People ask us this question apologetically, which tells you something about how this trade has treated them. The call usually starts with “I don’t suppose you would…” from someone standing next to four tyres in a garage in Glasgow, half expecting the same no a depot already gave them.
So let us fix that at the top. Can you fit tyres I have already bought? Yes. Fitting tyres you already own is a normal job for us, not a favour. We come to your home, your work or the roadside, which means the tyres never have to be lifted into another car and driven anywhere. The line runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week across Glasgow and the Central Belt.
There is one honest condition, and it is the same one we apply to every tyre we touch. Each tyre gets checked before it goes on the wheel, because a fitter is signing their name to that wheel the moment it is torqued up. This page tells you exactly what those checks are, so nothing surprises you at the kerb.
The Short Answer: Yes, We Fit Tyres You Have Already Bought
Yes. We fit tyres you have already bought, at your home, your work or the roadside anywhere in Glasgow. Every supplied tyre is checked first for size, load and speed rating, age from the DOT code, storage condition and damage. The fitting only price is agreed on the call.
Those checks are not a hunt for reasons to refuse you. They are the same inspection step that sits inside our standard six step process on every job, whether the tyre came off our van or out of your hallway. We cannot confirm a tyre is fit to fit until we have seen it, so the final check happens at your vehicle, and you are shown anything we find.
Where Your Tyres Came From Changes What We Check
Every supplied tyre has a history, and the history decides which checks matter most.
A Spare Set Sitting in the Garage
The most common source, and often the best. A set bought for a car you still own, sitting under a dust sheet with the labels still on.
Age is the first question here, not tread. Rubber ages whether or not it is used, so a set bought two or three years ago has been quietly getting older in that garage. The DOT code on the sidewall tells the real story, and we show you how to read it further down.
Tyres That Came With a Used Car
The set found in the boot at handover, or left by the previous owner. We see these week in, week out, and the recurring problem is not condition. It is size.
Previous owners regularly fit a size that was never approved for the car. So with this source, the sidewall size gets checked against the placard in the driver’s door shut rather than assumed. A matching set of four can still be a matching set of the wrong tyres.
A Set From a Friend or a Family Member
Gifted tyres arrive with no paperwork and no history. Nobody knows how they were stored, what car they ran on or why they came off it.
That is not a reason to refuse them. It is a reason the physical inspection carries all the weight, and on these jobs we sometimes spend longer looking than fitting. If they pass, they pass on what we can see and measure.
Winter Tyres Stored Since Last Year
Seasonal swaps are a normal part of our work, so a stored winter set is a routine booking. Storage is what decides it.
A set kept dry, dark and flat usually comes through fine. A set stacked in a damp lock-up, left in sunlight or leaned under weight against a wall can pick up flat-spotting and sidewall crazing from standing. A stored set may be perfectly serviceable, and the only way to know is to look at the date code and the condition together.
Tyres Bought in a Sale
Sale stock is often old stock. That is worth saying plainly, because a genuine bargain and a tyre that sat in a warehouse for years look identical in the advert.
The DOT code settles it. The last four digits are the week and year of manufacture, so 2523 means week 25 of 2023. Check it before you buy if you can, and we check it again before we fit.
Second-Hand or Part-Worn Tyres Someone Has Been Given
We will be straight with you here. Our published position is that we advise against part-worn tyres, because of compliance issues, hidden damage history and unknown prior treatment. A new budget tyre with a known start point is the better buy nearly every time.
Selling part-worns is legal but tightly regulated under the Motor Vehicle Tyres (Safety) Regulations 1994, including a PART-WORN marking and a minimum 2mm of tread at the point of sale. If a gifted second-hand tyre passes every check, it can be fitted. The checks just work harder.
The Checks We Make Before Fitting a Tyre We Did Not Supply
Here is the full list in one view, then each check explained.
| Check | What we are looking for | Outcome |
| DOT date code | Week and year of manufacture, overall age | Fit, or flag the age to you first |
| Storage condition | Damp, sunlight, weight on sidewalls, standing | Fit, or show you the damage |
| Cracking and crazing | Fine cracks in grooves or across sidewalls | Structural finding, usually a no |
| Size, load and speed rating | Match against the vehicle placard | Fit only if equal or higher rated |
| Run-flat compatibility | Right construction for the car | Confirm before mounting |
| Directional and asymmetric orientation | Arrows and outside markings the right way | Fitted correctly, every time |
The DOT Date Code and the Age of the Tyre
Every tyre carries a DOT code, and its last four digits are the birth certificate: two digits for the week, two for the year. 2523 is week 25 of 2023.
Rubber hardens and loses its grip chemistry with time, used or not. There is no single legal expiry date for a car tyre, so we judge age alongside condition, and we will tell you what we find before anything goes on the wheel.
