JusticeEmpire

Hiya,

Firstly, I am 99.9% certain on my choice of tyres, Hankook K115 Ventus Prime 2.

The dilemna I'm having is whether or not I buy them mail ordered and try to find somewhere/someone to fit them cheap, or if I buy them with fitting etc included. I have a friend that works in a garage, but after they have charged me for the fitting & balancing of the tyres, it would work out more expensive.

What do you guys normally do? Bearing in mind that I am not trade, and only have a small garage & selection of tools. Is there a simple method to do them from home, and then take them somewhere for balancing etc?

Any ideas, suggestions, hints or tips greatly appreciated

Cheers,

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

I often buy from either Camskill or Tyremen online, and then take them down my local fitters. They normally charge me between £20-30 to fit them, and even then I'm normally still saving over £50 on what the local fitters could get them in fitted for.

I'm currently running Hankook Ventus v12 Evo's but have to say I actually don't like them quite as much as the Vredestain Ultrac Sessantas or Continentals I've had on the car before; the car just doesn't feel quite as planted, although they haven't scared me like Goodyear GSD3's did when the car just aquaplaned in shallow standing water!

Having run Dunlops Sports, Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD2 and GSD3 (2's were good, 3's feckin AWFUL!), Vredesteins, Continental Sport Contact 2's and now the Hankooks over the last 7 years, I think when I'm next due a set I'll be going back to the Vredesteins or Continentals as for my driving style I felt they offer the best combination of wear, and wet and dry grip. I'd say the Continentals might actually have just had the edge...

chet123

iTrader: (7)

my next set will be Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta. Currently running Proxy T1R's which are soft compound and wear very quickly IMHO. Good in the dry awful in the wet i feel.

Giles, Camskill doing each corner £84.50 plus delivery. Can get all 4 corners for £349 including delivery for my size tyre, thinks you have 18's

http://www.camskill.co.uk/m54b758s16..._Noise%3A_67dB

Another site i've found is
http://www.oponeo.co.uk

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

TBH, if the price of internet plus fitting is HIGHER than locally bought, fitted, it's a no-brainer, isn't it?

Plus you get the security of knowing that, should one go bad in a few weeks, the local place will swap it.....

As for self fitting, forget it. Unless you have a pneumatic tyre changer, you're going to be in a world of hurt.......I've watched trained fitters struggling with low profile tyres even WITH a machine.

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

Bloody hell that IS cheap! Yes mate I'm on 18's - shame I don't need them at the moment....

JusticeEmpire

Cheers for the advice, to be honest any tyre will be better than what I have at the moment

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

No probs mate. TBH I've always been firmly in the camp that a good tyre choice will transform the Impreza. The chassis can demonstrate a phenomenal amount of grip but only if the tyre compound you choose is half decent.

If you buy a cheaper budget set of tyres, yes you'll save money, but you may actually get far less enjoyment out of your car

Here's a few reviews on your current suggestion:
http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Ha...Prime-K105.htm

JusticeEmpire

Ok, time for a lil update.

I bought a second hand set of wheels and two of the tyres on them were not too bad. So, the two part worn tyres are now on the rear, and I got the Primes delivered and fitted to the rims the other day.

I did notice that the wheels were a lil difficult to fit as they are of the multi fit style. However, I got them all on and they all seem to be sitting properly. Now, there seems to be a wobble at around 70mph/motorway speeds.

My suspicion is that the wheels are out of balance, considering that there is only one weight on one of the wheels and quite a few on the other.

However, after speaking to my mechanic mate, he said it's unlikely to be a balancing mistake, and more likely to be buckled wheels........

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

MrNoisy

iTrader: (28)

If you bought second hand wheels and didn't get them all balanced and checked there's a possibility that you could have unbalanced wheels, but of course also that the wheels could need refurbing.

I'd advise taking em down to see a decent tyre place like Mags at Ruislip Tyres.

JusticeEmpire

I replaced two of the tyres though and they were 'balanced'' when fitted to the wheel, and at the time I was very surprised that one wheel had a lot more weights on it than the other.

TBH they are not sports or premium rated tyres. and I don't get 'serious' usage out of the scooby anyway, I was just wondering why I have a new wobble lol