Practically Classics Forum

Catchy title

One of the MoT advisories was that all of my Triumph Spitfire 1500's tyres were old and cracked and in need of replacement - so I remembered a PC magazine where they contemplated a 30 day resto of a Spitfire, and quoted some cheap tyres - having found it (March 2009), I found the page (34) and there it was; 145/80 R13 tyre: £18 (Falken). I've looked on the Falken website, but they don't do prices. I've also looked at event tyres, black circle tyres, kwik fit, halfrauds etc; and none do them for less than £35 a tyre (which is a lot for a student to justify!) whereas £90 to replace all five sounds brilliant.

Any ideas where the prices were from?

Thanks, Aaron

Aar0sc wrote:Catchy title

Do you not mean "Catchy tytle?"

Tyres have gone up in price alongside oil prices for the last few years so don't be too disappointed to find that your £18 bargains are no longer so cheap.

Two years ago, I bought a set of four Avon CR322s in 155/80% size for the Dolly, they were a Blackcircles deal and cost only £140 for all four, a great price for a premium tyre.
Now, after the thick end of 40,000 miles, all are in need of replacement within the next 28-35 days at my current rate of use so I started shopping around.
I couldn't find a similarly good deal on another set of the Avons, but did manage to find four Uniroyals of similar quality for the same £140.
However, this price came not from one of the internet suppliers, nor from one of the big places with the "better" fitters. This is what they're costing from a small, independent local tyre & exhaust place that's been going since the dark ages and surprised me by agreeing to sell, fit, balance and fit valves to the Uniroyals at that price when nowhere else could do this.

So, two suggestions for you come out of that:

1)Consider a different brand and 2) Ask around any small, independent outlets that may exist near you. Those places are invariably staffed by people who actually like their work and will take proper care of your car as well as wanting to do business with you, so they usually let you haggle them down at least below the big chains.

JPB wrote:

Aar0sc wrote:Catchy title

Do you not mean "Catchy tytle?"
...
So, two suggestions for you come out of that:

1)Consider a different brand and 2) Ask around any small, independent outlets that may exist near you. Those places are invariably staffed by people who actually like their work and will take proper care of your car as well as wanting to do business with you, so they usually let you haggle them down at least below the big chains.

To the local tiny (tyny?) tyre place it is
And yes, I meant Catchy Tytle
Falkens were just the ones in PC, no real want for them

Another vote for the indy. I had a friend who worked for Hi-Q and even mates' rates couldn't beat the local indy (and so I bought Michelins that were slightly more expensive than the Hi-Q cheapo that I was offered!). The indy even uses torque wrenches now - and the lads know their stuff.

The other thing to be aware of is how long do the cheap ones last? The Michelins certainly lasted a lot longer than the cheap ones - but, more importantly, they gripped the road too! The Golf had Dunlops all round when I bought it (as per original spec) and, apart from not lasting - about 10K miles, I would squeal the front tyres for no reason - and not by choice! That's not good with ESP - it cuts engine power just at the wrong time I had Michelin Energy tyres fitted on the front: they'd done well on the old car. They have been on for over 16K and should be good for another 3-4K, don't squeal and the ESP light rarely comes on! I didn't think the economy figures had changed much, but I have just looked and it's doing about 6% better on two Michelins.

Admittedly, the above is perhaps not so important on a student's budget - or relatively low mileage cars (though I only did 3,500 miles last year!), but worth considering if you want to save money long-term. I admit, when I was a mature student (89 - 95), I was doing 15K+ miles a year (in a Mk2 Golf diesel) - I had to come home to get my washing done didn't I?

£35 a corner? Pah Students today.......

I'm looking at a full set of 750's for the series Landrover, which even at decent rates is at least £75 a corner, plus tubes, plus balancing.
Radials for the discovery are much the same for cheapies, but thats around 3 tonnes so I'm going for half decent ones when I change the fronts.

On the plus side stuff like 145/13s are often the sort of thing on promotion, so if you can wait, you might get a good deal.

As for cheap tyres, they are OK, but on the limit they will perform less well than full on specced branded stuff, as I found out when I slid a metro into the back of a Merc, as they gave a braking distance around 10 feet longer than I had....

Personally I'm still shocked at the cost for two new tyres on Dad's Volvo - double blowout caused by a vicious and unavoidable kerbstone in path of the car - was £390!

I just put a set of four Bridgestones on the GT6 for £200. Best price I could get.

Aar0sc wrote:Personally I'm still shocked at the cost for two new tyres on Dad's Volvo - double blowout caused by a vicious and unavoidable kerbstone in path of the car - was £390!

That's cheap compared to my Jag (rolling on metrics), at £255 a corner. There is only one company that still makes them.

I have found some nice cheap Michelins, they were advertised in a new tractor magazine as a special offer for a set of four: £4095 for four (28" dia front and 38" rears). OK, that's just a tractor tyre, what about earth movers?

Kamil - buy some "imperial" wheels and you should be able to get cheaper tyres for them. That's what a lot of Montego and Metro owners did with their metric wheels! A nice set of 20" chromed ones would look good

I second the notion of losing the Metric wheels! The tyres for those aren't costly because there's anything especially good about them, they're costly because the manufacturer knows fine well that people who use that size and type have to buy from them. Back in their day, there was some speculation about whether these tyres actually lived up to the hype - regarding safety - in any case.

That said; it's a shame, IMHO, that there are so few original mini 1275GTs, Clubmen, Rover SD1s and Princesses on Denovos now, but dealers actually took them back and gave owners a set of five standard rims in exchange for the 4 Denovo ones that these cars were supplied with as supplies dried up while the cars in question were still being built.
I suspect that, sooner rather than later, the Metric sizes for MK2 Granadas, Jags, TD-equipped Metros, Maestro/Montego and some other cars will cease to be available too, only this time around there'll not be swap offers from the makers, it's amazing that these tyre sizes lasted as long as they did.