No one likes having their car serviced. It usually involves an awkward moment followed by a pushy service advisor trying to charge you for everything you have. If you’re not careful, a simple $60 oil change can easily turn into a $500 sale that goes right into the advisor’s pocket. Now, as the dealer rolls in the dough, you’re confused about what they just charged you. Now, how much do you pay for a tire change? $600? $700? If you’re going with Pilot Sports, we can assume it’s north of a grand.
However, for the McLaren F1, a regular service is not so cheap. A single routine tire change will set you back over $50,000. Yes. That’s 50 with three zeros after it. It can be said that the McLaren F1 is not a frugal individual’s dream car. It cost $800,000 at the time of sale in the late 1990s, McLaren it made you really commit to the car…with your bank account of course.
McLaren F1 tire change requires a racetrack
It may seem difficult to rationalize such a large cost for something as trivial as a flat tire. But it must be understood that this is not a trivial vehicle. It is a mecca of modern supercars. People who buy McLaren F1s don’t take their car to their local dealership, they expect a premium experience. That’s why to change a tire in F1, the company and the car have to go through a rigorous process to ensure that the work of art remains a work of art.
To change a wheel on an F1, McLaren requires the driver to rent a private track, presumably to test it after the change is complete. Then the company forces you to hire a professional driver, not just any street Joe Schmo who drives in the demolition derby every Saturday night, and for them to work with a set of McLaren-sanctioned engineers to make sure the go change tires. through correctly.
The special type of tire used by the McLaren F1
The McLaren F1 doesn’t just run any Bridgestone tires. These tires need to be able to handle and withstand speeds in excess of 240 miles per hour, that’s something Discount Tire can’t help you with. In addition to this, the McLaren F1 uses 235/45ZR17 front tires and 315/45ZR17 rear tires. These are specially designed and developed exclusively for the McLaren F1 by Goodyear and Michelin. The tires are proprietary, meaning no other company can make or sell the same type of tire used by F1.
This gives McLaren an undisputed market share on the special type of tire. The F1 is a very niche vehicle, with owners in the upper echelon of the social classes. That means they’re more than willing to pay 509,000% to keep their prized possession from getting a nail in the rubber, so McLaren charges this as part of a “luxury tax”. Simple economics really. F1 also needs additional parts to adjust during this tire change, hence the reason for the professional driver and the circuit. The suspension must be set up and adjusted every time the tire is replaced or repaired, which takes into account slight imbalances in the air distribution and the age of the tire. Brakes must also be modified for grip, tread wear, and other factors related to stopping power. However, changing tires affects more than just the tyre, meaning that many different facets of F1 need to be changed or overhauled. And these facets don’t exactly come from the dollar store.
The McLaren F1 requires a $20,000 service every year
If you thought the lack of penny pinching for McLaren and its owners ended there, you’d be wrong. Almost every car part has an expiration date. The fuel cell should be replaced every five years, whether you drive the car or not. Take a photo in the dark of how much this piece costs…$100,000. That’s right, every five years you spend $100,000 on the fuel cell, with a maintenance cost of at least $20,000 a year, regardless of the miles driven.
“Almost every important car part has an expiration date,” Donut Media’s says James Pumphery.
A routine oil change service costs about $8,000, and McLaren estimates annual maintenance costs at about $30,000 a year. In addition, McLaren insists that you send the car to one of its “F1” shops each year for service, located in select locations around the world. This is not very convenient. Ralph Lauren is rumored to be sending its three F1s to Woking, Surrey every year. Add to that the fact that the engine has to come out every five years like the fuel cell, and you’ve got an extreme couponer’s worst nightmare.
