we have to do a special order....

[jphanna]

whinge alert....

over the decades, i had the term.....'we have to do a special order for that' explained to me from retailers for various items i had bought.

i will give you a scenario that was the most ridiculous i ever come accross. what is the worlds most popular car?

a corrolla. when i had one in the 90's i went into a major tyre retailer, with a bog standard corrolla asking for tyres.

'those tyres are a special size and we dont stock them. we can order but we want payment now and they just happen to cost about 30% more than other common tyres. common!!! what is more common that a bog standard corrolla?????

so we fast forward to this week. i try to do an oil change on the new cruze. buy the oil, but the filter, get all my tools ready, jack up the car....no sump plug bolt! there is a flat star shaped screw type bolt. cant get it off. go to holden. you need a T45 tool. can i buy one at holden? no we dont stock them..... we can do a special order for you!!!

so we move to last night. by some miracle a huge allan key was lying on teh road and punctured my brand new tyre in 2 spots!!!

i go to a goodyear dealer.....guess what, that EXACT ***** tyre, is not available out of all the gazzilion tyres they sell...THAT ONE is not available in SA. they have to do a special order!!!!

so i wait.....

whinge alert over. back to normal.....

[b0son]

put the spare on, buy on ebay.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by b0son

put the spare on, buy on ebay.

It's probably a space saver.

Can't you buy the T45 socket you need from Bunnings or Repco?

[jphanna]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

It's probably a space saver.

Can't you buy the T45 socket you need from Bunnings or Repco?

bought T45 from Repco. all good

ordered SPECIAL goodyear tyre and its arriving tomorrow....all good

i asked 'what was special about it'?....

he said its black and round with a big hole in the middle like a donut. i thought all tyres were like that...

[JG65TE]

Torx bits are available at any decent auto store so probably skip autobarn and try Bursons. As for tyres , maybe u should get a decent tyre shop too

[GQ_Smooth]

Time to visit a better class of retailer.

[blackf6]

Should of bought a Falcon. Imported knock down kit cars are no good. Too many special orders.

[Alan D Segal]

With respect OP, I've never thought to buy tools from a car dealer and Repco/Supercheap or somewhere like Trade Tools would've been my first port of call for that - so I wouldn't have been surprised if the dealership couldn't supply said tool on the spot. At least they offered to get you one.

With tyres, I also wouldn't assume that the first shop I call will have the specific model and size I need in stock. I'd expect them to have a few tyres in my size, but I wouldn't expect them to have the exact size and model that I currently have on the car just sitting on the shelf. If you rang around and tried a couple of tyre shops you might've had some luck.

I understand your frustration but I personally think you were expecting too much here.

[EASYBOSS]

Hmm,

Well I'm looking for one tyre, factory spec Dunlop SP 245-35-19, as per fitted on FPV's from factory.

This is in NZ, some places tell me they are obsolete, hard to believe, others tyre shops say yep special order, they check and say there are only 8 in NZ and it is NZ$500 bucks, like What The F

[flappist]

Well it serves you right for not have cheapo crap "ong dong wong all rounder" brand tyres. Tyre shops stock what sells often and you only have to read on here for a short time to realise that most people fit the cheapest crap tyres they can find using the excuse that some tyre fitter who has no qualifications other than a few years sticking tyres on rims has told them that they are just as good as expensive ones. Of course they then go off and get mechanical advice from the kid behind the counter at supa-cheap and nutritional advice from MacDonalds....

In that last at least 10 years I have NEVER had a set of tyres of the type I wished to put on my car available ex stock, they have always had to be ordered.

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by EASYBOSS

Hmm,

Well I'm looking for one tyre, factory spec Dunlop SP 245-35-19, as per fitted on FPV's from factory.

This is in NZ, some places tell me they are obsolete, hard to believe, others tyre shops say yep special order, they check and say there are only 8 in NZ and it is NZ$500 bucks, like What The F

Mate, sorry but that's probably about where its at for those tyres for just one, fitted and balanced.

Edit, have to agree with flapper, be pleased they have them in stock, took me 2 months to get tyres into the country for our other car.

[DJR David]

My work car Epica has had a new low pressure fuel pump on order for two months now.......

[2011G6E]

Try owning an old motorbike...even one from a common maker...

Come to that, try having an older car with fat 13" or 14" tyres...I wanted to get a set of original sized 14" tyres for the early Supra wheels on my '82 Celica. I think they were something like 225/60-14's.
The only tyres in that size were "special order" ones by Yokahama or some other performance brand, for around $300 a pop!

I used an excellent tyre size calculator site and worked out that going to the size of 215/65-14 meant I could get a good range of tyres and only paid about a hundred a tyre.

I know one guy with an LJ Torana with typically fat traditonal 13" Hotwires on it who is having the devils own job finding once-common sizes like 205/65-14 and 225's from any maker in a price that doesn't mean taking out a bank loan...or "specially ordering" them...

[Crazy Dazz]

So you had a Corolla and a Crudze...
and you're whinging in a Ford Forum?

