Discount Tire Direct vs. Tirerack

[kanling]

I've ordered from Tirerack.com before and been happy. I love to read all the ratings and reviews on their site.

Discount Tire Direct, though, is offering free shipping and a $50 rebate on a set of four tires (for some brands) that would save me a lot of money on the tires I'm looking at.

Anybody have any negative comments about them? How is their rebate processing? I really don't want to get involved in a big rebate hassle. (These rebates are only good for about two more weeks.)

The only thing negative I can see, not having ordered from them before, is that their selection is very poor compared to Tirerack. And of course, no user comments and surveys.

 

[CharBaby]

I recently did the same thing form Discount Tire. Free shipping(about 6 days but worth it) and a $50.00 rebate. You can track your order on line with your confirmation #. I have used both The Tire Rack and Discount Tire. I usually shop for the best price at the time that I need tires. Sometimes I buy locally because that's the best price at the time.

 

[sxg6]

Discount tire direct has offered free shipping for quite some time now i think. But dont let that fool you. I've found that in the end, the prices between the two sites are very similar. You may get free shipping, but i've noticed their prices on tires are typically $10 more per tire than tirerack, and on tirerack shipping usually runs me about $35. But in this case, i'd have to side with discount tire direct because of the rebate.

Sorry i couldn't give any personal experience with discount tire direct, never done business with them.

 

[97tbird]

I agree. The free shipping from Dis-tire really evens out, 'cause their prices are higher than tirerack's.
I recently caluclated the prices from both d-tire and t-rack for the exact same tire, and even after d-tires' rebates, they were only about $7.00 cheaper.

I have 1x past experience with t-rack, and their customer service was great. (exchanged bad tire for good one with no additional charges of any kind within 3-4 days). But people tell me they've gotten bad now. no experience with D-tire.

 

[Thatwouldbegreat]

Both great companies, IMHO. Bottom line price advantage varies.

Tirerack stronger on snows, wheels, and wheel/tire packages, wheel demo software, tire reviews and surveys, accesories, and their private label wheels are very good.


If there is a Discount Tire store near you, they can have the advantage in customer service if and when its needed.

 

[jagwire]

Discount Tire Direct is easy to deal with and will go the extra mile to satisfy. I bought four tires for a project vehicle but never mounted them. Then a friend upgraded his wheels & tires and offered me his old ones that still had good tread. I called DTD and made up an excuse why I didn't need the tires and they let me ship them back, on their dime, and refunded the money for the tires. Maybe I just got lucky but have nothing negative to say and would buy from them again.

I have bought tires from them locally too and had no problems.

 

[sxg6]

Tirerack has great customer service from my experiences as well. Overnighted me 20 lug nuts at no cost last fall. Great company

 

[bottgers]

From what I've seen of the two, the TR has a better selection and typically has lower prices. The good thing about DT is they have stores all over the place and they will generally price match with TR IF they have the tire you're looking for. I have purchased from DT, but I usually buy from the TR.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I just purchased 4 tires from TR (but looked at DT) and they arrived a day quicker than they said they would. Shipped them direct to my indy mechanic who put them on yesterday.

PS---He says his recommendation is to run them at 35psi. It's a 2001 Civic; door jamb says 30. Your thoughts.......

 

[bottgers]

I haven't figured out why, but the tire shops seem to always want to over-inflate tires. When I had the tires mounted on my wife's van, and my Tercel and Corolla, all three sets were over-inflated by 5-6 psi. The first thing I do after having tires mounted (after the vehicles have been sitting for a while to get the proper cold pressure reading) is to deflate them to the pressure listed on the door. I can see no benefit from running them high, and the drawbacks are a rough ride and premature wear. Stick with what Honda recommends. I'm guessing their recommedation was determined by engineers whereas the tire shop guys are far from engineers. Also, if you don't already have one, get yourself a good digital tire gauge. I have an Accutire gauge and it's supposedly accurate within .5 psi. Check your pressure once a week. You'd be suprised how much pressure can fluctuate up or down in just a week's time.

 

[Kestas]

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Meutsch:
...He says his recommendation is to run them at 35psi. It's a 2001 Civic; door jamb says 30. Your thoughts.......

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Chris, there have been a number of threads on tire inflation on this site, with many, many good thoughts and opinions. Try a search on this forum and a few others on this site (Auto & Lubrication General Topics or Mechanical /Maintenance Problems, Tips, and Tricks).

Personally, I think 35 psi is okay. That's what I use for my vehicles that recommend lower pressures in the 30 psi range.

 

[bottgers]

quote:

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Originally posted by Kestas:

quote:

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Originally posted by Chris Meutsch:
...He says his recommendation is to run them at 35psi. It's a 2001 Civic; door jamb says 30. Your thoughts.......

---

Chris, there have been a number of threads on tire inflation on this site, with many, many good thoughts and opinions. Try a search on this forum and a few others on this site (Auto & Lubrication General Topics or Mechanical /Maintenance Problems, Tips, and Tricks).

Personally, I think 35 psi is okay. That's what I use for my vehicles that recommend lower pressures in the 30 psi range.

