Automotive Discussion

Back to Forum

Post a Response

£360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only £11.65 #

Posted by John Dicker on April 5, 2016, 7:23 pm
Edited by board administrator April 7, 2016, 7:27 am

Nothing new there then.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3524256/Mother-claims-Kwik-Fit-mechanics-tried-charge-360-11-65-puncture-repair-woman.html
Thank goodness for the honest independent garages.
When will the general public ever learn

Re: £360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only £11.65

Posted by Alan Lange on April 5, 2016, 8:31 pm, in reply to "£360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only £11.65 "
Alan Lange

Had a customer in a few weeks ago who had been to a different national chain for an exhaust on his ageing camper van. He was told that all four tyres were dangerous & likely to blow if he drove at motorway speeds & would fail an mot as they were more than 5 years old. He was quoted just under £100 each & only came to me to see if we could beat their price. When I checked the tyres the rears were as new with 10mm tread. One front did need replacing but the other 3 were fine.

Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65

Posted by aidan birley on April 5, 2016, 9:01 pm, in reply to "Re: £360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only £11.65 "
Aidan Birley

Alan

Out of interest how old where the tyres?

I know it is a known issue with camper van tyres not wearing out but failing (blow out) due to age / standing then being subjected to long journeys.

Just interested as to opinions as to what age folk in the trade would advise / suggest replacement even though no visible faults.

cheers Aidan

Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65

Posted by Alan Lange on April 5, 2016, 11:01 pm, in reply to "Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65 "

Hello Aidan, I thought that would spark a debate. The rears were 6 years old, the fronts were older (9 or 10 from memory). As you said, with no visible damage what should we advise. I see where the national chains are coming from advising 5 years (good for sales figures too). I recently checked the date of a pair of odd size tyres we brought from a well known supplier & they were already 4 years old!

Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65

Posted by Keith Simpson on April 6, 2016, 10:26 am, in reply to "Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65 "

It has always been five years to (advise) where Campers are concerned. We always look at the date on camper tyres, and send them back if more than 3 month old.

Keith

Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65

Posted by Jon Morgan on April 6, 2016, 1:26 pm, in reply to "Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65 "
Jon Morgan

5 years old is what we advise customers.
I've seen caravans, motorhomes and classics blow tyres with good tread when I worked for the AA.

Easter was blow out time with recreational vehicles, making their first trip after laying up for the winter

Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65

Posted by Alan Lange on April 6, 2016, 10:53 pm, in reply to "Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65 "
Alan Lange

Some interesting points as always. Maybe something I should look at advising at servicing or MoT inspections rather than just the condition of the tyre. 5 years seems too be the rule of thumb.

Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65

Posted by Tom Williams on April 16, 2016, 3:18 pm, in reply to "Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65 "
Thomas Williams

I'm no fan of the large fast-fit chains.
However, I distrust articles such as this one, which are long on hype but short on essential details. I'd want to know much more about the condition of the tyres before deciding who was in the right in this case. Probably neither party.

In terms of tyre ageing, you can't beat the laws of nature, rubber dries out and hardens. Any motorcyclist will tell you that old tyres lack traction.

A while back I was watching an Australian police documentary. The cops were investigating a fatal crash where an old couples car had wrapped itself around a lamp-post on slip-road. The cause was a rear tyre blow-out resulting in loss of control.
Forensic examination showed that the tyre had failed due to age,it was about 15 years old.

I'm very distrusting of old tyres having seen plenty of failures over the past 45yrs or so.

Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65

Posted by Antony Powell on April 17, 2016, 9:26 pm, in reply to "Re: ï¿½360 for a puncture! Only at ??? Independent garage only ï¿½11.65 "

These big fast fits are totally untrustworthy, I have had far too many occasions where there work or quotes have come under question and been proven wrong / bad ie parts required that are fully serviceable, wrong parts fitted, poor workmanship and my biggest bug bear..... Nitrogen Tyre inflation.....

For those that don't know the air we breath is 79% nitrogen, 20% Oxygen and 1% miscellaneous gases helium, argon etc To inflate a Tyre with pure nitrogen correctly it needs to be done one of two ways either in a vacuum chamber or vacuumed out fully first, crushing the Tyre and damaging the Tyre structure beyond repair otherwise you cannot get all the oxygen out and cannot do a pure fill. therefore simply filling a Tyre to 2-3 bar / 29.4-44.1 psi above atmospheric pressure with nitrogen will only increase the nitrogen content by around 10% the rest being oxygen and impurities so in effect you are paying around £5 for 5 psi of nitrogen which is totally ineffective.

Hows that for a rip off !!

Link: Seized Injector and Glow plug Specialist Removal Services

« Back to index

[ Automotive Discussion ]

Copyright © uk autotalk