Does anyone buy from Tire Rack anymore? It doesn't seem worth it......

[skyactiv]

The Tire Rack no longer has the selection with the major name brands it once did. I can order the Michelin Pilot Sport 5 in 225/45R18 from Costco but the Tire Rack doesn't offer it in that size. I can order the Continental Sport Contact 7 at Discount Tire in 225/45R18 but not at the Tire Rack. When my wife and I had a Corolla Hybrid, it took a 195/65R15. Michelin quit offering the CC2 in that size so the next best all-weather tire at the time that fit was the Hankook Kinergy 4S2 750. The Tire Rack never offered that tire but Discount Tire had it in stock locally. None of the tires I mentioned are exclusive tires for certain retailers.

I enjoy the Tire Rack website and the testing they do, but they are no longer the go to merchant when buying tires like they once was.

 

[nickaluch]

I do buy all my tires online but it's been a few decades since I bought from tire rack

 

[2strokeNorthstar]

Sure I’d like 35’s

At $450 each….regear at $2K….nah…

Yeah, probably the last time I'll do it. With gas prices and getting older, not as much fun

 

[OX1]

Oh and take al


Oh and I wanted to point out something in the above photo - the green sticker on the wheel. That's the way Ford has the wheel manufacturer matk the low point of the wheel. Notice it is not at the valve hole.

Also notice the big red dot on the sidewall of the tire. That is likely the high point of the radial 1st harmonic - and how it's really close to the green sticker. That's why this assembly has only 20 pounds of road force even though it's an LT tire and wheel.

Appreciate the discussions/info??

Ironically, I measured runout on that wheel. Very little to even do a "RF' procedure.
I Mic'd all 5 stock wheels, none had much over 20 thousands
(this steel one was the worst, but still really good), especially radial runout (which was typically 10 thou or less).

That tire just happened to be round and "well made". Many of the exact same
tire were made horribly. I put that tire on one of the alum rims (in some random spot),
didn't even run the RF procedure, and it RF'd 7 (the best I got in the final 4. I am using)

Final Right Front

My final numbers on the other 3. (switched this to rear when one other tire came in lower @ 8 #'s)

Left Rear (didn't take pic of rim runout)

Right Rear (eventually switched to front)

You can see the rims were almost "perfect", especially for base XLT trim, cast, run of the mill alum factory wheel.
Not a lot to work with for actual RF procedure.

This was how I got it off the lot.

This was not a matter of improper mount, improper (or lack of RF), poor balancing,
wheels out of spec. This was tires made like crap.

After Ford gave up on me and I realized ONE of the tires RF'd at a really low number
(especially for an LT), I decided there must be more good one's out there.

Of the 6 more that I bought, 2 were pretty good to excellent. 4 were returned and two (originals) I have
sitting out in the barn (hard to throw away new tires, but they are junk). The best one left,
became the new spare. One original tire and original spare were used on truck...

Been looking for a better (used) tire machine for over a year. Something with two "roller bead" disks,
that can press against the tire and make rotating tire on rim easier. All I found were
well used "shop" machine's, most 8-10 grand and 8 years or more old.

Gave up on used, just ordered a new Corghi Master J (wanted to stay with Hunter,
but their new prices are insane). Looking forward to being able to swap ultra low profile
tires and RF procedure more easily.

 

[ruralcarrier]

Hi everyone,
As the title indicates, does anyone actually buy tires from Tire Rack anymore?
In general their prices are not great especially when you consider the cost to mount and balance the tires. I have looked on their website for the affiliated shops to mount and balance the tires, and some shops are over $60.00 per tire. Yes there are cheaper shops, but at a minimum you will be paying at least $100.00 for mounting and balancing. The mounting and balancing costs negate any real savings in buying from Tire Rack.
I was looking at a set of BFG tires for my car and it is close to $200.00 cheaper to buy them from Costco (included mounting and balancing and rebate). I basically buy all of my tires from Costco.
I have purchased two different sets of tires from Tire Rack because the deal was too good to pass up and even with the mounting and balancing costs, they were still a great deal. I will say that I had no issues whatsoever in buying both sets of tires from Tire Rack.

