Re: Stopping production of the 5.7m Nuevo !!!

by doog1948 Sun Oct 27, 2024 11:16 am

Andrew i made an effort and slid under the van this morning. lo and behold, right in my eye line was the jacking point! steadies are fitted but i have yet to use them. we are really lightweights!

by gassygassy Mon Oct 28, 2024 10:03 am

Well you had better take a day off from your exertions today smile!

doog. You probably know the steadies aren't good enough to lift the wheels off the ground, although they will actually achieve that if you put thick blocks under them. As with a caravan, if you try to lift the wheels with them, the body twists and joints will start to leak, or crack. Joints other than your back, that is. Although that only applies to coachbuilts, not panel vans.
I read a few years ago that the AA has determined that a vehicle travels an average of 99,000 miles between punctures. So I, like others, have this dilemma of whether to carry a spare wheel or use the load capacity for something more useful like water. What does a spare wheel weigh? 26.2kg which would equate to 26 litres more water. I would use the water a lot more often than the spare wheel.
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/weight-of-spare-wheel-and-tyre.79860/
All the above of course only applies if you are near to the weight limit of the wagon, I am assuming 3500kg.
One of these days I must go and have my newold jalopy weighed, with the spare wheel and 100 litres of water. I know a friendly weighbridge where the operator is a motorhomer and knows why we want it below 3500kg.

Having a motorhome is one great virtue when it comes to breakdowns - so if you have a spare wheel and a puncure you can at least make a cup of tea and use the toilet while you are waiting for the rescue personage to come and change it. You can't very well do either of those in a car.

by Caraman Mon Oct 28, 2024 11:16 am

I've had my wheels, including the spare, on and off on my drive at home and with the help of levelling jacks so I know how difficult it is. If I have a flat when I'm away from home, I will almost certainly call out recovery, not least because these days they can plug a hole that's not too large so the vehicle can be driven to a repairer. However, if the hole is too large or the tyre has been shredded and there is no spare, it's a low loader to a tyre fitter unless a mobile fitter comes to the van. In both cases there will be delays booking the van in and sourcing an identical CP tyre. Carrying a spare is far more important to me than carrying extra water.

Maybe I have been unlucky but the frequency of puncture on all my cars has been much more than once every 99k miles. So far fingersx

I haven't had a puncture on the motorhome but I did once on our caravan which had a spare that I fitted myself on the side of the road.

by gassygassy Mon Oct 28, 2024 2:28 pm

You've been unlucky caraman. I recall the last time I had a puncture, it was in 1986. I had bought a new Citroen BX and was driving along the motorway at 70, and after some miles I thought the steering characteristics had changed. I pulled over to find one of the rear tyres punctured and 'flat'. The pressurised suspension had negated the effect of the puncture, I was very surprised. Of course with that system you just loosen the nuts, then pump the car up with the suspension system, remove the wheel, fit the spare, put the punctured one in the boot, lower the suspension and off you go into the sunset. I don't think Citroen do that system any longer, it would be the single USP to me if they did and if I was in the market for a new car.

by doog1948 Mon Oct 28, 2024 3:40 pm

Andrew. my fault for bad grammar. the steadies are fitted but i never meant to infer that i would use them as jacks. my thoughts are that i wouldn't use them at all. sorry about that.

by Caraman Mon Oct 28, 2024 6:13 pm

gassygassy wrote:You've been unlucky caraman. I recall the last time I had a puncture, it was in 1986. ....

It must run in the family. My son has had 3 punctures over 28k miles on his new iD3. His attempt to seal one puncture with his gunk repair kit failed so he called the AA who plugged the hole so he could drive to a repairer. He doesn't have a spare. On the other two occasions the tyre couldn't be repaired which was a palaver that put his car out of action for at least a couple days. My experience hasn't been as bad as that but our 2021 Honda has only done 21k miles and has already had one puncture that couldn't be repaired. I used to have a Freelander and a month after I bought it it had an unrepairable puncture - I doubt it had even done 1,000 miles.

by The Bargee Mon Oct 28, 2024 7:15 pm

I have a theory that the issue is with the modern trend for low or low-ish profile tyres. The side walls lack flexibility, making penetrative punctures more likely, particularly at the outer edges of tyres.

