Leslie

We have a local tyre shop which gives a decent discount, sells any make of tyre going and I have always had top service from them.

Les

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Good independent every time for me. I travel an 80 mile round trip every time I need tyres, to buy from a lad I met at a NI meet on here. On my way there I pass 2 Kwik Fit places, and 1 ATS, its not even worth while stopping in for a quotation. I have 4 cars to keep in rubber, thats a whole lot of damaged alloys in the hands of a kwik fit nut strangler. Whatever I need can be sourced in less than 2 days.

robby

I deal with main francaises and small indis and agree with most of the arguments.
Main francaises charge a lot more as they have a flashy workshop, have managers to pay, directors, supervisors and then the yts lad who does the work.
Small indis are usually manned by the owner who charges £10 - £20 on the trade price of the tyres which pays towards his premises, wage, insurance and the price quoted usually includes fitting/ balancing/ tyre disposal where the big chains charge extra.

With the small indis they rely on word of mouth for a lot of work so you find they take more care/ pride in their work (cleaning fingermarks off dirty wheels, etc) where the yts lad in the mainstreams will mark the rim with a tyre lever, chip the spokes with the tyre gun then will want to try out the new tyres by wheelspinning out of the shop into the carpark

I drove 15miles the other week to get 2 new tyres fitted by a indy i deal with as i know he takes care

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

as an independant i rely on repeat custom so if i do a good service and a good price then i know 85% of the customers will come back , the big chains dont care if you dont come back because there is another mug round the corner on his way in .


i never pressure sell , i give opotions and as i said the customer will normally go for something mid range or higher . goodyear , dunlop ect , but in this current climate i do seem to be selling alot more of the economy range .


but even then there is a scale of economy tyres , really shoddy looking stuff and economy tyres which arnt far of brand quality .

at the end of theday alot of the economy brands are made by the big brand companies anyways

AndyC_772

iTrader: (2)

For the last few years I've been using a mobile fitter. They ring beforehand to confirm the appointment, turn up at my office when they say they will, carry an excellent range of tyres, and prices are excellent.

Can't think of any reason to go back to using any kind of fixed centre for tyres tbh.

EileenDover

He could be wrong about the tyres, but he is spot on about Imports!

Uncle Pester

He may be wrong about the tyres - but he is spot-on regarding the Import issue.

TelBoy

I always support my local independant francaises. They're cheaper, and they don't rip off my Mutekis. Comprendez vous?

Leslie

If he is going to take the ****, ask him what comprendez means!

Les

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

I use a firm called Event Tyres, they come to you and I have to say they have been great, straight talking with regards to brands, helpful and the fitters turn up on time and are really polite and friendly, good prices and I always give the fitters a few quid for a pint as it saves me the agro, generally save it up so I am buying a few tyres to make it worth while and get the discount.

Budget Tyres are a false economy, at least the Nankangs, Wanli's and the like are, the best value I find tend to be the Hankooks, Kumho's and Toyo's as they actually perform but I will always go for Conti's, Bridgestones or Dunlops if able to, I fitted Conti's to a Fiat Coupe turbo to replace the still quite fresh Nankangs, it was like going from 2wd to 4wd, it transformed the car, even in the wet it would put down most of the power without spinning, on the Nankangs it would spin up in third, horrendous, Bought a six month old Galaxy, Ford replaced the fronts as they were pretty worn after 11,000 miles on a big vehicle with a lot of fwd diesel grunt, the put some "Topstar" or something on, utter crap, even the missus remarked on it, off they came and replaced with Four Brand new Goodyears.


Quentin Wilson comes across as a right sleazeball, I kind of realised this years ago when he was recommending people buy a crumbly old Bentley Turbo "For the price of a new Mondeo", yeah, thats a great idea for the average punter, same to buy then the same each year to keep the old turd on the road coupled with 8 mpg.

StickyMicky

I use both, i used to use a local Indi that had a very good rep, i had a set of freshly refurbed black alloys sitting in the garage so i took them along to the indi`s to have some new rubber put on them.

Came back home and went to bolt them to the scoob, to find one of them was chipped and they had touched it in with black marker pen!!!

The place i have just bought my MG wheels from was called "Rochford Tyres" apparently they have a good rep down south?
Unpackaged my new wheels, looking good! but why has this one not got any balance weights fitted to it at all?

Vibration city!

I actually had my bessie mate at Quick Fitt balance them properly, the thing is he is the manager of the site, so i probably get a better deal then the average chap on the street.
Infact i was at QF yesterday morning getting my aircon recharged for free

Quick Fitt managers get a SERIOUS amount of grief from the upper management chain, the targets they are set and hassled for are stupid, its like any old retails/sales stuff to be honest, but worse, i know my mate has been threatened with his job a few times for not hitting targets, so what is he to do ??

He recently came off his motorbike and ended up in hospital for a while, when going back to work, his boss told him that he had to fight for his job/site, who ever hit the highest targets between him and the bloke who was drafted in as cover, would get the site to run

Until that kind of crap is stopped, then nothing will change IMO.

Markus

I remember the last time I went into the local Kwik Fit. I needed a single replacement tyre for the Saxo. It was something like a Michelin Pilot sport SX or something like that. I phoned them, read the exact info from the tyre to them, they said they could get me one. Next day they phoned, said it was in, went down, and what a shock it wasn't the correct tyre. I pointed out what I had requested, they said I must have given them the wrong info, I pointed out that I read it from the tyre and there were three other tyres on the car with the same info.

Told them I'd not be wanting the tire as it wasn't what I had ordered. Cheeky ******* tried it on with "we'll need a restocking fee", told them to bugger off and left. Went across the road and two doors down to the other tyre place, which was Freeway, a local indy, and where I should have gone in the first place, and they had the tyre in stock, wham, bam, 10 mins later I was on my way.

When I had the impreza I used SE Tyres in High Brooms, another great little franchise place. Got the tyres in very quickly, were very friendly and helpful indeed. Took a couple of the lads out for a little spin as they liked the car. Always recommend them to anyone who needs tyres.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Kwik Fit..... One Sunday afternoon.

Me: Hiya mate, I need a new tyre for a 1.3 bog standard Ford Ka" (don't recall tyre size, but they were tiny 14 inch wheels IIRC!)

I don't want to lead you here, so I'll be conservative in my description of the KF employee

Thieving, robbing barseward: "Certainly sir, that'll be £89 for a continental please......sir, sir....where are you going?"

*Door slams*

Earlier in the week I'd got 17inch Eagle GSD3s for £78 a corner.

Wilson must have been well paid off is all I can say!

Ns04

dunx

iTrader: (3)

A manager at work paid £300 for two tyres on her mini, from a dealer !

Ouch !

dunx

robby

My old mini cooper had runflats - main dealer quoted £169 each (17"), i bought 2 standard tyres for £120 fitted and a can of tyre weld from an indy

Leslie

I got Pirelli runflats from my local independent for £121 each fitted and balanced which is a vast improvement on the local BMW Mini dealer.

Les