The economics of part-worn tyres

liam8282

bigjl wrote: »

Prices seem much the same as Blackcircles etc.

But again in my current size, 205/55/16 EliteDirect and Costco are cheaper on the same tyres, over £20 a set, and there is the hastle of waiting for delivery then finding the place where they have to be fitted, then waiting for them to be fitted.

I think you might have looked at the deal of the day on tyre shopper, rather than the actual cheapest which is £53.50 fitted for your tyre size, £53.94 at EliteDirect. (only pence admittedly)

When I have used tyreshopper, they deliver next day and it happens to be to a choice of garages that are local to me anyway. Even if I drove in off the street to the same garage, they get the tyres from the same supplier so the waiting times, fitting times and everything would be the same, the only difference is the price.

bigjl wrote: »

I just go to Elite or Costco, both a 5 minute drive and have my tyres fitted as I wait.

I may just be lucky with the tyre my car uses, but my wifes tyre size is also cheaper at Costco and Elite.

Do you need to be a Costco card holder to use costco tyres? I have never used Costco because of this.

bigjl wrote: »

I suppose what you can gather form my post is that shopping around is still relevant despite all the internet chatter about BlackCircles and similar.

Yes, I agree, always best to shop around, even on the internet.

King_Nothing

I did, the last owner had three different makes of budget-mid range tyres on a hot hatch, I replaced them for a full set of conti's. And no I've never seen anyone hurt from 2nd tyres, but I'd still rather have new out of the wrapper tyres with 8mm+ of tread instead of ones, that some dorris who can't parallel park has used them as dodgem tyres for 3 months.

Blackjack_Davy

Ok, having had used tyres fitted in the past and speaking from my experiance I'll say this:

Part worn tyre fitters, in this town at least, are a bunch of cowboys so watch out for -

Perished/cuts or tyres with bulges in them especially on the inside tyre wall thats not so obvious to spot. Had to take the car back for this on more than one occasion.

Once they told me to take a walk off to the shops while they were fitting it - the reason is so I couldn't see them replacing my perfectly good tyre hubs with bashed in ones -

Like I said, the used tyres fitter around here are cowboys and don't give a monkeys about driver/car safety. These days I use genuine tyre fitters and get budget tyres instead.

mikey72

King_Nothing wrote: »

I did, the last owner had three different makes of budget-mid range tyres on a hot hatch, I replaced them for a full set of conti's. And no I've never seen anyone hurt from 2nd tyres, but I'd still rather have new out of the wrapper tyres with 8mm+ of tread instead of ones, that some dorris who can't parallel park has used them as dodgem tyres for 3 months.

So you only changed them as they were budget tyres on a performance car, if they had been conti's you would happily had kept them?
So a set of second hand conti's off ebay the day before you bought it, you'd be happy to drive on if you didn't know then.

Kilty_2

I seriously doubt there'd be any savings worth having on the skinny little 13" tyres on my Picanto, but if I were to get a bad puncture the day before it goes back to the finance company then I'd probably put part worn on it :rotfl:

Seriously though, nah, probably not.

Plushchris

mikey72 wrote: »

How many people do you know who have been hurt by second hand tyres?

I worked in a tyre fitters for a couple of years when I left school and I know of 2 people hurt by second hand tyres being fitted (not by me I hasten to add, we didnt deal in part-worns) and associated accidents..

I also know of a few other cases where nobody was hurt but cars were damaged through blow-outs etc.

We used to get people coming in to have the part worn tyres they had bought replaced with new because of cuts/bulges on sidewall etc.

I know these could happen to anyone at any time on any tyres but everyone *I know* that has had a blowout was running on second hand tyres (and now only purchase new)

For that reason I only ever buy new, if Im skint I'll buy budget tyres but never part worn. Luckily I have a very cheap tyre fitters not far from me (not the one I used to work for)

Having said that I can understand why people buy part worn, I'd just say be careful and thoroughly inspect the tyres before buying/driving off.

poontang

mikey72 wrote: »

How many people do you know who have been hurt by second hand tyres?

I had a tyre blow-out at 100mph due to using cheapo tyres. Wrote off my car.

bigjl

liam8282 wrote: »

I think you might have looked at the deal of the day on tyre shopper, rather than the actual cheapest which is £53.50 fitted for your tyre size, £53.94 at EliteDirect. (only pence admittedly)

You are looking at the cheap tyres, I don't fit cheap tyres, the only prices I check are for tyres that I would fit on my cars, Toyo T1R and Michelin Primacy HP. I don't look ate deals of the day, thet only reason they exist is to shift the crap that they overstocked and can't shift most of the time. I still see no need to pay for my tyres online, wait for them to be delivered then get them fitted next day, I don't buy my groceries like that, so don't want to pay for my tyres like that.

Especially when for my chosen tyres, decent ones in 205/55/16 at the moment, they work out dearer every time.

In fact when rechecking they also worked out deaer by a couople of quid a corner than the 185/60/15 Avon ZV3's that I had fitted to the wifes Clio a few months ago.

liam8282 wrote: »

Do you need to be a Costco card holder to use costco tyres? I have never used Costco because of this.

I joined Costco so that I could access deals such as the cheap oil and cheap tyres. Seems only fair that thise that have spent the money to join every years get cheaper prices, don't you?

bigjl

King_Nothing wrote: »

I did, the last owner had three different makes of budget-mid range tyres on a hot hatch, I replaced them for a full set of conti's. And no I've never seen anyone hurt from 2nd tyres, but I'd still rather have new out of the wrapper tyres with 8mm+ of tread instead of ones, that some dorris who can't parallel park has used them as dodgem tyres for 3 months.

Yes, but did you replace the used tyres fitted to the last brand new car you bought, as those tyres are by definition also second hand, as they have been driven up to 100 miles before you get the car.

The local Merc dealer gets its new cars filled up with fuel at a Total petrol station not far from my house, you see them screaming by all day in brand new Mercs with tradeplates on, not unusual for them to leave some rubber at junctions and traffic lights.

bigjl

poontang wrote: »

I had a tyre blow-out at 100mph due to using cheapo tyres. Wrote off my car.

Unless the blowout happened immediatly after the tyre was fitted then it could have been damaged during the journey, or picked up a nail or debris when you where doing 100mph.

But define cheapo, I wouldn't think anybody would pay good money to put a second hand ditchfinder on their car, would they?

On the rare occasion I fit a used tyre, as mentioned in my earlier post then I always specify matched axle sets and decent makes of tyre.

If the person can't provide this then I won't buy, I am the customer, not the bloke selling the tyres, if I go into a shop anf they don't have Pepsi I won't buy Bulgaria Fizzy Pop just because it is there and I want a drink.

Anybody that lets a tyre shop stick on mismatched secondhand is mad in my opinion.

Just because you need to save a couple of quid shouldn't mean you forget about the basics, tyres should always be fitted in matching axles sets. It may not be law other thsn for mixing radial and crossply but the reasoning behind it is sound.