OT tires... for a compact car

[zennmotion]

As picky as I am about the kicks for my bike, I have no idea how to shop for car tires, I've always just called a couple of places nearby and asked what they had in stock and would recommend. Lame. It's home improvement season and, once again, I keep picking up nails and screws in the neighborhood from the damn handymen that don't clean up properly . My little Scion XB has small rims (P185/60 R15) that leave me little time to slow down and get off the road when I notice a flat before the sidewall is bruised or cut, and it's getting expensive. The choices look overwhelming- but it looks like the way to go is through an online wholesaler and have them installed by my mechanic whom I really like and trust- I bring him cookies just because he's saved me big headaches and $$$ over many years. In shopping for new tires, where is the sweet spot cost-wise? For this car, durability>high performance, I've slowed down since my I'm-gonna-miss-my-racewarmup-roadie days, and this car seldom sees snow/ice, or extended highway trips, mostly just around town and weekend bike events. Any general advice? Do brands matter here? Thanks in advance!

[makoti]

As picky as I am about the kicks for my bike, I have no idea how to shop for car tires, I've always just called a couple of places nearby and asked what they had in stock and would recommend. Lame. It's home improvement season and, once again, I keep picking up nails and screws in the neighborhood from the damn handymen that don't clean up properly . My little Scion XB has small rims (P185/60 R15) that leave me little time to slow down and get off the road when I notice a flat before the sidewall is bruised or cut, and it's getting expensive. The choices look overwhelming- but it looks like the way to go is through an online wholesaler and have them installed by my mechanic whom I really like and trust- I bring him cookies just because he's saved me big headaches and $$$ over many years. In shopping for new tires, where is the sweet spot cost-wise? For this car, durability>high performance, I've slowed down since my I'm-gonna-miss-my-racewarmup-roadie days, and this car seldom sees snow/ice, or extended highway trips, mostly just around town and weekend bike events. Any general advice? Do brands matter here? Thanks in advance!

Not really for tire choices, but I just had to replace one & went through Tire Rack. They shipped to an installer in Burke (I'm in Nova, too) & it was pretty painless. Not a huge savings, but would be on four. If you trust your car guy, ask him. Even if you buy online, he could install.
And, who is your car guy? Always looking for a good mechanic I can trust.

[zennmotion]

Not really for tire choices, but I just had to replace one & went through Tire Rack. They shipped to an installer in Burke (I'm in Nova, too) & it was pretty painless. Not a huge savings, but would be on four. If you trust your car guy, ask him. Even if you buy online, he could install.
And, who is your car guy? Always looking for a good mechanic I can trust.

Thanks, my mechanic may be a bit far for you, he's in Arlington, Japanese Auto Service located near the Virginia Square metro, I've been going to him for many years, he works on all makes. Sent you a PM with address and phone number.

[saab2000]

I have bought two sets of tires through Tire Rack. Find your make and model and year and go through the ratings.

I can't advise on installation. You can ask a local tire dealer what they will charge to install.

Car tires are a relative bargain compared to good bike tires. You can probably get 4 new and high quality tires for $500. It's not cheap, but they'll last 50,000 miles and bike tires don't last 10% of that.

Don't skimp and get cheap tires. At the very least get the same ones the car came with but you can probably do better than that. Tire Rack is a good place to at least do research by looking at ratings from actual buyers.

[Louis]

+1 on Tire Rack.

I've purchased both winter tires (Bizzak sp?) mounted on steel rims and unmounted tires from them. A local shop I use had no problems with me bringing the four tires in and swapping them out for the ones on the car.

[EPIC! Stratton]

Another +1 on Tire Rack. The other suggestion is get a quote from them and see if your local place will match/beat it. Always nice to support local businesses when you can.

[eddief]

installed Michelins on my 2004 Rav4. Those tires changed the quietude of that car a lot. No appointments at Costco, but free flat fix, free rotate, free hydrogen. I think mostly Tire Rack does well too, but not so much after the sale.

[Ken Robb]

If you have Discount Tire Stores near you I recommend them highly for price/service/free rotations/balancing.

As others have said Tire Rack is as good as I can imagine a mail-order business being. Their thorough tests and consumer reviews should give you the info you need to make a wise choice for your usage. The installers they refer buyers to have to perform well or lose the Tire Rack business.

[yngpunk]

+1 on Tire Rack.

I've purchased both winter tires (Bizzak sp?) mounted on steel rims and unmounted tires from them. A local shop I use had no problems with me bringing the four tires in and swapping them out for the ones on the car.

