Halfords Buy National Tyres

[Jonj1611]

A bit random but National Tyres has been bought by Halfords. Halfords certainly seem to be expanding already buying Lex Autocentres a few years ago now.

[AGTDenton]

I hope they don't do anymore Madness adverts...

Edit: oh no that was Qwikfit, hopefully they don't get any ideas.

[Jonj1611]

Had my tyres changed recently at National and the bloke says they might be rebranded at some point. Apparently Halfords wanted the mobile tyre changing part of the business. More people getting tyres changed at home maybe?

[Hoonigan]

Had my tyres changed recently at National and the bloke says they might be rebranded at some point. Apparently Halfords wanted the mobile tyre changing part of the business. More people getting tyres changed at home maybe?

More and more cars are coming with skinny profile tyres, huge alloy wheels and no spare wheel. If you go out to the driveway and find it's got a flat, you've got little choice other than to call a mobile repair person out. I reckon that could have a big part to play in it.

[Jonj1611]

The bloke at National said they have seen a big increase due to as you say different wheels now and the last two years hasn't helped.

My own car comes with some sealant type stuff that gets pumped into the tyre, though I did notice it expired like 5 years ago

[AGTDenton]

Bizarrely, windscreen replacement services have been finding the opposite. As more cars come with sensors to detect other cars in front or lane and speed markings etc... They need to be recalibrated at a garage. So the mobile units are reducing in numbers.

[Kovoet]

God help us.

[matts-uk]

My own car comes with some sealant type stuff that gets pumped into the tyre, though I did notice it expired like 5 years ago

Be aware that if you squirt the god aweful goo in, many fitters will refuse to plug the tyre and may charge extra for cleaning up the rim before replacement. Can be a right bummer if you get a small hole in the middle of an otherwise near new tyre.

The last new car we bought was my wife's Touran, over ten years ago and since sold on. Swapping the three extra seats for a proper spare tyre was a £400 special order. Seem to recall the sales people for the various cars we were looking at blaming the lack of a proper spare on the younger generation not knowing how or being unwilling, to swap the wheels themselves. Don't know how true that is.

The spare paid for itself though. Four punctures in the 10 years we had the car. One late at night half way across the Highlands on the way to an expensive ferry crossing.

[Jonj1611]

I must admit I have had several cars now with that sealant and haven't had a cause to use it yet. I have always preferred a proper spare tyre but they seem to be coming more and more rarer these days.

[DanceswithUnix]

I must admit I have had several cars now with that sealant and haven't had a cause to use it yet. I have always preferred a proper spare tyre but they seem to be coming more and more rarer these days.

Supposedly drivers get a puncture every 100K miles on average.

Most punctures seem pretty slow and I always carry an electric pump in the boot, but I have twice had a proper blowout where those foam things wouldn't have done a jot of good.

[jimbouk]

I must admit I have had several cars now with that sealant and haven't had a cause to use it yet. I have always preferred a proper spare tyre but they seem to be coming more and more rarer these days.

Yeah, I splashed out the extra £100 on my Dacia Sandero for the spare wheel. Yet to need but you never know! They do take out the compressor as part of the upgrade(?) which I complained about to no avail - apparently quite a common complaint but nothing ever changes in the literature to make it clearer.

Plenty of slow leaks on various cars over the years but nothing major fortunately.

[spacein_vader]

It's partly manufacturer cost cutting and partly reducing weight and therefore marginally improving MPG.

[kalniel]

Supposedly drivers get a puncture every 100K miles on average.

Sounds about right - I've had one on every car I've owned. I also own a car for on average just over 100k miles before changing it

Every time has been to/from work, so popping on a spare has been by far the most convenient way of dealing with it for me and my car shares who need to get back to families etc.

Lack of a spare has ruled out several car purchases, I would not be without.

[Macman]

Didn't realise how much weight Halfords had until they bought McConechys in Scotland. I always thought Halfrauds was at risk of going to go under.

[jimbouk]

Didn't realise how much weight Halfords had until they bought McConechys in Scotland. I always thought Halfrauds was at risk of going to go under.

Whilst they do have some absolute tac in their shops they also seen to have a proper parts store in the back. If you want a push bike then there's not many other places on the high street, and their own brand stuff is reasonable, plus the sub brand of bike hut. Then they've got the autocentres. Guessing if every part of the business is healthy and no stupid manager has turned up to try and ruin everything then they should be set for a while!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

At least from my experience Halfords branded parts are not entirely crap.