I gave them a chance and bought 2 brand new tyres to my 5. They have the best price.
Today I received them. They weren’t shiny and clean. They looked … well not attractive (month ago I bought the same brand from oponeo.co.uk and they were 1 month old).
It turns out that tyres I received today are 4 years old. 41 week of 2013. Ok, not worn, but old.
To me, a petrolhead, new tyres are like a “black gold”. I don’t buy them too often and when I do, I want to feel well with that purchase.
This time I feel disappointment.
I know, for some people it may seem silly, but I bet I am not alone with my feelings in that topic. Personally I would prefer to pay 10pounds more but feel 100% satisfaction.
So my advice: ask them about year of production before you pay.
I think that if you find a company that gives good service then stick with them.
This can apply to garage servicing, parts suppliers or in this case tyres. Oponeo are my choice for tyres.
I also try to buy known respected makes rather than end up with far eastern imports, hence Uniroyal Rainsports are my number 1 choice in tyres for MiXi.
As already said this is the kind of thing that makes it worth sticking with a supplier you have learned to trust.
I get tyres for all 3 cars, and have done for all the MX5’s over the past 10 years, from a local independent tyre place. They may not be the cheapest but I get good service and often good advice. And when I have needed help replacing an exhaust in the past they are only to pleased to help.
Most of these suppliers, My Tyres, Oponeo, Tyre Leader, the list goes on are all supplying from European warehouses that have stock. Tyre Leader don’t own a tyre, they are just selling on behalf of others. While the others may well have their own stock, they will also be supplying from anyone else who has availability and it is virtually guaranteed that no one from the company you are placing the order with will ever see the physical tyre supplied to you. It is not uncommon for tyres to be non Euro spec.
As for asking for DOT codes, if you have ever been in even a small distribution centre you would know that it would be impossible for you to reliably get that info.
However, going past this, it has become an “internet thing” to get all worked up over DOT codes. A 3 or 4 year is 100% OK providing it has been stored OK, which the overwhelming majority have been. On top of this, tyres are not stamped out hundreds per minute. A tyre is typically cured for around 25 minutes in the mould meaning even at maximum production one mould can only produce around 60 tyres per 24 hours. While I have seen a tyre produced only the week before, I have also seen tyres being delivered direct from the manufacturer that are have date codes that are two years old. Tyres from the far east can be 3 months in transit to Europe. While ageing will eventually affect the rubber in a tyre, as I spend my life telling racing drivers that it is not the date code on the tyre but what they have done with it and to it since they have put it on the car that matters. Ultimately, if the buying public is going to start demanding tyres with current year manufacturing dates, and in particular with no real understanding of what, if any, difference it is making, then they will have to accept that the cost of the product is going to exponentially increase due to stocking, scrapage and of course, replacing their tyres each year regardless.
I ordered online a set of tyres from a certain “Leader” of tyres, a couple of weeks before my car was coming up for it’s MOT. I paid for the advertised “72 hour delivery”. The tyres never turned up. After contacting the company, and got a load of old BS and lies, I did my own research into what happened. In fact, despite the company having “UK” in it’s name, the tyres never actually left Germany.
I had to buy another set of tyres to get my car through its MOT. Despite many emails and messages to the company, after seven weeks of unsuccessfully trying to get a refund from the original company (who are definitely NOT a UK based company, I also discovered that the owner of the company operates from an address in France), I eventually asked my bank to carry out a “chargeback” via my credit card.
I then got asked to post a review online. I did, honestly outlining everything that had happened in the sorry saga, no angst, no exaggerations. The review, as it obviously wasn’t favourable, was removed within hours!