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Trip Report: 4,000 kms in a week in the S3

Mollox

By Mollox
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Mollox Newbie

Mollox

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Back from a bit of a marathon trip to Spain in the S3 - there and back in 8 days. Quite silly really.

Left London at 4pm on Thursday afternoon, quick jaunt down to Dover, crossing courtesy of P&O and then a quick blitz to Paris before sleeping in the Holiday Inn, Porte d' Orleans in perfect position on the southern Peripherique for a quick getaway in the morning - €80 a night inc breakfast plus €13 for very good underground secure parking - very reasonable.

On the road at 0830 then off through France via Orleans, Clermont-Ferrand, Millau (and the viaduct), Montpellier, Narbonne and over the Border on the east coast by early evening. No police on the way, just one little hold up due to an accident.

We then ploughed on down the Mediterranean coast of Spain past Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Castellon and Valencia before finally rolling up at our place near Alicante at 11:40, 20 mins ahead of schedule.

Quite a tiring day - 15 hours straight in the car and 1500 kms but we stopped for quick pit stops every 90 mins or so so could have done it a lot quicker (12 hours for this leg is my all-time record, in the Golf TDi ironically).

S3 didn't miss a beat on the way down and its very capable with cruise set at around 95 with the odd run a little higher wink.gif

So that was Friday night, we had a few days in Spain (with mostly disappointing weather) and then on Thursday morning we set off again with Orleans as the target.

Journey back was far from ideal, within 15 mins of joining the Motorway it started raining torrentially and continued to do so for the next 10 hours/1,000+ kms or halfway into France. Now Spanish, and many southern French motorways are not a good place to be in the rain - they're surfaced for Summer and simply do not absorb or displace water, meaning that they're like ice rinks. Factor in drivers not used to rain and its a place you want to be.

Now, I'd dropped the S3 into Audi the day before leaving Spain for a service but it was apparent that something wasn't right. Across the standing water it was far from stable - we must have had over 100 aquaplaning wobbles, some of them somewhat butt-clenching moments - most unlike the S3 which is usually devastating in the wet with only minimal susceptability to tramlining.

The inspection report from the service had revealed that my rear tyres were at 2mm and the fronts 4mm which is odd as I always fit a set of four and the rears really shouldn't have outworn the fronts. Made a note to get a new set of F1s when I got back but a visual inspectiono on the way back showed the back rear to be notably more worn than any other tyre. Not right at all. I had to keep below 75 for the first 1000kms of the way back as anything faster seemed to bring the aquaplaning on much more.

Even more worrying was a growing rumbling that seemed to be getting louder as the miles went on. Not what you want when you've got another 1,500 miles to do in less than 24 hours. My ear picked something up on the way down but it was really faint - I wondered if it might be a wheel bearing and I should have mentioned it at the service but the local Audi dealer in Spain is so appalling (they don't even offer to wash your car!) and unknowledgable of the S3 (they're very rare down there: "its a 1.8 sir, is it the 125bhp model?" ) plus the fact that at that point it was almost unnoticable (unless you're me) so I didn't.

Anyway, in the rain, I couldn't be sure if the rumbling was the exhaust resonating or actually a problem so I thought I'd wait til it dried out to give it a proper listen. So it finally dried out somewhere near Clermont-Ferrand at around 10pm - found a black French S3 that caught me up, flashed his hazards, we had a little play then went our separate ways. The rumbling wasn't too loud at this stage in the dry so for the next couple of hours I powered on at a rather more spirited pace sekret.gif(car felt good and didn't really make too much noise) and we got to Orleans just after midnight, TomTom guiding us to the Holiday Inn just off the motorway. €60 for the night, thank you very much.

Had a little thought before nodding off that it might be an idea to drop into an Audi dealer in the morning and see if they had anything to say. TomTom'd to Audi Orleans and they were very helpful - pulled out the chief mechanic immediately and he came out on a test drive. Because he was Portuguese and I speak Spanish, they whould we'd be able to understand ourselves but that wasn't really the case. Still, I could make out that he suspected a bearing, coudln't do anything on the spot, and also that he'd noticed the worn rear tyre and advised me to change it v.soon. Very friendly, no charge and off we went again.

