Poster: A snowHead
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Just been quoted £100 plus VAT for a mobile fitter to do it at my house! Think I'll be going back to my local Kwik Fit (who in fairness are quite good when they agree to do it).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PollSki wrote: |
Just been quoted £100 plus VAT for a mobile fitter to do it at my house! Think I'll be going back to my local Kwik Fit (who in fairness are quite good when they agree to do it). |
Ouch!!
I got 4 P7's for my Passat for about £320 - fitted etc. That's just taking the p1ss....
The mechanic who looks after my cars charges a flat £20 fitting plus tyre at cost if I get them from him.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The headline rate here in the northern alps is usually 'from 10€ a tyre' but they add on for alloys and if you've a 4x4. I've yet to see how either of those things makes any difference, but there you go.
I change tyres on rims twice a year. Never found anywhere selling rims for less than 50€ a corner and last time I bought some I sold the car within a year...
The cheapest I've paid for the swapover is 66€ for four tyres mounted at Speedy in Thonon, closely followed by the old Renault garage in Méribel Mottaret at 70€.
The most expensive was 114€ at Junior Pneu down in Sallanches, followed by First Stop near Saint Tropez for 110€.
So it is definitely worth ringing around rather than just walking in thinking they're roughly all the same!
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Oh, even up here in the Alps where people change tyres a lot, some garages are funny with tyres they haven't sold. The Mont Blanc garage near Morzine will change anything provided they aren't new. He says they won't take the risk with new if they haven't sold them because the cheap Chinese internet-bought ones sometimes explode during fitting.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Run Goodyear vector, all seasons, all year round and buy a new pair every November, even if they are not worn out, it's less expense and hassle than getting them changed, getting confidently through snow that had 4x4s on summer tyres floundering.
We have found that having slightly narrower tyres for the winter is not always best in deep snow, our s-max on 225/50 tyres sinks into the snow less than our transit on 195s.
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@tangowaggon, according to Continental at least (I read it on their site when choosing tyres this year), the theory about having narrow tyres for winter is old hat and discredited now.
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Changing wheels over is about 200-500SEK depending on place. Fitting and balancing won't leave much change out of 1000SEK.
At home in the garage, cost of impact wrench 400SEK, grease 15 SEK, hard work 2 and a half hours (I'm slow since I don't just whip them on and off, I check them, clean the wheels and so on). In 2 seasonal changeovers I've already paid for my gear even at the cheaper rates of changing over.
A balancing machine would take a while to pay off at about 10,000SEK, so when it's time for new boots it's still a garage job for me.
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I paid £200 for a second hand spare set alloys five years ago at my Honda dealer. The dealer swaps the wheels over and stores them at each change, and has never charged me a penny for it. (I didn't even buy the tyres from them.)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I found that steel rims can be thrown in with your winter tyres at £38 a pop... I think I will go for that this year instead of running the Nokians all season.
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Oooo.. just found Nokian A3s at a 98 V rating for £85, given that I can get three years all year running out of a set is it worth swapping to steel after all?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@Scarpa, Good tyres them, very sure-footed in the wet and on snow but not so sure about their ability in the summer. They'll work but your braking distances will increase at higher temperatures. I'd swap them over to preserve their life. I am a Nokian fanboy in the winter, running Hakkapeliitta Rs in the winter on one and Hakkapeliitta 8s on the other, non-studded on our car that might see the Continent, studded on the one that usually sticks to the Nordic countries. Absolutely no need for those compounds in the UK, even in North Wales!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Do people buy a set of four winter tyres or five to include the spare?
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@nailzstomp, They are rated as an all season tyre. I ran their predecessor, the WRG2 all year and found it pretty good in the summer, I noticed that you can get them screeching around corners more than summer tyres, I'd probably say that you could get 20 to 25 thousand miles out of them. However, I'd change them early if using them as a winter tyre of course due to the loss of tread depth.
@RobMSki, I believe that most people don't, as a spare is really just to get you to somewhere where you can look at repairs. And if your tyres are worn you don't really want one that is several mm larger than the other three
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You know it makes sense.
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Oh, I use them in Austria in the winter so it's a little harsher than the UK.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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No spare for me. Worst case with a front puncture I'd swap two tyres around to get the spare on the rear and the snow tyres on the front.
Gave my new ones a test coming home last Friday:
Only had then fitted the week before! Gone for the Continental Winter TS830s this year.
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Poster: A snowHead
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£100+VAT is having a laugh for fitting - I paid about £7/rim for mine; and bought the tyres online. Balancing with allows is more expensive because of the different type of weight. They probably cost the same to buy, but there we are. 4x4s are more expensive because you can afford it you you've got a 4x4 - and for no other reason! If you're really tight, just take the rims and tyres to the fitting centre - they won't know what they've come off then!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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£68 plus the guy stores my unused tyres. Seems reasonable for the time it takes
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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JeanPaulValley wrote: |
I have mine changed at my BMW dealership, I bought the rims and tyres from them. They change them and store each season summer/winter for £30.
That's about the only reasonably priced service I have ever had from them!
Bought them 3 winters ago after my wife spun it on a snowy December afternoon, never snowed since! |
BMW dealerships happy days, why do they feel the urge to charge extortionate rates, made me laugh in any event.
I bought a set of alloys complete with snow tyres off ebay [have a look & you will find plenty for sale] for my E class merc. Bought new boots had them fitted & balanced for £10 each & I swop them over myself, have done for the last 3 seasons.
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Just got mine done. Ended up going back to Kwik Fit as I didn't have much faith in the local garage. Cost £52 including valves, balancing and nitrogen inflation (which I hadn't heard of before). They tried to sell me alignment for about £30 extra, but didn't bother with it. I'll look into steel wheels next season.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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My local tyre fitter (independent) stores the 2nd set of tyres free of charge and then charges £6 per corner to swap them over.
Good deal I say
Getting General Grabber AT2s on my Defender which I will leave on all year round and Michelin Arctics on the wife's Evoque which we will swap back in Spring
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I generally time my annual service for late autumn and throw the winter tyres on wheels in the back. They get swapped for free as part of the service. In the spring I just do it myself.
On the question of a winter spare I don’t bother but I hate the supplied space saver spare so in Winter I have one of my full size summer tyres as the spare and in summer a full sized winter one as spare. It has to be better driving on three winters and a summer than three winters and a space saver. In summer I don’t think you would notice the difference unless in full Formula 1 mode
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