Why can't tyre places put the right amount of air in..?
Discussion
Ever!
Just had my winter wheels + tyres fitted. Flap on fuel filler says 39psi all round. One tyre measures 33psi, two 27psi and one 22psi. Also, checking the nuts, all of them can be moved easily simply using the teeny car-supplied wrench.
Last set of tyres, fitted by a mobile company has all pressures up almost 10psi above suggested.
Place before that, all tyres flat as a pancake, just like this time.
How hard can it be?
We're always told to check nuts 50 miles (or 24 hrs) after fitting, but checking pressures never mentioned! Why are they always set so far out of suggested figures?
Just had my winter wheels + tyres fitted. Flap on fuel filler says 39psi all round. One tyre measures 33psi, two 27psi and one 22psi. Also, checking the nuts, all of them can be moved easily simply using the teeny car-supplied wrench.
Last set of tyres, fitted by a mobile company has all pressures up almost 10psi above suggested.
Place before that, all tyres flat as a pancake, just like this time.
How hard can it be?
We're always told to check nuts 50 miles (or 24 hrs) after fitting, but checking pressures never mentioned! Why are they always set so far out of suggested figures?
Because it's quicker. Instead of faffing about letting a bit of air out or putting a bit more in they move onto the next job sadly. That's after they've torqued the wheels up with a windy gun.
It's why I take 10 minutes of my own time to put the right pressure in and torque them up myself.
It's why I take 10 minutes of my own time to put the right pressure in and torque them up myself.
ATS fitted rear tyres to my Z4 a few months ago. They used a standard air line to initially inflate the tyre off the car and seat the bead correctly before balancing. When on the car they connected an 'air' line from a fandangular machine, dialled in the required pressure and the machine then purged all the air out of the tyre and refilled with nitrogen. Once home I checked the pressures and they were spot on - quite impressed!
Silent1 said:
Just because you can move the nuts doesn't mean they're not done up right, in fact nowadays the torque on them isn't that high.
True, but after nearly having wheels fall off once (new tyres just fitted, long motorway journey followed, turns out their machine was faulty as I was the third to report dangerous level of looseness) I like to be sure. If the small car supplied wrench can move them easily I think they could probably do with tightening. Torque wrench on my Christmas list though 
I'm sure we all here check pressures, but I'm equally sure most out there don't and would expect them to be set correctly initially.
I wouldn't mind betting most non-car people barely ever check their tyre pressures, so based on that I think it's irresponsible for tyre fitters to save a couple of minutes per customer by just chucking in an average amount in each tyre (~35psi).
It's also counter productive, because many cars feel absolutely great on the right pressures and lousy not on them, and for those people who never check their tyre pressures it would feel amazing driving home from the tyre fitter if they'd set the correct pressures. They'd be back for more business, that's for sure. Personally I always take a pressure gauge and a pump and stop in a layby just outside the tyre place to put the pressure right before I drive home. I'm sure I'd also be back for more business if they set them right too!
Someone mentioned wheelnut torques as well - that's very common and in my mind irresponsible. For the majority of people who don't own a torque wrench to reset them after a visit to a tyre place (as I do) they'll discover one day that they get a flat tyre and can't undo the nuts with the wrench supplied with the car...
It's also counter productive, because many cars feel absolutely great on the right pressures and lousy not on them, and for those people who never check their tyre pressures it would feel amazing driving home from the tyre fitter if they'd set the correct pressures. They'd be back for more business, that's for sure. Personally I always take a pressure gauge and a pump and stop in a layby just outside the tyre place to put the pressure right before I drive home. I'm sure I'd also be back for more business if they set them right too!
Someone mentioned wheelnut torques as well - that's very common and in my mind irresponsible. For the majority of people who don't own a torque wrench to reset them after a visit to a tyre place (as I do) they'll discover one day that they get a flat tyre and can't undo the nuts with the wrench supplied with the car...
RobM77 said:
It's also counter productive, because many cars feel absolutely great on the right pressures and lousy not on them, and for those people who never check their tyre pressures it would feel amazing driving home from the tyre fitter if they'd set the correct pressures. They'd be back for more business, that's for sure. Personally I always take a pressure gauge and a pump and stop in a layby just outside the tyre place to put the pressure right before I drive home. I'm sure I'd also be back for more business if they set them right too!
Don't think the majority of drivers on the road would know what felt good, or rubbish on the road to be honest with you.Op, did they found that your brakes/shock absorbers, track rod ends/ piss take valves needed replacing? Swapped my wheels on the company vehicle on Friday, we don't have a torque wrench and a 1/2 inch drive impact gun isn't man enough to tighten them (or undo them) properly so had 5 feet of bar and swung on that, should be tight enough
kambites said:
You all use the wrong tyre fitter.
This...Whenever I got to my favourite tyre fitters (god how sad does that sound...), they only use the airgun to undo the bolts, tightened up by hand, checked with a torque wrench, pressures are always good too (~30-32PSI whenever I check afterwards).
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