Over the years, I have always found getting replacement tyres and repairs a real source of stress. I like to look after my cars and have immaculate alloys and I also want to get a good price; performance tyres as expensive as it is.

Main dealers seem like a bad idea as you're going to pay a considerable mark up and hourly rate. However, they are more likely to exercise a degree of care.

Small independents through the likes of blackcircles seem to be one of the cheapest routes to go but it's very hit and miss with regards to quality and standards of work. Most of these guys really don't get that if you rock up in a nice car with immaculate alloys that you want the wheels treated with kids gloves.

Then there are your Kwik Fit, National, Farmer types. Total rip-off merchants who always over inflate the price. Probably take a bit more care than your ***-in-the-mouth independent but still not great.

If you had a mint £30-60k car that's

 

Breakers 5 mins down the road 20 quid max , fitted

 

I have found Openo cheapest for road tyres. When I bought my 275/35/19 Goodyear asymetric. 2's tyres they were £160 each and no where could Touchdown that and that was say two years ago.

The idea of a £60k is of no relevance as some cheap high power Imprezas and Evo's need better tyres more than a more expensive car


If it wasn't for the bad grip in really bad wet weather in this country I would have semi slicks on my car all the time

 

I always buying on either camskil or tyreleader and get them fitted at friends tyre shop.

 

Tyre leader pretty gd

 

etyres, tyres on the drive, event tyres, and a few others I shop around for thebest deal on the tyres I want.

 

To be clear, this post isn't just about where to get the cheapest tyres. It's about finding a way to get the following:

1. Reputable people to fit the tyres that take real care over the alloys/car and
2. Relatively competitive pricing

Say for example I owned a 2-year old BMW 335d (I don't) and needed 2 new tires. Let suppose (and I'm purely guessing) they were:

* £280 fitted by on online retailer using one of their approved backstreet garages
* £340 fitted by Kwik Fit
* £400 fitted by BMW

I regard option 1 as hit and miss, option 2 as loathsome and option 3 as too expensive. I want an option 4... a company that do exhausts and tyres but aren't trying to con old grannies, don't give you the usual "you'll need to do all 4 and your exhaust mate....won't be cheap" routine and are generally professional, reasonable and take great care.

There are all sorts of independents that set up shop to look after enthusiastic owners in the modifying scene. Litchfields for example. These sorts of guys (in general) are enthusiast owners themselves and treat your car with a degree of care that reflects this fact.

I find it frustrating that there appears not to be anything like that in the tyres and exhaust game. Today I had to hand £200 over to Kwik Fit (initially they tried £260) and it boils my ****. It was about £30 more than I would have been if I'd scoured the internet for a better deal but I'd much rather have spent that money on a caring independent. I'm happy to pay a bit more to not have the usual BS that goes with going to the likes of Kwik Fit and to not have to play the backstreet garage lottery.

 

It all depends upon where you are, recommendations of the sort you are after are generally local and I know there's only one place I'll go for my tyres whether that's for the people carrier with kerbed rims or to fit some trackday specials to my MOs but that's only because the guy is local and known to me - unless you are from the Middlesex/North London area my recommendation ofg Ruislip Tyre Services is probably useless to you

 

...and I still wonder what guys with £30-60k cars do. Like, do they go onto BlackCircles or eTyres to get the best deal then drive into their nearest approved backstreet installer. How do they feel about handing over their machine polished, immaculate pride and joy to "wee Davy" in his dirty overalls with a *** hanging out the corner of his mouth. On the ramps is a 2001 Saxo Forte getting an MOT and a 2006 D5 Volvo for rear springs. "Mad Billy" in the corner has just taken a tyre off the alloy from a 2009 Focus ST and placed the alloy face down on the dirty floor while he tends to the next wheel.

....does this really happen? Is this what these guys are doing or are they just phoning the main dealer and paying through the nose to avoid these sorts of establishments and the Kwik Fit/National zoos?

 

I buy mine cheap from a tyre retailer and get them fitted at the place that refurb my wheels so they know to take care of them lol

 

I ain't going to lie Jon, it's a bit of a commute

 

Ahhhhh, that makes a lot of sense. Get the tyres delivered online and have a local refurb specialist fit them - there's almost zero chance one of those guys would be stupid enough to do anything to mark or damage the alloys. That's great thinking.

