The road recently implanted a nail in one of my tires, and the tire was sufficiently worn that it wasn’t repairable. After 40k miles, it’s not unexpected. So time for a new set of tires. Option A is to visit my neighborhood tire store and see what they have. Option B is to see what I can find on the net. Of course, the shipping cost for a set of 4 tires from a net supplier would be prohibitive. And also would be the trouble finding someone to mount them.
But I found the Tire Rack. There are four things that I was pleasantly surprised by.
First, they have lots of review data performed by themselves and comments/ratings from customers. This info is very helpful. You can see how tires are rated on a number of criteria. That helps you balance criteria for what is important for you (i.e., snow/ice performance vs. road noise vs. tread wear). Unless you have a lot of knowledge of tires, I found this to be invaluable in helping me make a purchase choice. They have a really good database of automobile info, so just select your car and they will tell you exactly what the OEM tire is, and list the other tires that match that size. You can see how the tires are ranked for each category (based on ratings, not sales popularity).
Second, they have a lot of articles on general information in the Tech Center area. Everything from air pressure principles to a vibration diagnosis flowchart. They are concise and understandable. It’s really good education. Even if you don’t buy tires from Tire Rack, read these articles.
Third, the shipping cost was way less than I thought it was. For my 4 tires, there were shipped via FedEx (not overnight) at a cost of $40. They arrived in 3 days. I had them delivered to my house. Even with the shipping cost included, I saved $130 on the set versus buying them from the local store. They didn’t arrive in a box, just bundled together with a strap and a shipping label affixed right to the tread.
Fourth, the local tire store was happy to install the tires I ordered via the net. They have a usual fee of $25 per tire for mounting, balancing, valve stem, disposal, etc. That’s twice the charge as if I had bought the tires from them ($12.50), and they also didn’t include lifetime rotation/balance. I just put the new tires in the back of my car, and drove it to the store, and asked them to do the work. The tires I got are asymmetric (there is a particular side that needs to face out), and the installer at the tire shop mounted one of them backwards, so I had to ask them to correct that, which they recognized as a mistake and corrected.
All in all, making a tire purchase on the net, doing it in an informed way, and having the installation performed locally went better than I thought. I’ll do this again next time.
marcelk responded on 27 Aug 2008 at 9:25 pm #
Something else to consider: take a look at Sam’s Club, Walmart, BJ’s, or other discount warehouse in your area that has a tire service center. You can probably special order tires through them at a similar discount, but still get the low cost mounting/balancing ($12.50/tire) plus lifetime rotation/balancing plus no shipping cost. Usually the tires they carry in stock are quite limited, but they have a good selection for special orders. But plan on 7-14 days of lead time on a special order. Look at their web sites, and perhaps even better walk into their store to see what they can order for you. Do your research on TireRack.com to find your top 3 choices, and then see what these local retailers can get for you. Ask if they include lifetime balancing. If you’re not in a hurry, this may be the best overall deal.
marcelk responded on 01 Sep 2009 at 5:39 pm #
Don’t forgot about the cost of balancing over the lifetime of the tire. If your local tire shop is going to charge $40 per car for a rebalance for tires bought elsewhere, but include that service for free for tires you buy from them, that could run an easy $40-80 difference over the lifetime just for balancing. So this may eat into savings that you get for buying tires online. My local garage does a free rotation during an oil change, but the big-box warehouses might do the same.
For my last set of tires I did my research on TireRack.com, but was in a big hurry to get them installed, so I negotiated my local tire shop down by more than $60 for the set by waving around the Tire Rack mail order prices. I got the impression that the local tire shops dislike Tire Rack for eating into their business. Most local tire shops can get most any tire from a distributor within 1-2 days. If you know what you want, they can get it for you at no additional cost. Don’t go with only what the local shop has in stock in that particular store on that particular day.
Bottom line, I am still of the opinion that the best deal (considering the lifetime of the tires) is to buy them from and install them at Sam’s Club / BJ’s / etc. Just be aware of the lead time for their special orders if they aren’t in stock.