Since 1990 I have been driving almost exclusively on BFGoodrich or General Grabber All Terrain tyres, with well over a million miles driven over that time. I only recall one puncture!

by Caraman Mon Oct 28, 2024 7:42 pm

I think that can be the problem. The iD3 has low profile tyres and my son thinks his last flat was caused by a pothole. But his repairable puncture was a screw in the tread. Our Honda was the same except the hole was too close to the sidewall to be repaired. It doesn't have low profile tyres which I wont have. I have also suffered from flints pressed into the tread. The motorhome is the only vehicle I have had that hasn't had a puncture. I take great care at the end of every trip to make sure there are no stones in its treads and so far that's worked. I've even had punctures in vehicles I didn't own which included a Land Rover. My misfortune with punctures extends to my pedal bikes. I treated myself to a mountain bike with tubeless tyres in the hope it wouldn't have punctures but it does as I found out in the middle of a longish trip in the New Forest when I had to push the bike back to the motorhome in the dark.

by gassygassy Tue Oct 29, 2024 9:12 am

I reckon if I follow you Caraman I'll be safe. You will collect all the screws, flints, nails and other debris on the road, leaving the route free for me . .. . allthumbz

I think another factor is how much tread a tyre has. Logically a new tyre will have a lot more tread for the screw / flint / nail to get through than a worn one. Somewhere I have a photo of a screw in a motorbike tyre I owned. I can't find it now. Washing / polishing it one day I noticed a screw which was in the tread at an angle. With trembling hands I got a pair of pliers and removed it. The tyre stayed inflated.

Thought for the day:
And why IS a PAIR of pliers called a pair? There is only one plier. Same with pants, there is only one pant.

by Caraman Wed Oct 30, 2024 3:23 pm

Caraman wrote:....

Marquis has said that all three vans now come with asymmetric tread summer M&S Michelin Agilis Camper 225/75 CP tyres fitted on R16 rims. Their higher load index of 116 removes any risk of the rear tyres being overloaded and allows lower pressures to be used. Michelin has told me these tyres are no longer being made and have been replaced by their similarly priced all-season M&S Crossclimate Camper, which has a directional tread that might provide better traction.
....

This puzzled me further so I asked Michelin when they introduced their Crossclimate Camper and they said 1 March 2022. They couldn't say that was when they stopped manufacturing their Agilis Camper but I wouldn't have thought they would have manufactured both tyres at the same time for very long if at all. This begs the question how old the obsolete Agilis Camper tyres are that A-S are fitting to their 2024 motorhomes?

by gassygassy Wed Oct 30, 2024 4:09 pm

Caraman wrote:
Caraman wrote:......... This begs the question how old the obsolete Agilis Camper tyres are that A-S are fitting to their 2024 motorhomes?

I am pretty sure the month and year of tyre manufacture are moulded on to the side wall, though I can't give you a photo. Someone will be along soon with all the details . . . .
Another thing to look for if you are interested in when the van itself was manufactured, is the bar coded labels that you can see attached to wiring cables and other things. I think each separate item now in a vehicle has its own bar code or whatsitcalled, that thing you are supposed to scan with a phone. I was pleased to see that under the dash of my 1999 registered Transit is a fat wiring loom with 9/99 printed on it. It is obviously the date of manufacture of the wiring loom and the vehicle won't be far after that.

by Caraman Wed Oct 30, 2024 5:26 pm

gassygassy wrote:
Caraman wrote:
Caraman wrote:......... This begs the question how old the obsolete Agilis Camper tyres are that A-S are fitting to their 2024 motorhomes?
I am pretty sure the month and year of tyre manufacture are moulded on to the side wall, though I can't give you a photo. Someone will be along soon with all the details . . . .
....

The date of manufacture is moulded onto one side of the tyre. The first two digits are the week of manufacture (up to 52) and the second two digits are the year of manufacture. So a tyre manufactured in the first week of March 2022 will have 0922 on the side of the tyre.

by Lynsam Mon Nov 04, 2024 4:55 pm

yammy wrote:Hi Guys

I have had my 5.7m Nuevo EK for a couple of years now, purchased new. I learnt a while back that a slightly longer Nuevo (5.99m) was being introduced but didnt realise that Peugeot and Fiat were discontinuing production of the 5.7 version. Will this make the shorter Nuevo more desirable and increase the second hand market or will people prefer the longer Nuevo and put sleeping length over parking issues?
be really interested to hear peoples views. Cheers

