Winter Tyres & Kwik Fit advice

muzzer_mc

Hi All

Looking for a bit of advice.

I currently commute 82miles return a day across Scotland. Last Winter I managed to struggle in to work all Winter apart from one day, however there were a few hairy moments a few days I thought I was going to lose the car on the compacted Ice & Snow. So this year I have decided to get some Winter Tyres to help aid me to work and hopefully avoid/reduce the hairy moments.

I'm at a bit of a tricky situation at the moment as my work has gotten really busy and I'm moving house next week so It's left me with this Sunday as the only day I have free to get the winter tyres before December and I want them fitted before any sort of bad weather hits. After hunting around for tyres and Garages I have found that my only Options seem to be Kwik Fit or National Tyre in the South Lanarkshire area which are open on this Sunday.
I can't tell which tyre is winter ones on the National Website, Kwik Fit however allows you to filter the results and I think I'd go with the following tyre:

Dunlop SP Winter Sport 4D

I know Kiwk Fit have there horror stories, I have only used them once and I didn't have a bad experience, I've had better experiences else where so guess why never went back. Its just due to them being open on a Sunday that I am thinking of going back. Also they say they will supply a storage bag for my summer tyres (which I got fitted in May) which I can store in my Garage and put them back on in the Spring.

Now my main question is, to book & Pay online it would get a discounted cost of £456.70 for four tyres, wheel balancing and wheel alignment etc. However if I went in on the day I could get a 25% discount but that doesn't include Balancing etc. With paying online I would be guaranteeing that I could get these tyres fitted on the Sunday at a decent time. Not sure if I should choose Guarantee over money saving?

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks
Muz

scheming_gypsy

Although you say work is getting busy, can't you use something like Blackcircle to find somewhere near work. Drop the car off at lunch and then pick it up after work? or try and pick up some cheap wheels on eBay / from the scrap yard and drop the wheels off to have tyres fitted and just swap the wheels over yourself.

marlot

The other alternative is to buy wheels with tyres already on them from mytyres (or someone else). That's what I did for my wife's car this year.

Trebor16

www.Mytyre.co.uk is a good place to go. I have just ordered a set of 4 wheels and Continental TS830 tyres for my VW Golf (size 195/65T15) for £416 including delivery. The wheels will be balanced and ready to fit.

When you sell the car you should be able to sell off the wheels seperately.

What car do you have and what size tyres are fitted?

iyhr

Whatever you do avoid Kwik Fit - there are good reasons for the horror stories you mention. In my experience their advice is unreliable and misleading - I bought 4 new tyres while on holiday and only discovered some months later that two of them had 4.5 & 5mm of tread left (yes, I should have known but I believed what they told me). Didn't want to know when I rang them. Are you sure you can believe what they tell you? Why not choose a garage others say are trustworthy? I've always used ATS Euromaster, as have most of my friends and non of us have had any problems. Good luck!

EdGasket

Trebor16 wrote: »

www.Mytyre.co.uk is a good place to go. I have just ordered a set of 4 wheels and Continental TS830 tyres for my VW Golf (size 195/65T15) for £416 including delivery. The wheels will be balanced and ready to fit.

When you sell the car you should be able to sell off the wheels seperately.

What car do you have and what size tyres are fitted?

£416 for tyres and wheels?? :eek: You can buy a complete car for that and I guess my own car is probably not worth more than £500

marlot

EdGasket wrote: »

£416 for tyres and wheels?? :eek: You can buy a complete car for that and I guess my own car is probably not worth more than £500

And how does that helps OP with their issue?

gilbert_and_sullivan

Several companies will come to you, Event Tyres only one of many.

Why not let a mobile fit them for you at your convenience, work or home and leave your Sunday free as it's the only free time you have at the moment.

If Kwik Fit is still the best deal then by all means go to them, i don't use them as i prefer a proper mechanic to work on my car and get my tyres sent, but i also don't understand this anti feeling either, they serve a purpose for people who can only get work done on a weekend or can't be bothered to get their cars properly serviced somewhere more suitable.

bosseyed

Wheel balancing at Kwikfit is only about £10 and they're not doing much for that price so its not really a preimum service to justify a higher overall price - wheel balancing is a piece of p**s and takes a few minutes per wheel, its just having the equipment to do it.

And I have nothing against kwikfit, they've always been fine for me in the past.

System

Personally I would not want to risk damaging the wheels or the tyres by paying for them to be swapped on the rims twice per year. It is a much better idea to buy a 2nd set of rims with the winter tyres fitted.

Also make sure that the rim and tyre sizes are as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, then there should be no problems with your insurance.

I asked my insurer if swapping wheels / tyres was okay and I have just received the following confirmation via email :

You do not need to let us know that you are transferring winter wheels and tyres. We are happy with this provided they are within manufacturers guidelines.

Trebor16

EdGasket wrote: »

£416 for tyres and wheels?? :eek: You can buy a complete car for that and I guess my own car is probably not worth more than £500

Have you ever checked out the cost of new tyres or are you one of those who would take a risk with buying secondhand tyres?