New tyres on my Broadway

Had new tyres fitted on my 2010 Broadway today. I took it to my trusty local garage and boy did they struggle to get the rear wheels off. Jacked up over the pit, it took three of them a considerable time to get the suspension down far enough to get the wheels off from behind the plastic skirt. According to the garage owner, who I trust, it just wouldn't be possible to do this on the roadside. I had already come to terms with having to call out the RAC if I had a puncture, but he thought that they would struggle as well. Have any of you had to face this issues at the roadside? .. and what was the outcome?

Dread this scenario at the roadside... As a result I carry a couple of Slime kits & 12v compressor in the hope I can inflate the tyre in the event of a puncture in order to proceed onto somewhere to get the tyre changed. As you say due to the skirt / wheel arch mouldings it's not an easy task! 

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2794730.htm?CMPID=GS001&_$ja=cgid:18074225845%7Ctsid:59156%7Ccid:189934405%7Clid:114681152725%7Cnw:g%7Ccrid:77627770765%7Crnd:12919607691796836412%7Cdvc:t%7Cadp:1o1%7Cbku:1&gclid=COPU_YSxxswCFWcq0wod868GGw

We had a new set of tyres fitted on our 2007 Nuevo which had the same mouldings and the tyre fitters didn't seem to have any problems changing those, or at least they didn't comment about it being awkward.

CC

When I had the tyres changed on the Windsor the tyre company used a combination of air jacks Plus I blew the Airides up which they reconned made a difference
Not Easy!

are these alloy wheels?

They are a pain to change and appear to "weld" themselves to the hub. I tried to help a young lady with her puncture outside my flat on her little car but her alloy had stuck. Fortunately she was stronger than me so we did manage.

I always used to release and re-tighten my wheel nuts after having a tyre changed rather than have to release the air gun torque used by tyre fit people but I don't know what to do with alloys. A layer of copper slip may help but I don't know.

Kwik fit replaced a rear tyre last year and had to fully inflate the rear  air bags, a very tight fit never the less.
Boaby

Front left tyre on alloy wheels replaced at the roadside in Spain last December following a deliberate puncturing of the tyre with a knife or screwdriver.  No  problems replacing it with the spare by the very efficient unit who came out to sort it but sourcing a new camper tyre ( the original was totally written off) to carry as a spare was more of a problem. We did not want to go on across Spain with no spare so it was fortunate that the garage we were taken to near Bilbao- from which the roadside assistance came- was able to source one for us on the same day. What they did have was immense difficulty getting it back on the cradle under the van and, for a long period of time, we thought we might have to carry the spare inside the van with us. 

The tyre garage was one who dealt with the municipality big trucks and had facilities to match. Whether we would have been so lucky at a more ordinary place I don't know.

The trick is to use the chassis jacking points to lift the body away from the axle.  My Wilton came with a steel plinth provided by AS.  If you stood the screw jack on the plinth and use the jack point, removing the wheel was no problem.

Members of ASOC who read their Newsletter may remember a few years ago ASOC raised the problem of wheel changing on the wide bodied coachbuilts. AS demonstrated that in all case if the instructions in the AS handbook were followed there would be no problem.

Extract from AS Broadway handbook:

Jacking

Front and Rear - use the standard jacking points as per the base vehicle handbook.

When changing the rear wheel raise the vehicle to the maximum extent of the jack. In order to clear the skirt when removing the wheel, tilt the bottom of the wheel under the vehicle and allow the top of the wheel to fall outwards and clear of the hub.

Reverse the procedure to re-fit the wheel.

Shortly after acquiring the AS Broadway last year I took it to a tyre dealership locally to have five new Michelin Mud and Snow tyres fitted, and the fitters seemed to "whistle" through the operation never mentioning any problems.
Perhaps lady luck was smiling down on us that day.

Just after we bought our van I had a go at getting spare wheel off, just in case I needed to. I also jacked the van up with the supplied jack under the chassis. It looked like the wheel cleared the skirt easily enough, but I couldn't figure out how the get the spare off the carrier.

I've had all 4 wheels off my Broadway EB and applied copper grease to the hubs, they were easily removed as my van was new.
I also removed the spare wheel to see how easy it was to do.