Do the math to figure out which source is the best for you: tires + shipping + mount/balance/stem + disposal + alignment + periodic rotation + mid-life rebalance + hurry.
marcelk responded on 01 Sep 2009 at 5:43 pm #
I heard a story on Car Talk about a guy that needed a single replacement tire on an all-wheel-drive car. The tire shop wanted him to buy all 4 tires new because the tires need to have the same wear level (tread depth), otherwise one wheel will spin slightly faster than the other and cause mechanical problems. So a $150 repair turned into a $600 repair.
TireRack.com has a service where they can take a new tire and shave it to a particular tread depth for situations just like this. You buy just one new tire, then have them shave it to match the depth of your existing good tires. You’re all set for a fraction of the price and much less landfill waste.
marcelk responded on 01 Sep 2009 at 7:11 pm #
Anytime you go in for a balance or rotation, the local tire shop will probably offer to do a free alignment check. The reason it is free is because they think there is a good chance to find you are out of alignment. Getting the car on the lift and measuring the alignment is about half the work of doing the alignment. Keeping a good alignment is really important for controlling tire wear, so do keep track of your alignment. If your tires are shot, I wouldn’t worry about it. But if putting on new tires I would definitely recommend an alignment. If a 4-wheel alignment service costs $70, think about how many times you should have it performed over the lifetime of the tires to be cost-effective against premature wear on your tires. Tires should last at least 30k or 40k miles.
marcelk responded on 01 Sep 2009 at 7:20 pm #
The last time I had a set of tires installed by my local shop, they suggested to inflate the tires with a special pure nitrogen gas, instead of air. It was something like $30 extra. So I’m standing at the service desk evaluating this option in my head. The first two thoughts that come to me are “this feels like a sell job” and “didn’t I learn in Chemistry 101 that air is 78% nitrogen?”. So I decline and tell them that standard air is good enough for me.
I have a small air compressor at home, and after I run it I drain water from it. That tells me that a standard compression-decompression cycle will remove at least some moisture from the air it discharges. And anytime I need new tires it is due to tread wear, not rubber deterioration.
After I get home, I do a little searching and find a couple of good articles, one a no-nonsense explanation, and the other from trusty Consumer Reports. The bottom line is that under normal circumstances standard air is good enough for you too. But if you do like the appeal of nitrogen, it won’t hurt anything but your wallet. If it’s free, go for it. Yes, there is some benefit, but it is so minimal I don’t think it is worth the cost. If you really want to worry about the gas in your tires, check the inflation PSI more often than you typically do. And if you want to improve your mileage, adjusting your driving technique will make a bigger impact.
marcelk responded on 06 Sep 2009 at 12:55 pm #
A few more points about inflation:
- the stick-type pressure gauges are junk, at least that is my experience. Get a dial-type round gauge with a needle that turns. For example, something like this. It’s more accurage, easier to read, and not much more expensive. Make sure it can go up to at least 60psi, for the spare tire as mentioned below.
- Use the correct inflation levels. The PSI rating printed on the sidewall of the tire is the maximum pressure, not the recommended pressure. On my cars, when you open the driver’s door there is a sticker on the door frame that has the manufacturer’s recommended tire sizes and inflation PSI. Use that pressure.
- Don’t forget to check the inflation on your spare tire. The last thing you want is to have a flat and discover that the spare has too little pressure to use. There are two challenges to this: (1) The spare is tucked away out of sight in your trunk or other hidden compartment. Out of sight, out of mind. (2) if you have a space-saver spare (not full size) like everyone else, they need a much higher pressure. My spares need 60psi, where my regular tires are around 30psi. Tires with higher pressure tend to leak faster. I just checked my spare (which has never been used) for the first time in 6 months, and it had fallen to 45psi. Unfortunately most spares are stored with the valve stem down, so you may need to remove the tire from the trunk to check the pressure and top it off. Spend a few minutes doing that now, it will definitely be worth it when you are on the side of the freeway with a flat.