 

Yeh seems to work well as i spent a lot on refurbing them, they scratch them then they fix it lol sounds extreme but the guys there are great they fit them for a good price and take a good bit of care with them rather than the usual hashy quick fit type places, wheels were done a good few years ago and still in as new condition.

 

I'm with you Saxo Boy I know what you mean, however the process of changing a tyre is inherently risky in terms of damaging the finish on the wheel, it requires the use of tools which are in contact with the back and face of the wheel.

I make a round trip of just over 100 miles to buy tyres, from a fellow performance car enthusiast, but accidents can and do happen. Bridgestone tyres for example have a stiff sidewall, probably stiffer again for XL tyres. This requires more force to stretch the tyre over the rim when removing or fitting. Michelin sidewalls are typically softer, so slightly lesser risk within the same process, but would you allow ease of fitment / removal to influence tyre choice?

Provided that your rims are not being mistreated, I think you gotta accept that there is some risk of the odd nick or scratch occurring, but getting oil and grease smeared across them, or having them sat finished side down on any surface is not acceptable.

 

If your car is worth £60k should tyre fitters act different????

They should treat every car the same, be it £300 or £100k

I was in Dexel tyres in Sheffield (not cheap!) and a brand new transit van came in with a puncture, the tyre monkey put the jack under the sill and caved the sill in , the driver complained and they offered to refund the valve and fitting charge, he accepted! FFS, they destroyed the sill, I'd have said get it repaired to as new condition!

 

It's not so much about whether they shop would treat the £300 or £100k car different. It's more that my attitude to those cars as an owner would be different. With a £300 beater I couldn't give much of a monkeys what they do as long as it goes and is safe. With a £100k car it would be wearing a £2k detail and I'd lose my sh*t if anyone so much as touched the bodywork unnecessarily

 

I would still say those I have mentioned even with meeting your criteria, never had any issues on our cars nor damage.
its also worth noting of the horror stories that get posted from time to time about reputable dealers mistreating cars - you can get bad everywhere.

 

I used sticky.com, the guy was really careful and took his time fitting the tyres, I would use them again even though they weren't the cheapest. Sometimes it's worth paying a bit more for a quality job.

 

Oponeo or camskill. Find a "local" garage you trust to fit them.

 

Gotta agree with a trusted local tyre fitter and online purchase.

My 330d wears 255/35/18 Michelin Pilot Sport 3's on the back and some places wanted £170+ each fitted. Oponeo were £124 per tyre (front 225/40/18 were £94!) and I have an enthusiast friend who fits them with care for £10 a corner. That's non run flat, I hated the Bridgestone run flats I had, eurgh!!

 

I usually get my tyres fitted anywhere that gives me competitive price for the new tyres. VW would sell them to me for £130 each, a local tyre fitter would charge me £62 for the same tyre, another one would want 57 quid and another one would want 77 quid for the same thing. My car failed its MOT yesterday on some wear-n-tear inside one back tyre, as well as due to the persisting parking brake fault. The MOT was being conducted by the £77 guys but they were actually getting it done at the £57 place. So, when the car came back to £77 place, I asked them to put the tyre in for 57 quid or else. They even put it in for £54. That's called good price matching service, but they shouldn't try ripping you off at first place.

I'm not fussed about my wheels, the paint on them is already flaking here and there. They do look minging, so I need to get them refurbished. A local has given me a price i.e. 50 quid each wheel for covering them up cosmetically. I think I'll get it done. My passenger side wing mirror also remains busted for past two years. I must get it fixed. I also have a damage on my passenger door. I must get that fixed, although the indicator in it works perfectly.

My car is getting the electronic parking brake repaired today. Switch itself was replaced this morning but it has still failed the MOT re-take due to it blinking and beeping. The diagnostics computer thingy is now showing the dirty nailed but kind hearted mechanics that it's actually the callipers. Great, now I have to pay for new callipers to get the bawrstard fixed. This MOT has already cost me nearly £200 with a new tyre, MOT cost and that parking brake switch which made no difference, anyway. Now I'll have to part with another 600-700 quid for this parking break fault repair.

Honestly, I wish there were a car that never required fixing, changing and faffing about with. I can't be awrsed with any of that.

