New Tyre

[connolls]

Hi,

Just a quick question,

Does anyone know of a reasonably priced tyre fitting shop in Limoges ?

Had a blow out and need new tyre for an alloy wheel.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Mel.

[sid]

Hi Mel

Sorry ,but I don't know any places in Limoges. However, you may struggle to buy only a single tyre. My experience is that the French places will want to sell you two tyres, that is, they'll quote the "law" which says you must always have both replaced. It is not strictly true; there must not be more than a specified difference in tread depth on the same axle, so if your tyres a fairly new you should be OK.

The online suppliers will supply a single tyre but the carriage charge is usually higher. I have an Brit tyre fitter not far from us who will supply and fit whatever you want; he tells you what state the tyres are in and leaves it up to you.

 

[Val_2]

With my previous car which had alloy wheels, I once used Speedy to replace them both although be on your guard because they say there are other things needing doing and I got ripped off by having one of the amortisseurs replaced and when I showed the old one to our garagiste he was shocked because it had not worn out but I was told I should not drive out of that place as it was dangerous, not knowing anything about such things I paid up. YOu have been warned. Most garages and tyre outlets will fit new tyres for you with no problems ab out type of wheel.

[sid]

Many cars have alloys nowadays but some places charge more for fitting tyres to alloys because of the extra care needed (although they don't always take that care!!). Also for alloy wheels, check whether the tyre has a protection shoulder "Le protecteur de rebord de jante", this helps to protect against wheel scuffing if you happen to rub the wheel against the kerb for example. If purchasing online many of the websites indicate this feature.

They should change the valve and balance the wheel with every new tyre.

[connolls]

Hi,

Many thanks for the info managed to get tyres in Limoges near Cora in the retail park. Intially went to EURO-MASTER they wanted 390 euro for two new tyres, fitting etc !!!!!!

Got two fully fitted ,(my other front tyre was too worn, as I suspected, and as you said Sid the french won't replace the single tyre if the other one is not up to regulations), with valves, balancing, tracking for 180 euro. I thought that wasn't too bad a deal considering the price of tyres over here.

Regards Mel.

[SC]

Was it those prices for the same brand of tyres Mel or was it just a cheaper tyre?

Last year I bought online at Norauto: 4 Pneu Tourisme été 215/55 R16 97W XL PIRELLI P7 + fitting and balancing for £601

The same tyres were (and still are) £558 at Tyre Shopper uk (National Tyre Service).

I don't know about you, but I notice a considerable difference in roadholding and wear between quality and cheaper tyres. Our s/h Punto came with Norauto own brand tyres and in the wet the car felt very tender and the abs activated during relatively mild braking. Despite good tread depth we replaced them with 4 UNIROYAL RAINEXPERT 81T 165/70TR14 T 81 £179.20 fitted at National Tyre service.

The Uniroyal tyres were slightly cheaper to buy at Norauto, but after adding their fitting charges would have been more expensive than having them fitted in the UK, which we did on our next trip. I'm confident that the car is now considerably safer than before.

Steve

[Tim_Quincaillerie]

Allopneus.com are the best priced for tyres

[JohnRoss]

What about Roadys who will get and fit Westlake tyres, inc valves and balance, 2 off for about 128 euros if you ask them, any good?..............JR

[AnOther]

It pays to shop around and to not discount ordering from UK.

[quote user="Sc"]4 Pneu Tourisme été 215/55 R16 97W XL PIRELLI P7 + fitting and balancing for £601[/quote]

http://camskill.co.uk/m62b1096s292p70213/PIRELLI_TYRES_CAR_PIRELLI_P7_PIRELLI_P_7_-_215_55R16_97W_XL_TL

£111.80 each plus £6 per tyre carriage to france comes to £471.20.

My local tyre place charges €20 to fit 4 new tyres [:D]

[milessl500]

Hi
I used a mobile tyre service called dixontyres they fitted 4 goodyear tyers to my car on my drive at home (I live near Limoges)The price of the
tyers was 8 euro less, each than the cheapest on-line price I could find and fitting was 12 euro each including balancing. The total price was a lot less than all the
French garages that I had got prices from.
They used special equipment to fit the tyers that did not mark the wheels ( I have newish alloy wheels)  and the whole job was done in about an hour.
The main attraction for me was that the tyre fitter came to me at my house to do the work and there where no 'French added extras' to the price.

[JohnRoss]

Leaving aside adverts, or what looks like an advert, it is difficult to know what tyre make to get. I want to replace my two front ones on a Scenic megane as I have a controle technique soon and they are a bit worn to say the least. Every forum I have looked at slate one manufacturer or another including Westlake , that I mentioned earlier, where there were recalls in the U.S. after several accidents.

It would seem that the well known makes are no better than less well known brands according to various opinion polls I have seen. How about Hankook tyres which have had a good write-up by some, anyone?..........JR

[Pickles]

[quote user="JohnRoss"]Leaving aside adverts, or what looks like an advert, it is difficult to know what tyre make to get. I want to replace my two front ones on a Scenic megane as I have a controle technique soon and they are a bit worn to say the least. Every forum I have looked at slate one manufacturer or another including Westlake , that I mentioned earlier, where there were recalls in the U.S. after several accidents.

