Tire shopping - 2015 Camry

You are being misled by the individual you talked to at Sam's Club. I have always had the basic (normally $50) membership and I got the $100 instant discount when I bought 4 of the Pirelli P4 tires in April when the promo started. Plus Memberships get an added $40 bonus discount for a total of $140 off a set of 4 Pirelli tires (see fine print in screen capture below).

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Go back to the store and ask the attendant in the tire shop. You can also buy it online and the $100 discount automatically applies upon checkout.
I talked to someone on the phone who acted like I was interrupting her lunch. I'll just drive down there and speak to someone in person.
 
You are being misled by the individual you talked to at Sam's Club. I have always had the basic (normally $50) membership and I got the $100 instant discount when I bought 4 of the Pirelli P4 tires in April when the promo started. Plus Memberships get an added $40 bonus discount for a total of $140 off a set of 4 Pirelli tires (see fine print in screen capture below).

View attachment 222983View attachment 222984

Go back to the store and ask the attendant in the tire shop. You can also buy it online and the $100 discount automatically applies upon checkout.
Man, thanks so much for your help. I got the $25 membership and I got the deal! Scheduled for Wednesday. Considering the reviews, treat life warranty, and lifetime balance/rotation from Sam's, I feel pretty good about it. They're advertised as low rolling resistance so hopefully my mpg improves or, at the very least, stays the same.

Quick question: are they directional or non directional? I don't know a lot about this stuff but is there a specific way they should be mounted and rotated?
 
Man, thanks so much for your help. I got the $25 membership and I got the deal! Scheduled for Wednesday. Considering the reviews, treat life warranty, and lifetime balance/rotation from Sam's, I feel pretty good about it. They're advertised as low rolling resistance so hopefully my mpg improves or, at the very least, stays the same.

Quick question: are they directional or non directional? I don't know a lot about this stuff but is there a specific way they should be mounted and rotated?
They are non-directional tread patterns on the P4 Persist, so they can be rotated onto any side and position. I have them on a 2001 & a 2010 Honda Accord and prefer their overall all-season performance characteristics over the Michelin Primacy they replaced.

The only caveat with buying tires at Sam's Club is the road-hazard warranty. If you ever have to claim a tire replacement because of a road hazard, Sam's Club makes you pay the $20 mount/balance/road hazard fee again on the new replacement tire. After they are mounted, please re-check the tire pressures yourself before leaving the parking lot. Years ago, I had one new tire overinflated at Sam's because they use 60 psi to seat the bead on the rim, then reduce the pressure to the door sticker value. Apparently, the tire technician got in a hurry and left one tire at 60 psi!

p.s., Unless you want to sustain the Sam's Club Membership at full price after a year, be sure to log into your online account and un-check the auto-renew option.
 
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They are non-directional tread patterns on the P4 Persist, so they can be rotated onto any side and position. I have them on a 2001 & a 2010 Honda Accord and prefer their overall all-season performance characteristics over the Michelin Primacy they replaced.

The only caveat with buying tires at Sam's Club is the road-hazard warranty. If you ever have to claim a tire replacement because of a road hazard, Sam's Club makes you pay the $20 mount/balance/road hazard fee again on the new replacement tire. After they are mounted, please re-check the tire pressures yourself before leaving the parking lot. Years ago, I had one new tire overinflated at Sam's because they use 60 psi to seat the bead on the rim, then reduce the pressure to the door sticker value. Apparently, the tire technician got in a hurry and left one tire at 60 psi!

p.s., Unless you want to sustain the Sam's Club Membership at full price after a year, be sure to log into your online account and un-check the auto-renew option.
Good to know, thanks again!
 
Good to know, thanks again!

After they are mounted, please re-check the tire pressures yourself before leaving the parking lot. Years ago, I had one new tire overinflated at Sam's because they use 60 psi to seat the bead on the rim, then reduce the pressure to the door sticker value. Apparently, the tire technician got in a hurry and left one tire at 60 psi!
 
You were right about double checking their work. They over inflated one of my tires to 43 psi. Not a big deal. But what was worse was the face they broke off two of my TPMS sensors when installing the tires! I could hear it rolling around on the inside of the tires. I took it back and they made it right. So heads up to anyone who gets tires replaced and afterwards hears a cling/clang/pop sound at slow speeds... Check to make sure your TPMS is still intact lol.
I'm very happy with the Pirelli tires. Still waiting for my mpg to go back up... I read it can take a while with new tires.
 
Given Walmarts extremely egregiously expensive balancing charge is Sams now price competitive on mounting and balancing tires? (They never used to be)
 
You were right about double checking their work. They over inflated one of my tires to 43 psi. Not a big deal. But what was worse was the face they broke off two of my TPMS sensors when installing the tires! I could hear it rolling around on the inside of the tires. I took it back and they made it right. So heads up to anyone who gets tires replaced and afterwards hears a cling/clang/pop sound at slow speeds... Check to make sure your TPMS is still intact lol.
I'm very happy with the Pirelli tires. Still waiting for my mpg to go back up... I read it can take a while with new tires.
Any time you go from a worn tire of ANY brand to a new tire of ANY brand, you should expect a slight decrease in gas mileage. This is mostly due to the old tire having less grip/friction coefficient as a result of the worn tread/grooves (i.e., new tires have more grip than old tires). In addition, the inner core rubber compound on the old tire will be harder due to aging/compound design than the softer new outer tread rubber.
 
