Pleasant experience dealing with a tyre shop for my Hyundai i20

He even loaded the spare tyre so I could take out the car while rim was being worked upon & gave me a call when the rim was ready. All in all, I am very satisfied with the service he provides

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Services Offered : Tyre Balancing, Puncture Repair, Wheel Alignment, Nitrogen Filling, Sale of Tyres (Not Utilized this service), Rim Straightening (Through Contacts). May offer other services also, but I am not aware of (Pardon me I am a new driver, I've listed the services which I have utilized)

What I Like : Very sweet spoken guy, doesn't take you for a ride, is honest & dedicated towards the job, prices are reasonable, takes time to complete the work (Does not cut corners)

What I don't like : Nothing

I had quietly purchased an i20 (2012 AT) some time back after a lot of research/hunting/rejections, I did ask a known Uber Driver (Family member depends on him for pickups/drops, lives close to their place) & his mechanic to accompany for inspection, car passed inspection & I purchased it.

Post purchase driver advised to get the alignment, balancing & rotation done.

He took me to this shop, where the person Mr. Ram (Super chill guy, takes time to complete work & doesn't do half hearted work, is honest & isn't out there to loot you) inspected the suspensions & a few other parts of underbody as well. Suggested that 1 of the tyres has punctures, but its new so can be used. Aligned the tyres, did balancing as well. Charged 950 bucks.

He also mentioned that 1 of the rims has a slight bend, so need to get it repaired, I ignored it that day (being a new driver, didn't know the dangers, besides already offloaded my wallet a lot wasn't mentally prepared for any more hefty expense), but after a few days that tyre leaked, took it back to the same shop, he quoted 1800 to get the rim straightened through someone in his network who has the required machinery for the job, cleaned the rim as well & charged 2150 for the job (Includes rim straightening, cleaning, weight balance & nitrogen filling). He showed photos of the rim before & after cleanup, what impressed me is his honesty, I've seen shop owners keen to sell/stick/upsell their stuff (take customers for a ride), if he wanted he could have told me that I need to replace the tyre itself, but he did not. He even loaded the spare tyre so I could take out the car while rim was being worked upon & gave me a call when the rim was ready. All in all, I am very satisfied with the service he provides, he's a very humble (sweet spoken) guy & doesn't cut corners when it comes to delivering work .

A few days back, I noticed passenger side rear tyre had low air, turns out it was 10 PSI , only 2 things came to my mind either the puncture tyre is going to need a replacement or someone took out the air on purpose, neverthless I inflated the tyre with a portable inflator, monitored the tyre daily but there was no leak, went on a hunt for internal TPMS, sourced the Treel ones from a local shop for 650 a piece (The ones which say warranty not valid if sold as a standalone piece lol, but the shop owner said 5 years no questions asked warranty, just keep the bill safe). He did offer to fit the same for free, but was going to charge for balancing, won't offer to clean the interior rims. So i simply took the sensors & decided will take it to Ram's Store. Do note I stay in western line & Ram's shop is in central line, those who know this know what I am talking about. Its about 25+ Kilometers drive (1 way) in unforgiving Mumbai traffic, only to fit those sensors.

I happened to have a visit planned for Thane yesterday 8th Dec, reached in the afternoon & paid a visit to Ram Bhai with 1 sensor packet in my hand, He was chatting with an Innova (I think, or could be Ertiga?) owner that rear 2 tyres are gone & will need to be replaced, the Innova owner said that he only drives from Thane to Airport, Ram bhai suggested that tyres won't make the cut and its a risky bet to keep them on, get them changed asap. Owner asked if tyres were rotated, Ram bhai said since rear 2 tyres are no good didn't rotate them, I was waiting & smiling. The Innova owner paid & left.

