Buying tires online

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Originally Posted By: Wolf359
The other drawback with ordering online is dragging those tires out to the car and driving down to the shop.


I think most people have them shipped to a shop of their choosing; I've ordered online from Tire Rack and used their "recommended installers" each time.

Its buyer beware though. First time I ordered online, the "recommended installer" added on several substantial fees. It wasn't a good deal any longer. Next time, I tried another shop which was much more reasonably priced but still insisted on charging me a "tire disposal fee" even though I was bringing in four loose rims and just wanted the tires mounted onto them. No old tires to dispose of.

I need to get new snow tires before winter. I'm just going to get them locally.
 
Originally Posted By: sayjac
HTSS_TR said:
That said, I'm very doubtful that local tire stores, independent or otherwise could or would be able to match DTD no tax price with the rebate promo/sales they frequently have.


This is also a critical thing people are forgetting. I order from DTD when they have sales and take advantage of rebates on top of it. I saved $100 (or 25%) off the regular DTD price for my Hankooks when I bought them on Black Friday two years ago.

If a local tire store matches the regular DTD price, that actually is a pretty small savings, or really no savings. I find it hard to believe that a local shop could go as far as to match the DTD price when you add in the sale and rebate.
Click to expand...
 
I've been buying tires online for years. I just tried to price match some Hankooks from tirecrazy.com with the local Mr. Tire. They price match as long as it isn't below their cost to buy them from the distributor. Their cost for this tire would have been $30/tire more than crazytire. Tire Rack has them for the same price but shipping would be $55 and it's free from tirecrazy.com.

As far as getting a bad tire from online, I had a bubble develop on a tire from DTD after the manufacturer warranty had expired. DTD offered to sell me their road hazard warranty after the fact so I got a new tire for like $50 (prorated value) + the cost for road hazard ins. for all 4 tires. I didn't even need to send the defective tire back to them.
 
I've heard such good things about Tire Rack that I had every intention of ordering my next set of tires from them. The price for Michelin Defenders (215/65R17) was $158/tire plus $64 shipping.

I called a local tire shop (regional chain, C Adam Toney Discount Tires) just to get a comparison price and they wanted $155/each, which included balancing and mounting. This wasn't a special or price match, it was just their regular price.

It kind of caught me off guard -- I just assumed TR had the best prices around.
 
Best to buy from a local tire shop that mounts and balances them. I only want 1 Vendor to scream at. + I want my tires prorated when they wear out before the warranty is up.
 
Not sure why the michelins in that size are so expensive

the new general altimax 43 is ~~100$
 
Originally Posted By: kb01
I've heard such good things about Tire Rack that I had every intention of ordering my next set of tires from them. The price for Michelin Defenders (215/65R17) was $158/tire plus $64 shipping.

I called a local tire shop (regional chain, C Adam Toney Discount Tires) just to get a comparison price and they wanted $155/each, which included balancing and mounting. This wasn't a special or price match, it was just their regular price.

It kind of caught me off guard -- I just assumed TR had the best prices around.

TR is a good place to do research on tires, find a good brand with good reviews then searching for that tire somewhere else.
 
I priced new tires for my "new" 17s and every web source price + local mt/bal/tax was virtually identical to local retail...

As it happens I serendipitously came upon a pair of like-new pull-offs on CL in the same tire that was on the rims, in the very size I was looking for, and since I've had good luck in the past with pull-offs, and have recommended such to others, I got a few more over at Ebay (again same size, more lucky finds) and ended up paying half the new price...they've all got 8+/32 out of 11/32s and they balance/run true and smooth...
 
Last edited:
I see this thread has been revived after a few months of inactivity.

Since I expect most folks will not to go through the entire thread, but only read the recent postings, I think something I posted earlier is appropriate. Sorry for the repeat.

*************************************************

My experience with online tire retailers is from the tire manufacturers point of view.

The guy the mounts the tire doesn't have a vested interest in your satisfaction. He has no incentive to sort out the good from the bad and to try to find solutions to problems that may come up.

