My first time...............
 

buying tires on the internet from the Tire Rack. (No, not that first time!). My F150 tires have a bit over 60,000 miles on them so I priced replacement tires locally and got bids in the $1,000 - $1150 range for 4 275/55-20 tires. Thinking I might could do better, I checked out some tire/wheel sites and compared several makes of tires. I had been using Michelin tires, but after doing some comparisons and reading some reviews, I decided to order a set of Cooper all season tires. The total for the tires, a 2 year road hazard guarantee and a $60 rebate came to just under $800! I ordered the tires on a Saturday afternoon and they arrived here at the house in three days including a Sunday. Shipping was free as are returns if something was wrong or damaged. There is a tire shop nearby that does installation work for the Tire Rack so I will go by there sometime soon and get the new shoes mounted and balanced for about $100 for the set. I checked the manufacturing date and the oldest tire was made about 6 months ago so no worries about them rotting on a shelf somewhere. Once I get them mounted and drive them some, I'll report back on the quality of the ride, noise and handling! More to follow.

Used to use them a lot for my track tires, then stopped doing track events.

The last tires I bought for the '83SC though, came from tire rack - was very pleased with the entire transaction.

I also have a tire place here in town I use for my other vehicles including my work truck and they were the ones who mounted them for me.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587516630.JPG

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1587516630.JPG

I've been buying from them for a while now. I'm guessing 6 or 7 sets of tires.
Orders arrive remarkably fast (warehouse in CT.) and have never had a problem.

I use their website to look at tires for my cars and compare different tires, then call my local tire shop and my local shop has been cheaper every time. I live in a rural area so maybe that is why. I also check Sam's Club.

Not just you, they always find a way to under cut T/R. We have discount tire all over the place, except the town I live in now, but one is 14 miles away from home, and there are 2 within a 1/2 mile of work.

All of the tire stores in my town are family owned, single store businesses. My experience has been that if you go in and start talking price comparisons, they will tell you quickly that the price is the price! There are two of the local shops where I am friends with the owners so have just gone along with the pricing. Probably not going to happen any longer! On the positive side, I usually only buy a set of tires every 4-5 years.

One reason I use tire rack is my wheels. I take the old tires and wheels and the 4 new tires to a local Porsche repair shop that has the equipment to mont the tires, and raid force balance them. Zero damage to the wheels. Perfect balance.

I used to order from TR until about 7 or 8 years ago. Around that time, their shipping rates to Hawaii went up to about $50 a tire. Then I checked Costco's tire ads and with their free shipping and $15 mount and balance, I ended up about $200 cheaper from Costco.

^^^
This. Add in the new online taxes. It's a no brainer on Costco for premium brands.

On the benzo running 14 inch tires, I ordered a set from simple tire for 120 bucks shipped. Paid 25$ a tire for mounting, valve stem, and balancing from discount tire. Wheel kids knocked out the tires in 10 mins using two machines and took great care not to strip the lug bolts. Couldn't be happier, as walmart tire has stripped all of my 32 lug nuts (75$ bucks worth of lug nuts).

I support my local tire store. I'll use the Tire Rack online tire size calculator to figure out what I want to buy, but probably 90% of the time I'll go with my local store. I stopped buying from Costco and Les Swab also.

The shop I used to use for my 911 told me to order from tire rack and ship to them - they dodn't want to bother with selling tires.
Since I have antique plates and don't need state inspection any more I do all my tire business with a buddy who has a sideline shop. He has a really slick tire machine and balancer and does a meticulous job. His prices are great.
He put Coopers on his truck 4 or 5 years ago after mounting several sets for customers. I asked him how he liked them, he told me they were ****. He has KO2's on his now, he says he's getting Duratracs for his next set (we do need to deal with ice and snow here).

Tire rack is my go-to, always good, no problems.

It has been a while (nearly 20 years), but I did cut tire analysis of competitors tires. We would buy 4 tires of various brands from a local retailer. Same size and intended use.

