I own a Skoda Octavia vRS TDi, a fairly quick car with bags of torque. However, I am not a hooligan - simply a 57 year old businessman with a motor sport and technical history. Two months ago, I noticed an egg on the sidewall of a tyre. The car has never been kerbed and the rim is unmarked. It's on 18-inch rims with low profiles. I had two new tyres fitted to the front and since then, there has been vibration coming via the steering column. We switched these tyres to the rear and the vibration worsened throughout the car, presumably due to there being no weight in the rear, different spring and damper rates etc. So, the garage put the wheels with the defective tyres on their balancing machine and there was visible ovality which explains the pattering at speeds above 50mph. The ovality was only on the tread, not the rims. The suggestion was that the tyre company from whom the garage (about which I have no complaint) buys their supplies would say that I should buy two more tyres and send the questionable ones back for inspection. No doubt, having sold me a further two tyres, they would find nothing wrong with the defective ones.

I can well understand that some customers might try it on, but it is ludicrous to tell me I should fork out over £500 (two pairs at £260 per pair) when everyone can see there is a problem. Two mechanics plus the garage owner have witnessed the problem first hand and I have dealt with this garage for 20 years. The tyre rep has not come out to look for himself, despite the complaint being made on the day they were fitted, which is two months ago. As a former racing mechanic and occasional driver, I can only liken the symptoms to having flat spotted a slick, like driving on corrugated tin sheets. Any suggestions? Is this a common complaint?