To All C3 Exclusive Owners Read This!

[Guest CE05LDB]

Hello fellow C3 Exclusive Owners.

 

I took my C3 Exclusive to the Citroen dealer for New barkes. Well 10 minutes went by and the head mechanic called me.

 

He said have you had a new front left tyre recently? I said I had a puncture a few weeks ago Kwik Fit did it. He said we can't get it off as they have tighten the locking wheel nut so tight its jammed.

 

He said we can see what we can do. It took them 20mins to get it off you could hear the banging from the waiting area. The mechanic then came back out he said we managaged to get it off but we had no choice but to destroy the locking wheel nut to get it off. He said we have put a normal one on now.

 

He said don't let Kwik Fit use the tyre gun on the wheels in future as yours ain't the only one this has happend to we had one in not long ago and they had a job to get all 4 tyres off that car.

 

Thought id tell you guys as if any of you had a puncture at the roadside the RAC etc wouldn't be able to get it off.

 

I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't needed new breaks.

 

I am annoyed with Kwik Fit.

[Rich_Eason]

This is a common thing with tyre places...

 

You should always at least remove the nuts (if you can) where they use these guns and hand tighten, thats normally how tight they have to be.

 

Other wise when you are on the hardshoulder on the M5 with your Citroen Supplied Wheel Brace the only thing you will succeed in doing is removing the skin from you knuckles.

 

Alloy wheel owners should also be aware of hub to wheel corrosion (Dissimilar Metals) that takes place and can be a nightmare to get off. A recent puncture required me to find a piece of wood to aid the removal of wheel by levering/banging it against the tyre to get the punctured tyre off. Not something you can find easily whilst pulled in for emergancy at Tesco Metro.

 

In addition to the supplied kit I always carry gloves, 12"x 8" piece of ply to support jack on soft ground,small tube of waterless hand cleaner and an old clean beer towel for cleaning up afterwards. As sods law dictates in every occasion I have had a puncture I have been wearing smart work wear!

[Guest CE05LDB]

I am disabled so I can't change a wheel anyway but if I had to call the RAC out I doubt they would have been able to get it off.

 

I will be telling Motability as they pay Kwik Fit good Money to do these jobs. They won't be happy when I tell them.

 

It do make me wonder are wheel trims are better. At least there is none of this hassle. I like Alloys don't get me wrong but when things like this happens it puts you off.

[Rich_Eason]

They both have pro's and cons.

 

Trims get stolen, come off, but are easily replaced if damaged.

 

I never have trusted KF (see C4 forum for reasons) and their marketing tactics leave little to be desired.

 

Glad you got it sorted in the end, are you going to replace the locking nuts now?

[Guest CE05LDB]

Got to use Kwik Fit as they are the contractors for Motability.

 

 

I am not paying for new locking wheel nuts Motability can get Kwik Fit to pay for it as they damaged them. And if they don't ill let the car go back at the end of the agreement as it is.

[Guest Andrew]

Hi,

 

I seem to be new here...

 

I have had this problem. My C3 failed it's MOT because the rear wheels/tires were on the wrong way round. I had never removed them, this is how they came when I bought the car - from a Citroën dealer!

 

After trying to get both rear locking wheel nuts off and breaking both of them I took the car to a tyre fitter place and asked them to remove them for me (and while they are at it could they please swap the rear wheels). They pulled the middle part of the locking wheel nut off (it is only connected by the centre - looks like it is designed to break?!) and then hammered the 'key' on to the remaining part of the locking nut. Then they used their pneumatic drill thing to remove them.

 

After a few minutes I convinced them that the car came with the wheels and I really don't have any spare nuts and they found some more wheel nuts to fit, with slightly larger heads. So I got rid of all of the 'locking' ones but what a hassle.

[Guest CE05LDB]

That is awfull.

 

When did you buy the car from a Citroen Dealer?

[Guest Andrew]

That is awfull.

 

When did you buy the car from a Citroen Dealer?

August 2005, according to my magical log.

[Guest CE05LDB]

So there was no warranty to cover it now then. Dam.

 

What C3 you got and engine etc?

[Guest Andrew]

I have a red one. And yes, it has an engine.

:)

 

*ahem* sorry...

 

C3 Exclusive 1.4 HDI 92, manual gear box.

 

No modu-board. (I asked, they said they would get some, they never did, I didn't think it was that important)

 

Child lock usually works, except that one time when we tested it and the light was on but the door opened anyway. :o

[Guest CE05LDB]

My mate has a 2005 C3 1.4HDi 70BHP Desire.

 

Another on here had problems with the child lock on his C3. He no longer has it now.

 

The Moduboard can tend to get in the way to be honest.

 

You know the storage Draw under the CD Player. The Exclusive no longer as that as standared now I had to pay £26 for one.

