An expensive weekend

D

daveg

Active member
 Leatherhead, Surrey
I was visiting friends in Nottingham this weekend (about three hours away from home) and got a flat on the rear. Not the best place and time to first experience the cost of decent 18" rubber :o Since the other side was pretty worn I replaced both - and went for non-RFTs after previously reading about the improvements on here.

The tyre had a chunk missing on the inner sidewall - the Kwikfit guy said it looked like a blowout. I'm guessing it had been weakened by speed humps as per Honest John's rants? As it was a Sunday the only place open was Kwikfit and I really wanted to get home today. Stumped up £350 for a pair of 255/55/18" Pirelli P-Zero Rossos, wanted the Falkens but I didn't really have much choice. After checking on Camskill this seems a pretty good fitted price given the cirmcumstances. Please don't tell me otherwise - I'm still trying to get over how light my wallet is now :(

Still got the RFTs on the front - what should I replace them with? Is it best to match with the Rossos now on the rear?

I picked up some tyre weld but the guy in Halfords warned it wrecked the tyre. Is this true? If so - I will get a spare wheel in case I get a fixable puncture near home. A return taxi to collect spare and tools could work out a lot less than a new tyre.

Thanks for your advice and time. I have searched but don't have much experience with tyres since this is my first car that deserves decent rubber.
 
same tyres all around, dont mix and match, especially between rft and nor rft. but i guess you'll be fine for slow sunday city driving as is.
 
Thanks Kartman - I'll take it easy this week and order the front Pirellis from Camskill to get fitted at the weekend.
 
just to clarify i dont think it will do some damage to car etc, just that handling may not be as expected on bit higher speeds but at 20-30mph in city its totally ok i guess.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.

The white crap on the tyres was bugging me so got out this evening and cleaned the wheels. Unfortunately I discovered the alloys have been marked.

Really gutted as I spent some time looking for a really well looked after car and the wheels were mint as they had been refurbished. It's obvious the damage was done by fitting the tyre as opposed to by a kerb.

What do you lot reckon? Do I have a chance of getting any compensation? If they were down the road I would be straight there and getting them to sort it but unfortunately they are 3 hours away :(
 
You will always have to show the wheels to them. I have had 2 wheels replaced and 1 refurbished on the seller's expense, I will only use the dealer nowadays and take pictures before they touch the wheels (the last wheel refurbed last year was from my X5 that the dealer damaged).

Too late for you now, but it will never happen to you again ....
 
Thanks for the reply. I had a feeling that would be the case since I didn't notice at the time or have proof it wasn't there already.

Live and learn :roll:
 
That's annoying about them marking the alloys - I use a mobile tyre fitter guy that I completely trust, might not be the cheapest but I know he's mega careful at what he does.

The Pirelli's are a good tyre, we've got a pair on my wife's Fabia vRS and they seem to handle the torque very well. So not a bad tyre to have given the circumstances in which you needed them!
 
Well, I thought I would call Kwikfit just to see what they would say. Since the branch that fitted the tyres was so far away they told me to go to my local one.

The manager there was very helpful, and has passed the issue on to customer service. They will (supposedly) be calling me back to arrange having them sorted.

Really chuffed they have admitted they caused the damage - lets see how well they rectify the issue.
 
this whole run flat v non runflat thing is a total nonsense. there are plus and minus points for both systems. if you have a blow out with the runflats at speed you are without doubt safer but you are also stuffed as regards continuing your journey and if that happens to be on a sunday and you need the car for work monday morning you are even more stuffed, at the same time you dont really have room in the boot for a spare as no space is provided. on the other hand with conventional tyres you are less safe but can carry on because you have a spare. i carry a 12v pump so if i have a slow puncture i can at least reflate the tyre be it run flat of not and hopefully get home where i keep a spare wheel/tyre this gets round one problem, i can also take the spare on long journeys especial abroad although then have no boot space. on balance i think the best method is the old conventional system with a spare in the boot.
 
daveg said:
Well, I thought I would call Kwikfit just to see what they would say. Since the branch that fitted the tyres was so far away they told me to go to my local one.

The manager there was very helpful, and has passed the issue on to customer service. They will (supposedly) be calling me back to arrange having them sorted.

Really chuffed they have admitted they caused the damage - lets see how well they rectify the issue.
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That's good, keep us posted :)

If it's any consolation, and I doubt it is, I shelled out £712 for a new set of tyres for the Audi this weekend. No Dairylea on my toast for a while :roll:
 
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