Kwik Fit

Muncher

Muncher

Muncher

Soldato
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
7,169
Location
Ipswich
Kwik fit seemed to get a pretty raw deal on here and many other forums but I thought I'd give post my experiences of them to balance it out a bit.

I've knocked a balancing weight off a wheel before when cleaning it, took it to Kwik fit and they rebalanced the wheel and didn't charge me anything.

I've had 8 tyres that I needed to get rid of, no one would take them and most places tried to charge me £32 to dispose of them. Kwik fit let me dump them there for no charge.

My set of winter alloys and tyres have been giving me serious vibration through the steering wheel at speed. They were fitted new a few hundred miles ago and balanced by another firm. They really didn't feel right so I took it back to them a couple of days ago. One front had 5g too much weight and the other had 20g too much! They did them again but there was no improvement.

Took it to Kwik fit today, they fitted me in within a few minutes and all the guys there seemed nice enough and happy to chat and for me to jack the car for them. It turned out that the other place had only balanced them in a single plane when they should be balanced on the inside of the rim and again closer to the spokes. They let me go away for 30 mins to test it before coming back to pay.

They've also repaired a tyre for me before and I've had no problems with them.
 
I dont seem to have an issue with them, the only problem is if you let them start doing more than you want (ie car noob [always wanted to use that word]) and just accepting the first quote.
 
And in the interest of balancing...

Took my car into Kwikfit after I got it to get some Eagle F1's fitted all round. They matched Mytyres price. Excellent. All fitted.

Noticed a vibration through the steering wheel but wasn't sure if it was present before I had the tyres done or not. Read a lot about worn control arms so put it down to that. Booked the car into BMW to get some work done under warranty and I mentioned it to them. They came back and said it was wheel balance, but as I'd just had new tyres they didnt re-balance as they recommended I got the place that fitted the tyres to do it. I had asked them to check the suspension bushes and they said they were 'perfect' but with more than 100k I doubted this diagnosis.

I was, to be honest, sceptical. I mean, I'd just had the wheels balanced. Anyway, when I got round to it, I popped back to Kwikfit. They were suprised, but rebalanced the wheels anyway, but only after I had queued for 2 HOURS. I asked if I could go away and come back in 2 hours but the guy said if I left I lost my place in the queue...

Problem still there, and this time, vibration under braking. Great - warped discs as well as worn control arms. Got a pile of cash together a few months later but just before I booked the car in to have the work done I thought for the sake of 20 quid it was probably worth trying wheel balance one last time.

Drove to Paignton where a place had a Hunter balancing machine - they balanced the wheels again. The guy said the wheel balance was absolutely miles out on every wheel - he'd never seen balancing so bad. He re-balanced.

Drove home - absolutely perfect. Not a THING through the steering wheel, and absolutely no vibration through the steering wheel when braking either. Perfection.

So, there we go, nearly forked out 500 quid on replacement suspension when in actual fact it was down to the complete inability of Kwik Fit to do something as simple as balance a wheel.

I will never go there again.
 
Crikey.

Back in my student days I rode around in a knackered AX. Exhaust halved itself on a trip down the M1 so I limped into the nearest Kwik Fit. Following a new exhaust the car started stuttering and hunting for revs. It turned out the the Kwik Fit guy had managed to somehow knacker the lambda sensor and break the box which regulates the idle of the throttle when in neutral. God knows how.
 
Depends on the tyre fitters/mechanics. You get numpties everywhere, BMW main dealers, Honda, Toyota etc.

It's nice when you find a local trusted garage.

Trick said:
Crikey.

Back in my student days I rode around in a knackered AX. Exhaust halved itself on a trip down the M1 so I limped into the nearest Kwik Fit. Following a new exhaust the car started stuttering and hunting for revs. It turned out the the Kwik Fit guy had managed to somehow knacker the lambda sensor and break the box which regulates the idle of the throttle when in neutral. God knows how.
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Aren't lambda sensors quite delocate and easy to damage?
 
thats a pretty bad story fox, i've never used quick fit but i've used alba tyres(dunno if they have branches down south) never had any probs. i've also found a lot of garages think young lads in flash/new motors are mugs with too much money and don't care about spending. i had this a lot with my 53 plate focus tdci (been taken for a mug)
 
Guy working for my GFs brother (etyres) used to work at kwik fit and he has told me how the place was run, pretty shocking doesn't cover it! Granted not every place will be run the same, but they were activly told to rip people off and got into trouble when they didn't. He was saying the boss would walk past when they were changing a tyre and say "make that 4", if they didn't get the sale of the 4 he was called into the office. They would just make things up all the time and the sad thing is they get away with it because average joe driver doesn't know any better.
Reminds me of the time my mum went there because her wipers stopped working, they quoted something silly like £300 for a new part and fitting...it had just come off the runner and was a 2 min fix.
 
that's shocking. i took my work van into citroen for a major service yesturday, they told me it needed 2 new front tyres as they were down to 3.5 mm, but 2 weeks ago it passed it's MOT with no advisories, they also wanted £88 per tyre, my boss politely told them NO.
 
I am lucky to have a fairly good kwik fit near me and they've had a look at my car a couple of times, but any kind semi serious work i won't let them near it. I've got a good old school mechanic to do any serious work.

I think sometime they see a certain type of customer coming, and know they can BS them and charge them whatever (usually old people, women or guys who have no idea about cars). I always stand right near them and watch what they do and talk to them.
 