I just don't see the draw to buy from them unless it's a stellar deal.

What do you think?

My last several sets have come from a very good local Chevy dealer. I even bought tires for a CR-V from them. They will price match and offer free rotation. A set of Bridgestone's wore out before the estimated mileage, and the dealer acted on my behalf for credit towards a new set. I had used a local Discount Tire in the past for an Acura but we sold the car and they closed that location.

 

[bdc101]

Alright you all: I've been shopping for new summer tires for my Mazda for the last 2 seasons. I thought I'd need them last year but I left them on (since I live in a desert and rarely see the rain) and they still have a teensy bit of tread. I was really unhappy with how expensive tires have gotten. My last set was in early 2019 which was a wonderful set of Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2s, which has lasted about 35,000 miles and been a wonderful tire. It cost me $700 out the door back then but now is about $1050 and never goes on sale.

Anyways, when I saw this thread I thought "Why don't I check Tire Rack" even though they don't generally have any good prices. Well, they did and I just ordered a set of Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires for $529 after a $70 rebate. They are 2022 production but I can deal with that. Plus, since Tire Rack and Discount Tire are buds, they will ship them to my local Discount Tire and scheduled the installation at checkout for the same price Discount Tire charges.

I was looking at going with a cheap all-season because I was so butt-hurt about how expensive everything was, and even the cheap Chinese tires weren't that cheap. I'll take a nice sticky Firestone that's been sitting in a warehouse for a few years over a cheap Chinese tire 10 times out of 10!

 

[grabgears6]

I have been a long standing customer and treated very well from DTD before the merger. I actually miss talking with Matt and Adrian about motorsports stuff. Last full set purchased was for my Silverado. Now since Tire Rack, I had purchased just a set of wheels, which arrived ok, but the boxes were all tore up. I bought The TPMS sensor from Rock Auto since the were much cheaper than Subaru, a good brand, and communicated with the vehicle in 2.5 miles. I also cruise the TR web site to see their offerings, not the best prices anymore, I see more common brand tires, but when you find a good deal, they are fine. I have also dealt with Custom offsets, was not a terrible thing if you wanted to finance the set through AFFIRM.
when it comes to s mudder type or aggressive tire for trucks I have reached out to some vendors on ebay ie: parrish and others for very good deals... would I buy from TR again, well that depends on the deal... in this new world order, sheet is just getting out of control. especially here in MD where the tax the life out of you.

 

[z71bill]

I am 100% Discount Tire - they are close to my home, the treat me like a customer and they will beat any price I have found someplace else -including Sam's Club, Walmart & NTB.

I just had the Goodyear tires I bought in September rotated.

They DT guy was nice and friendly - treated me like he really wanted me as a customer.

They do try and get you to buy windshield wipers but when I said I was good they didn't press.

I use Tire Rack to do tire research -

 

[mcm0455]

I've been buying tires/wheels from Tire Rack for the last 20 years. I have bought several set of winter tires/wheels and they have always had perfect fitment. I run winter tires on both our cars from November to May. Switching out the wheels sets takes about 30 minutes including the final torque on the lug nuts.

 

[bdc101]

I am 100% Discount Tire - they are close to my home, the treat me like a customer and they will beat any price I have found someplace else -including Sam's Club, Walmart & NTB.

I just had the Goodyear tires I bought in September rotated.

They DT guy was nice and friendly - treated me like he really wanted me as a customer.

They do try and get you to buy windshield wipers but when I said I was good they didn't press.

I use Tire Rack to do tire research -

Tire Rack and Discount Tire are the same company. I just got these from TR installed at DT in one transaction. It took 1.5 days to ship to my local DT.

 

[z71bill]

Tire Rack and Discount Tire are the same company. I just got these from TR installed at DT in one transaction. It took 1.5 days to ship to my local DT.

