Any of y'all bought tires lately? - Rant

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I can think of a whole lot of ways to get screwed that are a whole lot cheaper....and for the price, I could buy a pretty high end screwing....

Wife's Outback needs new shoes, car is 3 years old, had around 30K miles, tires are just around 3/32s left of tread... whatever, Bridgestone Duelers are known to be a soft tire and Outbacks are hard on tires due to the AWD... I get it. Have always been rotated as recommended and in the specific pattern that Subaru recommends. Dealership contacted Bridgestone, they offered 20% off a new set, of the same tires...no thanks.

Asked the dealership to give me some quotes on tires, wasn't a quote under $800, tires are currently filled with Nitrogen, asked about that, $300 extra, not even a kiss.

Went to Costco yesterday, said why not, I'll check with them and see if they can do any better. Out the door for less than $600, nitrogen filled, 2 year road hazard, rotation, balance, etc....for a better quality tire.

Calling the dealership on Monday and telling them they can take those tires and sit on them or roll down the road, don't really care.
/Rant Off
 
Also, I needed tires back in January (1/11, actually)
I checked the WalMart prices and saw some I liked.
Then I stopped in a local place in Welcome and they came in, for the same tire, just a little under the price or right at it, I forget.
I went with Dan, a man Ive done various automotive business with for years and seen him grow his service station multiple times.

And he's a gun guy - you'll often see him at the Friends of the NRA banquets around the Triad.




Dealerships have their ups and downs, I never look to them for many things, including tires.
Save your nerves and just move on. No point it stirring it up with them, it'll get exactly nowhere, but your blood pressure will be higher.
Have a good afternoon dude, go out and enjoy this weather!
 
My last set of costco tires cost me $600 in brake repairs after they warped my rotors and refused to fix them. Be wary.
 
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$300. For nitrogen? 3000% markup.. lmfao.. what a scam.. for "dry air" that's all it is and unless the compressor system filling the tires is completely worthless the nitrogen is 100% absolutely positively unnecessary.

Walmart or Tire Rack, get them mounted at a local mom and pop shop.
 
I have a car with a bit over 291k miles on it. It needs tires by this fall. Kind of hard to swallow the expense with that many miles on the car. It will probably be it's last set.

The car originally had a unique size tire, as in the only car that used it which made it EXPENSIVE! Substituted a slightly different size with the same aspect ratio.

Watching them finish the rotation right now. At least they're using a torque wrench and not a sick.
 
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I put a set of Michelin Defenders on my Subaru. 90k mile, M&S rated, 225/55/17. Out the door from Costco for $635.
 
Why did you wasted time calling a dealership? I haven't found a dealership yet in any state I've lived in that could give me a decent price on tires. I would just move on and not bother calling them because they could care less if you buy them there because someone else will.
 
Tires as a percentage of the cost of the vehicle are cheaper than ever. I burned up a lot of tires in the 60s. A set of Goodyear PolyGlass or Firestone WideOvals cost 10% of the cost of the new vehicle. New SS 396, 375 HP, 4 speed, cost $2,725 in 1968. Went up a hundred dollars the next year. Yeah I got one then too. Wore the other one Out! A new set of the above tires put on balanced and out the door was $300. Over 10% of the car. There are 3 tire dealers in this county that are Millionaires!! One just sold his stores [Tire Town] for $50 Million!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I just got a quote on 4 Falken Wildpeak AT3W size p275/55r20 and alinement for $1004

I think its a smoking deal for 55,000 rated mile tire. I have a set now at 56,000 + i have at least another 10,000 to go before replacement
 
Stay away from the dueler HL. No milage warranty and too soft. Every set of tires i have bought for my vehicles over the last 10 years has come from costco. Great deals and easy rotation and balance

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Went to Costco yesterday, said why not, I'll check with them and see if they can do any better. Out the door for less than $600, nitrogen filled, 2 year road hazard, rotation, balance, etc....for a better quality tire.
We buy all of our tires at costco.
 
I just checked a local dealer for a back tire for my Electra Glide. $425 for the tire and labor and that’s just for the back.
 
A bit more involved in taking off a rear wheel on a EG than a car
4/5/8 lugnuts and the wheel is free, need to put a jack under each side
vs
(if I remember correctly) removing a/both saddlebags, undoing the axle, pushing forward to move the belt out of the way etc, have to put it on a lift and then place a jack under it

There's just a lot more to getting the wheel off

Plus, again, DEALERSHIP
 
I had issues with my tire pressure and I bought it used and nitrogen filled. Asked my guy if it was a big deal. He told me all of his cars get air. Next set of mine I'm back to air. I've been topping them off with air anyway, just got tired of going back to him. I'm not impressed with it. But I also have a compressor in the garage an enough line to get to either car.

