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MG Midget and Sprite General - buying tyres online

does anyone else do this and what are your experiences? any particular suppliers to recommend or to avoid?
Mothy

I have used e-tyres a number of times and find them very good. Camskill seem very good on price if you can get them fitted reasonably.

Carl
C Bintcliffe

I've used mytyres.co.uk

They seemed good, but it was a few years ago.
Dave O'Neill 2

I should have said that e-tyres will fit the tyres where ever you want ie at home or work perhaps

Carl
C Bintcliffe

My son has used BlackCircles for his Maserati tyres. Said they were good and very competitive on price. They supplied the tyres and arranged fitting through a local independent company.
Guy Weller

have had less than perfect experiances
it the way that they deliver old (close to sell by date yes tryes have one)tyres
they are cheap
but the bit of service you get at the local (small) tyre shop is worth the small bit of extra money
Onno Könemann

I have used www.mytyres.co.uk 3 times in the past 18 months. The price, quality and service was very good barring two incidents.

On one occasion the tyres took 2 weeks to arrive.

On another occasion the local tyre depot made a real b*gg*r of the balancing. Turned out they only did static balancing - didn't have a dynamic balancer. It's not mytyres fault but they were the only mytyres approved fitting centre in our area. I guess I could have had them delivered to my home and taken them elsewhere but I didnt know that the recommended depot didnt do dynamic balancing at the time.

The above 3 sets of tyres were not Midget tyres. I don't like to think about doing 70k per annum in my Midget as my wife isn't a physiotherapist!
David Banks

There are some things that one shouldn't buy online - women and tyres being the two main ones :)
rachmacb

my local garage can beat black circles price if you ask nicely...and they are a nominated agent for the aforementioned.
robnrrugby

I've used Black Circles three or four times and they've been very good, usually next day or two fitting. Like Rob, I now check Blackcircles prices and ask their fitting agent if they'll match which they're normally happy to do.
Matt1275 Bucks

I used mytyres once without problem. Then I realised my local guy in the unit by the station was cheaper than any of the online lot, is friendly, and fixes punctures for a fiver. No more online tyre buying.
Jordan Gibson

Ordered a pair of 225 40 18's online from Camskills on Wednesday at 14.30 - they were waiting for me last night when I got home - I knew nobody would be at home to sign for them so they had left them exactly where I had requested when ordering. Great service.

Just need to fit them this weekend - a fitting post bolted to the garage floor has already paid for itself many times over on the daily drivers, the midget tyres and several other cars.
Andrew Dunn

I've bought many sets of tyres from mytyres. Recently one of our local family run outfits has quoted similar price.

Normall get quote from both and make decision.

Best thing about mytyres is you can have your set of 215-45-17 Z-rated Bridgestone Potenza 010s in the lounge for a few days before you fit them.

A
Anthony Cutler

I've used tyre-shopper.co.uk several times for my everyday runner, as have several others at work. Prices include fitting and balance and local fitting centre is National Tyres (same tyres as they do but miles cheaper). You just print your paperwork off and take it to the fitting centre - tyres are off the shelf from them.

Wouldn't use them for the Midget though as I have wire wheels so they can't balance them properly.

Trev
T Mason

As this set is for a new set of wires, how do you deal with the balancing issue Trevor?
Mothy

<There are some things that one shouldn't buy online - women and tyres being the two main ones :)>

Glad to hear you aren't buying women online! What about men?
Tim Michnay

Mothy,

Not had to put any new rubber on yet so have not had the need to have them balanced. However need some new ones shortly so was thinking of buying a static balancer from Frost(£59) which will soon pay for itself. I used to use a fitter who had one and it always worked OK so think thats the way to go.I know a few people with wires and it has even been suggested that if I buy one I could do other peoples for say £1 + cost of weights which would help pay for it and give them a cheap way of getting balancing done.

Trev
T Mason

Lol men online are free aren't they?!!!!
rachmacb

Mothy
a good tyre shop can ballance wires properly. an other good reason to go there.
dynamic balancing gives far beter result
Onno Könemann

Onno, that's not all true. Most tyre shops can't balance wires, or centre locks because they won't fit on the balancing machine. I helped bart once by making a tool so that it would fit. Ofcourse a really good tire man can do it on the car, like the family business here in The Hague, ehhh Thomson or something
Alex G Matla

Onno
Alex is right as wires need the outside of the wheel located externally not internally as is the case with dynamic balancers. There is the odd place that has had an external cone made so that they can do it but these are few and far between.