It would seem that the well known makes are no better than less well known brands according to various opinion polls I have seen. How about Hankook tyres which have had a good write-up by some, anyone?..........JR[/quote]

I have collected the tyre tests carried out by Autocar, Auto Express and What Car? over the last few years. One thing that stands out is that in terms of performance (eg wet and dry handling, braking, aquqplaning resistance etc), the big brand tyres tend to be significantly better than the budget brands, to the extent that the cheapest tyres can be VERY poor. It is well worth having a look at the ratings on the mytyres.co.uk site, which generally refers to tests carried out by the German ADAC or Austrian OAMTC organisations.

As for which amongst them to go for, it depends on your own priorities: I have found Goodyears (eg Optigrip) tend to be very good in wet conditions: Michelins tend to last for ever at the penalty of reduced wet grip (but have good dry grip), Continentals seem to be good all-rounders. I have used Yokohamas in the past - they were very good in the dry, terrible in the wet and wore out quite quickly. Obviously within manufacturer's ranges, they will have tyres designed to maximise particular performance requirements.

My own preference is for tyres that perform well in the wet - particularly when faced with pools of water in the ruts that one finds on some motorways and autobahns. This has tended to mean that I have gone for symmetric directional tyres with arrow-shaped treads, which seem to be the best for those conditions with a trade-off in the dry that I find acceptable. The last set I bought were all-season tyres (Goodyear Vector 4 seasons) which are M+S rated (meaning that you can take them into Germany in the Winter months) and which have some snow capability (though not as good as proper winter tyres, they are not too far behind, and streets ahead of summer tyres), have good aquaplaning resistance and wet-weather handling, with compromises in dry handling and dry braking. The only thing I would say against these is that, as with many directional tyres with symmetric treads, as they wear, they can become noisy (which can sound like wheel-bearing problems!). Your preferences and requirements may well differ from mine.

Regards

Pickles

[NickP]

In my opinion it depends on the car,  a few years ago I had a 190e 2.6 sportline Mercedes and found that the Pirellies that were fitted didn't have good mileage, and speaking to one of the company chauffeurs one day he said they the same problem, low mileage. So I went to a local tyre dealer and he recommended Avon's which he had fitted onto his own 190e. They were great, superb road holding, good in the dry and wet and lots of mileage, so much so I recommended them to anybody who would listen. A couple of years later my my 190e got jumped on by a very large French Lorry, write off, so I bought a Mercedes 220cdi estate second hand; and as it really needed two new tyres, I went the whole hog and fitted four brand new Avons, what? I couldn't keep the car on the road they were appalling. Soon as possible I changed them for Michelin's which were fine. So I am convinced you need to find tyres that match the characteristics that suit your car, not easy. Also a lot depends on what type of driver you are and what kind of journeys you undertake, I do huge mileage so I want comfort longevity and dependability. If I had a second car for just popping down to the local shops maybe cheaper tyres would be OK. As Pickles  pointed out it's down to preferences and requirements.

[AnOther]

I tend to believe that manufacturers have a fairly good understanding of which tyres suit their cars and in the absence of qualified 1st hand data on alternatives you usually won't go far wrong by sticking with those.

 

[JohnRoss]

I think Renault tend to use Michelin tyres but some reviews I have seen don't rate them compared with others. I only use the car for short trips most of the time with maybe one or two longer trips with motorway driving in a year. Matter of interest has anybody had Roadys service their car? Lot cheaper than Renault agents methinks but are they any good? 114 euros with oil change and two filters. Oil and fuel I guess. Seem to be quite a few scattered around France.........JR

[powerdesal]

I gather that tyres are much more expensive in France.

I am anticipating getting 2 x Avon Ranger 235/60R/16 tyres at GBP98.18 each, fitted, at Halford Autocentre . I don't think any French price comes close.

[JohnRoss]

I had a quote from Roadys today for either Goodyear 205 60 R16 two off fitted and balanced for 260 euros or the same size in a make I have never heard of called Evergreen for 208 euros..............JR

[Jonzjob]

[quote user="sid"]

They should change the valve and balance the wheel with every new tyre.

[/quote]

Sorry Sid, but not quite true now. If you have pressure sensing valves then they MUST not be removed and the wheels must go back on the same hub. If they are cut out, the normal method, it will cost you a small fortune to replace them. I have them and they are very good and tell me if there is a pressure drop of a couple of pounds. I picked up a nail and as soon as the pressure was a couple of lbs down up came the warning and I found the problem far before I would have done..

I'm in the situation of having to replace all 4 tyres on my Grand C4 Picaso and after a lot of trawling I am going back to the idea of not changing from the Michelins fitted. I was thinking of trying Pyreli? The suspension was designed around the Mich. so who am I to argue. after all, they are the only thing that keeps the car on the road and what price safety?

All I have to do now is to find the cheapest fitting place around Carcassonne?

[AnOther]

Balancing goes without saying however valve changing is, IMO, nothing but a money making con. If they were that fragile and had a finite life then we would see hundreds if not thousands of valve failure related accidents every single day of the year but of course we don't because they aren't. I've never ever heard of one much less experienced it, has anyone else ?

If a valve can perform perfectly safely in a car which is driven sparingly and survives say 10 years on a set of tyres how can the same valve in the same car but covering sufficient distance to require new tyres once a year be considered a risk and in need of automatic changing each time ?