It’s that time again! Two drive tyres needed for me u boat so instead of usin my usual tyre people I tht I’d do some shopping about,I have n always will use new Bridgestone 729s ,I’ve had prices as high as 395 each plus vat n tyre disposal,eventually I got them from my regular bloke at 350 each all in,the only thing I get miffed about is when I ring any tyre company when I question the price I always get the usual ye well there was a price increase this month, so surely when any haulage firm quotes a rate for a job they should use this line! So have I been ripped off paying 350 for a bit of rubber or is that the going rate now for new bridgestones thanks terry
monarch of the highway:
So have I been ripped off paying 350 for a bit of rubber or is that the going rate now for new bridgestones thanks terry
I think 350 for M729s is a good price to be honest, I was quoted 360 each for two a couple of weeks back. Didn’t buy them, ended up getting some Michelin Remixes at 285+vat each.
Paul
repton:
monarch of the highway:
So have I been ripped off paying 350 for a bit of rubber or is that the going rate now for new bridgestones thanks terryI think 350 for M729s is a good price to be honest, I was quoted 360 each for two a couple of weeks back. Didn’t buy them, ended up getting some Michelin Remixes at 285+vat each.
Paul
That’s good price for remixes I got quated 310 not to keen on them tho had four already on here when I got this Merc 2 blew first blow out in ten years still cud of been a num of things tht caused it I try n get 2 years out of thm bridgestones was the life like on the remixs
monarch of the highway:
That’s good price for remixes I got quated 310 not to keen on them tho had four already on here when I got this Merc 2 blew first blow out in ten years still cud of been a num of things tht caused it I try n get 2 years out of thm bridgestones was the life like on the remixs
They’ve only been on a few weeks so no idea on life yet but they’re supposed to be pretty good from what I’ve read. I got about 14 months out of a set of Bridgestones which on the heavy rough work I do is pretty good (I know of an operator who has one driver who gets through a set every 9 months…)
Paul
I had a Michelin encore split last week on the back axle (295/80) so I changed a pair.
Hankooks were £295+VAT
Bridgestones were £345+VAT
Primewells were £240+VAT
Michelin’s (proper ones) were £475+VAT 
Thats with phoning around and trying 3 seperate places.
Michelin are good but they’re having a laugh with the prices, I usually punt for Mich’s on the front steer and any old tat on the rest.
What’s a rough annual cost for tyres on a 6x2 tractor doing 44 tonne work?
I must be missing something here because i thought a " u boat " was a submarine and i ain’t seen any tyres on them.
I’ve got a 30ft speedboat and thats got no tyres either so can someone please explain.
Harry Monk:
What’s a rough annual cost for tyres on a 6x2 tractor doing 44 tonne work?
We budget £1200 per annum, and never exceed the budget. This is based on putting brand new Mich’s on the steer every time (which are recut for the midlift), and mildly recutting the drive axles once before disposing of them. We never use remix/recaps.
We aren’t hard on the tyres though, if you were doing much off-road work you would see your costs increase quickly.
Tyres are no diferent to the rest of the wagon IMHO, if you look after them and do preventative maintenance then they will last longer and cost less overall. This has worked well for us as we regularly see 300k+ out of a tyre and haven’t had a blow-out in 5 years.
Gogan:
We aren’t hard on the tyres though, if you were doing much off-road work you would see your costs increase quickly.
My work is fairly hard on tyres (bulk tipping work, 44t as much of the time as possible and lots of tight farms to screw things round in) and I spend more like £2k/year on tyres for the unit I would think.
My last lot of Bridgestone drives (which these days cost over £1400 for a set) lasted 14 months before the inner two were both scrap (the outer two have been paired up though and will be OK for another couple of months). I seem to get a similar life out of R297 Bridgestones on the steer axle. The lift axle never gets tyres bought for it, I just recut my old steers and put them on. I’ve yet to do it but I’m told you can also put recut drive tyres on there if you get short of steers.
