Cheap garages for changing of car tyres

Just a quick question -

My car's front tyre keeps running out of air. Is there something like "kwik fit" in Germany - these cheap car places where they do your tyres quickly and cheaply, or do I have to go to the standard garage in the next village?

Everyone keeps talking about winter tyres. Is that required for all cars, or just if you happen to live close to the mountains?

Try ATU.

The German Kwik-Fit "branch" is Pitstop.

I asked that very question of my German co-workers. According to them, they and almost everyone they know have summer and winter tires. The all-season radial has gained popularity because of milder winters over the last couple of years - but they are still not very popular. One key factor in this decision should be your car insurance. Some insurance companies limit what they pay, or can outright refuse to pay if you get into an accident with "inadequate tires". Different insurers have different policies on what "inadequate tires" means - so it's best to find this out first.

As for the dedicated winter or all-season tire argument.. this comes down to budget and how often you drive in my opinion. Winter tires are always going to be safer and preform better then their all-season counterparts in the winter. This is not only because of the tread design, the softer rubber compound in winter tires is designed to grip the road better in cooler temperatures.

Hope this helps!

P

Change your spelling to "tires" and google.

Great, thanks for the info - I found one of those ATU places in the next town, no doubt I will end up getting all winter tyres (tires? Have I spent my whole life thinking it was tyres?) because with one pretty much dead, might as well get them all done! I also dont want hassles with insurance company just in case they dont pay if anything goes wrong!!

It better snow a lot!

A word of caution - when you go to ATU for something simple like tyres or exhaust they will give your car a 'free' check over and come up with all sorts of stuff that doesn't need replacing. Go in, use them to change your tyres, and pay them for nothing more. Be very clear that this is the only work you want them to do, and if they do more don't pay them for it. After personal experience at an ATU near Ostfriedhof, and reading more in the press, I would never go back to them again, they are not to be trusted.

Can I say that on a forum like this?

FWIW I ordered online here and was very happy with their service.

I had ATU change the tires on my glider trailer & was reasonably satisfied - they did it within the time agreed.

You could also try euromaster they seem pretty reasonable.

I got my last lot of tyres done at Mercedes as they were cheaper than ATU and Pitstop

I just ordered my new winter tires and have found reifen.com by far the cheapest. I have ordered them online and they'll be delivered straight to the shop where I can go in and get them fitted to the alloys. Seems to good to be true

We've used Reifen.com too. We need special sized tyres for my car and they were 50 Euros per tyre cheaper than the price Mercedes quoted.

To end the story - called ATU, they were really unfriendly so called some guy who owns a little garage a few minutes drive in the countryside who was very freindly and helpful. So went there, very friendly nice guy, showed us everything you could ever want to know about wheels!

I guess its good to support your small independent garage! I suppose ATU might have been cheaper, but that isint always better!

I once spent half an hour ringing round various tyre dealers in Munich to get some winter wheels and tyres. For exactly the same set of 4 tyres there was over €250 price difference! The cheapest place was in my village about 2 minutes from my front door!

Anyone know what the going rate is to have all 4 tyres switched from summer to winter? We've got the winter tyres but the thought of changing all 4 of them myself with 3 kids running around in the garage at the same time is not one that appeals to me. What would I pay for a "drive in & change" service? Saw an ad for 14 Euros but sounds too good to be true!

Round my way 20 Euros for the straight change - wheel balancing not included in that (& seemingly often not needed).

I changed mine in Pitstop for 9,90 euros.