Kwik Fit.....or not so quick fit! I arranged for mobile fitters to come to my house to fit new tyres on the van, alerting them to fact that it has Tyron bands, paid the due amount immediately ( 2 weeks ago), date for fitting was today, 2/5, between hours of 0830 to 2030. I accept the fact they cannot be specific with a time, and since I am retired it matters little about having to stay around home. It got to 17.30 with no fitter showing up, so thought I had better ring to check....after a massive long wait, finally got through to someone......we will have to re-arrange now, no reason given or offered. My response was , no you won't, on Sunday I am touring for three or four weeks, I wouldn't deal with your firm again. Anyone else dealt with Kwik Fit mobile service? I suppose its the old saying, you get what you pay for, I should have gone to my usual caravan servicer in the first place. Lesson learned!
Kwik Fit
- Thread starter hogrider56
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- Nov 11, 2009
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Two times when I needed tyres changing I found a depot with enough room for the van, and took it to them. At one place I had to unhitch to turn around. They offered to help me push it. But then they looked on in amazement when I did it on the mover. I then re-hitched for stability while they jacked the van up.
John
John
- Nov 16, 2015
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I used Kwik fit, due to having Tyron Bands fitted.
After eventually getting through to them that I had a caravan with the bands fitted, they were to send out a van with the appropriate equipment to change the tyres.
The van had to come fom near Heathrow to Milton Keynes, almost 45 miles, Local Kwik fit is 4 miles away. I removed the wheels gave them to the chap, who then realise he didn't have the equipment to remove the bands, So into my tool kit and found the long reach allen key, to do the job. All done but what a hassle.
I decided to buy the mobile kit to be able to remove the bands myself., 8 weeks ago change the tyres again , the mobile kit broke, ended up getting the bands off in the end, they are now in the tip, I am quite happy with the tyre pal TPMS as a warning.
The Kwik fit fitter was very pleased that I had the tools and ability to help him.
After eventually getting through to them that I had a caravan with the bands fitted, they were to send out a van with the appropriate equipment to change the tyres.
The van had to come fom near Heathrow to Milton Keynes, almost 45 miles, Local Kwik fit is 4 miles away. I removed the wheels gave them to the chap, who then realise he didn't have the equipment to remove the bands, So into my tool kit and found the long reach allen key, to do the job. All done but what a hassle.
I decided to buy the mobile kit to be able to remove the bands myself., 8 weeks ago change the tyres again , the mobile kit broke, ended up getting the bands off in the end, they are now in the tip, I am quite happy with the tyre pal TPMS as a warning.
The Kwik fit fitter was very pleased that I had the tools and ability to help him.
To be fair to Kwik Fit I used their mobile service once when our Coachman wheels were being replaced under warranty. The van arrived on time the wheels were removed, the tyres were removed inc the Tyron bands, the tyres were refitted to the new wheels including the bands, and all was well. The van was immaculate inside and out.I got the impression that the qualty of service is down to the individual.
Our current van has bands fitted, and when new tyres were fitted recently we used a local mobile fitter recommended by a fellow caravanner, replaced the bands without any fuss.
Our current van has bands fitted, and when new tyres were fitted recently we used a local mobile fitter recommended by a fellow caravanner, replaced the bands without any fuss.
- Mar 14, 2005
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This the sort of problems that tyrebands can cause, because they are not a mainstream product. There is no proven benefit to having them on a caravan or normal consumer towvehicle. Arguably TPMs is a far superior safety product, as it may give a warning before a failure, where as tyre bands can only be a retrospectively acting device after a failure.
- Jul 18, 2017
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Two totally differnet functions. One monitors tyre air pressure and the other prevented the tyre coming off the rim.
- Nov 11, 2009
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But since Tyron were first marketed cars and caravans have predominantly moved over to alloy wheels which are very different in design to the old steel wheels and it’s much more unlikely that a tyre will leave an alloy rim.