Paul
Gogan:
Harry Monk:
What’s a rough annual cost for tyres on a 6x2 tractor doing 44 tonne work?We budget £1200 per annum, and never exceed the budget. This is based on putting brand new Mich’s on the steer every time (which are recut for the midlift), and mildly recutting the drive axles once before disposing of them. We never use remix/recaps.
We aren’t hard on the tyres though, if you were doing much off-road work you would see your costs increase quickly.
Tyres are no diferent to the rest of the wagon IMHO, if you look after them and do preventative maintenance then they will last longer and cost less overall. This has worked well for us as we regularly see 300k+ out of a tyre and haven’t had a blow-out in 5 years.
Many thanks, that’s in line with what I had budgeted. I’m going to see the bank on Monday week so I hope you won’t mind if I ask more questions as and when they occur.
I’m too early in the process to be able to get an insurance quote but I am working on £400 a month for vehicle and GIT, does that sound reasonable? I’ll be in a secure yard and be doing fairly run of the mill supermarket distribution work and I’ve got 6 points on my licence.
Harry Monk:
I’m too early in the process to be able to get an insurance quote but I am working on £400 a month for vehicle and GIT, does that sound reasonable? I’ll be in a secure yard and be doing fairly run of the mill supermarket distribution work and I’ve got 6 points on my licence.
Last year I spent £1200 with 1 blow out on tyres but the year before only £900, it depends how you are with them and where you go
As for insurance for just starting up it is dependent on your vehicle, for me a brand new vehicle and trailer I look at about £4k per year including GIT, however my GIT is low as I only really carry woodchip and waste paper. Try to get a policy that covers for any driver over 25, as you never know what is round the corner.
Silverback
3 Feathers Haulage
Harry Monk:
I’m too early in the process to be able to get an insurance quote but I am working on £400 a month for vehicle and GIT, does that sound reasonable? I’ll be in a secure yard and be doing fairly run of the mill supermarket distribution work and I’ve got 6 points on my licence.
I would think you might even see some change from your 400 quid a month if you shop around, depending on how you structure your policy.
We have wildly varying insurance costs depending on the truck. The couple of trucks we run on general stuff are the most expensive to insure, being insured for any driver (regardless of age) and is very flexible with very few restrictions on use - the combined policy for both trucks runs to about 7300 per year IIRC.
Our Volvo on the other hand is only plated at 34 ton, is used for own-account work within the UK only with a 25k GIT limit and has me as the only driver and costs a measly £430 a year to insure - a full hundred quid cheaper than my family diesel saloon car!
The key to insurance in my opinion is to only buy the cover that you actually need. Don’t insure it for all of Europe if you don’t expect to do much continental, and only insure the truck for yourself as a named driver if you don’t plan on having a regular second driver. It is far cheaper to get a temporary green card or add another named driver for a few weeks as and when needed, rather than pay the full year. As an example, a couple of years ago I took a load to Italy in a truck that was only insured for UK work normally, and the additional cost for 10 days comprehensive EU cover was a measly 23 quid! To insure the truck over the whole year would have cost an extra 800 quid!
I had a quote for 5000 quid to insure myself (under 25) on a 2008 actros and curtain sider with GIT up to 10,000 pound per tonne, as well as employer and public liability insurance. (they also give you 7 hours Cpc training free and supply you with a forward facing camera)
monarch of the highway:
repton:
monarch of the highway:
So have I been ripped off paying 350 for a bit of rubber or is that the going rate now for new bridgestones thanks terryI think 350 for M729s is a good price to be honest, I was quoted 360 each for two a couple of weeks back. Didn’t buy them, ended up getting some Michelin Remixes at 285+vat each.