 

I had my C3 in Rainforest Green which is no longer avalible I had the last one. There was no call for it apparantly.

 

Heres mine

 

 

http://images9.fotki.com/v174/free/c7239/6/600361/2121259/000_0232-vi.jpg?1114557322http://images9.fotki.com/v171/free/c7239/6/600361/2121259/000_0233-vi.jpg?1115165912

 

This was taken the day I had it. I bought the Draw a few weeks later.

[Guest Andrew]

That storage draw is actually quite useful.

Except that one time when it wouldn't let me have my phone back...!

Eventually I took the whole thing out and found a few bits of paper behind it, I think they had slipped through. Parking vouchers and such like from the previous owner/s. I guess one was getting caught in the mechanism. It slides a lot better now without the paper there!

 

I can't see the picture/s, all I see is 'IPB ImageIBP Image'.

 

Green doesn't seem to be an 'in' colour at the moment, but maybe it will become so later. I'm a red person though. :)

I think I have pictures of mine somewhere, after I gave it a clean.

Ah yes, here it is:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8136/myredc3hl6.th.jpg

Shiney. I so should have taken that barcode sticker off. And the tax disc. (£50 per year, not too bad...)

[Guest CE05LDB]

Dam they won't come up for me either. Go to my profile and view my web page my brothers C3 Exclusive new style is on there aswell.

 

My brother wanted a Red C3 but they no longer do that on the C3 Exclusive.

 

I love my Green one. I am the only one in the area with a Green C3.

 

I am glad I got the storage draw. My brother hasn't got one and everytime you pull off to quickly or go up an hill all the CDs fall out.

 

On about tax right the price of tax for the C3 1.6i 16v Exclusive Sensodrive £100 a year and for C3 1.4i SX Automatic and C3 1.6i 16v Exclusive/VTR manual £125

 

My Brother always have had blue Citroens.

 

I like your C3.

[stimulator]

Hi,

 

I have had this problem. My C3 failed it's MOT because the rear wheels/tires were on the wrong way round. I had never removed them, this is how they came when I bought the car - from a Citroën dealer!

 

Bit puzzled here when you say the wheel/tyres were on the wrong way. I assume you mean that the tyres were put on the rims with the outer face on the inside, as once fitted the outside edge will be the outside face irrespective of which side of the car the wheel goes. To rectify they would have had to remove the tyres from the rims and reversed the tyre.

 

The 92BHP 16V HDI is only £50 for the year road tax and goes like a rocket.

[Guest Andrew]

Bit puzzled here when you say the wheel/tyres were on the wrong way.

The tyres have a direction tread. They were rotating the wrong way. They even have arrows, if you know to look for them. Swapping the wheels around was the easiest way to fix this, obviously.

Why the dealer got them wrong or didn't check I don't know.

 

Why the car is fitted with directional treads AND a reverse gear I don't know... :unsure:

 

The 92BHP 16V HDI is only £50 for the year road tax and goes like a rocket.

It's sure not bad :P

[stimulator]

OK now understand the directional bit didn't think that C3 warranted directional tyres but there you go.

[Guest CE05LDB]

Well your 1.4HDi 16v 92BHP is just as quick as the new 1.6HDi 16v 92BHP.

[raveydavey]

Returning to the original point, I would only use Kwik Fit in the direst emergency and only then if I couldn't find anyone else to do the work.

 

They do the fleet work for the firm I work for and have kindly provided a "special price" for all work for those of us who don't have company cars. I needed a new tyre (I wanted the same Michelin Energy tyre that the car was supplied with) for my 2003(03) C3 1.4 HDi Desire and they quoted me a whopping £90 fitted for one tyre!

A bit of shopping around saw me get the exact same Michelin Energy tyre for £38 all in - fitting, valve, balance and VAT.

 

Plus I'd be extremely wary of any fitter who seems to thing the correct way to tighten up wheel nuts is to simply get the air gun on them and fire them up as tight as they'll go. Not only are they risking damaging the wheel / nut / hub, but they are making it near impossible for you to get the wheel off at the roadside if you get a flat.

Every vehicle will have a specific torque setting that the wheel nuts should be tightened up to, so the last thing you should see the fitter doing (before replacing the wheeltrims if you have them!) is using a torque wrench to ensure the correct setting has been reached.

[christian6984]

Heres what happened when i tried to get my wheel off (yes i had to jump on the bar!), it broke! They should give garages proper torque wrenches.

 

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/christian6984/Clio.jpg

[CE08LDB]

Heres what happened when i tried to get my wheel off (yes i had to jump on the bar!), it broke! They should give garages proper torque wrenches.

 

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/christian6984/Clio.jpg

 

I am not surprised as the bar on my brothers last C3 was due to go like that. If the new owner have had to change a wheel in the last year I bet it would have broken by now.