Timing belt and 2 new tyres for how much??

[mark farrier]

I thought some of you might like to know that I recently had my timing belt changed and 2 new
tyres in the front. How much did it cost ?
Well the tyres were budget......but total cost £330.
Had to shop round but I think this will take some beating !!!!!
Car went in Wednesday morning and I picked it up Thursday morning.
for the record car is 2003 1.6 Allure with 62000 on the clock.
It pays to shop round folks and there are some trustworthy garages out there.....just very
hard to find.
Had to pay cash though.

[gazza82]

Two good quality tyres would cost £180-200 (assuming they are 205/45R16) ...

I do hope the tyre fitters put the new ones on the back and the worn ones on the front ...

[mark farrier]

You really do need to shop round for tyres....had several quotes...maybe they cost a lot more
in Buckinghamshire ?

[gazza82]

I don't buy budget tyres

[GrandadMonkey]

Neither do I Gazza but some people do because they have no choice. The price you have paid Mark is cheap and I presume you are running your car on a tight budget. What tyres did you get?

Our 206cc is an 05 plate with less than 30k on the clock so the cambelt is due on a "time" basis. Normally I would recommend that when the timing belt is replaced the pulleys and water pump should be replaced too. However at 30k miles the latter items are not yet halfway through their service life so I shall replace only the belt. Should cost me about £25 doing it myself. Need to know what you're doing though.

[mark farrier]

Firstly I didn't suggest that you do buy budget tyres Gazza. What I am saying is that if you shop
round you can get deals.....not every retailer/garage charges the same price EVEN for the same
brand.
Hello again Grandadmonkey....how are you?
Not so much running on a tight budget...more a limited one. Sadly only get paid once a month !!
I'm in a position where I walk to work so only really use the car at weekends...mostly for posing....
like Gazza I guess !!! In an average year mileage is approx. 5000.
Had the pulleys, water pump replaced at the same time...and just thought that some of our members
would like to know that you don't have to pay a fortune if you look/ask round.

[gazza82]

I do shop around ... I spend time researching the prices on the web, then use that to get a deal at a local tyre fitter where I can. Most will match, some will beat by a few quid. If not I get them from BlackCircles or mytyres and have them fitted locally at a garage of my choice locally (both have a number of "partners" and you choose when and when to get them fitted and they ship direct to them).

The CC is probably going to average 6000-8000 per annum ... unless daughter's current boyfriend moves up from Dorset/Cornwall borders! And as it does a lot of motorway miles, it won't get tyres I don't trust. As there are limited 205/45R16's around I went with Hankook as I didn't trust many of the weird manufacturers names that turn up ... and some were downright expensive. One of my local fitters is a Hankook distributor so I got a good price (under the web prices). Most in that size are well over £100 each ...

Don't know if you know but the big tyre chains are often owned by the tyre manufacturers .. this why you will always get them "recommend" a particular brand .. others just have a tight affiliation meaning they get better trade prices as they buy in bulk. The small independents don't have that power but can cut their margins a bit to offer discounts. I still get better prices shopping around than the offers through my AA membership, etc ...

My Alfa 156 has been averaging 12000-14000 in the past 3 to 4 years ... and I don't drive that sedately and I certainly don't pose .. I don't hang around enough to do that. It's an Alfa .. it's not meant to poodle The tyres on that are about £80 a pop ... I've had Dunlop SP Sport Maxx now for several years, love the handling and they manage to last a couple of years! Fronts always go first ... front wheel drives always do.

I suppose my idea of budgets will be the Falken's on the hatchback ... there are there because I fitted alloys and didn't like the way the standard tyres looked stretched. So I went up in width and down slightly in profile to keep roughly the same diameter. It's only the 1.4 hdi so it's not for blasting around the countryside but again it cruises ok at the speed limit ... think they were £40-45 each? But even here I did try others and wasn't impressed with the handling or life .. so ended up paying out twice when others may last longer.

Tyres are priced to make money for someone ... if the wear rate is poor, you buy more tyres .. and on some the rubber is so hard handling suffers. Finding a happy medium is hard and often through trial and error .. and expense!

I only get paid once a month too ... I just have to plan when the new tyres are needed (so check all the cars regularly ... that's 20 tyres in our family not including spares!) and budget for them where we can or go without where it's an emergency (puncture, etc).

[PS I also do my own maintenance on all five cars, so my belt changes costs are just the parts ... and I shop around for them too ... ]

[mark farrier]

Nice short reply Gazza !!!

[gazza82]

Working at home watching a boring database process ... give me time to concentrate on the more important things in life!

[Capncol]

I go for middle of the road tyres ('scuse the pun) As Our 206cc is mainly around town. I also have a trade account with a tyre fitter so I get really good deals.

[GrandadMonkey]

Hello again Grandadmonkey....how are you?

Hi again Mark. I'm fine thank you - enjoying my re-tyre-ment (a contrived pun for Capncol).

Thank you for stimulating another interesting discussion.

[mark farrier]

Gazza - your last post but one.....did you mean poodle or pootle in the Alfa ?
Pootle is to move or travel in a leisurely manner.
Poodle is a horrible looking dog standardized in France.
Alfa 156 isn't a great looker is it ?
Bit like the poodle.
Does the 2 litre 206cc leave the Alfa standing ? Don't forget its the man behind the wheel and not the car.
For the record I'm a dog lover...but not the poodle make...I've been bitten twice by poodles so it seems
I don't like them and they don't like me. I look forward to your reply !!

[GrandadMonkey]

Don't take the bait Gazza...