Paul
That’s good price for remixes I got quated 310 not to keen on them tho had four already on here when I got this Merc 2 blew first blow out in ten years still cud of been a num of things tht caused it I try n get 2 years out of thm bridgestones was the life like on the remixs
For years i have put bridgestone 297 steers and 729 drives on… Now im stickin with the 297’s ive been quoted 350 … And fitting encore dives off ATS @ 185 a tyre had no faults with the encores… I would not fit top cap remoulds which range about 140 to 160 … The encores are beed to beed… Ive. Had no probs … Value 4 money i’d say 
I have just ordered 2 Bridgestone M788’ssuper singles for my front steer axle, £410!!! Could of had much cheaper, but i’m finding them to be a good wearing tyre with very few issues. I won’t run anything but Bridgstone now. I learnt very early on the cheap ain’t best when I went thru a set of drive tyres in 11 months!!! Never again. Had 24 months out of my present set of drives and they still have 5/6mm on them. Mainly trunk road work with summer season farm work.
MR VAIN:
I have just ordered 2 Bridgestone M788’ssuper singles for my front steer axle, £410!!! Could of had much cheaper, but i’m finding them to be a good wearing tyre with very few issues. I won’t run anything but Bridgstone now. I learnt very early on the cheap ain’t best when I went thru a set of drive tyres in 11 months!!! Never again. Had 24 months out of my present set of drives and they still have 5/6mm on them. Mainly trunk road work with summer season farm work.
No what you mean if tyres are cheap there cheap for a reason
Total false economy in my eyes buy cheap you buy twice, the other thing I don’t buy is the numptys that say its not worth buyin decent tyres cos u cud end up getting a bolt thru em n that’s ex amount of money gone,if these cheap tyres are much cop I’m sure when you buy your nice new truck when it comes of the production line it would be fitted with cheap rubber,I work alongside a big Multi national company n can’t be leave some of the crap they put on there moters.did you get your moter modified to euro four in the end?
monarch of the highway:
MR VAIN:
I have just ordered 2 Bridgestone M788’ssuper singles for my front steer axle, £410!!! Could of had much cheaper, but i’m finding them to be a good wearing tyre with very few issues. I won’t run anything but Bridgstone now. I learnt very early on the cheap ain’t best when I went thru a set of drive tyres in 11 months!!! Never again. Had 24 months out of my present set of drives and they still have 5/6mm on them. Mainly trunk road work with summer season farm work.No what you mean if tyres are cheap there cheap for a reason
Total false economy in my eyes buy cheap you buy twice, the other thing I don’t buy is the numptys that say its not worth buyin decent tyres cos u cud end up getting a bolt thru em n that’s ex amount of money gone,if these cheap tyres are much cop I’m sure when you buy your nice new truck when it comes of the production line it would be fitted with cheap rubber,I work alongside a big Multi national company n can’t be leave some of the crap they put on there moters.did you get your moter modified to euro four in the end?
Its quite scary … It seems to be the larger firms that put cheapo tyres on … Some of the names i hav never heard of ■■?
monarch of the highway:
MR VAIN:
I have just ordered 2 Bridgestone M788’ssuper singles for my front steer axle, £410!!! Could of had much cheaper, but i’m finding them to be a good wearing tyre with very few issues. I won’t run anything but Bridgstone now. I learnt very early on the cheap ain’t best when I went thru a set of drive tyres in 11 months!!! Never again. Had 24 months out of my present set of drives and they still have 5/6mm on them. Mainly trunk road work with summer season farm work.No what you mean if tyres are cheap there cheap for a reason
Total false economy in my eyes buy cheap you buy twice, the other thing I don’t buy is the numptys that say its not worth buyin decent tyres cos u cud end up getting a bolt thru em n that’s ex amount of money gone,if these cheap tyres are much cop I’m sure when you buy your nice new truck when it comes of the production line it would be fitted with cheap rubber,I work alongside a big Multi national company n can’t be leave some of the crap they put on there moters.did you get your moter modified to euro four in the end?
It’s away as we type. Currently piloting a 54 plate R580. Should be back on the road in a fortnight. Other jobs being done too. 
We have changed the steers on 2 of our trucks recently, the price was mad but i think you get what you pay for with tyres. We try to only use bridgestones and nothing else (dont like Goodyear) but have had problems sourcing the tyres we wanted for a trailer.