After the Innova guy left I requested him that I need the following,

• Fit 5 TPMS sensors in the tyres

• Interior rim cleaning for other 4 wheels (Since we only cleaned 1 rim when the rim was being corrected)

• Wheel Balancing (After fitting sensors)

• Check the punctured tyre, if it can work, or needs to be replaced (As even on day 1 I went by his word, that the tyres are new & can hold even though it has punctures)

I had already marked the sensor boxes with tyre positions since I activated it on the app (Since some users reported their QR codes were already used), and informed him which sensor has to be applied where.

He quoted a nominal amount of 200 per tyre for fitting & about 400-500 for cleaning everything, wheel balancing as per the weights used. I do know people here have had their sensors fitted for 50 bucks a piece, but having the rims cleaned was crucial, so was the quality of work.

Dropped the car at about 10.30 am today (9th Dec), by 4 pm the fittings were done, rims were cleaned, nitrogen filled & wheels were balanced. Took a photo of his shop & informed him I'll share this on car forum (He may not even know what I was talking about, isn't very tech savvy).

He did mention that it was a time consuming job, since all rims had to be cleaned too much, but he doesn't handover the vehicle till he is satisfied with the job regardless of the time required (The only reason I drive all the way from western line to get tyre related stuff done). He also mentioned he doesn't usually take this job (Of fitting sensors since it is very time consuming, I completely understand since he can attend other vehicles for the time he spends fitting sensors, opening each tyre cleaning them, re-fitting the tyre & checking for any leaks), but since it was my car he agreed to it.

P.S. - I am not associated with him in any way, neither do I earn anything if you get your car serviced there, I simply love his nature, honesty & dedication towards work, which I'm sure you'll love too. He works alone. In this era where every shop owner tries to squeeze the max out of his/her customer once they step inside their store, this guy is a gem. If you do happen to pay him a visit, do mention the "i20 sensor" guy referred you, I'm sure it'll ring a bell.

Ram Aligners : +91-91378-19547

After the Treel sensors were fitted, all tyres were filled with 33 PSI of Nitrogen, I checked the car in the evening & Rear Left tyre had a pressure of 30, gave a call to Ram Bhai, he asked to visit the shop so he can check what is the issue (very close by) but I had something else to do so I said will visit tomorrow.

And today (11th Dec) morning the Rear Left was at 28 PSI, did a quick trip to Dmart & visited Ram Bhai, There was already a car on the alignment machine so I was wondering if I can go in or wait, called him from a distance, he said I can park behind the Tata, he checked the air, sprayed water on the tyre to check for leaks, took out the tyre & turns out there is a very small puncture (5th in the tyre) which was very hard to find as the tyre did not leak when sensors were fitted even after giving ample time after filling air, Ram Bhai repaired the 5th puncture. He said its possible the pressure of car causes one of the 4 punctures to leak out, as when taken out the tyre does not leak.

I asked what year was the Tyre manufactured?

He said 2019, so I asked him to leave fixing the puncture as its already a 5 year old dead horse, risky to drive on such an old tyre (altough it has good grip, but it has aged) & lets get the rear two tyres replaced (Currently Bridgestone Enzo 1?, thats what I think it was), the front ones are Yokohoma Earth. He informed both tyres have different profile in terms of width (I guess), so asked him to get a quote for Yoko & Bridgestone Sturdo (Not Enzo 1) since Sturdo is better. They come with 2 year unconditional warranty.

Asked him which is better, Yoko or Sturdo, he recommended Sturdo, didn't doubt 1 bit & asked him to go for Sturdo, since the difference between the two was a few hundred rupees, better to be safe than sorry.

He quoted the price (Didn't check anywhere else, as I trust this guy), paid him partial amount through Gpay have left the car at his shop. Requested him to make sure the new tyres match the front tyres in terms of width/size, and ensure not to swap the tyres else I'll have to re-do the sensors lol, rest he can take time to fix the tyres. He said not to worry about it, will give a call once the job is done, he even said I can take the car, he'll ring up once the tyres arrive, but since I don't plan to go anywhere today I felt like keeping the car there is better.

Here are the photos of the new tyres & a decal I made lol.

Car hasn't been washed for a few days as at relative's place, had to park the car on surface with red soil, tyres might have caught some of it.

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