Tyre fitters Ipswich / Norwich ?

[Paul90]

I bought a set of tyres mail order because they were cheap.

My local place normally does a great job fitting and have never been that worried about fitting tyres you supply rather than buy from them, ie free fitting to loose wheel if you buy the tyre from them and £10 per loose wheel if you supply the tyre.

They now want £35 per wheel to fit tyres you didn't buy there which I think is taking the pi55.

Any recommendations for the Ipswich / Norwich area at a sensible price ?

At £35 a wheel I'll probabaly have a go myself.
If you watch the videos here they make it look easy:

http://www.nomartirechanger.com/

 

[ianboydsnr]

I bought a set of tyres mail order because they were cheap.

My local place normally does a great job fitting and have never been that worried about fitting tyres you supply rather than buy from them, ie free fitting to loose wheel if you buy the tyre from them and £10 per loose wheel if you supply the tyre.

They now want £35 per wheel to fit tyres you didn't buy there which I think is taking the pi55.

Any recommendations for the Ipswich / Norwich area at a sensible price ?

At £35 a wheel I'll probabaly have a go myself.
If you watch the videos here they make it look easy:


http://www.nomartirechanger.com/

You can do it yourself, you need a couple of blocks of wood to stand the wheel on, to protect the disc, a couple of plastic gallon drums cut up to strips, to provide rim protection, and three tyre levers, but you normally can get away with two


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AerHAYs435s

 

[cbritton]

Paul,

Have you tried your local universal tyres ? I've always found them very good and the guys in Colchester fitted a rear for me for the price of a drink.

Cheers, Colin.

 

[Pressurized]

Well I don't know what they'd charge for fitting tyres you bought but these guys are top class:

Autofit (Ipswich)
8-10 Brittania Road
Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 4P
01473 723325

 

[IluvmyGS]

Have you thought of trying to take them to Orwell Motorcycles? OK, they aren't a BMW dealer, but I've got them to do loads of stuff with my GS . . . I'm sure they could do you a good deal on fitting your tyres?

Shirley

 

[spock]

Lings,honda/triumph dealer,they will do this job for about £14ish per wheel.
or sea-star motor bikes,just outside norwich on the A140,they were charging about £12/15??

 

[Womble]

Well I don't know what they'd charge for fitting tyres you bought but these guys are top class:

Autofit (Ipswich)
8-10 Brittania Road
Ipswich, Suffolk IP4 4P
01473 723325

Unfortunately, most of the savings to be made buying cheap tyres rely on you fitting them yourself.

Adrian at Autofit will fit tyres for you, but it'll cost you about £10/wheel for loose fitting.

 

[Pressurized]

Unfortunately, most of the savings to be made buying cheap tyres rely on you fitting them yourself.

Adrian at Autofit will fit tyres for you, but it'll cost you about £10/wheel for loose fitting.

Tempting though it is to try to fit tyres yourself, a good dealer is probably the best way to go. And Autofit are the best I've come across. It's far more convenient to let them do the work and not bad value either. Adrian will also balance the wheel. And not scratch it.

The least best value option would be to get a bike/car dealer to do it.

 

[Paul90]

I'm going to have a go with tyre levers at the weekend.

I'll let you know what state the rim is in once I've finished
I'm not that worried about a few scratches. My bike is so dirty you can't even see what colour the wheels are supposed to be.

I've used both Orwells and Autofit in the past and they have been fine but are a fair way from me. If I can do it at home I'll save a shed load over time on cheap tyres.

How hard can it be

 

[ianboydsnr]

I'm going to have a go with tyre levers at the weekend.

I'll let you know what state the rim is in once I've finished
I'm not that worried about a few scratches. My bike is so dirty you can't even see what colour the wheels are supposed to be.

I've used both Orwells and Autofit in the past and they have been fine but are a fair way from me. If I can do it at home I'll save a shed load over time on cheap tyres.

How hard can it be

Its not hard and you wont scratch your rims, if you use rim protectors, from a cut up bottle, use plenty of them, make sure the discs are off the ground, use scraps of wood, use a reasonable amount of soapy water, to lube the beads, and break the beads using a "G" clamp, but be carefull not to scratch the rims, it will take a while to get the tyre over the rim, the first time you do it, use the clamp, to keep the bead opposite where your levering, to keep it in the center well, do this also when re fitting the new tyre, make sure you line the dots(if it has them) with the valve, use a decent air line to seat the beads, if it does'nt want to inflate, bounce the wheel on the ground, whilst moving the wheel round, if desparate, use a rachet strap around the tyre, once one beed pops, the other will not be far behined, you can usually balance the front using the spindle and a couple of blocks, move the wheel by hand around and let go, it should settle at the heavyest point at the bottom

 

[Budweiser]

Unfortunately, most of the savings to be made buying cheap tyres rely on you fitting them yourself.


I use Adrian - top bloke knows what he is doing and looks after your bike as if it were his own - worth every penny

 

[Paul90]

I decided to attack the rear tyre myself with some tyre levers last weekend.

Piece of cake

It was snowing outside and the tyre had been in the workshop for weeks at near freezing temperatures. I suspect it would have been even easier if the tyre had been a bit warmer / softer.

No scratches or marks on the rim - used bits of old plastic oil can and scraps of leather for rim protectors.

Seated the bead with a simple footpump at about 30psi.

I wish I'd have tried this years ago. I would have saved a fortune on tyres.

Thanks for all the tips and links to u-tube, etc.

 

[brucewayne]

Treadfirst in Diss still put mine on for a tenner a loose wheel!

 

[Sleepy]

Something else to consider if changing them yourself (as I did last time) is getting rid of the old ones.. my local tip (Stowmarket) told me they were unable to take them as Suffolk had no tyre recycling plant.

I phoned the head office and they confirmed this. I cut the front one in half and put it in the wheely bin, but no luck with the rear one.. (still got it, some months later)..