How They Have Been Stored
A fitter reads storage off the tyre itself. Damp leaves its mark. Direct sunlight ages the sidewall it faced. Weight leaning on a sidewall distorts it, and long periods standing on one spot can flat-spot the tread.
None of this needs confessing in advance. It shows, and we look for it on every supplied tyre.
Cracking and Sidewall Crazing
The one we reject most often. Fine cracking down in the tread grooves, or a web of shallow cracks across the sidewall, called crazing.
It looks cosmetic. It is not. Crazing means the rubber compound itself is breaking down, and no tread depth reading rescues a casing that is doing that. Three tyres from a damp lock-up can be sound while the fourth, the one that faced the window, is crazed and done.
Size, Load Index and Speed Rating Against the Placard
The size on your tyre reads like 205/55 R16 91V. The 205 is the width in millimetres, 55 is the sidewall height as a percentage of that width, R is radial construction, 16 is the rim diameter in inches. The 91 is the load index, worth 615kg per tyre, and V is the speed rating, good for 149mph.
The rule is simple. The load and speed rating must be equal to or higher than the placard figure for your car, found in the driver’s door shut, the fuel filler flap or the handbook. Fitting lower is a compliance and insurance problem, not a preference.
Two markings deserve a look of their own. XL or Reinforced means an extra load casing, which some cars require. A C after the size, such as 225/75 R16C, means a commercial casing, and it is not interchangeable with a passenger XL tyre.
Staggered Fitments
Some cars leave the factory with different sizes front and rear. A set of four identical tyres may simply not suit such a car, however good they are. Never assume all four corners take the same tyre.
Run-Flat Compatibility
Run-flats carry a marking that varies by brand: RSC, ROF, RFT, DSST, ZP or SSR. The check runs both ways. A car built around run-flats, usually with no spare, should not quietly end up on standard casings. A standard car does not need run-flats it was never set up for.
If a supplied run-flat fails a check and needs replacing, run-flat replacement runs £130 to £280 when we supply, confirmed with you before anything happens.
Part-Worns and What the Law Actually Says
The short legal version. Part-worn tyres may be sold in the UK, but only marked PART-WORN in upper case letters at least 4mm high, with a minimum 2mm of tread across the full breadth and the whole outer circumference, an original ECE approval mark, a retained load and speed index, and no cuts over 25mm or 10 per cent of section width reaching the ply or cord, no lumps, bulges or exposed cord.
That is the seller’s obligation. Our fitting checks apply on top of it, and our advice stays the same: a new budget tyre with a known start point beats an unknown history.
Directional and Asymmetric Tyres, and Which Way Round They Go
A directional tyre has an arrow on the sidewall and must rotate in that direction. An asymmetric tyre is marked outside and inside, and must face the right way out. The wet weather performance of the tread is designed entirely around that orientation.
This is one of the most common faults we find on tyres fitted elsewhere. During a routine swap we regularly come across a directional arrow pointing the wrong way, working quietly against the driver every time it rains, and it is one of the reasons a car can pull to one side after new tyres. Supplied or not, every tyre we mount goes on the right way round.
What Happens If We Cannot Fit One of Them
We do not guess; we diagnose the problem and provide the safest and most cost-effective solution. On a supplied set, that sometimes means one tyre does not make it onto the car.
The sequence is always the same. The fitter shows you what has been found, at the vehicle, on the tyre itself, and explains it in plain terms. Nothing gets fitted that a technician would not put on their own car, and nothing gets refused without you seeing the reason.
Then you have two options. Fit the sound ones and leave the questionable one with you, or have us supply a replacement there and then from the van’s stock, which runs from budget names like Landsail and Triangle through mid-range brands such as Falken and Hankook up to Michelin and Continental. As a guide, a budget tyre fitted runs £60 to £100, mid-range £90 to £150, and premium from £140 to £280, in line with what new tyres fitted at home cost across Scotland. Where a replacement is needed, we confirm the tyre and the price with you before any work starts, because nothing is added at the roadside.
How Fitting Only Is Priced
Your fitting only price is quoted on the call once we know the size, the vehicle and where you are. We do not publish a fixed fitting only figure, because the honest number depends on those three things.
For the market picture before you call: mobile tyre fitting labour generally runs £15 to £35 per tyre, with garages at £10 to £25. Those are the going rates across the trade rather than a quoted offer, and the mobile figure buys the van coming to you instead of you moving four tyres across town.
What moves a fitting only price is no mystery either. The number of tyres. Rims over 18 inches. Run-flats. TPMS work, where a valve service kit at £5.99 to £25 per wheel sits inside the job. A missing locking wheel nut key, where removal is £45 to £60. And where the vehicle is.
