What could have seemed like a relatively minor clunk that didn’t linger in the mind could actually have had enough force behind it to bang things out of shape. Workshop manager Sean Jackson admitted that he’d done it himself to a demo car. So that makes us feel a bit better.
In any case, we can protest our innocence all we like; the evidence doesn’t lie. One wheel wobbled, and two tyres, when measured for road force, showed distortion. So the final bill was for one brand new rim and two new Pirelli P-Zeros for the front. Ouch.
On the plus side, the service was, as expected, exemplary. We could have had the car picked up and taken care of without any worry from us, but decided to take the car to the service centre ourselves because, well, otherwise this would be a very short article. But we’re not alone.
Apparently quite a few owners like to come in themselves, and it’s not hard to see why. As Habtoor also services Bentleys and McLarens, there’s always interesting machines to peruse while waiting for your own car to be seen to, and failing that there’s a luxurious waiting area and an endless supply of coffee.
After having the new rims and tyres fitted, and the remaining wheels optimised for set up, I drove the Speed back to the office. The juddering is gone and that luxurious Bentley is back. But the return journey took longer than the outward-bound one – I slowed right down for speed bumps.
