My archaic Audi needs a fresh set of rubber so you would assume that the logical thing to do is to bimble to National Tyres or Kwik-Fit and Bob’s you’re Uncle…or not? My seventeen year-old 80 is well-maintained by me and is worth an embarrassing £500 so I am always looking at ways to cut costs whilst keeping the car safe and fuel-efficient.

I had part-worn tyres fitted before at around £20 each but they had been puncture-patched and didn’t reassure me on the motorway. Moreover, one had been fitted with a slow puncture, and a groove in the sidewall was evidence enough that it had been driven whilst underinflated before me, an accident waiting to happen. The second option is visiting Mr.Scrappy to look for the correct set that are damage free. I bought a pair for £30 fitted to the front of my car and had no problems until I experienced steering wheel vibes at 60mph and tread depth dissipation to a barely legal 2mm, seventeen months after having bought them. My experience shows that it’s a false economy.

Anyway, continuing from where I began. I searched online http://www.national.co.uk/ for, you’ve guessed it, tyres and got a price of £165.30 for four rings of rubber that sounded as if the manufacturer was a Samurai! Four Barum Brilliantis tyres would cost me a further £46.60, at £211.90 fitted, a sensible investment as German based manufacturer Continental, own Barum. Another website I discovered was http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/ that undercut the big boys by offering the Barum Bravuris for £42.50 each so £170 including VAT and fitting for four.

So, in effect, I’ve saved £41.90 on four tyres and the incredible thing is that the tyres that I ordered from tyre-shopper were fitted by…National Tyres. Crazy!

July 2009

Paid blades

My faithful Audi 80 is due an MOT soon so preparation, preparation, preparation. The wiper blades have splits in them which will fail the test so a visit to Wilkinson’s http://www.wilkinsonplus.com reveals that each one will cost £1.49. Beat that!

© July 2009 . All Rights Reserved Sotiris Vassiliou