In the good old days when you could chat over a pint in the pub, some Mini club friends and I were discussing online tyre suppliers.
One chap suggested looking on 'Black Rings'.
I advised caution if using a work computer to search for that sort of thing...

 

It's also worth checking Black Circles for Michelin tyre prices as they are owned by Michelin and often have offers on their tyres. No cup of coffee though . . . .

 

I have now bought four Michelin CC+ from Black Circles to be fitted by the local ATS depot. Cost £467.60 (225/50/R17 98 V). The current 15% discount (FLASH15) runs out at 2359 on the 16th Feb. Thanks Flintstone for making me aware of this.

I had checked prices on all the sites mentioned by others and a good deal of alternates not mentioned. It does seem that the best deals are to be made when there is a short term special offer on. Otherwise, there doesn’t seem much to choose between any of the online suppliers and including the national chains, especially as some charge extra for delivery and in other cases, fitting is not inclusive or you have to pay your local independent for the fitting. One or two of the online companies are a little opaque about the charges.

The Michelin CCs were not my first choice but the discounted price made such a huge difference that it was a no brainer. Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

The lesson learnt for me is that no one company offers the best deals all of the time. Wait for a good offer to come up and grab it!

ps. The local ATS depot tell me that it is them that own Black Circles (not the other way round?) and it also looks as if the Club 60 offer may not be as attractive as it might appear.

 

The local ATS depot tell me that it is them that own Black Circles (not the other way round?)

A sibling, the parent is Michelin.

""In May 2015 tyre manufacturer Michelin purchased the company for $75m. Michelin, which boasts 112,300 employees and operates 68 production plants in 17 countries, will also link Blackcircles with its popular distributor ATS Euromaster. ""

 

Unless you are prepared to pay a premium and then have to go to the trouble of buying online and then going to a local tyre fitter, the Continentals and Bridgestones are immediately ruled out. In my tyre size (225/50/R17), I now have the choice of Goodyear Vector 4 Gen 3 from NTS at £129 each or the Michelin CC from ATS at £136 each.
....
if I am going to go down the route of getting them delivered and then fitted by a local tyre place. It also seems that Michelin have a special offer on, which repeats every three months. Sadly the last one ended on 31 January.

Hi Jim.
I don't know what Camskill are offering? But...
Slightly more concerning though is the impression you seem to be giving in the two quotes above, that you feel the only way to buy tyres online is to get them delivered to your home, then arrange fitting locally yourself? Not sure if I'm reading you correctly, but that's what I'm inferring? If I'm correct - you're behind the times mate?

Just using BlackCircles as my example (Because as Bryetian reminded me a couple of weeks ago, Michelin own BlackCircles and ATS now), then:

• If you order online through BlackCircles, you can get them delivered direct to your local ATS.
• Just choose the "fully fitted" option when making your choice. That is the default when I look.
• You just rock up on the appointed day and hour to your ATS depot. Your tyres are waiting for you.
• They get fitted within a matter of minutes (OK, maybe 40-50 minutes for 4?)
• Away you go. with a smile from your ATS staff. All pre-paid via blackcircles.
• That's how did it last August, when buying tyres for my Cost Centre's Fiat.
• (She uses Bank of Dad! Because I'm a soft touch and do all her car maintenance jobs. Not least because she and her sister will the ones who choose my care home one day. )

For example, checking just now, I can arrange:

• 4 x Mich CC+
• 225/50 R17 V (98) (if that's your size and load rating?)
• for £117 each (£467.60 for the four to be precise)
• (That's with a 15% weekend discount, code "FLASH15" applied at checkout)
• fully fitted at the ATS 2 miles away.
• on Tuesday if I order today.

Maybe the prices differ in different parts of the country?

Reminder to self - don't forget to zero the transaction and order quantity before backing out of the web page in the other browser! Before I end up buying four tyres the wrong size for me!

 

Considering that wheel theft is now quite rare I took the locking bolts of both my Yeti's and replaced them with standard bolts, and shall probably do the same with the Niro.

