Where to buy tires, dealer or costco etc

[Chris19]

My truck needs tires and a alignment. The dealer is $300 more than costco for the final cost. I can get a $100 off coupon from the dealer and i think the dealer gives free tire rotations so i estimate the tires lasting me 8-10 years which means the dealer would be the same price in the long run as i get my state inspections done there every year along with a tire rotation for the convenience,

I have bought tires from costco in the past never had a issue i guess it comes down to how much do i want to pay for convenience as i would need to make two appointments since costco can't do state inspections or alignments.

In the past when costco did my tires i waited at the store and ended up spending what i saved by getting my tires at costco! I think that is what they have planned.

 

[RitcheyRch]

Costco, Sams Club, America's Tire/Discount Tire are good options. However, I would find a locally owned store that can do it all and see if they will price match the the price from Costco or Sams Club.

 

[Wheel366]

I got my 3 sets of tires at Costco. It can be a pain to bring them in for rotation but my options aren't as good. My dealer is more expensive, they only offer a 2 year road hazard warranty and balance and rotation aren't included. Nitrogen filled costs extra.

I have other options too but I wasn't thrilled with the last place I got tires before Costco. They tried to tell me that their free alignment with the purchase of 4 tires was the better deal. Well, it turns out that whenever I blew a tire out I had to pay the pro-rated fee for the replacement (I get that) but I also had to pay for a road hazard warranty on each repalcement tire and they charged me for mounting and balancing each time. They also had issues with balancing. When I first got the new tires, I had to take the car back twice because of their balancing machine being broken. After that, if the tire I was replacing was on the back I couldn't really tell if balancing was off but as soon as it was rotated I could tell and they would charge me again for balancing. So, in the end it cost me more. I also had wear issues on the tires and they blamed the alignment but when they did another alignment all wheels were in spec and they refused to replace under the treadware warranty.

 

[atikovi]

i estimate the tires lasting me 8-10 years

You can't say that here. Some folks will lecture you that they must be discarded after 6 years or else you will die.

 

[MParr]

Check the prices at your local Ford Quick Lane. They often have rebates. If you own a Ford and have a Ford Pass account, you can use your points towards a tire purchase.

 

[Chris19]

Check the prices at your local Ford Quick Lane. They often have rebates. If you own a Ford and have a Ford Pass account, you can use your points towards a tire purchase.

We don't have one of them. The cheapest was costco.

 

[Chris19]

You can't say that here. Some folks will lecture you that they must be discarded after 6 years or else you will die.

I only drive 2-3k miles a year on the truck.

 

[atikovi]

I only drive 2-3k miles a year on the truck.

No matter, they will still tell you to toss them as they are unsafe after 6 years.

 

[John105]

My truck needs tires and a alignment. The dealer is $300 more than costco for the final cost. I can get a $100 off coupon from the dealer and i think the dealer gives free tire rotations so i estimate the tires lasting me 8-10 years which means the dealer would be the same price in the long run as i get my state inspections done there every year along with a tire rotation for the convenience,

I have bought tires from costco in the past never had a issue i guess it comes down to how much do i want to pay for convenience as i would need to make two appointments since costco can't do state inspections or alignments.

In the past when costco did my tires i waited at the store and ended up spending what i saved by getting my tires at costco! I think that is what they have planned.

I've bought 3 sets of tires at Costco, the pricing seems to be same as my favorite online eTailer that I think I've purchased from before there was online.

We have a Costco that's also in a tax-free state. We had a tire patched there (free), and we even got a set that had warranty credit. I feel they're the real deal. But because I don't know if the techs can drive a stick, I won't bring my manual car there. p.s. I love the self serve nitrogen

 

[Tifosi]

I used Discount Tires, simply because they will price match and IMO, you get a much better aftersales service should you ever need them. Otherwise, my next choice is Costco.

 

[SC Maintenance]

From A place that has a road force balancer.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Whoever torques them properly and doesn't just zip the nuts on with an air gun

 

[JustinH]

Walmart has been beating discount tire on price, my last two sets of tires were purchased from them.

 

[pghvolvo]

I get my tires at a local discount tire store, same as Tire Rack prices maybe a little less. The cost of mounting and balancing at the local tire store is half what the dealer charges. Tires are about the same in cost, it's the installation that will empty your wallet. I just paid $106 to get my snow tires put on yesterday, dealer would have been close to $200 to mount and balance four snows.

Definitely call around for the best prices on tires and installation. Don't think twice about calling smaller shops you might be surprised at their cost.

Walmart wants $129.00 for the same tire my local shop sells for $115.00

 

[92saturnsl2]

You can't say that here. Some folks will lecture you that they must be discarded after 6 years or else you will die.

Many folks make the X number of years a blanket statement which is dumb. There are too many variables.

If the car is garage kept and say you park in a parking garage for work, I bet you'd see 10+ years out of a set of tires (assuming there's tread left). I've had to throw "good" tires away after 4-5 years due to cracking on vehicles that were kept outside in the elements with absolutely no garaging. The average is probably somewhere in between.

 

[pghvolvo]

Many folks make the X number of years a blanket statement which is dumb. There are too many variables.

If the car is garage kept and say you park in a parking garage for work, I bet you'd see 10+ years out of a set of tires (assuming there's tread left). I've had to throw "good" tires away after 4-5 years due to cracking on vehicles that were kept outside in the elements with absolutely no garaging. The average is probably somewhere in between.

Michelin at least with their tires say they're good for 10 years.

 

[MHartfield]

I used Costco in Sanat Clarita, CA, for, maybe 4 sets of auto tires. Last set only went 60k miles... I normally go 75-80k. Went to Discount Tire (California company) and got a much better deal. Now I'm in Arizona, the Discount Tire in Bullhead City (which might be America's Tire in CA?) was $60 less per tire than the Costco California price.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Michelin at least with their tires say they're good for 10 years.

I never got more than 4-5 years out of a set of Michelins before they started cracking horribly, which is why I stopped buying them. That was 5-6 years ago, so I don't have any experience with their recent tire lines.

 

[John105]

I never got more than 4-5 years out of a set of Michelins before they started cracking horribly, which is why I stopped buying them. That was 5-6 years ago, so I don't have any experience with their recent tire lines.

Again most of us don't have enough vehicles over across many miles to be scientific, but to your point, that happened with a set of OE Latitudes.

There was a factory recall for tires produced before, and after ours, so ours were not included!!

I have 4 current Michelin sets on 3 cars--Premier LTX (2nd set, first wore prematurely under warranty as they started at 8.5/32) Pilot A/S 4+, Xice Xi3, Pilot Super Sport. The 2nd and 3rd sets are both around 6 y.o.--zero dry rot appearance. I have a set of Goodyear snows made in Germany, 2007, zero dry rot. So the only time I ever experienced the cracking sidewalls was with the Michelin Latitudes.

 

[andrew_j]

I have tried two places that “only install” and have been burned. Going somewhere else for alignment and suspension work if needed is quite a hassle.

I use a “tire” shop the does alignment for $40(half) when buying tires and is competent at brakes, oil, suspension and not into recommending excess auto repairs. The owner is wealthy from his property($35 million) from former locations so is not into overcharging for his work.

No idea why he does not sell his current location which is large parcel near a downtown thriving area.