Recommendations: Rims, tyres & good garage

[kev78]

Hi, would like some recommendations on getting some new wheels and tyres for a triton. 17" maybe 18" with some nice chunky tyres, looking for cheap..not top of the range.

Also looking for a good garage that won't see two farangs and think "pay day"...if you know what I mean

[STEVE G]

I got good service from B-Quik which is a tyre place on the left, heading into town from Cha Am getting towards the centre. They have newspaper sized price lists so you can see what you're going to be paying and they have cheaper options available if you don't want to spend a fortune.
http://www.b-quik.com/en/index.php

[Nereus]

I have used "Kosol" opposite the airport. Good service, and for what I wanted, cheaper than B-Quick.

[VincentD]

Hi, would like some recommendations on getting some new wheels and tyres for a triton. 17" maybe 18" with some nice chunky tyres, looking for cheap..not top of the range.

Don't go more than an inch over the standard rim size if you're determined to change them as the overall tyre diameter should not change by more than 10%. This means that your tyre sidewall will reduce compared to what it was and I think the Triton does come with rear leaf springs so could be in for a rather stiff and potentially bone-jarring ride.
Budget aftermarket rims would also probably be made to a lower spec than your originals so keep the old wheels and tyres - you may want to change back and can always sell the others later.
A friend who changed to mags (and sold the old ones for a fraction of the real cost in the heat of the moment) regretted having sold the old ones.
If the shop says part exchange walk away.

You can always get slightly wider tyres on the existing rims - in this way the spare will still fit and smaller diameter tyres are cheaper and easier to get if you do have a problem outside of town.

My two baht worth.

[kev78]

Thanks for the reply. Problem is at the mo it's sitting on 15's ....I haven't had 15's on a car since I had a saxo! on a truck they look even worse haha. Thinking of 17's with some nice tyres...will have a look at these big rim shops that are around. There is one near us on pala-u road.

[jvs]

You will probably not safe a lot of money byuing bigger wheels but you could save on tires,if you do not drive fast or carry heavy loads you can get a Thai made tire like Deestone for a lot less.
You could also look into tires that are new but not really fresh anymore,last years tires.
Kosol also has a lot of second hand wheels for sale,go have a look.

[kendo]

I am a strong believer in the fact that wheels maketh the motor and always upgrade on every vehicle I own or lease. I have just changed the wheels on my Mazda Bongo campervan only two weeks ago. It had 15" steel rims with some hub caps tyre size was 195-55-15. I always think that trucks and vans should have deep dish alloys but that's personal preference. I opted for a set of 17" Lenzo RS5's that look like this

Lenzo RS5 Mazda Bongo.

635941461599574605.jpg (90.12 KiB) Viewed 1170 times

As the van has a full camper conversion I opted for 225-50-17 as I didn't want to reduce the profile to much because the vans weight is 2245 kg so is already laden before we get in it with all our gear. The roads in the UK this time of year are shocking pot holes everywhere so that was another factor.
On changing the wheels over I put them side by side I was a little concerned that the new wheels were infact 25mm higher with the tyres on so I phoned my supplier and he said that well within industry standards and shouldn't make to much difference to my speedo.
On trying to fit the wheels I couldn't get the wheel nuts undone some jack ass had wound them so tight with a windy gun I had to go to a local garage to get them to do a wheel change for me
On my test drive I would say its made the ride more firm and a little more road noise and with the sat nav to check the speedo at 40 MPH the speed is reading 1 MPH slower and at 60 MPH its reading 2 MPH slower. So overall I am really pleased with my new wheels.

My other car is a Kia Rio 3 that I lease from my company. The level 3 spec has 17-45-225 the ride quality is hard and noisy reducing the profile makes a massive difference in my opinion. My mate has an identical car and he trashed a wheel and Continental tyre and the lease company sent him a bill for the wheel and tyre £300 plus V.A.T ouch. Some of our potholes near dock gate 20 are 30-40 mm deep so we drive over them on the roundabout with real caution we keep on at the city council but the don't seem interested its a shame really as they payed out 1.8 million pounds last year for damage to vehicles through road surface issues and its public money bloody good for the tyre and wheel industry though.

[T.I.G.R.]

I purchased a new Mazda 2 sedan last month. Being a former Kosol customer (and having Kosol recommended by Mazda) I went there to change my stock 15" rims for 17" rims (nothing wrong with the 15" but I like my car to look it's best with a good looking set of tires and wheels).

The guy at Kosol blew me off. He showed me five 16" rims and said I couldn't put 17" on a Mazda 2. I frankly was both surprised and irritated as we have been using Kosol for a pretty long time. He didn't even offer to help look for different rims, so I really had no choice but to look elsewhere.

At any rate, following some other thread on this forum I decided to give Cockpit a try. Fortunately for them, we were eating a sandwich at the Baguette Bakery and looked up to see the Cockpit shop right across the street, so I went over to see what they had.

In short order we were able to view an inventory of about twenty different rims (all 17" no problem) and all I had to do was pick a set I liked. I had taken a picture of some rims I liked with me and they had them in stock....although in the end I purchased different ones. Within about ninety minutes I had a nice looking set of 17s and new Bridgestone tires installed.

He also offered me a reasonable trade-in on my Mazda's brand new rims and tires; then passed on that price to a friend of mine with a three year old Mazda 2, asking a reasonable sum for dismounting and mounting (my friend took his old rims and tires away with him).

Having done some research on prices I'm confident I got a good deal and we are quite pleased with the result, as is my friend who got a brand new set of premium rims and tires for a very good price.

[kendo]

Nice wheels sets off the red callipers an absolute treat.

[kendo]

Here's a close up picture of my most excellent wheels

[kev78]

ooooof Lenso, very nice....bet they cost a bit!

[kev78]

Cockpit sorted us out, well pleased.

[GLCQuantum]

There's a place that does a really nice rim job down soi 80.

[Nereus]

I like a nice set of rims, but I just cannot get my head around why the hell you would want to fit low aspect ratio tyres to an everyday commuter car, and more particularly something like a camper van. All very well if you have a high performance sports car that you only use on a racetrack or intercity expressway.

To each his own, but the more rubber that you have between the rim and the road, the better the ride AND the safety will be. More so when you have to drive on potholed roads, or in Thailand!

[kendo]

That's why I went for 50 profile on the camper they are not low profile. On the Kia Rio lease car level 3 spec came with 17" wheels and low 45 profiles and yes its a hard ride.