 

Interesting... My pet independent happily swaps tyres & balances for about £10 or £12 a corner depending how busy there are and how many wheels I bung in.
I normally look to Camskill for prices as they have always been competitive for me, and always deliver when promised.
So I look up the price, bung them the Camskill link and ask if they can source that exact tyre for a comparable price, or should I order myself.

www.camskill.co.uk/m140b0s0p0/All_Season_-_Four_Season_-_All_Weather_-_Car_MPV_Tyres_-_17_inch

Will be interested to see how you get on !

Spag

 

Thanks Spagley. I wasn’t aware of Camskill and yes, their prices are the best I have seen! Plus, they seem to stock the full range. A full set from them works out a couple of quid cheaper than ATS’s Club 60 offer. I have an ATS 15 miles away and their price does include fitting and balancing plus a cup of coffee apparently. 😁.

Good advice as always and Camskill will definitely be on my search list in the future and may still be this time if the Club 60 isn’t as good as it looks

 

I got my winter tyres fitted at a local tyre depot for £10 a corner.

My summers were purchased from Mytyres online as a fitted package, they were fitted by an independent tyre depot who have an arrangement with Mytyres. Both tyre depots were both happy with the arrangements as it meant they did not have to keep so much stock.

 

Thanks Flintstone. You did see an inference that wasn’t intended as I was actually aware that these firms will deliver direct to the tyre fitters and that you can pay an ‘all in’ price. I had discounted Black Circles last week as the 15% this weekend only offer wasn’t on then and the base price wasn’t very attractive.

However, thanks to your ‘heads up’, I now find that I can get the tyres via Black Circles and fitted, would you believe, with the local independent tyre place that I have been using for thirty years. Unfortunately, that offer only applies to Michelins and Klebers, so my beloved Goodyears are not included.

As always, good and timely advice. I see that the Black Circles offer is on until the 16th, so I have time to see if my local guy can match it if I order through him.

 

However, thanks to your ‘heads up’, I now find that I can get the tyres via Black Circles and fitted, would you believe, with the local independent tyre place that I have been using for thirty years. Unfortunately, that offer only applies to Michelins and Klebers, so my beloved Goodyears are not included.

I wanted Goodyear Vector 4Seasons for my winter set of alloys, and like you I found the online tyre suppliers (Asda) also had my local garage as one of their fitting centres. I've used this garage for a few years for previous cars, so I visited them and told them the price I had seen online and told them Id happily buy direct from them of they could match the price. They came within just a few ££ so I purchased directly from them.

Maybe go and have a chat with your local garage, tell them to prices you've seen online with them as the fitter, and tell them you'd prefer to buy direct from them, see if they can do you a deal.

(I didn't even know Asda sold tyres!!!)

 

Would the ATS man contribute to inflation? I'm treading a dangerous path here, unleashing lots of puns and as I'm tired I'll go back to sleep..

 

I'm treading a dangerous path here, unleashing lots of puns and as I'm tired I'll go back to sleep..

Effects of the pastis, Jimmy?

 

I did see the tyre fitters using a torque wrench (first time ever) but they didn’t tell me what they had set it to, so I will check anyway.

The locking bolt sets are on Amazon and eBay and advert does carry an application chart in a lot of cases.

 

Where did you order the Febi bilstein set from, and how did you establish the type of bolt needed please?

Big Stevie, my locking bolts came today.

Assuming you are putting them on OEM alloys, the Febi bilstein part number is: 27056
The VAG cross reference is B529. I didn’t want to give you these before until I was sure they were the right ones.

I think these are a far better idea than the VAG ones. The splines are a lot longer and much more substantial, which means they are far less likely to slip off than the originals. Much cheaper too! They supply a key number in case you need to order another. The only downside is that the original plastic cap doesn’t fit. I will put some aluminium paint on the end of the bolts and after a few days you will not be able to see the difference.

 

Thanks Trilux

 

I have just signed up to Club 60 and will see if I get the Michelin CCs for £464. Not my first choice but hey. More to follow!

It is a quandary when spending so much on four new tyres, so I empathise with you.
For what its worth, I have been very pleased with my Michelin CC+ tyres.
They give a perceived "softer" ride, they stick to the road like glue and stop, especially in the wet, like "shale off a shovel" if you get my analogy?!! Down side is the back window gets muddy quicker.
Now I am only a small time motorist, long gone are the days of the company car driver, doing 40 to 50k miles a year, in all weathers. I had Bridgestone Potenza fitted to the Passat V5 and by gawd did they stop me fast. But were so soft they were worn out in a year.
So my view is "cheapest is not the best" when it comes to tyre choice.
Others will put in their tuppence worth and I am afraid, you have to be the judge.
So best of luck, keep safe and taking the jab, if offered!!