[TW]Fox;11278891 said:
And in the interest of balancing...

Took my car into Kwikfit after I got it to get some Eagle F1's fitted all round. They matched Mytyres price. Excellent. All fitted.

Noticed a vibration through the steering wheel but wasn't sure if it was present before I had the tyres done or not. Read a lot about worn control arms so put it down to that. Booked the car into BMW to get some work done under warranty and I mentioned it to them. They came back and said it was wheel balance, but as I'd just had new tyres they didnt re-balance as they recommended I got the place that fitted the tyres to do it. I had asked them to check the suspension bushes and they said they were 'perfect' but with more than 100k I doubted this diagnosis.

I was, to be honest, sceptical. I mean, I'd just had the wheels balanced. Anyway, when I got round to it, I popped back to Kwikfit. They were suprised, but rebalanced the wheels anyway, but only after I had queued for 2 HOURS. I asked if I could go away and come back in 2 hours but the guy said if I left I lost my place in the queue...

Problem still there, and this time, vibration under braking. Great - warped discs as well as worn control arms. Got a pile of cash together a few months later but just before I booked the car in to have the work done I thought for the sake of 20 quid it was probably worth trying wheel balance one last time.

Drove to Paignton where a place had a Hunter balancing machine - they balanced the wheels again. The guy said the wheel balance was absolutely miles out on every wheel - he'd never seen balancing so bad. He re-balanced.

Drove home - absolutely perfect. Not a THING through the steering wheel, and absolutely no vibration through the steering wheel when braking either. Perfection.

So, there we go, nearly forked out 500 quid on replacement suspension when in actual fact it was down to the complete inability of Kwik Fit to do something as simple as balance a wheel.

I will never go there again.
Click to expand...

Have to admit i've had similar experiences with them - asked them to do a wheel alignment on my pulsar (after reminding them its 4wd) they then suggested they take the car for a test drive :eek:

I politely declined and offered to return if there was any problems - wouldn't trust the muppets to put air in my tyres now !
 
[TW]Fox;11278891 said:
And in the interest of balancing...

Took my car into Kwikfit after I got it to get some Eagle F1's fitted all round. They matched Mytyres price. Excellent. All fitted.

Noticed a vibration through the steering wheel but wasn't sure if it was present before I had the tyres done or not. Read a lot about worn control arms so put it down to that. Booked the car into BMW to get some work done under warranty and I mentioned it to them. They came back and said it was wheel balance, but as I'd just had new tyres they didnt re-balance as they recommended I got the place that fitted the tyres to do it. I had asked them to check the suspension bushes and they said they were 'perfect' but with more than 100k I doubted this diagnosis.

I was, to be honest, sceptical. I mean, I'd just had the wheels balanced. Anyway, when I got round to it, I popped back to Kwikfit. They were suprised, but rebalanced the wheels anyway, but only after I had queued for 2 HOURS. I asked if I could go away and come back in 2 hours but the guy said if I left I lost my place in the queue...

Problem still there, and this time, vibration under braking. Great - warped discs as well as worn control arms. Got a pile of cash together a few months later but just before I booked the car in to have the work done I thought for the sake of 20 quid it was probably worth trying wheel balance one last time.

Drove to Paignton where a place had a Hunter balancing machine - they balanced the wheels again. The guy said the wheel balance was absolutely miles out on every wheel - he'd never seen balancing so bad. He re-balanced.

Drove home - absolutely perfect. Not a THING through the steering wheel, and absolutely no vibration through the steering wheel when braking either. Perfection.

So, there we go, nearly forked out 500 quid on replacement suspension when in actual fact it was down to the complete inability of Kwik Fit to do something as simple as balance a wheel.

I will never go there again.
Click to expand...

My old man had an identical problem here with his 530d in Leicester. Didn't you say once though that the E39 can be particularly sensitive or difficult to balance?
 
My local one repairs a puncture on my TT for me, and did it for free too.

Wasn't until a few days later I noticed they'd robbed my posh aluminium torch out of the boot that cost me about 80quid.

They can be ok if you get a decent geezer in there, but there seem to be more hamfisted monkeys around than decent ones.
 
[QUOTE='[TW]
So, there we go, nearly forked out 500 quid on replacement suspension when in actual fact it was down to the complete inability of Kwik Fit to do something as simple as balance a wheel.

I will never go there again.[/QUOTE]

You've never balanced a wheel then. Even with the machine telling you where to add the weight, its quite hard, especially if you dont want the weights on the outer rim.

You probably had some 19 year old monkey.

Wheel vibration is 99% of the time always going to be balancing, nothing else. I've experienced it so many times now I know exactly what it is and how to fix it.
 
Butters said:
You've never balanced a wheel then. Even with the machine telling you where to add the weight, its quite hard, especially if you dont want the weights on the outer rim.

You probably had some 19 year old monkey.

Wheel vibration is 99% of the time always going to be balancing, nothing else. I've experienced it so many times now I know exactly what it is and how to fix it.
Click to expand...

Its really not that hard! I stand to say any 19 year old monkey could do it, even when you don't want weights on the front of the rim.
 
[TW]Fox;11281336 said:
Thats why I pay people who HAVE balanced a wheel before to do it for me.
Click to expand...

But you're not an utter tool so after a short 10 min lesson, you could.
For the people at kwik fit its their job, there is just no excuse. I bet they didn't even bother ballancing, thats common.
 
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