Just out of curiousity today, I thought I'd drop in past the boys that you "can't get better" than !!! (Ha ha, robbin' baskets !!!) to get a tyre check & a price for 2 x 225/40R18's on my Octy Vrs with 14k on the clock.

I knew I was going to be told, oh yes sir, you'd better replace those fronts & we can do you a pair of X's for loads of dosh...but little did I expect him to say, oh the rears should be done at the same time..."or you'll just be back again next week".:confused:

So he tells me the fronts are 2mm all over (they are actually 3mm+) & the rears are around 3mm...so they'll just do another week....FFFF!!! (they are actually an average of about 5mm - varies between 5 & 6mm).:thumbdwn:

So he then proceeds to quote me £170 a tyre (£705 for 4 Bridgestones fitted - cos that's all they have in stock!), I tell him I only want two (but don't tell him, it won't be from them!!)...he insists I need 4 & says he will drop the price to £640 if I take all 4....I say I can't afford it & head for the door (mumbling that I only expected to need 2)...so he now offers to do 4 tyres for £565 including tracking (which I don't believe I need !) & "everything".

I'll be calling my independant garage tomorrow for those 2 Vredsteins Ultrac Sessanta's (at circa £110 each, they now look a real bargain!)

My wife took the car down to one of the big chains the other week due to one of the front tyres having a small knick in the side wall

The plan was to have the front tyre swapped over with the spare

The bloke at the garage took a look at the tyre and said it was fine so she didnt need to waste any money changing tyres around

and

he didnt try to sell her some back tyres which are getting near to change time

Luck of the draw i suppose

i asked these blue overall monkeys to do my front tyres one weekend along with tracking and to "make sure the steering wheel was straight with the three spokes pointing at 9pm 3pm and 6pm" like if it was a brand new car and not schewwiff. promised it would be done. the bill promptly came my way with lots of hidden extras included, paid and moaned, took it for a drive home and found steering schewiff and car pulling to n/s. went back and was told nothing was wrong with it, so i raised my voice to a loud enough level for other customers to hear my disatisifaction and the manager to come out of his office to see what the problem was he told me his highly trained mechanics dont make mistakes and company procedure had been followed and i was imagining it. Eventually he had a look and made it worse. The following day my small local tyre centre had a look and re did the tracking, straightened the steering wheel and reset the weights on the wheels (the balancing) all for £10, just wished they did the whole lot now and since my small independent tyre place is always the first stop and if they dont have what i want in stock they will order it and give me a competitive price and excellent service.

Personally I stick to the local dealer all the time, I don't think I'd take my wheel barrow to them for a new tyre....

"you cant get thicker than a kwik bodge twitter"

i asked these blue overall monkeys to do my front tyres one weekend along with tracking and to "make sure the steering wheel was straight with the three spokes pointing at 9pm 3pm and 6pm"

Letting those idiots do any alignment is asking for trouble.

I have only ever used kwik fit once, and never again. Just about says it all really, I always use the same tyre place usually but in this instance for some reason I dont recall I found myself at kwik fit. They also found a lot of things wrong that I knew were fine and that was more than 8 years ago, so I see they are still at it. My local tyre dealer that I have used since I was 17 (now 41) do me a good deal and because they know me well never try and sell me something I dont need. Some of the staff are still the same as when I first went, so even the staff like working there.

I recently had them adjust the tracking on the work van. They made a slight pull to the left a really strong pull to the left and with the steering wheel misaligned. Their fitter told me it's difficult to do with weight in the back.

Took it to the local vauxhall dealer and it's now perfect.

Last time I used K F was to have four tyres fitted to a company van (Seat Inca). Was told that the tracking needed adjusting as the inside of one of the tyres was badly worn, so I asked how was that done? They said that they would show me. We walk into the workshop, I go to the back of the van, fitter goes to the front. I ask the fitter to come to the back of the van and show me how they adjust the tracking at the rear as the worn tyre was the nearside rear. He said that they can't adjust the rear. I asked him why they wanted to adjust the front tracking as the tyres were worn evenly across the tread, he couldn't answer. Haven't used K F since that was about ten years ago.

"you cant get thicker than a kwik bodge twitter"

Well said that man

I only use specialised independants and theres not many of them left now.

We ought to try to put together a kind of unbiased register of fair and competent locals we have used for various jobs.

Driving fleet cars meant I had little or no choice where my tyres were changed. There was one instance where the rear tyres were changed on my old PD130. They didn't tighten the locking nuts and they decided to part company. Obviously they denied any wrongdoing and refused to stump up for new ones.

W@nk3rs.

SWMBO got a new pair of Falkens 452's on the vRS for a very good price at the local indy fitter down the road and the service was excellent. I'm going there on Wednesday to get the front slicks changed

I've got a little game I enjoy playing with these dipsticks if anyone wants to join in??

I live in Farnborough, Hampshire and have found that pricewise the best places for me are independants nearby, namely Fastfit in Basingstoke, Micheldever Tyres in Micheldever, Bracknell Tyre & Battery in Bracknell and Just Tyres in Reading (this was for my old Mk2 golf G60: Eagle F1's@195/50/15). The one in Reading isn't too bad as I work there, but the others are a bit of a jaunt from me but Fastfit is where I usually take it.

So, knowing that National have a nationwide pricematch agreement, I looked into getting 4 tyres for SWMBO's '04 Seat Leon (which was the other difficulty as it had to be local for me to get the car wherever I was going before they shut). I got a decent price from one of them, Micheldever Tyres I think, and walked into National in Farnborough.

