Tyre Replacement

[Roy124]

Just had my Yaris Cross serviced, they found a dangerous hole in a front tyre down to the canvas.

Their replacement price was £206.  I haggled down to £157 which was marginally less that KwikFit, and the same as Halfords/National Tyre.  I then went to Formula 1 tyres - £139.

Make is not relevant, just the totally different prices for the same tyre.

[Mojo1010]

A hole though not a punctured? Assuming it's the margin of profit for the varying prices. 

[Roy124]

Mojo, my first thought.  However they said the hole was through to the canvas.  They would not release the car until I signed a disclaimer.  I would have been inclined to check and monitor myself except the car is being exchanged next month.  If I took it in without being fixed I would probably have lost at least as much from the PX price.

[Parts-King]

175/60/18 by any chance? If so there are very few manufacturers of that size tyre. 

[Hadrian1]

If the car is being exchanged next month, why put a NEW tyre on ?

There are plenty of places which sell used tyres. Nothing wrong with them as long as they are not damaged.

When you think about it, we all drive around on used tyres.

[Parts-King]

I have been in the motor trade all my life, there is no way I would put a used/part worn tyre on any car, I have seen some of the rubbish that has been put on over the years. Most cars have a budget version tyre available, provided it is a popular size 

[Roy124]

215/50/18 or thereabouts. 

I looked at the cut.  Had I not been PX to the garage that just declared the tyre unsafe I would have been happy to drive it for another year.  

The 'hole' is no worse than that made by a very small sharp stone in the tread not the channel.  I probed with a screw driver and it penetrated less than 5mm which is the remaining thread.

I shall get an opinion from Formula 1 tomorrow.

[Mojo1010]

Get it done like a punctured repaired, cost about £10. 

[Hadrian1]

3 hours ago, Parts-King said:

I have been in the motor trade all my life, there is no way I would put a used/part worn tyre on any car,

 As I said previously we all drive on part worn tyres.

[Cyker]

43 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

215/50/18 or thereabouts. 

I looked at the cut.  Had I not been PX to the garage that just declared the tyre unsafe I would have been happy to drive it for another year.  

The 'hole' is no worse than that made by a very small sharp stone in the tread not the channel.  I probed with a screw driver and it penetrated less than 5mm which is the remaining thread.

I shall get an opinion from Formula 1 tomorrow.

Jeez is that all? I was expecting a chunk pulled out from you drifting the car round roundabouts or something  

[Haliotis]

19 hours ago, Hadrian1 said:

 As I said previously we all drive on part worn tyres.

That may be so, but we don’t all drive on tyres that may have internal (non-visible) damage due to being driven hard.

Example: Last Wednesday, when I was going back to my car on our local Tesco car park, a young driver roared into the car park, did a squealing U-turn and screeched to a halt. Dropped off his passenger, then roared off again across the car park at what must have been at least 40 mph - the car park signs clearly show a 10 mph limit.

Driving hard is obviously standard practice for this young idiot.  What he doesn’t seem to realise is that he is punishing his tyres to the point where, one day, they may fail at a time when he really needs them to save his (and probably others) skin.  I would imagine he is the type of driver who buys cheap tyres and takes them down to minimum tread depth - which further increases the chances of sudden, serious tyre failure.

These days, it seems that a great number of drivers accelerate aggressively and brake late - working their tyres and breaking systems to the limit.  Why do they do it?  Their  travelling time in reaching their ultimate destination is largely governed by the traffic ahead, so they don’t gain much, if anything at all, by their rubbishy way of driving.

[Hadrian1]

42 minutes ago, Haliotis said:

These days, it seems that a great number of drivers accelerate aggressively and brake late - working their tyres and braking systems to the limit.  Why do they do it?  Their  travelling time in reaching their ultimate destination is largely governed by the traffic ahead, so they don’t gain much, if anything at all, by their rubbishy way of driving.

Particularly those who drive German brands of cars, in my experience.

[Roy124]

Right, the facts.

I got the tyre changed at Formula 1 and asked they confirm the Toyota diagnosis.  He was able to pull the rubber near the rain gulley and sure enough exposed the carcase.  He agreed with Toyota assessment and said that as was it was a risk.  

I am not sure where that leaves people with a puncture.  It could be that the size of the slit, perhaps 8mm length, could not be guaranteed to accept a patch.

Anyway, happy with £137 compared with Toyota best price of £157.  The waiting room had more comfortable club chairs too.  As he said though, £137 does not get you coffee while you wait.

[Mojo1010]

Not able to comment on your one as I cannot see what the damaged is. On a screw/nail punctured, quite a few members here have used the rubber string plug method to great effect. 

[Roker]

3 hours ago, Haliotis said:

That may be so, but we don’t all drive on tyres that may have internal (non-visible) damage due to being driven hard.

Example: Last Wednesday, when I was going back to my car on our local Tesco car park, a young driver roared into the car park, did a squealing U-turn and screeched to a halt. Dropped off his passenger, then roared off again across the car park at what must have been at least 40 mph - the car park signs clearly show a 10 mph limit.