+1 on Tire Rack as well. Also, they should have a list of auto shops/tire places that will receive your tires and do the install. If I recall correctly, Tire Rack also had the prices the shop charged for the install. I had mine shipped to a NTB and worked out well....apparently the NTB I used did this service often for tires purchased from Tire Rack

[yngpunk]

installed Michelins on my 2004 Rav4. Those tires changed the quietude of that car a lot. No appointments at Costco, but free flat fix, free rotate, free hydrogen. I think mostly Tire Rack does well too, but not so much after the sale.

Nitrogen, not hydrogen...:no: think Hindenburg

[p nut]

If you have Discount Tire Stores near you I recommend them highly for price/service/free rotations/balancing.
.

For me, Discount Tire always comes out cheaper than TireRack. May depend on your locale. I had some Yokohama Avid's in that size, which I was happy with. If nails/debris weren't a concern, Michelin Destiny are awesome.

[JStonebarger]

Michelin Premier A/S on my Honda Fit. They're very nice. Pricey, but not a whole lot more than the Dunlops they replaced, probably because they're an odd small size. Much more quiet than the Dunlops, rated at 60,000 miles, and they don't lose grip when worn. Check them out.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Premier+A%2FS

[eddief]

That Rav could haul ass with hydrogen. Glad it's nitro.

Nitrogen, not hydrogen...:no: think Hindenburg

[eddief]

?

[Avincent52]

Love Tire Rack.
Both for higher performance tires for my BMW wagon as well as for my minivan.
I think the sweetspot is a decent all-season by Michelin, Bridgestone, whatever.

Those Michelins above look great. I absolutely love my Michelin Alpin winter tires and I've heard good things about their all-seasons

[oldpotatoe]

Another +1 on Tire Rack. The other suggestion is get a quote from them and see if your local place will match/beat it. Always nice to support local businesses when you can.

I can see you've never been in retail. Give the local place a chance to lose money!! Local business' that see the need to 'match' are often the first ones to go OOB.

[zennmotion]

Nitrogen, not hydrogen...:no: think Hindenburg

Hydrogen would reduce rotating weight, and anyway both are available free. And a catastrophe like the Hindenburg has happened, like, once in history?

[zennmotion]

Michelin Premier A/S on my Honda Fit. They're very nice. Pricey, but not a whole lot more than the Dunlops they replaced, probably because they're an odd small size. Much more quiet than the Dunlops, rated at 60,000 miles, and they don't lose grip when worn. Check them out.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Michelin&tireModel=Premier+A%2FS

Thanks these look good, but don't fit the Scion. However, we also have a 2015 Fit, so I'll keep these in mind, the Fit does travel far- with tandem INSIDE :banana:

[carpediemracing]

+another for Tire Rack. I've been using them since I think the 80s, when we had to mail them a check before they'd send the tires (I bought tires for my parents in high school). At one point, between my brother, his wife, me, my wife, my other brother, his wife, my dad, and snows for many of them, we had maybe 15-16 sets of Tire Rack tires mounted on either factory or Tire Rack sourced steel rims. In our 3 vehicle family right now we have 2 sets of factory tires and 3 sets of Tire Rack tires (the 3 are snows, and one vehicle only wears snows).

A good friend (former leadout man, teammate, roommate, etc, known him for 25-30 years at this point), had worked at a local tire install place. He told me stories, and just to make things clear, told me never to go to that place.

Tire Rack has a warehouse about 5-10 minutes from the house. I now go pick up the tires myself, local garage installs them. Interesting to see the local tire chain's trucks picking up loads of tires.

The garages get 15% discount on the tires if they order them so it's not huge. Since I want to shop the tire the garage tells me to buy the tire, it's just simpler for them. For a while, when I lived 90 minutes further south, I used my friend's garage to install/balance tires. Now it's too inconvenient to do that.

Read the reviews. The things that get me are tire noise, tread life, and traction in inclement weather. With dedicated snows I don't care about snow traction for the "regular" tires. Right now we have factory all seasons but I'll probably replace them with summer tires. Having had the noisiest tires and the quieter ones, I prefer quiet ones. Treadlife is nice. Traction in the wet really gets me. Obviously a worn tire will be worse, but it's bad when a new tire feels like it's about to hydroplane.

Install is important also. If the machine catches the tire you can break/damage a cord. This makes for a noisy tire that eventually develops a lump. I ruined a couple tires like this.