Given a choice my option would always be to have TPMS fitted even in steel wheels.
- Jun 20, 2005
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Kwik Fit imo are Jacks of all Trades and Masters of none.
Twice recently, Ludlow and York car and caravan suffered punctures, the infamous Shropshire pot holes totally destroying a good tyre.
Both Indies turned up on agreed time next day with new tyres. All fitted , balanced etc at competitive prices. These guys live and die by the sword so ensure they give their customers properly allotted times for the site visits.
No Tyrons Only TPMS.
Twice recently, Ludlow and York car and caravan suffered punctures, the infamous Shropshire pot holes totally destroying a good tyre.
Both Indies turned up on agreed time next day with new tyres. All fitted , balanced etc at competitive prices. These guys live and die by the sword so ensure they give their customers properly allotted times for the site visits.
No Tyrons Only TPMS.
- Jul 18, 2017
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The discussion revolves around tyron bands on caravans and not cars?
- Jun 20, 2005
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Off track a bit I recall a while back the Ambulance Service were boasting all their vehicles are fitted with Tyron Bands. There is no technical or scientific evidence that says these bands serve any useful purpose .
Bin them😎
- Jul 18, 2017
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I think that with the design of new tryes that prevent the bead coming off the rim, there is no need for them?
- Nov 11, 2009
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Do you need a Specsavers trip? My post clearly says “…….caravans” why are you attempting to stifle my comments?
- Jan 3, 2012
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- Jul 18, 2017
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- Nov 11, 2009
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- Mar 14, 2005
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They do have different rationale but they are linked. A tyre attempting come of a rim will have lost its inflation pressure, by which time the driver can do little about it, So tyrebands are like bolting the loose box after the horse has gone. By comparison and far better solution is to be alerted to when a tyre is loosing its pressure so the driver can potentialy do something that prevents the loss of the tyre thus rendering a tyrebands redunant. In fact with the design of most car and caravan wheels include a bead retention feature which also negates the claimed value of a tyre band.
- Nov 16, 2015
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The new design of wheels rims not tyres, changes the requirements of Tyron Bands.
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- Jul 18, 2017
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Thanks for the update. I knew it was something to do with the rim. Where the TPMS does not work is if you have a blow out, but this seldom happens as most blow outs occur after the tyre has lost pressure first and then got hot. Unfortunately as usual we were one of the exceptions and had a sudden unexpected blow out that no TPMS would have alerted us prior to the incident. However TPMS is still king!
I have posted about the 2 blow outs that I have had every time this discussion comes up. Both were exactly the same and no TPMS would have helped. Each were caused by a right angle corner kerb stone and happened in an instance. Nothing to do with over-heating or over-inflation. I have the TyrePal TPMS fitted as well as Tyron bands. Both times I was able to drive on until I found a place to pull over safely and change the wheel. Whether the Tyron band helped or not, I will never know as I haven't had a blow out without them.
- Mar 14, 2005
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I think the biggest sign that tyrebands do not offer any significant safety advantage to normal cars is the fact they haven't been made compulsory by governments. Just for comparison consider, dual circuit braking, and ABS, and more recently lane assist, speed warnings, and several other driver assistance aids which are now compulsory. If tyrebands were as effective as the manufacturer claims, such devices would have been included, but the legislation has gone for TPMS not tyrebands. This is about as strong official signal as you could want.
- Nov 11, 2009
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I had a tyre blowout on a dual carriageway at 60 mph. It was some years ago and mounted on a steel wheel. The first indication was a sort of whooshing noise and a slight twitch felt in the car. I could see in my nearside mirror shards of rubber detaching from the tyre. I gently eased off and pulled over as far as I could. On inspection the tyre was wrecked, but what remained was still mounted on the wheel and hadn’t detached. I was pleased at the way the outfit behaved as this was well before TPMS, alloy wheels, trailer control or ATC. Guess I must have got the loading alright 👍
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