Where do you all buy your tires? Does the price include lifetime balance, mounting, rotation?
Do you go to local small shops or walmart/sams club?
Do you go to local small shops or walmart/sams club?
Best place for tire purchase
- Thread starter goodoleboy
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Take a look at tires.com, they have some pretty good prices. I go to Les Schwab whenever I can, but they're only on the west coast. I've never come across a company with better service than them. They allways charge for the first mounting, but you get free lifetime balancing, rotation, and road hazard repair. When I was about 12 I had a go-kart that needed new tires. I brought the wheels in there for new tires, and it turns out one of the wheels was cracked and wouldn't hold air. They went out and had somebody weld it together for me...FREE!
I have been buying tires for years from TireRack, but more recently, for light truck tires, I have been able to get my best deals from my GMC dealer (of all places) because the mounting and balancing is free, and no shipping cost, and when this is factored in, the total cost is cheapest.
I'll second the recommedation for Les Schwab. GREAT SERVICE. Beyond great, actually. The tire prices are high, though....
I've been OK with Discount Tire. Espcially nice if you have Discount Tire in your town. Shop their ad in car magazines, then go to their store...you get the SAME prices as the ads without shipping.
I've been OK with Discount Tire. Espcially nice if you have Discount Tire in your town. Shop their ad in car magazines, then go to their store...you get the SAME prices as the ads without shipping.
Wal-mart has some of the best prices. It's 9.76 per tire for lifetime balance and rotations, mounting, valve stem and free flat repairs. Tire's plus charged me over $75 for this.
With any tire place, have a good look around, and make sure their doing a good job. Personaly I won't bring my car anywhere, I dismount the tires and bring them in off the car. Otherwise you risk damage or they'll try and sell you an inspection and not tell you like Tire's plus did.
-T
With any tire place, have a good look around, and make sure their doing a good job. Personaly I won't bring my car anywhere, I dismount the tires and bring them in off the car. Otherwise you risk damage or they'll try and sell you an inspection and not tell you like Tire's plus did.
-T
I used TireRack.com to get my last set. I also bought rims and they came mounted + balanced with the lug nuts to put them on with.
I had an issue with one of the weights falling off the rim. My TireRack rep told me to get it balanced and fax him the bill. I did, and I got refunded.
I didn't want to put them on myself because I don't really have the equiptment to do it. So I had them put on at a local Texaco for $8.
I'll definatly do business with them again.
I had an issue with one of the weights falling off the rim. My TireRack rep told me to get it balanced and fax him the bill. I did, and I got refunded.
I didn't want to put them on myself because I don't really have the equiptment to do it. So I had them put on at a local Texaco for $8.
I'll definatly do business with them again.
My deal on tires is to find a place like (tires plus) or any place that matches tire prices. Find the tires on tirerack + shipping and most places will cut you the deal. I wanted some Yokohama Avid touring tires from T+ and they were $80 before the match.
When you contact(your tire place) print off from your computer the invoice off of tirerack to show tire cost plus shipping. The tirerack price was $47 and the T+ hazard warranty was $20 so still saved money. At $67 plus tax a tire I liked the deal.
When you contact(your tire place) print off from your computer the invoice off of tirerack to show tire cost plus shipping. The tirerack price was $47 and the T+ hazard warranty was $20 so still saved money. At $67 plus tax a tire I liked the deal.
I get my tires from a local small chain by me.
My recommendation is find the tire you want and call around for prices. Make sure your comparing apples to apples. Get a complete price for the tire, mounting, new valves and spin balancing and compare from there. I will tell you, don't believe the slogans in the ads you hear about how they have the cheapest tires in town. The local NTB by me runs ads all the time about how cheap they are compared to the competition. Well called up and they quoted me close to $180 per tire complete.
The local chain by me quoted me $120. Now the NTB says they will match or beat anyone's price.
OK, then why would I go to them when they quoted me $240 more on a set than the local guys. My feeling on the whole situation is if they are so cheap why didn't they give me the cheap price the first time instead of me finding the cheapest price and then they match it. Spend an hour on the phone and call around you may be surprised at the prices at the tire shops in your area. I sure was when I decided to check prices.
[ June 15, 2004, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: ALS ]
My recommendation is find the tire you want and call around for prices. Make sure your comparing apples to apples. Get a complete price for the tire, mounting, new valves and spin balancing and compare from there. I will tell you, don't believe the slogans in the ads you hear about how they have the cheapest tires in town. The local NTB by me runs ads all the time about how cheap they are compared to the competition. Well called up and they quoted me close to $180 per tire complete.
