Fair price for swapping wheels front to rear?

[TheFungle]

The wheels on my wife's A3 need swapping over so I booked it into the local 'quick' tyre fitters, the friendly chat I spoke to on the phone said it would have to go through as a 'wheel balance' and that it would be £7 a wheel, with only the front needing doing it would be £14, a cost I was happy enough with.

Two days later I took the car in, just as they were taking the car into the garage I thought it best to confirm the price, I was thus informed it would be £28 as all four wheels would have to be balanced, being of Scottish origin I decided against this as quite honestly I don't believe it's worth £28.

Now I've swapped wheels F > R many times over the years and I've never had a problem with balancing afterwards, I understand that to charge for 'two balances' is the easiest way to put it through the system but to insist that it will need all four done is pushing it a little bit, IMO.

I'm I wrong on both counts? Happy to be corrected if so!

And yes, I will be doing it myself this weekend

[Riknos]

Wow, how lazy are you? I thought you meant swapping tyres to begin with.. but swapping wheels? Do it yourself ya lazy git!

[TheFungle]

Riknos said:

Wow, how lazy are you? I thought you meant swapping tyres to begin with.. but swapping wheels? Do it yourself ya lazy git!

Apart from the fact I have no trolley jack or axel sands I fully agree with you

[lamboman100]

Unless you know a friendly garage, that price is about right. Anywhere between 15 and 50 quid. Most insist on balancing to bump up the minimum price or cover their backs on H&S.

[r11co]

TheFungle said:

Apart from the fact I have no trolley jack or axel sands I fully agree with you

You could get a decent trolley jack from Machine Mart or even one of the discount supermarkets for less than KF are asking to do the job. Think of the savings each time you do the job yourself thereafter, plus all the other jobs you could then do yourself.

[Spangles]

Why do they need balancing?

[DrDoofenshmirtz]

Spangles said:

Why do they need balancing?

They don't. ..unless they're out of balance and the op asked to have then checked. Ridiculous isn't it.

[Steve H]

Spangles said:

Why do they need balancing?

They don't but if the workshop say that they need to make a minimum charge for any job of 1/2 hours labour the customer may not consider the costs of wages, overheads etc and will consider it too expensive.

[R1 Indy]

To be fair to them, is it really worth the hassle of a job for less than £28??

[p1tse]

I swap all four wheel due to having a set of winter wheels
No balancing all swapped for c.£15

Before anyone says I'm lazy, well for the sake of £15 its easy and I don't have to worry about jacking car up individually, wheel bolts etc.

Also with young toddler its near impossible to get anything done so money well spent

I would just go to a small local place

[mrtwisty]

What's up flower, don't want to chip your nail polish?

Jesus Christ man, buy a trolley jack, axle stands and a few tools. They'll pay for themselves in no time. Also you'll be given your man card back when you show us the receipt.

[With these feet]

Here lies the problem. Its a business and they cost money to run while they're swapping wheels over.
Also there is the chance of a stud or nut failing, the cost of the equipment and the insurance that is in place in case they guy makes a mistake and you lose a wheel as you drive off.
If indeed they do balance the wheels and refit, £28 isn't unreasonable.

[Darkslider]

You can use the scissor jack in the boot with the spare wheel, and you must be able to find a block or something to rest the car's sill on while you move the jack around. If you've got your own car you'll have a jack in that as well so you'll have two, so no excuse not to do it yourself really.

That's assuming you have done it loads of times before as you say, if you haven't and you've just never changed a wheel before and haven't the faintest idea how to go about it, watch videos on Youtube. there's bound to be tutorial videos on wheel changing.

[Driver101]

£28 is roughly 30mins labour in a garage.

It isn't an unreasonable charge at all. Mostly the people doing it cheaper would be accepting cash in hand for it.

[Simond S]

I pay £40 for a wheel swap.

They always balance them, whether required or not.

[Engineer1]

Darkslider said:

You can use the scissor jack in the boot with the spare wheel,

This is the problem Modern cars don't give you a spare or a sissor jack so you need to buy a jack and a spare, saying that a scrappy may have a suitable steel wheel for £10-20

[philmots]

r11co said:

You could get a decent trolley jack from Machine Mart or even one of the discount supermarkets for less than KF are asking to do the job. Think of the savings each time you do the job yourself thereafter, plus all the other jobs you could then do yourself.

This

[DrDoofenshmirtz]

It would be a 'loss leader' job. Charge a menial ammount like £15, or nothing at all...chances of repeat business and maybe some good (very valuable) internet praise would be high.
Instead this is sounding like just another kwik fit rant which they could probably do without...there's enough already.

[Riley Blue]

Another waste of the internet.
OP is quoted a price, feels it's too high, decides to do the job himself but feels it's essential to tell the world.
PH descends another rung on the ladder to mediocrity.

[Martin4x4]

It is £5 per wheel at my local tyre place to swap a wheel, which is also what is charged for balancing.

TheFungle said:

Now I've swapped wheels F > R many times over the years and I've never had a problem with balancing afterwards, I understand that to charge for 'two balances' is the easiest way to put it through the system but to insist that it will need all four done is pushing it a little bit, IMO.

Balancing is applied to each wheel individually and it is wise to do it pretty regularly. Especially if wear is sufficient to justify a swap/rotation.

I generally get my wheels rebalanced at least once a year and it makes a noticeable difference to the feel & handling. It is also makes a well documented improvement in fuel consumption and breaking efficiency.

Edited by Martin4x4 on Wednesday 12th March 07:54