Any time you go from a worn tire of ANY brand to a new tire of ANY brand, you should expect a slight decrease in gas mileage. This is mostly due to the old tire having less grip/friction coefficient as a result of the worn tread/grooves (i.e., new tires have more grip than old tires). In addition, the inner core rubber compound on the old tire will be harder due to aging/compound design than the softer new outer tread rubber.

Ah ..... Mmmm..... That's not the way it works.

Tire rolling resistance is NOT the result of friction with the road surface. Nor is it a function of tire hardness.

A tire's rolling resistance is controlled by the amount of deflection (which is closely tied to inflation pressure/load), the amount of rubber (a worn tire has less that a new tire) AND a rubber property called Hysteresis. You can think of hysteresis as internal friction, but it is not friction with the road surface.

Also, there is a technological triangle involving treadwear, traction, and rolling resistance. If you want to improve one, you have to sacrifice one or both of the others. And differences between rubber compounds can be HUGE!! - certainly much larger than between new and worn. So it's possible for a car's fuel economy to improve by changing out worn out tires, although that's not what usually happens.

I go into more detail here: Barry's Tire Tech: Rolling Resistance and Fuel Economy

And here: Barry's Tire Tech: Followup on Rolling Resistance and Fuel Economy (Revised May, 2023)
 
Given Walmarts extremely egregiously expensive balancing charge is Sams now price competitive on mounting and balancing tires? (They never used to be)
I would say that Sam's Club's price is competitive with all major tire chains. They charge $20 per tire for the installation package which includes the following as long as you maintain an active membership. For certain brands, you also get the $100 instant discount at the time of purchase if you buy a set of four tires, which more than offsets the $80 (total) installation fee.
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Not knowing anything about them, the price sounds nice. So many tires today exceed $250 ea., and we’re not talking about high performance etc…
 
The General Altimax RT45 is an excellent tire. Just put a set on daughters car last week. Have had very good experiences with the Altimax. They go a long way and do good in poor weather also.
Agree.
RT43 on my accord, when time for some new tires will go with RT45.
General Evertrek on her Altima, same or RT45 when the time comes
 
I've been on Google for hours and hours and hours looking up reviews. For every good review I see, I find one that states the product is horrible. I thought I'd ask the community for first hand experiences on brands, wear, price, etc.
2015 Toyota Camry. I'm hoping to stay $150 per tire or less. Places like Discount and Firestone seem pretty high so I'm narrowing it down to Walmart or local tire shops (never tried Tire Rack, but I'm open to it if you've had good experiences).
So far, I've been looking at:
Uniroyal Tiger Paw Touring A/S DT
Hankook Kinergy HT S735
Firestone All Season
Nexen N5000+
Goodyear reliant all season
Goodyear Assurance Outlast
BF Goodrich Advantage Control
Kumo Solus Ta51a

Any experience with these brands, either praises or regret? Any for brands I haven't mentioned? Of course, looking for long life, good warranty, and hopefully something will low rolling resistance/something that won't increase my mpg (if that's even really a thing, idk).
Thanks for all input.
I'd stay far away from Walmart. My parents purchased a number of tires there and always had a blow out especially their Arizona to Colorado drives. But they stopped using Walmart and quit having tire issues. I've had great luck with tire rack but don't think they offer a road hazard warranty nor mounting and balancing. I've personally had good luck with Michelin.
 
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I'd stay far away from Walmart. My parents purchased a number of tires there and always had a blow out especially their Arizona to Colorado drives. But they stopped using Walmart and quit having tire issues. I've had great luck with tire rack but don't think they offer a road hazard warranty nor mounting and balancing. I've personally had good luck with Michelin.
Hmmm, so every time they purchased tires from Walmart they had a blowout? I’ve bought tires from Walmart and no problem.

How many blowouts did they have before they finally narrowed it down to just Walmart?
 
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Hmmm, so every time they purchased tires from Walmart they had a blowout? I’ve bought tires from Walmart and no problem.

How many blowouts did they have before they finally narrowed it down to just Walmart?
Three sets from Walmart. At least one tire had a blowout from each set. So far while driving the same route no blowouts with tires from discount tire.
 
The way I see this is the more expensive the tire, the less likely there will be a problem.

So I think the question becomes: How much risk are you willing to take compared to how much money you want to spend?

But the starting point is deciding what performance parameters are important to you. Recognizing that tires are a compromise, and you can't have everything is the key.
He would be fine with a Nexen Tire. Some of us have actually owned them with good results.
 
Old thread I know....
I went with the Pirelli P4 Persist and they've been great (well, I did have to swap one out under warranty for radial pull issue). My question is this:
Can they be mounted in any direction? It says online that they are non directional/ asymmetrical. There are no "inside/outside" markings. The only difference from the inside and outside is the tread pattern goes down on one side and up on the other. The DOT number has the last 4 digits on one side but not the other. I called Pirelli twice and they gave me two different answers..
 
Old thread I know....
I went with the Pirelli P4 Persist and they've been great (well, I did have to swap one out under warranty for radial pull issue). My question is this:
Can they be mounted in any direction? It says online that they are non directional/ asymmetrical. There are no "inside/outside" markings. The only difference from the inside and outside is the tread pattern goes down on one side and up on the other. The DOT number has the last 4 digits on one side but not the other. I called Pirelli twice and they gave me two different answers..

If you mean the P4 Persist AS Plus, they are non-directional, symmetrical. That means there is no way to mount them incorrectly.

Asymmetrical tires will have some sort in inside/outside marking. Directional tires will have sort sort of arrow indicating the direction of rotation.
 
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