The whole reason we bought our Nuevo Motor home was the short wheel base and the tight turning circle. It turns on a penny in tight spaces. I have a very tight 90 degree driveway too and most other Motor homes would just get wedged. Our Nuevo is a Joy to drive and maneuvers around just like our car. Had a few other home before. This one is just great :-)

by Caraman Mon Nov 11, 2024 5:11 pm

Called in today at Marquis Exeter to top up with LPG and whilst there had a mooch around and asked a few questions. Contrary to what is shown on the A-S website and what Marquis Poole told me, production of the 5.7m Nuevo has indeed stopped. Only the Nuevo Plus is available now whose wheelbase and overall length is 30 cm longer. They had two new Nuevo Pluses on their forecourt. Although 'Plus' appears in the small print, it doesn't appear on the side of the van. It just says Nuevo. The most obvious visual differences, other than length, are the black holes on the lower rear side skirts for Al-Ko's rear corner steadies. Both vans had the R16 Michelin Agilis Camping 225/70 116 load index tyre which Michelin has said is no longer available (other than old stock). The one I checked was manufactured 14 months ago! They also had a new Fiat based Broadway EK LP TB but it still had the R15 Continental VancoCamper 215/70 109 load index tyres. I'm pretty sure they were manufactured in 2022 so even older. I asked if the R16 wheel/tyre would become standard on the Broadway. The salesman didn't know but thought it would.

by doog1948 Mon Nov 11, 2024 5:32 pm

something i had forgotten until reminded on motorhome fun. running on alloys and steel spare. when changing wheel, will the punctured tyre fit in the cradle.and do you take correct bolts for steel wheel or take a chance?
doug.

by Paulmold Mon Nov 11, 2024 5:38 pm

According to a post in this thread, the bolts are the same for alloy as steel..

https://www.autosleeper-ownersforum.com/t33124-kingham-spare-wheel-bolts#282944

The alloy fits in the cradle using the adaptor plate which is provided in a felt bag. Thee metal plate inside the felt bag is to enable you to hang a punctured alloy wheel after it's been replaced by the steel spare wheel. The plate attaches to the alloy wheel by means of a screw-in bolt (which should be in the bag). The plate is necessary because the size of the central hole on the steel spare is smaller than that of an alloy, and so without the plate it's not possible to re-hang the punctured alloy under the van.

by Caraman Mon Nov 11, 2024 6:01 pm

The above is correct for the Peugeot R15 rims I have. Peugeot told me the correct torque setting for the steel bolts is 160 Nm 133 ft/lbs. I would check for the R16 rims with Fiat.

by doog1948 Tue Nov 12, 2024 6:46 am

thanks for info. will check to see if there is a bag under the seat.

by doog1948 Wed Nov 13, 2024 10:57 am

checked under passenger seat. tool kit is there as shown in handbook. no bag with plate adaptor. checked with dealer who said some come with bag and some don't! given the palaver i've had in the past with faults i'm not surprised. happy days.

by Caraman Wed Nov 13, 2024 2:06 pm

Yours may well have a different spare wheel carrying arrangement to the rest of us as you have an Al-Ko chassis

by doog1948 Wed Nov 13, 2024 2:37 pm

thats a thought Nigel. have tried contacting local Fiat agency and am awaiting response. my dealer said its not an AS issue. time will tell. thanks for reply.
Doug.

by Caraman Wed Nov 13, 2024 4:13 pm

Fiat supplied two identical cabs connected to each other with a temporary chassis. A-S then separated the two cabs and fitted an Al-Ko chassis to each cab making two vehicles. So, the Al-Ko chassis has nothing to do with Fiat. The cabs plus Al-Ko chassis were given stage 2 type approval by Al-Ko with the final stage 3 type approval given by A-S. Any detail you need on the Al-Ko chassis should have come from Al-Ko. If you ask them for it they will almost certainly ask why you have not been given an Al-Ko Handbook by the converter (A-S). The Al-Ko Handbook should explain all about jacking, wheel changing, the spare wheel carrier, corner steadies, tow bar and probably other Al-Ko accessories that can be bought for the chassis. If you don't have an Al-Ko Handbook I would ask your dealer to get one from A-S. Corinium owners should be able to help you out as they also have the Al-Ko chassis. Detail on the wheel bolts and their torque should probably still come from Fiat as they provided the wheels.