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I've had tyres fitted and MOTs done at Kwik Fit and it's always been fine, wouldn't get any mechanical work done though. By contrast one local indy place fitted the wrong profile tyres (I only noticed after the traction control started having a fit) and another (via Black Circles) said they'd fit them there and then in 30 mins, ended up being sat in the waiting room for 1.5 hours - god knows what they did in that time (probably tea break time).
Just hope you can get the wheel nuts off when you next need to change pads/discs etc.
I had to give the local Mr Diamond Drill a lot of money to get my wheels off after my last ever Kwikfit visit.
I went to them for an MOT about 7 or 8 years ago, they had one of those service + MOT deals that was a bargain.
Had a couple of issues which were to be expected, but they also gave me a long list of advisories. Including a "collapsed" rear N/S suspension. The fact that the car was sitting completely level with suggested to me that this was a lie.
I've still got the same car, and been to a trusted local garage since, the advisories have never been mentioned since. Haven't trusted the idiots since.
I know other people that have had similar issues at different local kwik fits. In fact my dad has a company lease car so has to use Kwik fit for tyres, and they were awful, took absolutely ages to change them. Worse for managing appointments than a doctors surgery.
Yeah, took my old Omega in for a couple of tyres once and got a call to say that one of the coolant hoses had blown when they had been moving it from the parking to the ramp.
Oddly, no pool of fluid on the floor and they were very quick to offer to replace the hose for something that happened while the car was being moved 25m. Almost like they had taken the ex-police car for a thrash around town and overheated it.
Floor of my son's 1989 Mini now has dents both sides where they jacked it up using a trolley jack directly on the floorpan when doing a tyre swap.
They wanted £130 to remove 4 locking wheelnuts where he'd lost the key. Asked what they do 'hammer a socket on and use the air tools', we did it at home and got them all off in about 10 minutes.
I find them to vary garage by garage - either good or crooks with nothing in between. E.g. Yoker - good, just like any garage should be. Great Western Rd - crooks, “those brakes are so worn we legally can’t let you leave” etc (brakes still had 10s of thousands of miles in them)
Against my better judgement, my wife insists on using them as they're close by and she can do everything on line. In fairness, so far, they've been pretty good for the last few trip with 4 tyres replaced last time and no additionals added.
She's booked it in for a service and MoT on Saturday so I will await the bill from that. I know at least 2 things it'll fail on already and I'll wait to see how many more.
I had similar experiences with them many years ago - it was one of their 'free' MOT health checks and they basically told me that my Mini was about to implode and told me I couldn't even drive it away (it wasn't even the MOT - it was just a pre-MOT check). I asked them on what authority they thought they could impound my car so they backed down and I took it to my local trusted mechanic and they said it was all a load of made up rubbish (apart from one minor issue with one A panel being a bit rusty).
Eagle F1’s? Aren’t they better/more expensive than the tyres you wanted?
Yes they are, that was my thought.
Actually happened the other way round for me, ordered F1’s and they put on the cheaper not so good efficient grips. (Wasn’t kwik fit either)
Don’t use mobile vans either if your car is half decent. Mine were fitted by a mobile fitter and he came twice as wheels still vibrates after being balanced. He said the van balancer s are notoriously difficult to get calibrated accurately, you are better going to a bricks and mortar place.
The Eagles on the car (there are lots of different options) are the wrong speed rating, the ratings for grip are the same but worse for fuel economy and noise and are the same price. I chose EGP because I’ve had them before so know what they’re like and don’t want tyres that are potentially not as good or what I ordered.
It's not specifically a Kwik fit thing,
I've had the wrong profile tyre fitted on one side of a pair changed. General lies about worn out stuff and most recently I had all 4 tyres done on my car and they jacked it up by the gearbox to change both rear tyres. The Turbo wastegate pipe snapped off on the way home which I think was down to the way it was jacked up (The waste gate bolts to the drivetrain). I just welded it up and cursed myself for trusting them to use the proper jacking points.
Just hope you can get the wheel nuts off when you next need to change pads/discs etc.
God, I've had that before, not kwik fit some other place, put the wheels back on with an air gun after some work (I forget what now) . Just pure lazyness.
Burly guy at another garage couldn't get them off for a tyre change a few weeks later, even with a breaker bar that looked more like a 6 foot length of scaffolding.
He finally got them off after a few days whilst I took it away and gave the bolts a massive drenching of wd40 and gave it time to seep in, but it took so much welly I'm supprised the bolts didn't snap.... The car was rocking harder than a dogger in a layby.
She’s booked it in for a service and MoT on Saturday so I will await the bill from that. I know at least 2 things it’ll fail on already and I’ll wait to see how many more.
Might be worth marking up your filters to make sure you don’t get the same ones back
Was the worst thing about a works lease car, having to use Kwik Fit. Wasted hours over the years sat in their receptions. Remember one time them trying to convince me the non-runflat tyre they'd fitted was 'fine mate, no probs mixing them'. Don't really know why they'd done it, lease company had no issue paying for the proper runflat.
I had to use a quikfit with a work car - all tyres were done thru them. It had 4 differnt ones on.
I had Kwik Fit fit a couple of front tyres to my 2006 BMW 3 Series. They said they were unable to balance them due to the "track rod ends being seized" - they did not offer to fix this and recommended I take it to a main dealer.