The manager was looking all smug and cheesy when he gave me therir best price so I coyly asked about the pricematch deal. He was confident I wouldn't get better, but I told him the price I had been quoted elsewhere and he looked really p*ssed, especially as it meant he had to shave off £28 PER TYRE I think. Straight away he became shirty with the staff, and got even more annoyed when I queried the bill and told him that MT's price included balancing and tracking whereon he had to knock ANOTHER lump off the bill.

I asked about replacement F1's for my golf as they were coming up at some point and just to have a giggle, and he wouldn't give me a price, just grudgingly told me to come back nearer the time.

I tell you, after having been d*cked about by these sort of companies, it felt very uplifting! Mind you, I made sure I watched every step of the fitting to check they weren't bodgers, but the fitters were actually very good..., even with stroppy manager bawling at them! It's just he was the sort of bloke who came out of school with one CSE in woodwork, had gone from teaboy to manager, ala McDonalds, and had a massive chip on his shoulder so treated his staff like crap.

It's a great game when you absoltuley, positively HAVE to have the tyres put on by a kn*bend!

Well I've ordered my two Vredsteins Ultrac Sessanta's from my 'local' indy garage this morning - they are half an hour away but well worth the saving & the attention to detail I know I'll get.

They are Mearns Motors in Laurencekirk, if anyone else is after set of boots in the NE of Scotland...ask for Ian (the owner)...I've used them for lots of tyres & repairs on VW's over the years...always polite, save me money & are happy with the profit they make on the tyres.

"you cant get thicker than a kwik bodge twitter"

Brill

Paisley and Rutherglen KF have rescued me a couple of times.

1) Paisley - Stayed open past closing time to fit 4 new tyres on my superb, and gave me the 25% off deal despite it ending the previous week. Was just after we'd got back from honeymoon

2) Rutherglen - Repaired a tyre about a month ago, despite having more profitable work on. Pretty cheap too, and under £20 for a repair on a Saturday morning was good.

I wouldn't let any of the so called 'fast fit' merchants anywhere near my car - ever!

If you are near Southampton I can heartily recommend Mayfield Garage in Woolston for tyres. They have a seperate tyre fitting shop. They have also had the same tyre fitting guy there for years and years. He really knows his stuff and won't rip you off!

I wouldn't let any of the so called 'fast fit' merchants anywhere near my car - ever!

If you are near Southampton I can heartily recommend Mayfield Garage in Woolston for tyres. They have a seperate tyre fitting shop. They have also had the same tyre fitting guy there for years and years. He really knows his stuff and won't rip you off!

Where in woolston is that?

Unfortunately i HAVE to use the muppets called Kwik Fit :(

I had to use Kwack Fit on Monday (see here). They replaced the tyres and left a deep scratch around 1/2 of the circumference of the wheel. They denied it was them then offered a repair! My lease company are taking it further.

I always use a good local independent when it's my own cars but with the co. car (the vRS), I'm forced to use either ATS or Kwack Fit.

Steve

Same for me. The work van is from Lex so it's their choice to use Kack Fit. When I choose its Cirencester tyres. Local independants are the way ahead. Although I did travel to see Ross when my cambelt was due.

Now ,whilst I am very carefull where I take my car ,I have no choice with the firms van -leased .So it's either QF or ATS ,and QF are local .

However ,lot of the time it's not QF to blame for some wierd decisions -like having to return 4/5 times before a tyre is changed ---it's the lease CO-unless the manager gets shirty .Last iffy tyre the lease company rejected to change went back in two hours later with a puncture which QF refused to change on safety grounds .

On servicing -we have a choice - Ford dealer or Transit specialist - so gues who gets it ?

I had to use Kwack Fit on Monday (see here). They replaced the tyres and left a deep scratch around 1/2 of the circumference of the wheel. They denied it was them then offered a repair! My lease company are taking it further.

I always use a good local independent when it's my own cars but with the co. car (the vRS), I'm forced to use either ATS or Kwack Fit.

Steve

As I reported a while back, Woodside Garage Brighton did that to 3 of my wheels when fitting 4 tyres! But they held their hand up, and the repair firm was excellent - all looked brand new.

my local one is Grove Street Tyres in Wantage, oxon. who I would recommend without even having to think about it. they also do brakes and exhausts and other little things, if they dont do something then they have places they can reccommend to and the prices is really good too.

I have a friend who used to be a policeman in Glasgow. Prior to that he was an MOT qualified mechanic which he went back to after he left (his knee was done in so he was invalided out).

Anyway while working as a policeman he fitted brand new tip top shocks to his mates car who was also a policeman. The following week his mate dropped it off for new tyres at Quack Fit.

So the two of them turn up in uniform to pick up the car to be told by the fitter and the manager that the shocks were old in a terrible state and it needed new ones.

Just sit back imagine the fun they had with the manager as he dug a massive hole for himself and jumped in with both feet in his mouth

:cool:Your car needs new shocks

Why

:cool:There are old and leaking and need to be replaced.

Are you sure

:cool:Yes

Its best you dont say anything more unless you want to be arrested for fraud

:mad:Look the car is not safe to drive I'm only trying to help

:Dthere nothing wrong with these shocks

:mad:What would YOU know about it

:DWell I'm time served MOT qualified mechanic and I fitted these brand new shocks last week.

:DDo you want me to read you your rights now ? :rofl:

I p*** myself laughing every time he retells me the story.