tyres... Options

[jeff94]

hi all.

picked up a puncture rear right, rolled into bmw to see if it was warrant-able - silly idea.

"you need 4 new tyres - can do them for £630" - didn't even specify which kind of trye that was, just "pirelli". the other tryes are absolutely fine so i would also like to name & shame stratstone @ silverlink for this.

been reading up about it and i'm starting to shy away from getting runflats - anyone got any reccomendations for replacements??

thanks!!

[surfblue63]

Jeff

I have always had run flats on both my R50 Coopers. I have never had any real problems with them apart from the cost of replacement. It always pays to give a few people a call especially Forster Autocentre on Wallsend High Street (0191 295 3335). They race in the Cooper Challenge and do good servicing work. The also keep a good stock of tyres and can probably advise on the best ones to fit.
If you change to non run flats you will need to carry some kind of tyre weld, (unless you have a spare?) or join the AA!

Stuart

[marcy]

i dont have runflats its the first thing i ditched you will notice a big differance straight away the car will drive much better as for tyre makes toyo are good iv got yokohama but are a bit pricey there are lots dont go for the cheapest they will only make the car hard to handle in the wet go for something about £50-£60 a tyre and you should be ok unless theres some deals about might be some deals about at the moment ,if you change you can do the 2 fronts or the 2 backs you dont have to change all the runflats at the same time, about £100-£150 for a runflat is about right

[MiniElisa]

If you want to keep your run-flats and dont mind part worn ones, thats what i ran my R53 CooperS on i can PM you the name and number of a place in Birtly and Gateshead who sells them for between £30-£40 a tyre and thats for Pirelli (all mine where that new they still had the nobbles on the outside)

[surfblue63]

Jeff

I thought of something else, if you do change to normal tyres you will have to tell your insurance company as you will be straying from standard equipment. No doubt if you have a prang and the assessor sees you don't have run flats it's a possibility that they won't pay out.

[jeff94]

thanks for all the advice guys

nightmare topic eh!

re: insurance - seriously? i know they are annoying but how can they justify that? all i've head is that non-RFs give you better handling and i'm sure wet weather performance - surely LESS insurance?

elia - insteresting - how "worn" are we talking? the convenience of runflats is great...

stuart - i'm not far from wallsend so will def check them out

thanks again - will let you know what i end up doing+cost!

[MrGra]

i went to birtley yesterday for mine got 2 x 16inch part worn (brand new) run flats for £70 !! BARGIN !!

[jeff94]

i went to birtley yesterday for mine got 2 x 16inch part worn (brand new) run flats for £70 !! BARGIN !!

sounds good mrgra - how worn is worn though????

on another note - i've got a nail in it - is it not easier/possible to repair it??

cheers

[Browny :)]

sounds good mrgra - how worn is worn though????

on another note - i've got a nail in it - is it not easier/possible to repair it??

cheers

i have had part worns from the same place
they are usually practically brand new

sometimes people buy minis and just want to take the runflats straight off for a smoother ride....so the part worn ones usually arent very worn at all

[MrGra]

well if u have a nail sumtimes they can repair them dependin on where the nail is.... and yeh as Browny said they mite aswell be brand new....

[MiniElisa]

Yeah they are normally barnd new the price varies on the quality of the tread but ive never bought brand new ones.

The other thing to remember also if you go to normal tyres if you have breakdown they wont recovery you without a charge as you are suppose to have runflats or foam if you have a standard one or cooper.

Good look mate i would just do the part worns they just last as long.

[surfblue63]

After getting an advisory for my front tyres when I got the black Cooper MOT'd, I thought I'd check the tyres to see how they were because of all the snow. Turns out the I needed some tyres pronto as the tread was just about gone on the inside edges. I had a quick check on the web on Saturday night to see who was open Sunday, and what prices and offers there were, and ended up giving North Eastern Tyres a call on Sunday morning. They quoted me £265 for a pair of 205/45 17 Pirelli Eurphorias, fitted and balanced. Not to bad so I went up ther at about 2 o'clock and they said they could not fit me in, oh b****r! So I wizzed down to Kwikfit in Tynemouth and asked there. They initially quoted me £315 for a pair of Pirellis, but when I mentioned that North Eastern would do them for £265, they dropped their price to £250, result. So when getting tyres to always pays to shop around and let them know what their rivals are offering.

[Vigilante Steve]

Haggling on everything for the win! There was a group buy on another forum for a pair of upper strut braces that should have knocked me back nearly 90 quid each . The group buy for 120 for both delivered. A good price; but not enough off for me . So I hunted about and batted two ebay traders of each other for a couple of days and got the same items for 68 GBP delivered next day! Woohoo!