At the time I had also booked an MOT and service with them. Passed the MOT but they were unable to do the service as they were unable to remove the sump plug.
Both these incidents had the whiff of BS about them. This was about five months ago and I have not done anything to the car since (only drive it occasionaly and not far). The service was not actually needed - it just seemed like a good deal.
Any thoughts on this? - I will probably get the next MOT done at a local garage and ask them to service it.
To be fair I'd probably decline doing the tracking on a 13 year old BMW with siezed track rods as well.... Could be a 10 minute job or could be a 10hour job with a good few new bits that ain't cheap.....all for 50 quid or what ever it is fixed fee they charge.
Sump plugs can seize up. I suppose they figured extracting the oil the other way would take too much time/cba etc.
To be fair I’d probably decline doing the tracking
but he said “balancing”....
I spanner my own car and van, the only places I trust for tyres are Costco - I watched them through the window to see if they actually do what they reckon they do (cleaned threads and applied copper grease, used torque wrench to tighten), and my local grubby back street place that's been there for years and has always offered good service at decent prices.
I spanner my own car and van,
I try not to these days but I’m always underwhelmed by the service I receive from garages so I end up doing it myself.
Recently I Put my car in for an alignment because it was scrubbing tyres and asked them to check all the suspension bushes before starting, I also had a judder under braking which didn’t go away with new discs.
They did the alignment and told me there was just a tiny bit of play in one of the bushes, nothing to worry about. Judder still there and alignment barely in spec, still charged me for it. I’m a bit annoyed I didn’t say anything at the time.
Last week I changed the control arms myself and took it somewhere else for alignment. It’s driving better than ever and the judder is gone. Sometimes it’s just better to do things yourself.
cleaned threads and applied copper grease, used torque wrench to tighten),
Copper slip/grease should not be used on wheel nut as the grease means the threads will be overtightened Torque setting is for dry bolts
They failed my OH's fiesta when she took it in for its MOT on account of the rear drum brakes not working.
They stripped them and cleaned them out and didnt charge anything the b******.
Then they had the cheek to compliment it on being a tidy little car that should go on for years. Despite the fact I know its effed and living on borrowed time but refuses to die in an irreparable way.
I've actually started using KF with no issues to date.
I had used local garages happily for years until i got a car with TPMS. Then 2 local garages advised they couldn't supply, i'd have to buy TPMS valves from e-bay & sort out any follow up issues with valve registering. And now with MOT, if there's a warning light it's an instant fail!
Comparing this to KF where i can choose the tyre i want on-line, book in a time and they sort out TPMS as part of it. Done. I want to give the business to the local garages but unfortunately it's the big chain with the support that is providing the service
I've good service from my local KF, had brake fluid changed for a fiver when they had an offer on last year & new tyres without trying to 'upsell' to me.
Anyone tried the Aircon service/regas for £39.95?
Just back from kwikfit, nowhere else local still open on a Saturday afternoon. Drove in, puncture repaired within 20minutes, drove out. OK so it cost £25 which is about a tenner more than my last repair but it's sorted before I have to leave for nightshift.
Between the 2 of us that's the 6th screw/nail in a tyre in under 2 years. At least 4 of them were in nearly new tyres aswell. We're not having much luck at the moment and I'm considering putting run-flats back on my car before I get stranded somewhere.
As an alternative, you could carry a set of car tyre anchovies and glue? Ive got a set for the fat bike, its basicly the same setup as the mtb ones with a reamer and an insertion tool, but the string is about 5mm thick instead of being a weedy little thing. That and an inflator/pump should fix anything fixable.
and I’m considering putting run-flats back on my car before I get stranded somewhere.
bear in mind that they wouldn’t have repaired a run-flat, 6 new tyres would really hurt!
bear in mind that they wouldn’t have repaired a run-flat, 6 new tyres would really hurt!
Only 2 have been on the BMW so far 😆 but I take your point. And obviously it’s been the larger, more expensive rears both times.
@thisisnotaspoon I’ve just ordered a kit, it’s a good idea. We actually carry one in the camper after fitting all terrain tyres, the van has a spare but smaller than the A/Ts so I’d rather repair than put the spare on. I don’t know why I haven’t put one in the car before, I’ve got a couple of tins of sealant (which would also most likely write off the tyre).
Copper grease is just to stop the wheel bonding to the disc flange not for the wheel studs.
To jump on the "how crap are Kwikfit" wagon, I was with someone who has just has their pads and discs changed at a main dealer but needed a new tyre for the MOT. Off to KF we went to be told after fitting that they'd "done him a favour" by checking the brakes and he needed new pads and discs all round.
"Are you sure he asked?" and was told in no uncertain terms that the brakes were completely shot and likely to cause some kind of fiery apocalypse if KF didn't change them immediately for him "at a discount price"...
The manager was asked for and he ended up getting his tyre for free.
Well then, that was a surprise.
Mrs Lunge took the car for a full service and MoT at our local Kwik-Fit and...there was no additional costs.
What was most surprising was that I was certain there were things that needed doing and haven't been mentioned (do they check wiper blades on the MoT? As they are shot).
Very strange indeed.