Trev
T Mason

I only run Yoko Parada Spec2's on any performance car I have owned. Unfortunately in this pleasant little island the tyre retailers want £150+ per corner.

CamSkills and RareRims can both have me a set of four on my doorstep the next day for less than £180

Our "regular" tyre guy for the MG's is fantastic for the tyres we use on the Midgets. However, he charged us £360 for four DieYoungs in 225/40 R18, I got a deal through CamSkills for four Kumho Ecsta's in the same size at less than £200 for the set.

I <3 Online Tyre Shops
PeterJMoore

Alex
where do you think i get my tyres ;)

and that is what i meant a good shop will find a proper way of doing it either oncar or with an adapter.

luckly my present midget has normal alloys
am thinking of having the powdercoated black though would look cool....
Onno Könemann

Onno I was thinking very dark grey almost black or satin black. But that's one of those jobs...
BTW, engine is out, again...
Alex G Matla

hey now i at least know what to buy for your brith day
a gasket set...
no realy sh*t why?
you must be getting quick at it :(
Onno Könemann

Yep, came out in a whif, gearbox still in the car.
Still had an annoying marble sound, couldn't find it so took it apart, and guess what? still found nothing, no scores, no damage to speak of. Going to redo some things, put it back and trash it thoroughly at Lelystad. if I get ready before the 1st ofcourse...
Alex G Matla

otherwise we can shere the blue rust bucket lijn said i can borrow for that weekend
since my midget won't be ready
and borrowing Wou's GT is not an option..

sorry for the off thread chatter
Onno Könemann

Neh, if it ain't Midget, it isn't worth it. Maybe Pep's Midget is an option, he has a hernia...
Alex G Matla

LOL - off thread - naw, at this rate you're going to have to have the midget wheels of the entire population of the Nederlands balanced ...

I wonder though - do ANY of you have a working midget between you ... if Alex has his engine out, Onno is painting and Arie has broken electrics - perhaps Primerose won't be the worst car in September after all - so I should keep her and come after all ...!
rachmacb

Thread hi-jack alert!
Dave O'Neill 2

now i just have to keep the off thread action going ;)

my midget has just had it's second coat of primer so maybe a bit of colour today.
in september i should have it finished right....

And i've been promised some test runs in Lijn's blue midget( nice fast 1275)
no timed runs cause she could not stand it if anny one would be quicker the her in it ;)

Alex just steal pep's midget if he leaves it allone for as long as the last time he won't notice.
Onno Könemann

Oh well - since I managed to mention wheel balancing - and then it got totally hi-jacked - it would be a poor showing if I didn't join in :)

LOL - that's precisely why it is the biggest honour ever to be offered a ride in the passenger seat - but I won't let people drive Primerose - or ride my horses - I hate to think that they will get them to go better than I can!

Yes, providing the weather is nice and you don't get an attack of the "props", then, September is far enough away - I still have to get some welding done too and pass the MOT ... between now and then - so, don't you think that it's time to put your name down then - heck, even Arie has done so already ....... and I'm number 2 :)

Then, of course, you can start to book tickets for Midget50 in a couple of months time!!!!

Back on topic - now I see yet another reason not to get wire wheels - I don't feel so guilty that it's just coz I'm too idle - I mean, busy - to clean them!
rachmacb

Well, just bought some from blackcircles, so we'll see how they do. The guy at our local ATS is into his classics and excellent for fitting but they only stock budget brands in 145/80/R13, hence online purchase

Rach, wires aren't that hard to clean - you just need a brush and some squirty alloy wheel cleaner from tesco, and a hose. Never understood why people think they are harder work to keep clean than other wheels - I always find it much harder work getting the alloys on the modern cars clean as there are deeper nooks for the brake dust to embed in!
Mothy

LOL - who said I clean my wheels on the 4x4 either ... the mud falls off - eventually :)
rachmacb

well, the Pirelli P3000's turned up within 2 days from Black Circles, managed to get a discount by hunting t'interweb for free discount codes, 4 tyres for £130 inc delivery, had to order the tubes separately and then get ATS to fit and balance. Came out just short of £50 a corner.

Mothy

and on Sebrina ...

Mothy

This thread was discussed between 15/04/2010 and 28/04/2010

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