Saturday, December 18, 2021

Ouch!

Back in June I asked a local supplier with a reputation for being inexpensive about the cost of new tyres for the bus. Back then I had a quote that looked like this....

STEERS COST $382.81 THE DRIVES COST403.10 THE TOTAL TURN KEY JOB INCLUDING SERVICE CALL MOUNTS TAX AND SCRAP DISPOSAL WILL BE $3116.90 AND TIRES ARE IN STOCK.

The other day I came to the conclusion that I really should get the tyres as soon as possible. It seems that 10R22.5 are not currently available but 275/75R22.5 are available. Now there is a difference. The 10R22.5 tyres are 3100mm outer diameter and make 519.14 revolutions per mile. The 295/75R22.5 are 3186mm outer diameter and make 505.13 revolutions per mile. Doing the mathematics it seems that there's going to be a disparity between wheel speed and speedometer reading, leading to 1mph faster than indicated travel. That is way better than the 5mph faster than indicated travel of the 11R22.5s that somebody put on before I bought the bus.

The current tyres are 11 years old and in dire need of replacement - so much so that I will not drive on them. I don't consider them remotely safe. I'm not feeling too safe going underneath to do the work required to complete the brake lines either.

The latest quote I have for tyres is based on the new size of 275/75R22.5 and is thus:

Yes you are correct a 29575225 size will bring your speedometer back close and they are in stock. a tire cost 439.95 plus tax mount bal out the door will cost a total $3345.64.... it will cost $380.00 EXTRA TO COME TO *******. AND WE HAVE MEANS TO FULLY BALANCE TIRES IN THE SHOP WITH A 6401 COATS BALANCER.

An intriguing addendum to the emails is this:

the price has changed about every 5 weeks or so since mr Biden went in office. The tires now cost me more than I was going to charge you. thay have gone up about 35% so we will need to revisit a new quote and tire if we can find them,

So the original quote all in was for 3345.64 but the new cost will be 3725. That seems to be an increase of $609 since June or 20%. This is a scary increase!

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