If you own a vehicle, you would know the ritual of hunting for tyres every year or two can be a tedious process in Qatar. Especially due to the extreme heat, wheels needed to be taken care frequently else you will end up in the roadside to be barbequed.

Based on more than a decade of my personal experience, I have had my fare share of rough roads in Doha. For the convenience of all, I have created this article to provide an ease of mind for people in Qatar regardless you are an expat or a local on tyre maintenance and possible to shop around.

Maintaining the Rubber (I mean your Tyres)

Always make sure to check the tyre pressure, as low pressure means more footprint resulting in high fuel consumption.

Now fuel can be cheap in Qatar compared to the country you came from unless you recently moved from Venezuela or Saudi Arabia but for a person who remembers 1 Liter of Super (95 Octane) which was QAR 0.70, the current price has taken a major hike. So bottom-line, for the sake of your tyres and your wallet please check the pressure ever week or twice a month.

Besides it is free to inflate air in most of the fuel stations in Qatar or QAR 2 – QAR 5.00 at Woqod Doha.

Repairing the Tyres or Remedy

Though the roads in Doha are smooth as silk, still you are not spared from a puncture or two during your time. In the invent of a sudden puncture, you will be provided an awesome 1 hour play time with your little tools to replace the tire with your spare. Imagine, you pull out your spare in this scorching temperature only to find that the spare is also deflated. You cannot have a spare for your spare which is ridiculous.

Suppose you are absent minded, unlike me, OK! I have forgiven myself for the pain I put myself and my friend during Ramadan years and years ago for being ignorant and neglecting to check the condition of my spare tyre, so I have learned to check the spare tyre regularly. On the instance your spare tyre is deflated and need a topup stop a trailer or a truck as they got an air compressor built in and they could just fill your tyre up within seconds for you to reach a tyre shop.

I do not recommend patching up one tyre more than once regardless of the location. If your tyre got patched once and another patch occurs, please by all means replace it. Saving QAR 300 to QAR 500 would dearly cost you an accident so be careful with your tyres especially if you are frequent highway driver as the extreme heat will not show mercy on your rubbers.

Tyre Replacement Gig

Ultimately, if you plan to replace the tyres it is best and recommended to replace all 4 tyres if it is a car and two tyres if it is a bike at the same time to keep the brand, warranty and the contours uniform. Worse case if you cannot afford or for some reason do not want to, at least change the front two or back two for effective usage and better driving experience.

If you are like me who believes in creating an excel sheet with different tyre combinations, brands and the prices from different shops by spending an hour on the phone with every vendor in Doha, please do not do the mistake and I can save your precious time now.

I am here to tell you, taking your car to shops and asking for on the spot price is much cheaper than getting prices via phone call as the vendors knows you are serious and they would rather provide you a big discount to change your mind on the spot.

My Favourit Spots for Tyre Replacement

The two place I frequent if I need a replacement:

  1. Barwa Village in Al Wakrah
  2. Midmac Roundabout in Salwa Road

Take your vehice, park it in the center where all shops can see it, walk to a few shops and state you are here to change tyres now and car is outside and if the price is good you will provide them the business, you will find many offering you a very competitive price to get you inside.

Take your vehicle there park it in the center where all shops can see it, walk to a few shops and state you are here to change tyre now and car is outside and if the price is good you will give the business, you will find many offering you competitive rates.

You will know many will be providing you further reduction if all 4 tyres are to be replaced.

As a standard, you get 1 year warranty from all these guys unless they specify otherwise. Also, tyre balancing is part of the package and you could get a discount on wheel alignment if you do it along with the tyre replacement as well.

Hope the above will save you time and provide you the peace of mind.