[danzvtil]

look, give your retailer a break, tyre shops like any retail outlet need to buy stock that turns over and makes them money, having 1 of every size sitting there means that
A-you go broke paying for inventory that gives you no return
B-you go broke paying for the extra square meters of real estate to house all these tyres!
Most capital cities have some tyre warehouse that can deliver 24-48 hrs to your retailer the exact size and brand you require :-)

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by JG65TE

Torx bits are available at any decent auto store so probably skip autobarn and try Bursons. As for tyres , maybe u should get a decent tyre shop too

Core stock at Autobarn actually meaning every store has them in stock. I bet most of what you think Autobarn doesn't have we actually do, and cheaper than what others have it for as well.

[XR6T0Y]

I should go whinge that my local tire joint doesn't have the 20' Nitto NT05's in stock then - after all, they should shouldn't they?

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

look, give your retailer a break, tyre shops like any retail outlet need to buy stock that turns over and makes them money, having 1 of every size sitting there means that
A-you go broke paying for inventory that gives you no return
B-you go broke paying for the extra square meters of real estate to house all these tyres!
Most capital cities have some tyre warehouse that can deliver 24-48 hrs to your retailer the exact size and brand you require :-)

True that.. And more like FOUR of every size.
On both my previous FPVs with 18s, and actually the old BAXRt with 17's, most tyre dealers stocked 235s, but rarely the required 245's.. But was usually a same day delivery.

[MrEL]

Originally Posted by b2tf

Core stock at Autobarn actually meaning every store has them in stock. I bet most of what you think Autobarn doesn't have we actually do, and cheaper than what others have it for as well.

Must be different with different franchises.
The local one at Penrith is deadest useless and everything there is at least 25% higher in price then any of the other parts stores in the area.

[MITCHAY]

Is it a pov pack model or a sports model? Because that can make all the difference if the wheel is even slightly wider in my experience.

All of my tyres with exception of one set have been ordered in. Usually only cheapies or ones which are quick to offload in stock for obvious reasons

[2011G6E]

The problem is mainly one of what is "normal" for tyres nowadays.

Back when the "normal" sports tyre for a done up car was usually either a 205/65-13 or a a fat 14" wheel, they were available from every corner garage. When the Porche 959 came out with factory 17" wheels, we shat bricks...massive wheels!!!!!!

Now most large family sedans have 18" plus wheels, and even small cars have wheels which would have been considered "huge" back in the old days.

No surprise really it's harder to find what us older car guys consider "normal" tyres...

[Alan D Segal]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

I know one guy with an LJ Torana with typically fat traditonal 13" Hotwires on it who is having the devils own job finding once-common sizes like 205/65-14 and 225's from any maker in a price that doesn't mean taking out a bank loan...or "specially ordering" them...

When I sold it my Torana had 13x7s on it and I personally wouldn't recommend that your friend tries to put 205/65-14s on 13 inch hotwires. Those old school Yokos and Bridgestones are very hard to get (if at all), and I ended up going narrower on my rims when I had to replace the tyres. I got 205/60R13s, from memory and I got them fairly quickly (3 days), plus you can get a more modern-spec tyre that grips better in the wet than the old 'muscle car' type tyres.

[jphanna]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

Is it a pov pack model or a sports model? Because that can make all the difference if the wheel is even slightly wider in my experience.

All of my tyres with exception of one set have been ordered in. Usually only cheapies or ones which are quick to offload in stock for obvious reasons

its all good, tyre should be in TODAY. i agree that not every tyre can be logically kept in storage, just always seems to be mine!!!!

beeing told that a corrolla standard tyre was a 'special order' was a load of wannk though!!!

[monzie]

Some others on this site will also remember back in the late 60's, early 70's, when radials where first coming onto the market, a 185/70 on a 6" rim was a monster size. Looked big on my XP 2 door back then. Most cars still came with 6.50 cross ply on 5" rim, or even smaller.
Cross plies in the wet, thankfully that's in the past.

Peter

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by monzie

Cross plies in the wet, thankfully that's in the past.

Peter

Ah yes....Cross ply tyres in the tropics, certainly made for some ***-gripping the seat driving.....

[Silver Ghia]

Tyre retailers these days seem to have very limited stocks of tyres, compared to years ago when they had much more of a range.

Makes sense really as you want the tyres to be as new as possible, and not old stock which tend to harden and lose grip sooner.

Hence they generally need to order in the tyres you need.

[Hulsty]

Most I have spoken with have the stock in a central warehouse as the majority these days are franchises, they usually get them in next day for fitting.

[TheSneakiness]

Try 12 weeks for a K&N filter for my Paj.

Granted no store I went to could get them in and Summit had them readily available on their site so ordered it. Get an email a week later saying they don't have one on shelf so have ordered one custom made from K&N (even K&N had to custom make it cause it wasnt in stock)

So I couldn't complain coming from the factory knowing it was being custom made and US shipping times, but stuff me if the paper filter was keeping anything in.

[jphanna]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

So you had a Corolla and a Crudze...
and you're whinging in a Ford Forum?

when i joined up in 2008....i had a ford. the one that started the decline of the falcon.

the mighty EA falcon......

i still got a ford so i am still welcome to comment on this forum.

[Alan D Segal]

Originally Posted by Silver Ghia

Makes sense really as you want the tyres to be as new as possible, and not old stock which tend to harden and lose grip sooner.

You'll want those longrun/southlake/hexagon/greenlion/shunny tyres fitted to the family suv/falcon/camry/commodore/hatchback to be in tip top shape to hold the road.