The thing that I look at is tire weight. It's amazing how heavy a tire can get. Factory spec tires tend to be very light. Installing a heavy tire deadens the feel of the car so I try to stay close to the factory tire weight, at least for the 3 season tires. For winter tires I don't care, and the weight shows, huge difference in weight. I have one car that wears the same size tire for both winter/summer, 225/45-17, and I think the summer rim/tire is 36 lbs, the winter is 44 lbs or something like that. I just checked pictures I took, 35.8 lbs vs 46.9 lbs. Rim is some of that difference but still, it's only a 17" rim.

When I chose snows for the Expedition (we drive it maybe 1000 miles a year, for sure in March/April and it might snow therefore I decided on snows only) I chose a tire I trusted (Blizzak). Ended up lighter I think, definitely quieter, and obviously much better in snow than the factory tires on it (which may or may not have been th original tires - they were so hard the thing slipped in the rain like it was oil).

[George Ab]

Discount Tire is quite competitive and is easy, little hassle. Tire rack is likely the cheapest if you can deal with the hassle. For a Scion XB which tends to be noisy, get a quiet tire. I really like Continental Extreme Contact DSW; quiet, last a long time, and handle well. When I wore out a set after 80K, just put on the same thing. I also use the Pirelli P Zero as they came on my GTI and I really like them also. Review of performance tires here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp?tireMake=Continental&tireModel=ExtremeContact+DWS

[sjbraun]

I'm always amazed at the quality of the people who work for Discount Tire. Everyone is friendly and they hustle like crazy. I never see anyone walk from job to job, they're always running.

I wonder how they screen for new hires?

[mktng]

Tire Rack - even from Canada (when the dollar isnt complete shyte) its a good deal.

Michelin Pilot's are great tires. Look into those. Great balance of performance and comfort. Great thing about 15's?....tires are affordable :)!

But to address the main issue...

Id definitely crack down on which contracting company is leaving junk around. Keep note of companies in your area on the daily. Contact those companies and put out a general "heads up" complaint about someone leaving crap around.

[zennmotion]

Tire Rack - even from Canada (when the dollar isnt complete shyte) its a good deal.

Michelin Pilot's are great tires. Look into those. Great balance of performance and comfort. Great thing about 15's?....tires are affordable :)!

But to address the main issue...

Id definitely crack down on which contracting company is leaving junk around. Keep note of companies in your area on the daily. Contact those companies and put out a general "heads up" complaint about someone leaving crap around.

Heh. I get the point but I can just imagine how far I'd get calling probably dozens of contractors and tracking down the subcontractors and just how those conversations would go, in several languages. Not to mention all the individual unlicensed guys who illegally avail themselves of the demolition debris containers parked on the street at job sites saving a trip to the dump. Tire life is short, but so is life, price of admission living in the DC burbs.

[JStonebarger]

Thanks these look good, but don't fit the Scion...

Sorry about that -- at a glance I thought I saw your size (185/55 or 65 yes, but no 185/60!)

You may want to look into what other sizes will work. Yeah, it may sound risky, but at least with the Fit you can find plenty of first-hand accounts of folks riding other (usually wider) sizes without issue.

[deechee]

Someone with more experience can chime in, but I know in the past, I've ridden different sized winter tires when options were low or I was able to get some free tires.

The Premier A/S are available as 195/55R15's which are unfortunately wider (might pick up MORE nails) but the diameter diff (http://tire-size-conversion.com/tire-size-comparison/) is only 0.3". They're quiet and I've been stuck doing long drives in the rain lately and they're very confident. Nothing special here, just driving a 2010 Corolla.

That said, I've been having a lousy year too, and picked up a nail maybe a week or two after I had these tires installed. The tire sensors picked it up tho, so I was able to keep pumping air into them (with my bike pump haha) until I made it to my usual garage. I have to admit, this is the 2nd time at least that the tire pressure sensors noticed a puncture before it was too late, and I was able to have my tire repaired. (I also got two flats during the winter, destroying some expensive Nokian tires. )

Does your Scion support TPMS? I've been told you can pick up used sets cheaper, and at one point I was looking for my winter tires, but got bored of looking.

[NHAero]

I put Kumho Ecsta LX Platinum on my Fit Sport 4 years ago and I'm happy. Supposed to be a very long wearing tire, so far they look great. Paid $392 from Tire Rack, who drop ships them to the local Midas dealer, who mounted and balanced them for $82. Local (only) tire place on MV was rude on the phone, and wanted $50 per tire mounted and balanced.