The mechanic that makes it safe to ask is the same one we use on every job. One total on the call, before the van moves, with no separate callout fee. Payment is card at the vehicle, contactless included, taken after the work is finished.
Who Covers the Warranty When You Supplied the Tyre
A fair question, and the answer splits cleanly in two.
The tyre itself is covered by whoever sold it and by the tyre manufacturer’s own warranty. A tyre you supplied is covered by the seller and the tyre manufacturer, and our responsibility is the fitting work itself. So a manufacturing fault, a belt problem, a defect in the casing, goes back to the seller, exactly as it would if you had fitted it at a depot.
The fitting work is ours, and it is the same standard on a supplied tyre as on one from our stock: balancing on the van’s on-board balancer, a new valve or TPMS service kit, torquing to manufacturer specification, and a full safety check with wheel torque verification before the van leaves.
Two practical tips make any future claim painless. Keep the receipt for the tyres, and note the DOT code of each one. A warranty claim on a supplied tyre needs both.
What a Fitting Only Job Looks Like in Glasgow
The job runs like every other mobile tyre fitting in Glasgow we do, with one extra look at the start.
On the call we confirm the size, your location and what is being fitted, and you get a clear arrival time rather than a vague estimate. Across Glasgow and the Central Belt the average arrival is 30 to 45 minutes. Arrival times outside the Central Belt are given on the call for your exact location.
The van arrives equipped, the supplied tyres are inspected, then it is fitting, balancing and pressure checks, followed by the full safety check with wheel torque verification before we leave. Most customers are back on the road within 20 to 40 minutes of the van arriving.
We do this daily across the Southside and Shawlands, Pollokshields, Partick and the West End, Dennistoun, Govan and Maryhill, plus Paisley, Rutherglen, Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, East Kilbride and Clydebank. Driveways, tenement streets and workplace car parks all work, as long as there is a level spot with room beside the wheel.
Bought Your Tyres Online Instead?
A set arriving by courier from an online retailer is its own journey, with its own questions: what to check on the boxes when they land, how retailer fitting networks work, returns, and timing the fitting around the delivery. We cover all of that separately in our guide to fitting tyres bought online from another retailer, so this page stays focused on tyres you already have in hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you fit tyres I have already bought?
Yes. We fit customer supplied tyres at your home, work or the roadside, on cars, vans, 4x4s and commercial vehicles. Each tyre is checked for size, age, condition and orientation before mounting, and your fitting only price is agreed on the call before the van moves.
How much does fitting only cost per tyre?
Your fitting only price is quoted on the call once we know the size, the vehicle and where you are. As market context, mobile tyre fitting labour generally runs £15 to £35 per tyre, with garages at £10 to £25. Rims over 18 inches, run-flats and TPMS work move the figure.
Will you refuse to fit a tyre you think is unsafe?
Yes, and we will show you why at the vehicle. Cracking, sidewall crazing, a wrong size against the placard or a rating below the placard figure are the usual reasons. You then choose to keep the tyre unfitted or have a replacement supplied at a price agreed first.
How old is too old for an unused tyre?
There is no single legal expiry date for a car tyre, so we judge age alongside condition. The DOT code gives the week and year of manufacture, 2523 meaning week 25 of 2023, and we tell you what we find before anything goes on the wheel.
Who covers the warranty if I supplied the tyre?
The seller and the tyre manufacturer cover the tyre itself, so a defect goes back to them. Our responsibility is the fitting work: balancing, the valve or TPMS service kit, torquing to specification and the safety check. Keep the receipt and note the DOT codes.
Can you fit tyres that came with a used car?
Yes, and this is one of the most common supplied tyre jobs we see. The one extra check that matters is size, because previous owners often fit sizes that were never on the placard. We check each sidewall against the door shut placard before fitting.
Can you fit second hand tyres?
If they pass every check, yes, though we advise against part-worns because of compliance issues and unknown history. Legally sold part-worns must carry a PART-WORN marking and at least 2mm of tread. A new budget tyre with a known start point is the better buy nearly every time.
Do you fit customer supplied tyres in Glasgow?
Yes, across the whole city and the Central Belt, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Average arrival across Glasgow is 30 to 45 minutes, and most customers are back on the road within 20 to 40 minutes of the van arriving.
Get a Fitting Only Price
Two lines on WhatsApp is all it takes. Send to 07955 533000:
A photo of the sidewall of one tyre. Your postcode, the vehicle and how many need fitting.
You get one total on the call, before the van moves, and nothing added at the roadside. We are 24/7 Mobile Tyre Services, family run for over 20 years with fully certified technicians, based at 100 Jessie St, Polmadie, Glasgow G42 0PG, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in all weather.