Pulling onto the motorway to Paris there was the rumbling and much, much louder than the day before. I wasn't happy so pulled into a picnic area for a think. Spoke to the knowledgeable Dean Hill who pointed out that, given the wear of the rear tyre and without being able to inspect the car it may well be a dodgy tyre. Decided to fit the space saver and see if the noise went - if so I'd find a tyre dealer and buy an impromptu set of tyres. This was all getting annoying as we had a ferry to catch and were running out of spare time.

My lowest ebb came as i tightened the nuts on the 2 inch wide 'biscuit tin' space saver and the McGuard locking wheelnut 'key' sheared, leaving me with the realisation that I'd effectively "welded" that stupid 50mph-limited space saver to the car and condemmed myself to limping home.

So I tried it - slow lane, 5th, cruise on at 50, a rear mirror permamently full of Scanias and Volvos, a long snake behind me and the constant indignity of being overtaken by lorry after lorry. Not to mention the realisation that what was meant to be 3.5 hours to Calais had just turned into a minimum of 8 hours. And we had a wedding in Kent at 1pm the next day Flush.gif

I managed 20 mins of crawling towards Paris in absolute shame before I gave up and looked for another solution. Many thanks to Daz back in London for googling and finding various resources I needed to try and get sorted. Decided to try and find a tyre dealer and at least get the fecking space saver off and see if I could find a set of F1s. That would have meant we could get up to 60 or 70mph and at least make reasonable progress as I couldn't tolerate cruising at around 70mph less than we allegedly were the night before. It was painful.

Daz found me a large tyre dealer en route, near Orly, TomTom located it perfectly (it was a great aid all trip) and as it happened, there was an Audi dealer opposite.

So we tried there first, pigeon French wasn't really working but I found a nice sales chap that spoke Spanish and, despite being on their lunch break, sprung into action. Was I really in France? jump.gifyelrotflmao.gif

Another portuguese mechanic (what's going on there) took the car out for a spin, came back, put it on the ramp and diagnosed a dodgy right-rear bearing. So it was confirmed. Unfortunately there was no chance of getting the part, or indeed fitting it, but they tried to get me on my way by getting rid of the biscuit tin. Lots of spannering and head-scratching and staring at the shiny McGuard locking bolt before eventually a 3rd Audi mechanic showed them the way. Basically, you get the locking 'key' slot it on and then hammer the feck out of it so that it moulds back to the shape of the locking nut (it is soft afterall...).

Using this technique he managed to take off all 4 McGuards bolts for me and replaced them with standard nuts. On went the proper tyre and at least we could proceed at a modest 70ish, keeping an ear open for the sound getting worse and stopping regularly to let the bearing cool down. Much better. Again, they didn't want payment for an hour of tinkering so I left them with a couple of very good Riojas and everyone seemed happy 169144-ok.gif

Cruising into Calais some 3 hours late, the journey was quite uneventful from then on and we ambled home by 11pm with an S3 needing a new bearing and 4 new tyres.

A bit more stressful and a few hassles along the way but lots of helpful people involved. I've driven that journey some 10 times now - I used to relish it when I was 18 but now I can't be bothered with it. I'm sick of French service stations and Steak Haches but had some fun spanking various European saloons, chased down and had a good run with a speeding new S8 and also got muscled out of the way by a loon in a Cayenne Turbo near Barcelona. They're not slow!

Don't want to drive for a few days now wink.gif

Haven't looked at the credit card statement to see what it cost in fuel or tolls but will tot it up in case anyone is interested.

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Pincher Newbie

Pincher

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Again, they didn't want payment for an hour of tinkering

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Could you imagine that ever happening here? coffee.gif

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Can you imagine them tinkering for an hour without an appointment full stop? 'Ooh, we're very busy today Mr Mollox. Can't spare anyone at all - can you come back a week next Thursday?'

'No I feckin' can't!' jump.gif

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Mollox Newbie

Mollox

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Oh I wasn't happy, believe me.

Re checking the tyres: I look at my fronts every time I get out of the car; mainly as you can see them easier with a little lock and because the fronts should wear faster than the fronts. They still look fine with 4mm on them - a good lesson though: never assume with these matters.

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Paul Newbie

Paul

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did you replace the rear tyres in the end?

if not, i would get them changed before assuming "bearing"

My experience of noisey, rumblings etc with GY Eagle F1's with far more tread than you had, left me with a very sour taste, and enough to make me NEVER want them on any of my cars again.

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