Tyre Change Rip Off?

[davedixon]

How much do you guys pay for having two new tyres fitted? Ive been quoted £24.99 per wheel (or £10.99 if I bring the removed wheel in by myself) for new tyres. Is this right? My Dad made me fit the tyres and tubes by hand with no tyre levers at all in 1966. He said that you cant even use a kitchen spoon. Took me three hours but I got there in the end. Oh yeh Im buying the new tyres from them as well shouldant they be dowing the fitting for nowt?

[TWIN BURNER]

Tyres fitted for free to loose wheels at my dealers, 1 hours labour if they remove the wheels

[datsun fan]

I would always take the wheels only in anyway, I have little faith in them putting them back in carefully, on the AT, engaging the speedo drive correctly is a bit fiddly, aswell as the back disc caliper sometimes, it is easy to think everything is in place correctly, but sometimes it isn't..

Unless you know the person who is going to do the work - I prefer to take care of things myself --

get to KNOW and LOVE your machine...

[Treadtrader]

Answering with my tyre trade hat on.

Fitting tyres to a bike, especially tube type takes a lot longer than putting tyres on a car.
The time taken has to be paid for somewhere.

As a business i don't encourage bike tyre sales for this reason.

I try to explain to enquiring customers that a lot of bike shops offer tyres cheap as a loss leader then hit you with a fitting charge.

As a member of this forum i'm happy to help out, pity you're so far away.

The rule with tyres, allways shop around for an all in price.

Best of luck.

[twistgrip]

I always get the dealers to do tubeless tyres and the last time it was £10 to a loose wheel and a tyre you bought yourself or same money fitted totally by them if you got the tyre from them. That was in Daventry. If it's tubed tyres I do it myself but I have to say that some trail type tyres have really hard sidewalls and can be pretty hard to get on, even with rim soap. Trick is have a warm tyre (room temperature), some good levers (not bicycle ones), don't rush, and I usually inflate the tube a little and tuck it in the tyre prior to fitting. This way I find there is less chance of pinching the tube. Changing tyres is like everything else once the anxiety is gone, which it does with practice, it's easily done. I rub a bar of wet soap around the tyre beads, washing up liquid works well but it can also cause rust problems inside the rim. It's always the last four or five inches that are the most difficult but try to get the tyre to fit well inside the rim at the opposite side and it should go on ok. Confidence is all that stands in the way. I have a ghost story about a puncture repair on the Isle of Man. I'll post it in a suitable forum.

[Whealie]

It's always the last four or five inches that are the most difficult

Show off.

[twistgrip]

NO! NO! you've got it all wrong! that part is worn away to an 8 inch stump!.

[jasonbc]

How much do you guys pay for having two new tyres fitted? Ive been quoted £24.99 per wheel (or £10.99 if I bring the removed wheel in by myself) for new tyres. Is this right? My Dad made me fit the tyres and tubes by hand with no tyre levers at all in 1966. He said that you cant even use a kitchen spoon. Took me three hours but I got there in the end. Oh yeh Im buying the new tyres from them as well shouldant they be dowing the fitting for nowt?

I always use the same shop as they are the cheapest around for bike tyres i take loose wheels in and the fitting is included in the price of the tyres. Same shop was £15 cheaper for my Goodrich BFG's than what i could get them for searching around online and then i would need to get them fitted

[trophydave]

I have to agree with Treadtrader being as I am in the same line of work.I fit no end of car tyres but the boss won't sell bike tyres at all.The only ones we do are for ourselves and a few mates.I normally charge a packet of biscuits for each tyre.

Where abouts are you in Lincolnshire,I am just over the border in Notts.

[Boris]

I always take my bikes to an out of town tyre fitter about 30 miles away. Price wise they are the same fitted to the bike as they are fitted to loose wheels in Edinburgh. The great thing is being out of town there is rarely a wait and by the time I get home they have been scrubbed in on some great roads.

Result all round.