We’re on holiday in Les Gets. The car had a puncture, we used compressor and gunk to get going again, but I need a tyre to get home again.
French law says we have to change two tyres.
Does anyone care to guess how much the local garage wanted to charge me for a pair of budget 215 60 r17 tyres today?
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€428….!

Not much less than they tried to charge the dudes of hazard to repair the big bus. 10k for an engine swap after what sounds like the big ends went….

<shrugs shoulders>

*throws an onion at allthepies*

Is that a lot?

Jeez,

I think some of their mega super market places have tyre fitters like Costco do here.

Is that a lot?

I’ve just been booking us two tyres to be fitted in Chatel down the road for €160…. He quoted €214, which I nearly agreed to for convenience, then confirmed that was per tyre…!

French law says we have to change two tyres.

WTActualF?

I did check that one. You have to basically have two tyres the same, including wear…

Where’s Bikebouy when you need him to mention the B word.

French law says we have to change two tyres

Do opposing corners just to make a point

There are second-hand tyre specialists. You give them the dtails of the tyre you have including wear and they sell you one to match.

Is it not the case that imperial and metric tyre sizes are different, and the R17s you need are imperial and therefore much less common and hence more expensive in France?

Just a guess, based on the anecdotes that metric tyre sizes are expensive here.

Is that a serious post Molgrips?

I’d have rung somewhere like this and asked for a pneu d’occasion

“Alors, I will charge you a cent for each post on your brexit thread Monsieur..”

Is that right about the wear having to be the same? I know the tyres have to be the same on an axle, but I’ve not heard about the wear before.

It’s not necessarily a tourist rip-off…..

Nor-Auto might be your friend. As a minimum I would try another garage. If you’re up in the hills drop down into the valley. So for Morzine that would be Bonneville/ Cluses.

Is that a serious post Molgrips?

Yes. But the question marks and the phrase ‘just a guess’ should indicate that I don’t really know and was asking a bit of a question expecting someone knowledgeable to help me out. Instead of handing out a veiled insult 🙂

allo allo

Annecy, Thonon or La Roche sur Furon

Alternatively allopneus will come to you:

allo pneus

Don’t compare it to England as everything is more expensive here. England is a cheap place to live for pretty much every day to day goods.

Just a guess, based on the anecdotes that metric tyre sizes are expensive here.

Metric tyre sizes are expensive everywhere 🙂

I thought you were probably joking, Molgrips. Tyres are one of the comical examples of mixing units. The diametre is in inches but the width in mm, and that whether they are p or normal.

Edit to add something useful assuming your question was genuine

That size of tyre is a rarish one *
I had a puncture last week and was quoted £158 for a replacement (same size as yours ), but would need to wait 24 hours.
The chap suggested a different width / height tyre that gave the same overall ,and it was £102 for a pair ( same axle)
In stock ready to go

*They were van rated though

I thought you were probably joking, Molgrips. Tyres are one of the comical examples of mixing units. The diametre is in inches but the width in mm, and that whether they are p or normal.

Metric tyres are a real thing.

They all are: have a read of my link, Simon.

Ah yes, I can see how you would think I was on a windup if you’d not heard of metric tyres…. A friend of my Dad was dead proud of his Merc til he found out how much the tyres were.

They all are: have a read of my link? Simon.

Your link wasn’t there when I posted. The diameter isn’t always in inches.

An example of a car that isn’t?

Ed – ‘normal’ tyre sizes are indeed metric for the first two numbers, but the wheel size is in inches. That link you posted is an American site.

In the UK there are metric sizes that have the wheel diameter in mm as well, e.g. TD 230/55/ZR390 being 390mm in diameter.

https://www.ctyres.co.uk/general/metric

However according to that link the culprits have given up on this idea so that is probably not the case any more.

An example of a car that isn’t?

Why do you need that? Even your link mentions them. Maybe you haven’t read it?

If you really want an example, old BMW 525s used 200/60 VR 390 tyres. HTH.

Not much less than they tried to charge the dudes of hazard to repair the big bus. 10k for an engine swap after what sounds like the big ends went….

Ooft, it’s actually not done much mileage, 30 odd k IIRC.

Last time I got a puncture in France I just told the guy it wasn’t a legal requirement for English cars and he was fine just swapping one. It just won’t pass a French mot..

I suppose there’s going to be a bit of loading for being a 1000m up.

Ta.

No, I didn’t read my link. I wasn’t looking for the exception that proves the rule, just something to say that “metric” doesn’t mean measured in metric units in relation to tyres. P-metric and euro-metric both usually refer to diametres in inches. My comment that all tyres are “metric” stands because that’s the way the types of tyre are refered to.

Last time I got a puncture in France I just told the guy it wasn’t a legal requirement for English cars and he was fine just swapping one. It just won’t pass a French mot..

Good point. UK cars can’t be held to the same standards as French cars, otherwise we’d need a French MOT every time we went there.

It just won’t pass a French mot..

Or a gendarmerie.

Not so, Molgrips. Try teliing a German cop on an ice covered Autobahn that you don’t need Winter tyres because they aren’t obligatory in the UK.

Your vehicle has to comply with national regulations. German trucks entering Spain have Guardia waiting with a fine as the German trucks often don’t comply with Spanish regs so they pay a fine and continue.

So if I don’t have two tyres the same on each axle, I’m breaking the law in France?

This is news to me, and also not in any of the literature about all the things you need to drive in France….. I also don’t have a French driving license.

AFAIK the German winter tyre thing is an indirect requirement: the law doens’t specifically state you need winters, but it does say your insurance is effectively invalid if you don’t have them thereby making them mandatory indirectly.

There’s a straightforward law about Winter tyres in Germany:

Der Gesetzestext schreibt vor, dass ein Kraftfahrzeug bei Glatteis, Schneeglätte, Schneematsch, Eis- oder Reifglätte nur mit Reifen gefahren werden darf, welche die in Anhang II Nr. 2.2 der Richtlinie 92/23/EWG beschriebenen Eigenschaften erfüllen.

As for tyres in France the tyres don’t have to have identical wear but close:

Différence d’usure entre deux pneus sur un même essieu
La différence entre la profondeur des rainures principales des deux pneumatiques montés sur un même essieu ne doit pas dépasser 5 mm.

Edit: as for not having a French driving licence, that won’t stop the Gendarmes taking it off you, and the car too if you’re really naugty.

Yeah, last time I changed one was at the feu vert in chambery and the guy said we’d normally have to do both but you can just have one. Was enough though – recall about 160 a tyre which was probably £40 or so over what I’d have wanted to pay in the uk. Few years ago though so don’t know if any things changed.

As above – how many British cars go over on matched tyres? I know the van I’m out in here now doesn’t.