 

Got any space in teh garage for this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tyre-Chang...wAAOSwyjBW6YdA

Then if you wreck your rims its your fault

Wouldn't use it on skinny profile tyres, Bridgstones or anything runflat though. "Mad Billy " would make it look easy to do though.

 

I have started sourcing off the internet.
Priced up with local tyre dealer for 4 tyres fitted £85 each.Michelins.

Bought off internet at £55 each ,so if I get them fitted for £15 or so then still the cheapest deal available.
Buyritetyres in Devon I think it was. Arrived within 48 hours.

 

I get mine from etyres - great fitter comes to my house

Good value and convenient

Re scratches, damage etc, this really depends on your attitude to possessions

Do you own them or do they own you?

 

I do like that.

 

Sometimes on odd occasions it's actually unavoidable; if the wheels have had a bad refurb or are just poor quality finish.

For example the 2014 Subaru Sti UK with factory black alloys, the paint is so thin and brittle you can actually scratch it off with your finger nails! Atrocious quality for such a expensive car and makes one feel like a right muppet trying to explain to the customer that it's the wheels and not the fitter.

Although more often than not it is the fitter, but it's not through being careless or heavy handed, more often through improper technique and not keeping a very close eye on the heel of the tyre arm to make sure it doesnt flex or shift when under load as that when it'll make contact with the rim. As I said earlier it looks easy watching; Unless it's a steel rim with a 60 profile tyre

Amazed there isn't a big thread about them in the general section about the wheel on new STIs as they really are that bad - but I suppose only a hand full of people here actually own a 2014 onwards scoob... It's a very rare car compared to the other model years.

 

True, I think Scoobynet is comprised of 90%+ people that owned an Scooby from 1999-2007, 80% of whom no longer have it. Of the other 10%, 5% have never owned an Scoob and still post and the other 5% actually have one.

 

Kenny
Funny that you should post this as its been causing me annoyance recently.
I bought my first 'brand new' car in December and it sits in the price bracket you mention.
So.......I wanted winter tyres on. Bought them from mytyres.co.uk as I normally do and had them fitted by the complete clowns at Penicuik Angle park garage. Now this is owned by Nobles (who I purchased said vehicle from) and because they said "we will get you a deal on winter tyres". Anyway, the fact that I'd just forked out £32k on a new Forester XT they said they would speak to the tyre clowns and get me a deal. Obviously that ended when the ***** at the clown place couldn't even source winter tyres for the Forester as he was limited to which suppliers he was allowed use. So I bought from mytyres and asked clown to fit aforementioned tyres.

Straightforward you would think !

Well, it was snowy the day I had them fitted to a car with 75 miles on the clock and a set of diamond cut brand spanking new alloys. There was no actual damage to the alloys BUT the tyres that came off had been chucked in the back with NO plastic coverings etc and marked all the brand new light coloured roof lining. Boils my **** when the tyres I gave them had polythene wrap on them.
Anyway, tyres and wheels were obviously all covered in the white glue and mud. How hard would it have been to rinse them ???
Anyway, tyres were balanced which was something but Tyre pressures ranged from 24psi to 38psi !! WTF.
So, let's move on to last week when I was putting the summer tyres back on. Let's try the other clown shop in Penicuik due to **** up last time I cunningly thought.
To cut the same long story short, exactly he same results, marks all over my still relatively new boot, tyres and wheels in filthy condition and this time the wobble at 70mph nearly took steering wheel out of my hand. Pressures again all over the place.Also forgot to let me know car was ready. So back I went to get them re balanced. An unnecessary waste of time if only the feckwits could do their job correctly the first time if asking !!!
Anyway, rant over, EVO recommended Pirelli performance centres for somewhere that will take care of such things and that's where I will be going in future
Cheers
Si

http://www.pirelli.com/tyres/en-gb/car/find-your-dealer/performance-centers#

 

That's disgusting. I mean not even washing/wiping the wheels is just a plain lazy "I don't give a ****" attitude.

The only exception is if the car is a filthy shed. But even the that's no excuse.

What I tend to do with new ish/ clean cars is let the customer load the wheels inside. And/Or give them option to take away two tyres (which usually fit in the boot) and come back later for the other pair. Common sense really, rather than trying ram all four in with the seats down and risk marking/damaging the interior. And of course there is always the storage option (for a fee).

 

Ali

If only all followed your approach. Good on you sir