Take for example a warped wheel that is causing a vibration. A guy who only mounts the tire may not even inform you you have this problem and you could spend many days trying to resolve this issue.

A second example is mounting damage. It's easy for the installer to deny that they are at fault - and again, many days of work would ensue to get this resolved.

I am NOT a fan of buying tires online - with some exceptions. In my case, it is the only way I can get my discount. I can also see using an online retailer for some odd, specialty items.
 
The flipsides, from a car enthusiast POV, and I'm not arguing:

-- get actual name brand tires. Some towns only have shady shops selling off name chinese junk or overpriced goodyears. They have to special order decent things, by which point the customer could just "special order" themselves. If a problem crops up, the dealer would have to "special order" a replacement, starting the process all over.

-- Some people do 99% of their work, and only see a tire dealer for tire mounting due to lack of equipment. The tire dealer sees it as the only time to "get" that customer, and the customer wants as much control over the process as they can get.

-- Some actually have their own mounting gear, and tire dealers look at customers like they have two heads for "cash and carry" transactions. Lacking business ID numbers, the customer can't go straight to a wholesaler.
 
I've had good luck-- and low prices-- ordering online from Walmart. They ship them to the store for free and then they're glad to mount and balance. Walmarts are coast to coast so I would hope I could get service anywhere in the country if I need it.
 
Originally Posted By: datech
I've had good luck-- and low prices-- ordering online from Walmart. They ship them to the store for free and then they're glad to mount and balance. Walmarts are coast to coast so I would hope I could get service anywhere in the country if I need it.


I've had excellent luck getting my tires balanced at Walmart ... so long as they aren't on the car. Then it gets messy.

I bought two new snow tires this fall. Brought them to Walmart to have them put on the tire. Quick and easy - in and out. Cost me $20 total as I refused new valve stems.

Same with my Cherokee snow tires. In and out at Walmart.

I will be doing the same thing in a month or two. Buying Fuzion touring tires, then dismounting the old ones and mounting the Fuzions myself.

Walmart will balance for $5.
 
There are more selection online, so you can buy something that is cheaper than the ones carried in stores. It won't make much difference in small tires, but on big expensive tires the difference can be huge.
 
I posted back on the first or second page, but I'll reiterate my experience. DTD IMO has some great deals if you time stuff right, stack rebates, etc. I highly doubt anyone around where I am would have matched the price I got on CS4s.

Other than that I think some big pros online are about selection, ease of purchase, and some decreased fees at point of sale. I bought Xi3's this year from Tirerack. Price was lower than all the places I shopped around, saved extra buying online and going through Ebates because it was Cyber Monday, I didn't have to mount the tires right away. I admit though if I have premature wear or other issues I'm sure I have less recourse (not sure I would have much buying locally either).

Than again, there's not a lot of places around here I would want to hand my car over to and trust them putting tires on. I think the same issues exist for bad installation, damage, etc. buying locally. Maybe it's easier to yell at one place when you have an issue, I just feel like there are less and less places locally that I'd even want to go through the hassle of having to follow up with when that happens.
 
I was a huge client at DTD routinely buying 2-4 sets of tires at a time. Then one day my local tire store got a new manager and he called me and said he would beat ANY pricing from anywhere.

He did, he still does. Since he was mounting them from DTD anyway, I now give him the biz after I shop online for numbers!
 
Just picked up another full set from an online retailer. There was an instant $50 off, so I moved.

My local guy tells me he can't match online pricing, but he's happy to do the installs. He's as straightforward as they get so I'll continue to pay less and still have a good shop do the installs.
 
Here is some current intel on some tires I've been looking at for possible springtime purchase.

Bridgestone Dueler H/L 422 Ecopia 235/70R16:

Tirerack: $520 + $80 shipping + $100 local install = $700.
(several online tire stores were similar)

Local Firestone: Total installed $644

I'd much rather go to the local Firestone not only for the store benefits but also ease of warranty claims or any other problem that may crop up.
 
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