Changing your tires without leaving your home

Are you in a red or orange COVID zone and prefer to avoid the garage for your winter tires? Bring the garage to you!

Year after year, mobile tire fitting services are increasing in popularity. Consumers like to have their tires changed at work or at home.

It is thus possible to obtain a discount of a few dollars by combining the operation with your office colleagues (some employers even foot the bill!) Or immediate neighbors. The more tires to change, the greater the discount.

Sometimes supplements

Expect to pay, in the Montreal and Quebec City areas, between $ 40 and $ 80 for four tires on rims, depending on their size. Add between $ 10 and $ 25 for tires without rims and their balancing (several mobile workshops have the equipment). A few also change run flat tires for an additional $ 10 to $ 15. Some services charge an additional $ 10 to $ 15 for trucks and sport utility vehicles.

Most sell new and used tires, even displaying an online catalog. Others offer a range of products and services for a few dollars (or tens of dollars): storing tires for the season, reprogramming TPMS valves, cleaning tires and rims, replacing nuts, spinning studs, repairing punctures. or valves, oil changes …

To monitor

Nicolas Ryan, spokesperson for CAA Quebec, however, suggests going through a garage to take the opportunity to carry out the annual tune-up or winter preparation. And he wonders if mobile services have a sufficient inventory of tires to sell.

“Not so long ago, these services were offered by snow removal or lawn mowing contractors: you could doubt the quality,” explains George Iny, president of the Automobile Protection Association (APA). They have since become more professional, but no one has empirically assessed the quality of their service. For example, are their tightening tools appropriate? Is the balancing done well? “

Mr. Iny strongly suggests doing business with a service attached to a garage. You will have a wider range of services and, if there is a problem, you will be sent to a professional workshop.

“The staff are probably properly trained and the equipment better adjusted,” he says.

George Iny regrets that Quebec has removed the first two weeks of December from the deadline for installing winter tires: “It’s really not to the advantage of consumers. “

Advice

• The longer you wait, the more limited the range of dates or tires. Change your tires now, without worrying about wear and tear.
• Avoid tires “all weather conditions” (only two models are considered acceptable by the Association for the protection of motorists): they are less efficient than winter tires.
• If you see the 25-cent caribou snout inserted into the tread, you need to change your tires (how-to video: bit.ly/2Sftv2w • Tips: bit.ly/3jiQkOF).
• Avoid obscure marks.