Just been and got a set of new tyres for my Toyota today at Bquick in Chiang Mai, what a pleasant surprise! The changes made over the years are really positive. No more trying to rip you off with junk you do not need, no more trying to sell wheel rims, brake parts, Aircon cleaning, just a good service.

I bought the discounted Thunderer Ranger 007 tyres at 3090 a piece. Free fitting balancing and alignment. Replaced badly worn front brake pads (a few years back they tried to get me to replace them when they were barely half worn). Did a complete check over of the car for free, which I expected they would no doubt find numerous things that "needed" replacing, but only the pads and possibly the front shocks were flagged up - Declined the shocks for now as they are still riding smooth. They even asked permission to put a sticker in the car window!

No doubt they must have had previous complaints as when they put the wheels back on, they used a hand brace then a calibrated torque wrench rather than the windy guns they used to use. (Get a puncture after they used the gun and you could not get the wheel nuts off with a 6 foot extension) So they did a good job.

 

When I got back I decided to drop the spare wheel and pick out the best tyre and use it instead. Took the wheel and the good tyre just over the river from my place to a big tyre place to swap them over. These guys swapped the tyre out, balanced it and even cranked the replacement back onto the pick up, guess what the extortionate charges for this service cam to?  Can you believe 50 Baht!

 

What a good day to be alive in Thailand!

I recently put a set of Michelin Primacy SUVs on my PreRunner. Good in the rain and rides a bit softer

6 minutes ago, bangsaenguy said:

I recently put a set of Michelin Primacy SUVs on my PreRunner. Good in the rain and rides a bit softer

I looked  at those tyres. looked nice but currently out of my price range, they were coming in at over 17K. I am getting to be a cheapskate, I bought a set of four BF Goodrich tyres years back, cost a fortune, 15KM I got a bloody nail through the front offside, totally gutted! My pick up had the original 2012 Duellers, harder than concrete and cracked like china! These cheap tyres seem really good, but obviously, I need to see how they wear. Apparently they are popular in the USA on their trucks and have really good reviews.

 

My biggest shock was the 50 Baht to change a tyre! Imagine what they would charge in the UK or USA to do that work.

Nice to read a positive review. Not all places are rip-offs. Often we only hear about bad experiences.

2 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Nice to read a positive review. Not all places are rip-offs. Often we only hear about bad experiences.

Totally agree, I had nothing but complaints about Bquick 8 years ago, I almost never went back, but they had a good deal. I went with my Thai son to let him just tell them I was not interested in all of their junk sales, but it didn't happen - Yes they wanted to flog me "Nitrogen" tyre inflation, despite ordinary air being almost 80% Nitrogen already, but this time there was no "Hard Sell" and just a job well done. They used to sell second rate Chinese ball joints that failed in a matter of days, seems like they have shaken up the place and put some QA into the business. Fair comment, if they do a bad job I will report, but if they do a good job. we need to let that be known too.

The big tyre place over the river sounds like somewhere I would go to BUY  my tyres not only to swap used ones

I had the B-Quik brand Thunderer on my Vigo, no complaints....????

Thunderer are a brand of Deestone.  Deestone have a technology-transfer agreement with Goodyear and so many Deestone tyres are basically previous-generation Goodyears.

Second set of MAXXIS 700s on my Vigo. Put 29 psi all round = nice soft ride. Bht 10,000 for four, fitted and balanced and can get them checked and rotated every 10,000 km.