[cornish]

First BIG Expense....


I noticed what looked like fluff on the edge of my front tyre a couple of weeks ago after a trip to Cornwall and thought nothing more of it. Today at lunchtime it was there again so I investigated, turned out a huge thorn had gone right through the tyre, right on the edge as it curves over from the sidewall.



I took out the thorn and it started hissing at me, so I put it back but typically it broke and I couldn't seal the hole. The local KwickFit said that it couldn't be repaired as it was too close to the edge and gave me a price of £213 for the same Continental tyre as it has on at the moment...



A bit of haggling later and this dropped to £175 fitted, checked with ATS and they said that on 'normal' 4x4 cars they can send the tyre away for a major repair for £20 but the tyres that we have on the Kuga are classed as car tyres.

Checked with a local company and got a price of £152 fitted which Kwickfit have matched, they managed to find a tyre in Germany and it is on its way as I type. I dropped the wheel with them tonight so they can fit the tyre on Wednesday and place it on the car Thursday morning - nightmare!!!



The spacesaver is a nightmare as I am keeping it at 45Mph and will now not drive the car until Thursday morning back to Kwickfit (11 miles).



If I had driven straight over the thorn it wouldn't have stuck in, it must have been as the sides of the tyre squashed...



Two morals - first is even a rugged 4x4 is only as strong as the tyres, second is shop around for tyres as £213 down to £152 is quite a drop...



I got the guy to check the alloy to confirm that there are no marks, scrapes or damage and that's how I want it back - a local outlet warned me that they would scratch the rim as they placed the tyre on as it is so big..
Edited by: cornish

 

[flanaia1]

ouch stilll £152 is still a big hit. I had a similar problem on my Subaru Outback was 2 months old first of the 06 facelift models and I puctued a tyre in a similar place to yours, car was running yokohamas and there was not another match in the country nearest was Japan. You could not use any other tyre as the diffs on the Subaru are sensitive and odd tread depth, profile, just kills them. Dealer ended up changing all 4 under warranty which I thought was pretty impressive!!

 

[mountainman]

Hope you got the tyre changed without any damage to the wheel rim. I'm not a great fan of the space-saver tyre idea. Could be a real problem if you were away (or lived in ) a remote area. I was wondering about investing in a full size alloy/spare; not sure how much space this would take up; I expect it would leave the rear floor space uneaven. Anybody done this?

 

[Fredflintstone]

Hi all,
I have the misfortune of beating your 2600miles. 498 miles on the clock and a massive roofing screw right through the centre tread!!! All would have been ok if we new about this before driving 10 miles through towns. End result is busted side walls etc so new tyre required. Then the fun began. The tyre garage could not get a direct replacement as the Continental tyresare on back order. Best would be a Dunlop. Due to the miles and the fact it is a new car I have ended up getting an original replacementtyre from the Ford dealer that sold me the car but at the cost of £215................

As we need the car I had no option but to fork out the dosh. Thats my tale of woe over. 20 years driving and only the second puncture. I suppose it had to happen someday, but why with my shiny new Kuga!!!

 

[cornish]

Kwikfit managed to get me one in a couple of days so I drove 11miles home on the spacesaver at 45mph, left the wheel with them, then picked it up when it was ready. All in for £152 which was good compared to the Ford price, although they did start at £213...


I did notice that on the original NS tyre a very small chunk of tread is also missing - the standard tyres seem a little soft...

 

[high5grt]

Hope they didn't damage the rim, last time i was in kwik fit they chipped the paint off where they screw drivered the centre cap of my ST mondy, when I complained they said the marks were already there. I knew they weren't but couldn't prove it.


I will do what you did if there is a next time and check it over with them first....top idea

 

[Filthy]

Tyres start from £53.90 on mytyres.co.uk of course you'll have to pay fitting on top of that but it seams quite reasonable to me.

 

[cornish]

not for the 18" rims as their cheapest is £95, I wanted the same one that it had on it and even on mytryes.co.uk it is £164 without fitting, so a result with Kwkfit...