View attachment 328881

I know DT bought TR - they are still operated as separate companies as far as I can tell.

What advantage did you get buying from TR and having DT install them?

Could you just go straight to DT?

 

[robbobster]

Sometimes Tire Rack has crazy deals on close-out tires. Not much off-roading in my immediate future, so I replaced some 33” BFG KM3 with these Coopers…and saved a whopping 24 lbs per tire. Huge improvement in responsiveness, but not as big of an MPG bump as I had hoped.

 

[bdc101]

I know DT bought TR - they are still operated as separate companies as far as I can tell.

What advantage did you get buying from TR and having DT install them?

Could you just go straight to DT?

I did the whole deal, including scheduling the appointment, in one transaction through TR.

Also TR has a closeout like @robbobster mentioned. These are like $850 tires that I got for $403 plus install. They were "2022 production" closeout but what I ended up getting has a late-2023 manufacturing date.

DT didn't have the same deal as TR's website!

 

[robbobster]

I did the whole deal, including scheduling the appointment, in one transaction through TR.

Also TR has a closeout like @robbobster mentioned. These are like $850 tires that I got for $403 plus install. They were "2022 production" closeout but what I ended up getting has a late-2023 manufacturing date.

DT didn't have the same deal as TR's website!

I’m a longtime Discount Tire customer.

I asked if they’d match the Tire Rack price since they’re the same company…the manager said to order from Tire Rack and he would be happy to install them, but he couldn’t price match them at the time.

 

[grabgears6]

lately TR has been very disappointing in their inventory. Nothing in the sizes or models I would like...

 

[z71bill]

I did the whole deal, including scheduling the appointment, in one transaction through TR.

Also TR has a closeout like @robbobster mentioned. These are like $850 tires that I got for $403 plus install. They were "2022 production" closeout but what I ended up getting has a late-2023 manufacturing date.

DT didn't have the same deal as TR's website!

These close out deals look like a good reason to use TR.

 

[tbm5690]

These close out deals look like a good reason to use TR.

Correct. I bought Blizzaks at 50% off from TR last summer, shipped to DT for install. DT did not have the clearance price on those that TR had.

 

[grabgears6]

lately TR has been very disappointing in their inventory. Nothing in the sizes or models I would like...

Update, I grew tired of looking at cool uncommon wheels for my vehicle, while trying to "dare to be different" in stock/out of stock chaos. The more I dug into Enkei and watching a ton of cool reviews, manufacturing, history of, and overall use of the tried and true RPF1. These stand the test of time and performance and can easily return my investment should I change wayyy down the road.
So low and behold TR actually had these in stock, but 2 different warehouses. as was/is the rest of the order spread out... Fingers crossed that it all shows up. The sales rep was cool in making it happen.

 

[johnmyster]

A reputable local shop now charges $55 to mount an balance, but builds it into the cost of new tires, which is typically less than TR (and advantageous to the customer if you're using a mileage warranty discount, recall, etc.)

Seems like they've gotten "tired" of mounting internet sourced tires. They're choosing their customers. Good for them.

 

[grabgears6]

A reputable local shop now charges $55 to mount an balance, but builds it into the cost of new tires, which is typically less than TR (and advantageous to the customer if you're using a mileage warranty discount, recall, etc.)

Seems like they've gotten "tired" of mounting internet sourced tires. They're choosing their customers. Good for them.

Years ago, say back in the early 2000`s, tried doing business with local shops for mounting and balancing on Tires and wheels I brought in. I did a lot of sets not only for myself but for people I took care of. This one shop in particular did not like this, they were not satisfied with making 80-100 on a set of 4. and charged 40 per tire to mount and balance back then, telling me not to come back in lesser words.
I finally found that 1 shop locally who was a New shop opening up, he was happy to help, and this grew into a great relationship with other work I lead his way.
now currently, My Subi dealer price matched tires sold to me from them, low and behold they get their tires from TR. The current charge for mounting and balancing was 119.99. The tech who worked on the WRX did an outstanding job.