Buying tyres online

Desert Orchid

Desert Orchid

Senior Jockey
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Aug 2, 2005
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Does anyone have any experience of buying their tyres online and getting a garage to fit them?

My tyres are generally priced around £160-180 each but, shopping around and playing one place off against another, I managed to get the last lot done for £120 each. Being low profile tyres, I only get 15ooo miles or thereabouts from the front ones so I need to buy as cheaply as possible. (I've even changed my route to avoid country roads, which really hammers them.)

The guy who normally services my car is great and he tends to let me do all the spade work then beats the lowest price I can find. When I last spoke to him and we agreed my tyres had about 1000 miles or thereabouts left in them I asked him if he thought I could them cheaply online and, if so, would he fit them. He said I should and he'd fit them at no cost while the car was in for its service.

It seems I can source them online for about £85-£95, which is a big saving but I've always got some place to do the all-inclusive price (VAT, valves, balancing, etc). I've never tried it this way before.

Have any of you?
 
It's not meanness, Gearoid. Up until now I've been doing 35000 miles per year. I don't get travel expenses or car usage allowance. I need to minimise costs wherever I can.

Diesel alone costs £3500pa, servicing is £300 (and that's me getting it cheap). At the mileage I do, I'm changing the brake pads every year, the discs every two years and the suspension every three years. The suspension is a four-figure expense. Then anything else that needs doing to keep the car in tiptop shape gets done. Tyres, for example. It costs me about £5kpa to run the car. If I paid the first price people asked it would probably come to over £8kpa. Why should I pay £3000 every year more than I need to?

You can maybe afford to dole out that kind of money. I certainly can't.
 
Its a little bit unseasonal DO perhaps....

Bit like an xmas day post asking for cheap suppliers of colostomy bags or incontinence pants :(

BUT... £180 per tyre? I paid £80 for my last one at Nationwide Auto and never more than that at Kwik Fit. Saab convertible too, so not exactly after bicycle tyres
 
I would source them on the internet if you were a mechanic otherwise I would rather pay an expert to do the shop to standard and save you any unecessary stress.
 
Reason i mention that...........prat....is that habitually Saab parts are expensive, the cars are heavy and convertibles often have larger tyres. And yet i still pay around 80

Ok?
 
I bet it's cold at Chelsea's training ground. Maybe that's why Clive is in a bad mood - cold and poorer than he was this morning.
 
What tyres have you been using DO? Cheap ones or the real deal? I take it that at 15,000 miles to a set of fronts you're running a chelsea tractor or similar?
I've found Good Years are one of the forgotten brands over here and they are a reasonable price compared to Michelins and the like.
Online buying of tyres is OK, just check postage costs and also worth checking if any of the garages are doing the buy one get one free offers or similar.
 
Pirelli P Nero (or is it Zero). They're the recommended tyres for the Jag. I wouldn't fit 'budget' tyres as I'm doing motorway driving most of the time. My last car was an Audi A4 and the tyres were £75 a shot (all-inclusive) for the recommended ones (Dunlops, if memory serves).

My mechanic originally quoted me £160 (which matched or beat most quotes) for the Pirellis, and he's usually very competitive. When I told him NTS quoted £120 he looked genuinely shocked but he has a 'price promise' and immediately matched the price. I didn't ask him to beat it as he's the type who fits bulbs and windscreen wipers without charging.
 
Probably best to stay away from GY's if its a Jag,especially the Eagle NCT's,they do one called the Excellence though which may be better,I am assuming its an X-type? Worth trying something different though if you're only getting 15k to a set. Although Jaguar recommend Pirelli's so you could try the P7 (if you haven't used before) or try something like Avons or Uniroyals. I suppose it depends whether you want long tyre life,grip,wet grip etc to which you decide on but if you're clocking up motorway miles as you say probably best with something hard wearing. Continentals used to be a hard wearing tyre so another worth investigating.
Your original idea of buying online and getting them fitting locally is well worth it especially if your garage is ok with that. Just choose a tyre that suits.
Good luck.
 
Cheers, BW.

I did ask the mechanic about switching and he recommended I stick with Pirellis for this car.

Now that I've taken digs beside work, my mileage should come down to about 6kpa. I won't feel so bad if I'm changing the tyres every 2½ years or so.
 
I have had all the tyres changed on my Volvo S40 in two lots (fronts then rears) and I use a company called e-tyres (www.etyres.co.uk) and they include mobile fitting in their prices. Whilst its slightly different to buying them to have them fitted later it never hurts to have an alternative. Much better than waiting at Slow-Fit for some spotty teenager to stare in awe at a car that is over 2yrs old!
 
Someone on another forum suggested I check out etyres, Ballydoyle, so I did.

Their fully fitted price was £180 per tyre, which wouldn't compare well with the £125 (all-inc) Kwikfit online price. I expect most outlets will be able to offer certain tyres at better prices than others, which will vay from company to company.
 
Desert Orchid said:
Someone on another forum suggested I check out etyres, Ballydoyle, so I did.

Their fully fitted price was £180 per tyre, which wouldn't compare well with the £125 (all-inc) Kwikfit online price. I expect most outlets will be able to offer certain tyres at better prices than others, which will vay from company to company.
Click to expand...

I nearly went with Kwik-Fit but when I went to check out they added an extra £20 for mobile fitting.

Good luck in your quest!
 
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