Summer to Winter tyre swap on a Mercedes E Class in N19

Repeat customer called asking us to fit his winter tyres back on. First Winter tyre job of the season for us but in London the weather tends to be warmer so less chance of cold weather until later in the season.

Turned up at the agreed time and pulled his 4 winter tyres out of the basement, we had checked them before they were put away but always best the check their condition before fitting just in case something was missed, nothing wrong with the so started the switch over. We had marked which corner each tyre had come off and the wear pattern matched with them being replaced in the same corner.

Jacked the car up and removed the first 2 tyres, checked them for any sign of damage but nothing found. Marked each tyre with its position on the car and removed the tyre from the rim. The customer mentioned that a couple of the tyres kept losing pressure and he had been pumping them up. As the inspection of the tyres had shown no damage then the finger of suspicion pointed to a corroded rim, checked the first 2 rims and indeed they did show signs of corrosion, this will allow air to escape from between the wheel rim and the tyre.

Removed all sign of corrosion on the inside of the wheels and applied a liquid rubber solution called bead sealer that we have to the inside edge of the rim. This will create an air tight seal where the tyre and rim meet. I decided that to be sure all 4 tyres would be done even if the corrosion did not look too bad as it would stop problems in the future.

Mounted the 2 winter tyres on to the rim and balanced them up, put them back onto the car and tightened the wheel nut bolts up to the manufacturer's specified torque. Now just have to do the other 2 wheels on the other side. Job took an hour in total and the customer had been able to work from home while we did the job.

If you have winter tyres that need to be fitted or maybe you are thinking of getting them before the weather turns cold call Hometyre on 0800 783 93 10 and we will come to you.