Driving hard is obviously standard practice for this young idiot.  What he doesn’t seem to realise is that he is punishing his tyres to the point where, one day, they may fail at a time when he really needs them to save his (and probably others) skin.  I would imagine he is the type of driver who buys cheap tyres and takes them down to minimum tread depth - which further increases the chances of sudden, serious tyre failure.

These days, it seems that a great number of drivers accelerate aggressively and brake late - working their tyres and breaking systems to the limit.  Why do they do it?  Their  travelling time in reaching their ultimate destination is largely governed by the traffic ahead, so they don’t gain much, if anything at all, by their rubbishy way of driving.

It also makes the passengers sick especially me

[Roy124]

Dan, quite.  Clear road, traffic backed up at lights or roundabout,  I lift off and coast to the junction.  Car behind either shoots passed or rides my bumper.  More often than not I can arrive as the traffic clears.  Reading the road or not they seem to enjoy the rush.

 

[Haliotis]

Roy, I have used Formula 1 for my tyres for years. Good prices and they do price challenge, although I have found it very rare for another company to be priced less than Formula 1.

[Roy124]

I had never heard of them until this forum.  KF here is off the main road in town.   Parking out from for three cars.

Halfords tyre bay is National Tyres, long overdue for demolition.   It is on the same main road but opposite end.

F1 is in a new building off a road that can be very busy.  Ordered tyre yesterday offered an Appt Sunday as we have a 'can't defer' trip tomorrow.   Tyre fitted this afternoon. 

Oh, one other thing, F1 staff look like they want to be there.  One I dealt with was ex-KF.

[Big_D]

On 5/31/2024 at 6:44 PM, Roy124 said:

Reading the road or not they seem to enjoy the rush

This is quite often the problem. Many drivers have no idea how to read the road and plan ahead. 

[Roy124]

Yesterday,  following another car at the Toyota 3 bar distance, on an undulating and meandering A road at a comfortable 50-55 and observing the 30, 40 and 50 limits.

The vehicle following could see my gap was long enough and seized the opportunity to shoot passed as we approached the end of the village 30 limit.  Of course the car ahead was still doing 30 as we approached a rise, solid white line on our side.

For Schumacher, for it must have been he in his BMW EV, was soon passed and away.  Sadly I didn't see him again. 

Then again, Mr Toad?

[Haliotis]

Lots of drivers brag about the cars that they own and are proud of, but have never learned to drive them properly. People frequently show pride in certain talents in which they excel but, when it comes to driving standards, they have no clue, and even claim to be good drivers when it’s patently clear to other road users that their skills are minimal.

[Cyker]

I think it's the nature of those cars too - Always chasing horsepower figures, so to feel justification they 'have' to drive fast all the time.

I get it to an extent, as a lot of those cars feel horrible when driven 'normally', but that just adds more evidence they aren't really suitable for road use.

I do love the jekyll and hyde nature of my Mk4 - It is both relaxing to drive calmly and at low speeds but still fun when given the beans; Not many cars can do both so well!  

[Haliotis]

What used to annoy me when I had my VW Caravelle was; when driving on a winding rural road, if someone with a low-slung sports car came up behind me and had no hope of overtaking, they would hang on close behind as if trying to force me to increase my speed.  These people don’t seem to appreciate that a Caravelle or similar vehicle cannot be driven at their sports car speed without the risk of losing control or even overturning.

Obviously, if a safe piece of road occurred I would make very effort to let them pass, otherwise it was a case of ignoring their impatience.

Sorry for the drift off topic. 🥵

[Roy124]

2 hours ago, Haliotis said:

Obviously, if a safe piece of road occurred I would make very effort to let them pass, otherwise it was a case of ignoring their impatience.

And then they don't 😄

[Cyker]

I seem to get that with bikers and especially mopeds - I'll heel way over to the left when the road widens and straightens so they have a good clear view of the road ahead but then they choose to sit in my right-side blind spot right up until it starts to narrow again, or we're coming up on an island, and *then* they'll overtake, forcing me to slow down more so we don't all arrive at said hazard at the same time!

There needs to be a better commonly recognized way for 2-wheelers to indicate (Apparently actually indicating is too much to ask, not just with them but most road users...!) if they are going to overtake or not - The ones that sit directly behind me are fine, but the ones that come right up to the back and on my right, right in the blind spot, really make it difficult to know their intentions as sometimes they'll just sit there for ages then suddenly overtake for no apparent reason, or just sit there for the whole run...!

And just so I can pretend to be on topic so frosty doesn't give it to me in the neck  , one tip with F1 Autocentres - Always order on-line; Their in-shop prices have a ridiculous markup, which I found out once when I needed a tyre in an emergency - Would have been £50 but their shop computer showed £78!  

I suspect a lot of places do similar though, as I've asked for quotes in my local Pro Tyre and the in-person vs online cost tends to be more expensive, and even sillier is if you buy through a tyre broker like asdatyres or black circles and pick them as the fitter, it's even cheaper! How does that work??