John.

Try and use a nickel based antiseize on alloy wheels as copper does corrode alloy.

I have just ordered four new tyres for the Rienza from Tyres on the Drive. It was a saving of £60 against the local tyres companies.
Having done a lot of wheel changes at the roadside I can assure you it is not for the faint hearted if its o/s and a large vehicle that sways when a truck passes. If possible I would try and limp the vehicle to a safer place or get as far on to the verge as possible. Most tyres that have deflated or been driven under pressure at speed are beyond repair by then.
 I carried a copper hide hammer to assist stuck wheels. Bashing the back of the rim without going underneath is tricky but has to be done sometimes.
 When they change my tyres I will be watching them to judge if I will be removing wheels at the roadside. There looks to be quite a bit of clearance, we havent filled more than half the lockers yet and the tanks are empty.
I went for the Continental Vanco Camper tyres. The Michelins were the highest price and I really wanted Camper tyres for peace of mind so the Hankooks were not a choice.
Management says more treats for the van, who gets the priority in this house. I think I will retreat to the shed and say nothing for my sake.

I now have four Continental Vanco Camper tyres fitted to the Rienza. Yes the back wheels did challenge the man from Tyres on the Drive. With the wheel clear of the floor it pushed the wheel up into the wheel arch. He then tried under the chassis but his air jack woud not lift far enough to take the wheel off the floor.
From my days at the roadside I suggested using jacking blocks to increase the lift. The blocks I use for the back legs are 4"x4". This was enough for the tyres to clear the floor. For the sake of safety he put an axle stand under each corner whilst the wheels were off.
There may have been some health and safety issues with the way this was carried out but as he said it got the job done. His recommendation for tyre pressures was 50psi fronts-65psi rears and the spare at 70psi.
When the old tyres were off we checked the date stamp out of interest. I read it as 2003?. I was right.  That is strange as the Rienza is a 55 plate . This implies the tyres have been on from the vehicle being built. The tyres must have been in stock for two years up to then.
They were fairly knackered but only starting to split between the treads. Now I can thunder along the Autobahns without worrying about tyres.

Hi Dave. Vehicle manufacturers would not have space to store tyres in the factory, most components are supplied on a just in time basis. I would suggest that the chassis was built in 2003 and not shipped, converted, registered etc until 2005.

if you put the 17 digit vin into this website,   http://www.etis.ford.com   It will give you the exact build date of the chassis. 

May be of interest to you ?

 This is were the Forum really works, there is nearly always some one out there who know what buttons to press to find things. Thanks Campievanner.
Yes my Rienza is a 2003 chassis, but first registered late 2005. From my pre retirement days of working in the new vehicle compounds this is no great surprise. When I was at the roadside dealers started to ask for vin numbers for parts searches. Mercedes were the first in this area.
The issue of tyres proves that the MOT standards are still varied between test garages. The tyres on our Rienza were showing minor cracking when we bought it in February and an advisory was made on the MOT to this effect. If the tester checked the date on the tyres, October 2003, he may have been a bit more wary about the condition of the tyres relating to there age.
I did think the date was wrong myself, it was hard to read until the  wheels were off . Another point being the millage may only be 25,000 but means the vehicle has been stood a lot. Also wrong pressures cant have helped. Not good for any tyres. The Vanco Campers are going to be worth fitting. Again great Forum.

Just as a final note to this tyre saga I dropped the spare wheel this weekend. For a start the lowering system is working correctly, it is no harder to remove the wheel than the Duetto. Unlike some coach builds the spare wheel is still at the back of the chassis.
The date stamp on then tyre is march 2004. It must have been added after the chassis left the production line. The spare wheel has never been used and the tyre has the moulding pips still on it.
I know the tyre is twelve years old but I am reluctant to buy another tyre at the moment.
We have a trip planned next weekend and I am interested to see if the handling, ride or tyre noise is any different  with the motorhome tyres compared to the ordinary Vanco tyres.

Peter Brown's description of how to remove rear wheel from behind skirt is absolutely correct. I have done this many times when performing my annual clean out / check of the rear brake pads. Some copper slip on the external face of the hub drum which is in contact with the alloy wheel inner face is a great help.