Karl’s Asylum ... for the terminally deranged

Still rolling with 3 Astra wheels and a Corsa. Honestly, I despair.

I’ve called most places in Telford…”I want 5.5Jx13 ET46 4 stud Vauxhall Steel rims, for a 1997 Mk3 Astra Automatic”. They either don’t do them, insist they’re alloys (5.5J is quite wide apparently), or fob me off with “a 4.5/5j will work”.

I’ve called Vauxhall…”oh right. 5.5jx13? You sure? I’ll have to order them if we can still get them. £45 per rim”. I swore. £45? £90 per side? I can get 2nd hand alloys for £130!!

The council were quite shocked as well, when I called to ask for a highways claim form since it was their pothole..£45 each? Ouch. When you consider how many Astra MK3s are on the road, it seems a bit unlikely that they can be THAT rare. OK, OK..mine’s an ex-motability automatic..but, still..

Just as I was despairing, VXoN.co.uk (Vauxhall Owners Club) came to my rescue..with a link to www.vauxhall-car-parts.co.uk

They do 5.5Jx13 4 stud steel wheels..for £4 each! Once I’d recovered speech and movement, I’ve ordered 2 to be delivered to work..they should arrive midweek. Now, £8 per side is MUCH more like it. Plus 2x£17.50 for some el-cheapo budget rubber…heh. Hell, even if the rims aren’t *quite* right, another £8 would get me a full set.

An added plus is that in my treks round the scrapyards, I’ve found 2 wheeltrims that match the 2 that came off the car in some way, so it’s almost back to the state it was in when I bought it. Thank god for that.

Now it just needs new sparkplugs, an air filter, pollen filter (bloody hayfever), an exhaust rubber hanger, and wishbone bushes…plus maybe sorting the rear brakes. All cheap and fun.

Not bad for 103,000 miles.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 25th, 2007 at 1:16 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.