Michilen were by far the most consistent and of higher quality. . Cooper was by far the worst. Belt placement was crap and we found what we considered as scrap in our plant being sold (reverse belt step off common).

Again, this was 20 years ago. If they are not an OE supplier I don't buy from them.

I've bought 5 sets of Michelins from TR over the last several years, for several P-cars. Always hassle-free and economical. I can also pick up directly and save $$ since there is a distribution center nearby.

Bought from them a couple times when tires were on clearance other than that with shipping etc I have found Americas Tires to be a better deal.

Shipping
 

No charge for shipping these days. Plus the tires come with a 2 yr road hazard warranty and a $60 rebate. Even after paying for mounting and balancing, they will be about $200+ less expensive than a set purchased locally. The only taxes were for the sales tax in Georgia.

Once you go TireRack, you never go back.
Get tires, bring them to local mechanic.

Never going to sit in that waiting room.
Never gonna be upsold services.
Never worry about improper lift points
Never worry about monkey putting 300 lbs. torque on your lugs.


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Every time I have priced tires the local shop has been the same price when you figure mount/balance/disposal and they have a road hazard for the life of the tire and free rotation. If I had the equipment to mount and balance TR would be cheaper.

i'm still a tire rack virgin. one day, i hope..one day!!

my favorite tire for trucks is that Michelin LTX AT2. i got 75000 miles on a set, and they still had tread left. i got very nervous about the TIME i had them, not the miles. so i started trying to find another pair. Costco backordered them. they are still backordered!!

i went with Coopers AT3. more aggressive looking, very good in the rugged jeep trails i do. even in rain. but i lost 1-2 mpg per gallon. we shall see how they last, i am traipsing all over this year hunting. oregon to texas. back and forth. sprinkle in some new mexico.

Repost from last year:

Bringing your wheels to the shop is what I prefer

Never worry about improper lift points
Never worry about air tool idiot putting 300 lbs. torque on your lugs.
Never going to sit in that waiting room.
Never gonna be upsold services.

Another place to buy tires is off Amazon. If you have Prime, you get free shipping with some vendors. Jut ship to your house, take to your installer and you're done.

Here in the UK I have bought my last two sets of tyres for my Autosolo car from Germany and even with shipping they have been way cheaper than buying the same tyres in the UK .Takes 3 days to arrive. Wife a little surprised the first time the delivery driver showed up with tyres at the front door . Get them fitted at a small shop nearby.

Is the shipping really free, or is it already adjusted in their price? I ask because i also buy from Tire Rack but pick them up at their distribution center 10 min. away and they give you a $40 discount. So aren't they actually charging you $40 shipping?

One tire $19.95...order NOW and get the second tire FREE (plus s&h) :)!

Tire shipping costs............
 

On their website they don't say anything about a discount for local pickup. On the other hand, the tire prices are discounted and there is no extra charge for shipping. It is logical to assume that the shipping costs are part of their selling price. Either way, their system works ok for me.

Maybe the discount doesn't show if they don't have a warehouse near you. When filling in the search criteria, they ask for zip code. Under the price of the tire i see "Order Pick-Up Discount. Pick up at our Windsor Ct distribution center and get a $40 discount"
Try putting in zip code 06070 to see what I'm talking about.
And I agree, their system works for me too.

This.

I used to buy from TR back in the day, but DT has long since been my go-to. They will always beat TR prices, IME. Their HQ is here in N. Scottsdale with a nice clean shop, which is a plus... YMMV...

You can do all that with DT as well, if you want to bring in loose wheels...and they will still beat TR prices.

I went to the DT near me years ago. Can't recall what I wanted (not tires at the time), and the youngish dude insisted they had to have either my phone #, or name, or address (can't recall which), and there was no other way. Pissed me off :(. Customer lost forever...didn't even bother to ask for the boss/owner....and I'll go over someone's pay grade in a split second usually :D. Even "supervisors"....those I particularly enjoy if they get uppity ;)....