The first question we ask is not where the car is. It is what is written on the side of the tyre. A driver once told us the car took the normal size because it was only a small hatchback. Small hatchbacks leave the factory on several different fitments, and guessing means the fitter turns up with a tyre that will not go on the wheel. The code is moulded into the sidewall in raised letters, something along the lines of 205/55 R16 91V. Get a torch on it, crouch down, and read the whole line out.
Every character in it does a job. The first number is the width across the tread in millimetres. The second is the height of the sidewall as a percentage of that width, which is why two tyres of the same width can look completely different. R16 is the wheel it fits. The last pair are the load index and the speed rating, and they are not optional. Read all of it to us and the correct tyre travels out with the van. Budget, mid range and premium all exist in your size, and you pick once we know what we are matching.
The gap between "needs replacing" and "needs replacing now" is usually a journey you cannot move. A run on the A1(M) on a tyre that is already down to the markers is not a risk worth taking. Old tyres leave Chells, Old Town and Hertfordshire with us, every time. You watch it happen in Bedwell, or at the kerb in Pin Green.
Emergency tyre replacement in Stevenage is part of our wider 24-hour emergency callout across London and the home counties cover. For emergency tyre replacement in Stevenage, call 07717 389637 or get a price for your tyre.
Getting the size right first time counts for more here than it would in a town where you could walk to a tyre shop. Stevenage driving is timed: a run down to the A1(M), a school gate, a shift. A second trip because the wrong tyre came out costs the afternoon rather than half an hour. Thirty seconds with a phone torch at the kerb is the cheapest part of the whole job.
A driver in Old Town sent a picture of the tyre wall before we loaded up. Ten seconds of their time, an hour saved on ours, and the right rubber came out with the fitter instead of a best guess.
Some cars run a broader tyre on the rear axle than the front. Read one sidewall and you may have described the wrong end of the car, so we ask which corner has failed as well as what the writing says.
A car came off the A1(M) at junction 8 with the tread already shredded to the belts by the time it stopped. Nothing there to save, so the size went over the phone and a replacement went on where it had pulled up.
On the outer face of the tyre, roughly halfway between the tread and the wheel, in raised letters that run right round. There is a lot of other writing there too, so look for the block that reads three numbers and a letter in a row.
It does not have to be, and in a hurry it often is not. Size, load index and speed rating have to match what the car was built for. The badge on the sidewall matters far less than getting those three right.
Not something we would fit. The rating is tied to how the car handles heat at motorway speeds and it is on the car's own data plate for a reason. Money is better saved by choosing a budget tyre in the correct rating.
If the car is jammed against a kerb, read the other tyre on the same axle instead. Failing that, the door shut or the fuel flap on most cars carries the original sizes and pressures, and the registration lets us narrow it down.
No, and it should not be. Wherever it has come to rest is where the work happens, whether that is a drive, a work car park or a residential street. Driving on a wrecked tyre ruins the wheel underneath it as well.
★★★★★ 4.9 from 151 verified Google reviews.
Read all 151 reviews on Google →Prefer a callback? Send your details for a emergency tyre replacement price in Stevenage.