OT: Best place to buy [car] tires?

[Ken Robb]

Lots of good info already so let me just add a reminder that Tire Rack has real tests of tires plus customer satisfaction tire surveys which I find helpful when deciding which tire appeals to me the most.

[likebikes]

Originally Posted by OtayBW

I had a mechanic tell me just yesterday that a set of Michelin Defender LTX M/S that I could buy from him was not the same Michelin Defender LTX M/S that was being sold at Costco or some other discount house.

Seemed awful FISHY to me. Anyone have any experience with this kind of thing? Thx.

there used to be two different versions of the defender- the regular defender and the defender xt- which was sold through the big box stores like walmart, sam’s club, and costco. they seem to have dropped the different names with the most recent edition of the defender.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by FriarQuade

I probably wouldn't use them for HP summer tires on the Miata, only because they're pretty sensitive to balance and his equipment was pretty damn old.

...and mounted in a truck, which can't be great for calibration...

[Nessism]

TireRack has great reviews. I used those to help select the tires I wanted, then I shopped the best price and wound up at Simpletire.com. They were awesome. The tires were shipped to a local shop, who mounted and balanced for $50. A very pleasurable experience overall. Simpletire has regular sales too, which sweetens the pot even more.

[klasse]

Originally Posted by Hellgate

Costco or Sam's Club.

Sam's will order whatever you want price and installation is hard to beat.

Costco was my most recent purchase. Used to do Firestone b/c I have lifetime alignment there. Both places run a good Black Friday special.

[kiwisimon]

I'm not in the US, just bought new snow tires last month. The local guy private mechanic charges me $100 a tire fitted and balanced. He was slammed busy pre XMAS so I ordered online, waited at home for delivery and carried the tires in my car to chain gas station and they installed and balanced. I saved 1,380 yen. About $12 USD. Next tires I am ordering from my guy early. The retail markup from tire company can't be that different. Maybe local costs a little more but feels better.

[HenryA]

There is lot to be said for buying/ordering tires from a good local tire shop. Mine orders with a phone call and tells me to come in tomorrow at some particular time. “They’ll be here at 11am!” They offer free rotation for life of tires and will fix tires immediately while you wait. Prices on tires are so close to internet there is no money to be saved and no hassle with waiting for them to ship or transporting to the tire shop. There is a reason they are still in business after 40 something years.

[cinema]

i always use vulcan tire

[Nessism]

Originally Posted by HenryA

There is lot to be said for buying/ordering tires from a good local tire shop. Mine orders with a phone call and tells me to come in tomorrow at some particular time. “They’ll be here at 11am!” They offer free rotation for life of tires and will fix tires immediately while you wait. Prices on tires are so close to internet there is no money to be saved and no hassle with waiting for them to ship or transporting to the tire shop. There is a reason they are still in business after 40 something years.

Local service is fine and dandy, assuming the service is prompt and convenient. Before I bought tires through SimpleTire I check various local stores and all were significantly more expensive for crappier tires.

Ironically (or not), my tire research on TireRack and other places led me to buy General Altimax RT43's for my son's college commuter car. And now I see that they are a top choice on Consumer Reports. Got a chuckle out of that.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by Ken Robb

Lots of good info already so let me just add a reminder that Tire Rack has real tests of tires plus customer satisfaction tire surveys which I find helpful when deciding which tire appeals to me the most.

Originally Posted by Nessism

Local service is fine and dandy, assuming the service is prompt and convenient. Before I bought tires through SimpleTire I check various local stores and all were significantly more expensive for crappier tires.

Ironically (or not), my tire research on TireRack and other places led me to buy General Altimax RT43's for my son's college commuter car. And now I see that they are a top choice on Consumer Reports. Got a chuckle out of that.

Remember, statistically one in every two people is of below average intelligence...that's why you shouldn't trust user reviews.

That and people buy tires once every 3-4 years? Not only do they have small sample sizes, like in many court cases, memories fade quickly.


TireRack does do some of their own rigorous testing though.

[Nessism]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

Remember, statistically one in every two people is of below average intelligence...that's why you shouldn't trust user reviews.

That and people buy tires once every 3-4 years? Not only do they have small sample sizes, like in many court cases, memories fade quickly.


TireRack does do some of their own rigorous testing though.

TireRack has 1,300 review on the General Altimax tires.

[rice rocket]

Originally Posted by Nessism

TireRack has 1,300 review on the General Altimax tires.

What are you suggesting? That those 1300 people could have good knowledge of tires?

Again, most people buy maybe 10 sets of tires in their lifetime, and usually it's after several years of using their last set. What's "good" to them could be just marginally better than the clapped out old tires they just took off, because that's how the brain works. It's hardly a good judge of tire quality and characteristics, that's why you should pay more attention to the comparisons they conduct, and take user reviews w/ a grain of salt.

[deluz]

Since COVID I let my tires go bald.
Then I find a local mobile tire service that came to my house and installed the tires. Price was comparable to Discount Tires. I will never go to a tire shop again.

[ripvanrando]

Originally Posted by rice rocket

Remember, statistically one in every two people is of below average intelligence...that's why you shouldn't trust user reviews.

That and people buy tires once every 3-4 years? Not only do they have small sample sizes, like in many court cases, memories fade quickly.


TireRack does do some of their own rigorous testing though.

Tire evaluation ain't no rocket surgery

I've had 13 sets of tires just on the cars in my CURRENT stable.

[Doug Fattic]

The Tire Rack's business location in South Bend, IN is near me. Their engineer is a good friend of mine and took my framebuilding class in 1992. They organize a bike ride for their employees out of their location a couple of days a week. Some time ago I heard that they have 4 semi-truck loads of tires that go out every day.

One of the more unusual things I did for them last year was make some custom forks for pedal tricycles so they could be equipped with winter tires to pedal on Notre Dame's ice rink. It was an impressive way to show the stopping and starting effectiveness of winter over summer tires. I wrote about this on Paceline.