheel bearing post and adjust the wheel bearings before going any further. Play in the wheel bearings can sometimes be confused for play in the steering rack and it’s a lot easier and cheaper to adjust the bearings than replace the tie rod ends or rack ends!

  Next place your hands at 3 and 9 o’clock on the tyre and use the push-pull motion to check for steering rack play. If any play is felt we need to determine if it is in the tie-rod ends, steering rack ends or internal movement in the rack itself. The easiest way I have found to do this is to grasp the compnents one at a time and use the push-pull motion on the front of the tyre with your spare hand. Tie rods are in view and easily seen, rack ends are inside the rubber boot so place your hand around the boot and feel for a ball and socket type joint. If there is movement here when ‘wiggling’ (for want of a better word!) the wheel it is time to replace the rack end(s). A visual inspection of the ball joint while ‘wiggling’ the wheel is also nescessary as a worn ball joint can feel like rack play as well. We will cover replacement of ball joints in a future post.

  So now you know which part is worn, what to do next? I will cover each component in a seperate post starting tomorrow 24th May 2007, as it is nearly 11pm here and I don’t think the neighbours will enjoy banging and crashing this late at night!!

Take care and be safe on the roads.

Craig

  Your tyres are very good at giving you an indication of the condition of your front and rear suspension and steering systems. They can also tell you if you’ve been bad and haven’t kept an eye on their pressures as well! Know-all little buggers they are! First we will look at front tyres and what their wear patterns can mean.

Tyres that show wear on both edges indicate either under inflation (low air pressure, anything below 30psi could cause this) or overloading of the vehicle. Front wheel drives in particular suffer from this type of wear, most likely because of the weight of the engine and gearbox being directly over the front tyres. Taking cold tyre pressures to 34psi on a front wheel drive can help to reduce this wear.

Abnormal wear down the centre of the tread area indicates over inflation or too high air pressure in the tyre. This causes the tread to take on a concave shape and reduces the amount of tyre in contact with the road and rapidly wears out the part of the tread that is in contact with the road surface.

Tyres that are worn abnormally on either side of their tread are usually the product of bad wheel alignment however there is a number of other causes to consider. Sagged coil springs on Macpherson Strut suspension can alter the camber angle and cause this type of wear. Worn control arm bushes, excessive play in wheel bearings, overloading on Independant Rear Suspension equipped vehicles (namely VR/VS Commodores - there is a bush kit for the rear arms available to correct the camber angle on these cars) and bent axle housing or stub axle.

If you find you have a tyre (or tyres) with irregular wear similar to the picture then chances are you have worn shock absorbers. As the car is bouncing over bumps in the road the downward pressure on the tyre is changing causing these wear patterns. Wheel balance, play in wheel bearings and worn suspension joints can play a part in this also. Four-wheel-drives with worn shocks seem to be prone to this type of wear and early detection is important if you don’t want to shell out for a new set of tyres and shocks in one hit!

The last one that I have pictures for is feathering of the edges of the tread which is generally caused by excessive toe-in or toe-out and provided the suspension and steering are in good condition, it can be corrected with a wheel alignment.

 One other issue we see a lot of these days is ‘tread seperation’ where a portion of the tread area becomes raised like a ‘bubble’ in the tyre. It will be felt in the car as a vibration and at low speed you can feel when the tyre is lifting as the raised area contacts the road. I believe this can be due to many factors and the age of the tyre and the load it has to carry has a lot to do with it. Tyres fitted to caravans and trailers for instance seem to be prone to tread seperation. One reason I have heard for this is because they are left in the one spot for a lengthy period of time, this causes the steel belts to flatten out to a certain degree and when they are used they are usually carrying a fair load which places even more stress on the tyre. If someone has a better explanation for this, please let me know!

 The most important things to remember with tyres is to (obviously!) check your pressures regularly, have the tyres rotated at no more than 10,000km intervals (I do mine at 5000km’s and I get great mileage out of them) and keep a close eye on how they are wearing so you can identify any problems before you have to replace your tyres prematurely.

Take care and be safe on the roads.

Craig