The local chain by me quoted me $120. Now the NTB says they will match or beat anyone's price.
OK, then why would I go to them when they quoted me $240 more on a set than the local guys. My feeling on the whole situation is if they are so cheap why didn't they give me the cheap price the first time instead of me finding the cheapest price and then they match it. Spend an hour on the phone and call around you may be surprised at the prices at the tire shops in your area. I sure was when I decided to check prices.
[ June 15, 2004, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: ALS ]
Granted, you're right. I guess more of it was the first part (didn't really want to do it). At the time it was worth 2 bucks a tire not to have to do it with the spare tire equiptment in the trunk.quote:
Originally posted by T-Keith:
No offense, but the equipment to do is included with most cars.
-T
I either use the tire rack, vulcan tire or Green Diamond Direct depending on what tires I want. My preffered choice is the Tire Rack. They support alot of motorsport events and even provide the venue for them as well (at the South Bend warehouse).
Recently they've started to offer road hazard stuff.
I have friends with tire mounting stuff in their home garage (silly racers, then again, when you're a national champion...), so I just get it done there.
Recently they've started to offer road hazard stuff.
I have friends with tire mounting stuff in their home garage (silly racers, then again, when you're a national champion...), so I just get it done there.
thnaks i dont have any of the chains stores you all listed, but we do ahve a wal-mart store.I dont like walmart becuase i can never get my tires rotated within an hour its laways like 2-3 hours.
I called a few local shops and they beat walmart prices and carry lots of american made tires.
I called a few local shops and they beat walmart prices and carry lots of american made tires.
btw, all the places I listed were internet and mail order sales.
thanks thomas
I perfer to shop at brick and mortar stores for tires now..
Reason being, really didnt save much money buying from tire rack 1st round after having to pay for rotations and balancing every 7500 miles.I pay $20 a pop now for rotations and balance.
I perfer to shop at brick and mortar stores for tires now..
Reason being, really didnt save much money buying from tire rack 1st round after having to pay for rotations and balancing every 7500 miles.I pay $20 a pop now for rotations and balance.
You've nailed the problem with mail/I-net order tires ! I bought my last set of tires from TireRack, & will probably never do it again. Example, using the new BFG Traction T/A's mentioned above: 185/65/14's, From TireRack, set of four $248.28 delivered. Add $44 for mounting & balancing & valve stems, = $292.28. My favorite local tire shop(also does *EXCELLENT* alignments!) quoted me a flat $322 for 4-out-the-door on the same tire. What do I get for that extra $29.72? Lifetime balance & rotation, whenever I show up & ask for it, with no problems. Just a rebalance & rotate on 4 wheels costs $32 or more at most of the tire shops in my area- and that, sports fans, eats up all the savings on the *FIRST* rebalance!
I goofed once, but not again. And I'll probably buy a set of those BFG's later this summer- from Walt in Longview. They look like real good tires, I was happy with my BFG Comp T/A's, & will be sure of good service after the sale.
I guess in the long run after paying for mounting and balance I saved like $18 from buying from tirerack including taxes. Like Staurt i learned my lesson.
thanks
thanks
When the online places first came into being, they were substantially less than most tire places, and I was able to get good tires for little more than the price of "rim protectors" from the locals. I would find a place that would do the install for $10 per tire and did my own rotations and flat repairs.
Now, the difference in prices is pretty slim, especially if you have a Discount Tire in town, which I do. I still order tires from the Tirerack occasionally, but usually when there is no other source, or when the locals are out of line on the pricing. This usually only happens with brand new tires though.
Now, the difference in prices is pretty slim, especially if you have a Discount Tire in town, which I do. I still order tires from the Tirerack occasionally, but usually when there is no other source, or when the locals are out of line on the pricing. This usually only happens with brand new tires though.
The problem with most of the local shops and big chains is selection. Unless you are looking for the few most popular sizes, in-stock availability sucks. Tirerack wins on that factor alone. My local Tirerack installer's shop caters to high-end cars and is so clean you could practically eat off the floor. My BMW felt welcome there, unlike the typical tire store full of jacked-up trucks and SUV's.
Sears has been the best chain in my experience, not the cheapest, but the best warranty service and they are nationwide.
Sears has been the best chain in my experience, not the cheapest, but the best warranty service and they are nationwide.
I've not bought a tire that was in stock in over a decade. In fact in the past few years I've been ordering tires that the factory reps were not sure exist.
I'm used to having to order them and if I can pay close to the same price(including shipping, mount, and balance) then I go with the local.
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