I'm getting ready to start looking for tires for my truck. Not too excited about that.
 
I ride Goodyear, gotta have the blimp behind me.
Used to use Walmart but they lost my business because the tire machine was down and did not tell me so I wasted my day.
Now use Discount Tire website, I like that you don't pay when you order.

Check Amazon, Discount was out of stock, got the same tires, Discount mounted and balanced, told them I got them on their eBay store,
I did buy the last set on their eBay store and shipping included.

Five cars in my driveway. :)
 
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I believe nitrogen is a scam, wouldn’t pay a penny for it.

I usually find the best price online and have someone local mount/balance for me. I get Firestone's Lifetime alignment.
 
I wouldn't go to an automobile dealership service department for tires or anything else even if it was the last place in the universe that could save my family from eternal hell.
 
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Lately, I’ve bought most of my tires online and paid for installation at a local shop.
 
OEM Tires.... hit or miss. We had a set of Bridgestone Touranza ??? that just didn't last anytime (about 27k on a 4 cyl camry). Both dealership and Bridgestone basically told me......sorry too bad. I now have no use for a Bridgestone tire of any sort.

Costco is competitive and we have a couple of independent dealers and a local chain in my area that are competitive. Tires are one of the more profitable items in the auto service industry, forget a dealership and shop around.
 
Only reasons to fill tires with nitrogen that I'm aware of:

A) Your race cars handling is very sensitive to the tire pressure changes caused by the moisture in plain old air heating up and you want to keep the pressures as constant as possible.

B) Your tire shop is very sensitive to changes in profit, and you want to keep the profit as high as possible.
 
OEM Tires.... hit or miss. We had a set of Bridgestone Touranza ??? that just didn't last anytime (about 27k on a 4 cyl camry). Both dealership and Bridgestone basically told me......sorry too bad. I now have no use for a Bridgestone tire of any sort.

Costco is competitive and we have a couple of independent dealers and a local chain in my area that are competitive. Tires are one of the more profitable items in the auto service industry, forget a dealership and shop around.
Think it may just be Bridgestone OE tires. I had to replace Bridgestone tires on a Subaru and 4Runner before 30k. I actually laughed when the sales person tried using “Bridgestone tires” as a selling point in the 4Runner.
 
Once I had to stand on my tire wrench to remove the nuts. That’s over 250ft-lbs the service place had on there. Manual calls for 90-100.
The techs don’t care, they just run everything on with an impact. Had firestone snap a lug on my brand new WRX doing the first tire rotation. That was an interesting issue to deal with!
 
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Also, I needed tires back in January (1/11, actually)
I checked the WalMart prices and saw some I liked.
Then I stopped in a local place in Welcome and they came in, for the same tire, just a little under the price or right at it, I forget.
I went with Dan, a man Ive done various automotive business with for years and seen him grow his service station multiple times.

And he's a gun guy - you'll often see him at the Friends of the NRA banquets around the Triad.




Dealerships have their ups and downs, I never look to them for many things, including tires.
Save your nerves and just move on. No point it stirring it up with them, it'll get exactly nowhere, but your blood pressure will be higher.
Have a good afternoon dude, go out and enjoy this weather!


Small World.
My dad coached softball when I was a kid for our church in Midway....Dan was a teenager at the time and quite a good player, I think maybe he is just as spunky today as he was then! The man never rests!
 
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The techs don’t care, they just run everything on with an impact. Had firestone snap a lug on my brand new WRX doing the first tire rotation. That was an interesting issue to deal with!
Can be worse, once had one tire that they started by hand and forgot to use the wrench. Took a few hundred miles to identify the source of the vibration, the rattling of a couple snapped lugs inside the hubcap (1976 Chevy Stationwagon) is what finally tipped us off.
 
I use Atlantic Truck and tire in Sanford. I buy Cooper tires. Atlantic has always done my family right.
 
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The man never rests!


THAT'S HIM! lol
He is always on the go when at work!
But a heck of a nice guy, great pricing, will work with you (discounts for paying cash, offered to do payment plans for me - wasnt necessary, but I appreciated it)
 
I get my tires from a Toyota dealership. They run a deal once a year, buy 3 get one free.
Still a better overall price then any other place that I’ve checked.
 
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The air you breath is roughly 80% nitrogen. What a scam.


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Yep, for the life of me (which is no short time) I can't recall oxygen and other trace gasses being in my tires as ever causing me a problem. :rolleyes:
 
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