Yokohama Tires

[teej]

Well today I went over to a shop in worachak (sp?) recommended by a friend, for some shock absorber servicing... turns out i needed new tires (they tread wear was minimal but the tires were dry, etc.) and I was fine with changing them. Before I know it, the guy took off my wheels and slapped on Yokohama AVS Sport 245/40/20 for the fronts and 275/35/20 for the rears... A fine tire, but on the tire it said it was produced in the second week of 2005, and the guy's reasoning was that these tires are hard to find, etc. so they don't stock em all of the time blah blah blah. Well I was just plain tired and he charged me 72,000baht for the whole set. These things would cost like 55K THB in the USA but I dunno how much they cost here... I was the dumb one who didn't shop around, but I was tired, and the guy already whipped the tires on for me. I guess I should have called yokohama first.

Well, did i get ripped off? I mean 2nd week of 2005 for the production? and the price, 72,000 haht? does anyone with knowledge of these tire prices in thailand have any input. I feel in my gut that i got ripped off, but I just wanna know by how much.... what a shitty day.

teej

[kev_o]

by the size of your rims you've obviosly got a pretty decent motor, 6 months ago I put a new set of Yoko's on mine, 225 all round 35k baht, cheap if you ask me. Shit in the wet but.

[terdsak_12]

What car is this? 20" rims and tyres for a Vigo or Fortuner can be had for 60K if you know where to go. 72K only for tyres sounds steep!!!

[VTR1000]

Last week was quoted less than 10k/tyre for Good Year 275/45/20. 72k for tyres only sounds like he saw you coming. Best to shop around next time.

My mate just put 22inch wheels AND tyres on his Triton for 82k.

[teej]

What car is this? 20" rims and tyres for a Vigo or Fortuner can be had for 60K if you know where to go. 72K only for tyres sounds steep!!!

Well like I said, I think I probably was ripped off, just by how much I'm not sure.

The car is a BMW 7-series with 20" Alpina Wheels. Alpinas are 7500USD alone for the set, so I wanted good tyres to match. Then again, once he saw the Alpinas, he may have just seen $$$ in is eyes, hence the rip-off. The Yoko AVS Sport (V102) is their best tyre, though. And I got the Japanese version, not the ones made in the Philippines, etc. So either way, I figured they have to be at least 55K per set cuz that's about the cheapest I ever found in the USA. But 72K, I'm not sure... I mean, do tires here cost more, the same, or (doubt it) less, for the premium-grade tires than in the USA, for example?

I got "discounted" from 76k to 72k btw hahaha... I figure the max rip-off was 20K, plus I'm not sure about the fact that the reason I got the 2005 tires was because these rarely sell really flies with me....

Just that I was so tired yesterday morning, and between that fact and the fact that he put the tires on before I even knew it, I just thought I was taken advantage of. Im willing to accept this, but just wanted to get an idea of by how much he took me for... or if I got a fair price. Emailed Yokohama thailand, btw, for a quote but haven't gotten a reply yet...

Thanks for your replies btw, i dunno if they make me feel any better, tho...

here's the tires from the Yokohama website:

[Jalla]

What car is this? 20" rims and tyres for a Vigo or Fortuner can be had for 60K if you know where to go. 72K only for tyres sounds steep!!!

Well like I said, I think I probably was ripped off, just by how much I'm not sure.

The car is a BMW 7-series with 20" Alpina Wheels. Alpinas are 7500USD alone for the set, so I wanted good tyres to match. Then again, once he saw the Alpinas, he may have just seen $$$ in is eyes, hence the rip-off. The Yoko AVS Sport (V102) is their best tyre, though. And I got the Japanese version, not the ones made in the Philippines, etc. So either way, I figured they have to be at least 55K per set cuz that's about the cheapest I ever found in the USA. But 72K, I'm not sure... I mean, do tires here cost more, the same, or (doubt it) less, for the premium-grade tires than in the USA, for example?

I got "discounted" from 76k to 72k btw hahaha... I figure the max rip-off was 20K, plus I'm not sure about the fact that the reason I got the 2005 tires was because these rarely sell really flies with me....

Just that I was so tired yesterday morning, and between that fact and the fact that he put the tires on before I even knew it, I just thought I was taken advantage of. Im willing to accept this, but just wanted to get an idea of by how much he took me for... or if I got a fair price. Emailed Yokohama thailand, btw, for a quote but haven't gotten a reply yet...

Thanks for your replies btw, i dunno if they make me feel any better, tho...

here's the tires from the Yokohama website:

Sounds like a nice ride w/ nice wheels teej, got any pics?

Jalla(Beemer fan as well)

[Dakhar]

I had those tires on my BMW M3.... they are expensive in the states, they will run you about 1K - 1,400 USD. They handle really bad in the rain, and they will wear out pretty fast. (soft rubber) I have yet to see a need for such a high performance tire here in Thailand. But, I have only been here for a week now.

If the shop owner had them in stock, they were probably like a "White Elephant," and he wanted to off load them on an unsuspecting farang with loads of dosh. I would not be scared of the production date, like I said, they were probably just sitting forever on some display rack going no where.

From American market standards, Yes, you paid too much for them.... but I could not tell you about the Thai market.

Enjoy your expensive rubber, and nice car.

[kasi]

It really depends on how you are driving the car. The tires specified for that car are VR rated (sustained speeds of 210+ kph!) If you are consistently using the car like that then keeping pristine unweather-checked tires on it wouldn't be that important. The description of your old tires is simple weather-checking. You could have used them for some time. Most of the roads here don't require a really high end high speed tire.

The yoko avs' are a very nice tire and it's always satisfying to have a fresh set of shoes for a nice car.

What the hey enjoy them! Find some open road and go blow some carbon off the top of your pistons!

I agree if the dealers had those in stock he was probably anxious to get rid of them. And he probably make a few baht selling your old tires as well as they sound as if they were perfectly useable.

Edited April 24, 2006 by kasi

[teej]

Well I see now that I could have probably used my old Michelins for another year or so, since I rarely drive the car. Thing is, while I was checking the suspension, they literally came back with new tires on my wheels, saying the old ones were dry blah blah... true, but I could have still used them, and they didn't even give em back to me (do they do that in Thailand? or should I have 'sold' them back to them?)

That said, I always prioritize tires, it is my opinion that under emergency situations, tires can mean the difference between life and death. So I suppose I can justify the change for safety reasons. You never know what's gonna happen on the road, esp in Thailand.

Well I just checked at the local B-Quick about the tire price. They checked their computers, and said that a comparable Continental tire set was about 68K, so I feel a little better. I prefer the Yokohamas anyway.

So yeah I think I was ripped off a bit in they way that they really didn't give me a choice but to buy the tires (I was kinda pushed into it, then again, I didn't put up a fight). Price-wise, whatever, close enough. And I think I prob could have used the Michelins for another year or so, but even if there was barely any tread wear, the tires were produced in 2000, so I'm ok with the new set. After all, I gotta admit they were pretty dry and hard.

Thanks for replies tho. I guess now I will go blow away some traffic at high speed to get my money's worth.