Fast and cheap? Are you sure that’s the way you want to change your tyres?

Some drivers, when choosing the car workshop that will change their tyres and they will entrust their car with only look at the price and time of service – thinking that the cheaper and faster the better. They do not think about the fact that the price of services reflects the professionalism and skills of mechanics and the technical condition of the devices they work with. How can you find a trustworthy service that will not damage your tyres and rims?

The process of replacement of a set of tyres in a modern car – in accordance with the necessary technical principles listed in, among others, the procedures of Certification of Tyre Services of Polish Tyre Industry Association – should take a minimum of 35-40 minutes per car. If we go to a car workshop in which mechanics do it faster, it means that they do no have time to properly do their work – that is, to replace tyres without and mistakes and doing damage to tyres or rims.

Tyres are the only point of contact between the car and the road. At highway speeds, they rotate more than 1,000 times per minute. Their service requires professionalism and accuracy. Using car workshops that compete only with the price and speed of a service as important as replacing tyres is leads nowhere. Drivers and mechanics should be aware that one can’t take shortcuts in the tyre service process. Sooner or later, the consequences of errors in tyre replacement process will always occur and the customer will usually be the one affected by them.

– At workshops we often hear mechanics asking “why is the tyre replacement procedure proposed by PTIA is so long – you can do it faster!” Then we always ask them to think about which steps included in our procedure can be skipped without compromising the quality of service and customer safety. After analysing the document, everyone is unanimous every time – it is impossible to scratch a single point out of 40. For our own safety we should therefore use a certified car workshop. In a car workshop with the PTIA’s Certificate, of Tyre Services of we can be sure that the service will be performed professionally, because the auditor with the appropriate knowledge thoroughly checked the real possibilities of a given workshop and decided to award him this title – says Piotr Sarnecki, general director of the Polish Tyre Industry Association (PTIA).

It is often said that drivers are guided by professionalism and a low price when they choosing a car workshop, they will entrust their car to. They do not think, however, that one excludes the other. A service that replaces tyres cheaply has no money for proper and frequent servicing of equipment and tools. There are also no funds for employee training, so often one employee watches the other and duplicates his mistakes, practicing on … the cars of subsequent drivers. A neglected tyre changer damages rims and tyres. A malfunctioning balancer will cause the steering wheel to transmits vibrations to driver’s hands. If you don’t like such sensations, if you don’t like it when the workshop scratches your rims, mechanic use too much force when changing tyres, the do not look for the cheapest tyre services in the area, but the best ones.

See how the audit of compliance with the requirements of the Certificate of Tyre Services of the Polish Tyre Industry Association is carried out by TÜV SÜD Poland. Grzegorz Duda, an automotive journalist, mechanic and rally driver and Marek Nytko, head of automotive auditors of TÜV SÜD Polska, will lead you through the process.

Among the basic mistakes made by service technicians working inaccurately and in a hurry are, among others, doing damage to the tyre bead during forced assembly – which can lead to complete loss of control of the vehicle by the driver while driving. Unprofessional mechanics often avoid cleaning the rim shelves, which causes unbearable wheel vibrations. Some service technicians wanting to save time also set the pressure too high when inflating the tyre onto the wheel shelf – this causes irreversible deformations in the tyres, in which drivers invest hard-earned money and creates the risk of the bead slipping off the wheel while driving. In addition, taking a shortcut and using a pneumatic or electric impact wrench – instead of a torque wrench – to tighten the wheel bolts with full force can even damage the rims – and if it happens that we will have to replace the wheel on the road, then unscrewing the bolts yourself will prove to be impossible.

There are nearly 12 000 tyre services in Poland. Unfortunately, the level of service and technical culture is very diverse. There is also no uniform training system. Too many car workshops replace tyres in an unacceptable manner, often using too much force. This causes stretching and tearing of the inner layers of tyres, and even bead tear – that is those elements that transfer power from the tyres to the rim. That is why the Polish Tyre Industry Association, together with TÜV SÜD, an independent certification company, introduces a system for assessing and awarding professional services based on an independent audit of equipment and qualifications of technical staff. It’s worth choosing certified workshops that have undergone an audit and have been thoroughly checked. The Certification of Tyre Services helps car workshops to improve their quality – which is crucial for safety – increases their competitiveness, and gives customers confidence that the service will be performed by well-prepared professionals.

Certified car workshops will take care of your tyres!

  • they will not damage the tyre (bead, tread grooves and inner layers) or rims,
  • correctly clean the rim, tighten wheel lug nuts without torque wrench with the right force,
  • replace the valve stems in the wheel and ensure the correct tyre pressure
  • use professional and serviced tools and equipment
  • when necessary, will know how to fix a flat tyre in a safe way

Search for certified tyre services! Only they:

  • met even up to 140 audit criteria
  • have professional and serviced equipment
  • have trained staff
  • offer high quality tyre services.

This post is also available in: plpolski (Polish)