12 replies to this topic

[paul_k]

Having a bit of a problem getting Bridgestones at a sensible price.

My last 2 sets cost £1270 (approx 2 years ago) and £1350 (about 8 months ago).
Have rung round 5 places and Kwik fit list them at £2200 but will drop down to £1604 best price. Zmanalex recommended Kwikfit Perth and they now want £1740!

Elsewhere the best price is £1546 fitted inc VAT.

Apparantly Bridgestone have increased the price 4 times in the last year,
Last month they went up by 15% for the fronts, 20% on the rears.

I'm gonna ring around a few more, but has anyone get a better deal in the last 6 weeks ideally within 75 miles of Hampshire?

[Paul_S]

Blimey. Cheeky gets.

Out of interest, how much are they on the continent? You could take a day trip over, do some shopping, and get some new tyres too!

[G5 VAR]

Ouch! I had a set of tyres on one of the bikes, had a good rep but i thought they were shocking!!!! When i changed them i realised that bike tyres now have the year of manufacture on them, they were over 3 years old before they were fitted! Point is, cheaper is not always the way to go, specially if they haven't been stored right

[paul_k]

Not having much luck with this, best price I've found is £1516.
So booked in for next week.

[G5 VAR]

Track day's are looking expensive mate

[WoREoD]

Its not so much the track days which are okay if you are looking for fast laps. However, if you are looking to drift, show off launch control and general tyre-smoking behaviours then its gonna cost you - it's alright for the Top Gear team - they dont pay for the tyres and just hand the car back for someone else to pick up the bill (Jezza went through a set of tyres on NMGB's press car in a one week trip UK to Spain and back)

Last year I did a day at Millbrook, two "busy" weekends at Nurburgring and something like 50 laps of Silverstone GP circuit and managed to get 13,000 miles out of my first set of tyres (despite two punctures). They are still 4mm legal but I'm going to have them replaced as wet weather handling has become "interesting".

[paul_k]

Quote

Track day's are looking expensive mate

Off to Silverstone tomorrow!

On this set of tyres I have done 3 x Silverstone GP, 2 days at the ring, CAT drift day and Asda (Brunters) charity day.
About 9000 miles from this set is not too bad.
At Brunters I had one women who wanted me to make her scream so I started violently changing direction at 150mph.
She screamed alright but the abrasive track surface took its toll on the tyres.

Would I do it all again - Too bloody right

The key to long tyre life is to drive smoothly and not on the absolute limit all the time.

[WoREoD]

I wouldnt be suprised if Bridgestone looked at their sales figures for these and found they were selling more than they expected. They then discovered the price differential to the Dunlops at NHPCs and then decided to still undercut the Dunlops but by a much smaller margin giving them lots more luvverly monies......

[paul_k]

On the basis that Bridgestones are the only runflat tyre available not from the dealer it does not promote competitive pricing.
Annoying that some tyre distributors knew the tyres were for a GTR just by the sizes.

How much did you pay for yours John?

[WoREoD]

I've gone for Dunlops again but havent seen the bill yet!

[paul_k]

I now have new boots

There has been big variations in the cost of Rubber.
3 years ago it was 67 Cents / lb. It is now 164 Cents / lb. (2.4 X)
A year ago it peaked at 280 due to the Japanese Tsunami. (4.2 X)
Most tyre manufacture is in Japan and Asia.

http://www.indexmund...ubber&months=60

[G5 VAR]

Wow, I'm surprised how well your tyres have lasted with all the track days. Then my comparison is to bike tyres, which on the RR10 I'm lucky to get 3k from fast road use.

[Paul_S]

I'm surprised how well they've lasted too. I seem to remember from the little run we did to the tunnel that some of those tyres might well have been left on the road!