 

Black Circles, Oponeo, Mytyres et al don’t seem to be particularly competitive on prices right now. Camskill seem to be the best bet if I am going to go down the route of getting them delivered and then fitted by a local tyre place. It also seems that Michelin have a special offer on, which repeats every three months. Sadly the last one ended on 31 January.

Grateful for all the suggestions so far. Will let you know how I get on.

 

Try phoning the fitters that Black Circles are using, tell them you are thinking of using Black Circles and ask them for a price. My summer tyres bought on line from Mytyres, were fitted by Waltham garage and when I asked the woman in the office how much they would charge she undercut the online price.

 

That is exactly what I do, especially as we don't have an ATS anywhere near here. Generally my local bod is able to undercut BC especially as he doesn't actually get much from them for fitting their tyres.

 

I think Asda actually use Black Circles, but with their name as the "contact".

 

Look here for Black Circles associated Fitters.

Tyre Fitting Centres - UK Fitting Network | Blackcircles.com

Buy tyres online and get them fitted locally with Blackcircles. Lifetime Guarantee now on all car, van & SUV tyres. Peace of mind, at no extra cost.

www.blackcircles.com

I gather you can buy tyres fitting included from BC.

 

Yes, as already stated, that is the default setting on their website

 

I think one advantage of buying online is that the seller has a high turnover. When I got my winter tyres, they were just six weeks old. I tend to look at the DOT dates whilst at a tyre depot and it is not unusual to see unsold tyres over a year old. It will be interesting to see how long ago yours were produced.

 

Nothing is ever easy. Went to ATS to have the Michelin CCs fitted. They couldn’t remove one of the wheels. The splines on one of the locking wheel bolts had rounded off and the key was looking worn too. So, it was off to a welder the other side of town to built up a large blob of weld on the bolt and then weld on a nut. Job done. Back to ATS to have the fourth tyre put on. Drove home with only four bolts in each wheel.

The OEM locking bolt system is really quite poor. Apparently they are a very common failure. Have now ordered a Febi bilstein set that looks a lot more substantial and about a quarter of the price of the cr@p VAG ones.

Well that was nearly the whole day spent on getting the tyres put on.........but I am happy that I didn’t discover that I couldn’t remove that wheel after a puncture in the middle of the night far away from anywhere. I suppose that would be one time that the tyre gunge might have proved a good idea.

 

Well that was nearly the whole day spent on getting the tyres put on.........but I am happy that I didn’t discover that I couldn’t remove that wheel after a puncture in the middle of the night far away from anywhere. I suppose that would be one time that the tyre gunge might have proved a good idea.

Now to loosen the bolts and re-tourque them incase the tyre fitters have tightened them to 1,000,000Nm as they did with my LR Defender recently.

Where did you order the Febi bilstein set from, and how did you establish the type of bolt needed please?

 

I replaced my locking bolts when the key started looking worse for wear. It was cheaper to buy a complete set from Horton Skoda by mail order than buy a new "key". The "key" has a letter or number stamped on the hex part, make a note of it in case you lose it and need to buy a replacement.

 

Had a look at your replacements and spotted this at the bottom of the page, I wonder if they are any good.

Blue Spot 01533 BlueSpot 5 PCE Locking Wheel Nut Remover Set: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

 

Interesting, I didn’t know you could get such a thing. The only worry I would have is whether there would be enough room for the extractor to fit in the recess. There ain't a lot of room down there!

 

On both of my Yeti's I ditched the locking wheel nuts within weeks of getting them.

 

I've often thought of doing the same thing. On the assumption that you notified your insurer of these modifications, may I ask if there were any issues?

 

Didn't bother, so haven't got a clue. Wheel theft is extremely rare nowadays.

 

Wheel theft is extremely rare nowadays.

Even in central Liverpool!

 

Catalytic converters are easier to steal for quick money.

 

MUCH more valuable than alloy wheels!