---

Just out of curiosity, what are you basing your opinion on that it's okay to run 5 psi higher than what's recommended? While it may be OKAY, I haven't seen anything that shows its OPTIMUM to do so, and in fact, I don't see any possible benefit by running with higher than normal pressures. The only reason I could see for anyone to run higher pressures is if you're carying extremely heavy loads, otherwise it isn't necessary.

 

[bottgers]

quote:

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Originally posted by bottgers:

quote:

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Originally posted by Kestas:

Originally posted by Chris Meutsch:
[qb]...He says his recommendation is to run them at 35psi. It's a 2001 Civic; door jamb says 30. Your thoughts.......

---

Chris, there have been a number of threads on tire inflation on this site, with many, many good thoughts and opinions. Try a search on this forum and a few others on this site (Auto & Lubrication General Topics or Mechanical /Maintenance Problems, Tips, and Tricks).

Personally, I think 35 psi is okay. That's what I use for my vehicles that recommend lower pressures in the 30 psi range.

---

Just out of curiosity, what are you basing your opinion on that it's okay to run 5 psi higher than what's recommended? While it may be OKAY, I haven't seen anything that shows its OPTIMUM to do so, and in fact, I don't see any possible benefit by running with higher than normal pressures. The only reason I could see for anyone to run higher pressures is if you're carying extremely heavy loads, otherwise it isn't necessary, and it will cause premature wear on the center portion of your tread.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Well, I'm back from 230 miles of highway driving at 35psi. Car felt a heck of a lot better at 35 than it ever did at 30. I still think it's high, but it's known that slightly higher pressures do better in rain. I think I may drop it to 33.5
I have a pretty good dial gauge I ordered online. It's brass and it was like $20. I'm crazy about tire pressure, I check it once a week.
Also, this was not a typcial "tire shop guy." It was arguably the best independant mechanic in town who's been doing it for 30 years. After I spent $65 two weeks ago for said tire shop guy to clean/adjust my rear brakes and rotate/balance, I realize that independents will get my business from now on. No more squeak in the rear brake (depsite my having them clean it 3 times!) and no more having to take the car back. This shop actually drives the car to make sure it's good to go, and makes you sign a form stating you allow them to drive it on the highway.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Personally, I think 35 psi is okay. That's what I use for my vehicles that recommend lower pressures in the 30 psi range. [/qb]

---

Just out of curiosity, what are you basing your opinion on that it's okay to run 5 psi higher than what's recommended? While it may be OKAY, I haven't seen anything that shows its OPTIMUM to do so, and in fact, I don't see any possible benefit by running with higher than normal pressures. The only reason I could see for anyone to run higher pressures is if you're carying extremely heavy loads, otherwise it isn't necessary, and it will cause premature wear on the center portion of your tread. [/QB][/QUOTE]

Center wear from higher pressures isn't near the problem it used to be with bias ply tires.

Before considering the door jamb/owners manual pressure the Holy Grail, you should ask yourself what the primary objetives of the folks that recommended that pressure were. They might not have been tire life -or- good handling.

 

[bottgers]

Hey, I'm wide open to new ideas, especially if they're good ones, but somebody is going to have to put forth something more substantial than "the tire guy said" or "my car felt a heck of a lot better" as justification. I can't for the life of me imagine why any auto manufacturer would base a pressure recommendation on anything besides the best compromise between tire life and good handling.....especially the good handling part because now we're talking liability of safety issues. I'm asking myself what the primary objectives would be of the auto makers when deciding what the pressure should be and I don't have a clue what else it could be.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by bottgers:
I'm asking myself what the primary objectives would be of the auto makers when deciding what the pressure should be and I don't have a clue what else it could be.

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Smooth ride.

 

[bottgers]

I put 2500-3000 miles a month on my car and I can't afford to do anything that isn't going to maximize tire life. Unless someone produces something concrete that shows running higher than recommended pressure is optimum, I'm sticking with what's on the door.

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by bottgers:
I put 2500-3000 miles a month on my car and I can't afford to do anything that isn't going to maximize tire life. Unless someone produces something concrete that shows running higher than recommended pressure is optimum, I'm sticking with what's on the door.

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That's up to you. Is seriously doubt that anyone but you cares what your tire life is.

 

[Kestas]

If you'd search, you'd find my opinions on tire pressures. I'll post them again.

Because of the precedent set by the Firestone/Explorer debacle, and since the pressure recommendation was based on politics and not good engineering, I think it's okay to second-guess the inflation pressures recommended by the manufacturers.

I overinflate my tires for a number of reasons...

1. I've never had a tire wear with a pattern of overinflation, but many have worn with a pattern of underinflation - even with keeping a keen eye on the tire pressure according to manufacturers specifications.

2. It leaves a little cushion should I develop a slow leak.

3. I don't have to drag out the air hose every time I want to put something heavy in the trunk, or load up with passengers. (Who does that anyhow? I've never seen someone purposely pump up their tires when a couple of friends pile in for a ride!). The days of getting air from the nearest corner gas station are over.

4. It helps prevent denting rims on our horrible SE Michigan roads.

5. Any extra harshness in the ride is not noticable to me - again, probably because of the bad roads.

6. I don't have to search for the recommended pressures every time I want to check the tires for every car I take care of. It's 35 psi for every tire in my fleet.

7. It helps just a bit on gas mileage.

None of this is based on any science. These are simply my feelings and observations.