Car people-tire question

[compassrose]

Try looking online at other car places (Tire Discounters, Discount Tire, Tirerack.com) and price out the tires. You need to know the exact make/model/trim/year/4WD etc of your car for them (the website) to be able to tell you the right size. If you do have 2 different sizes of tires on your car, you probably should replace all 4 at the same time.

I have the best tire guys, but I doubt you want to drive to Ohio : )

[ellipses84]

I'd be surprised they put on the wrong tires, but I suppose if it could happen there, it could happen anywhere?

I've gone to Costco in the past. The one negative I've discovered the hard way is that they don't carry most rims. DH hit a curb and popped a tire, we had AAA tow us to Costco only to discover he damaged the rim. Luckily there was a Discount Tire close enough for DH to go buy a new rim. Now we go to Discount Tire and have always had fantastic service.

I think our dealership advertised price matching for tires recently, so that is something you could ask about. They may be willing to negotiate rather than have you take your business elsewhere.

[tealblue]

That's very odd. I know you can't put a 20" tire on a car made with 16" tires without some issues but I'm not sure what else could be "wrong" with the Costco tires.

I don't have a Costco but we get our tires from a local tire service center or Discount Tires. Don't cheap out with tires. DH handles the information gathering but I decided on my tires. I went with a 50,000 mile cooper tire last time and have been happy. DH has larger tires on his truck and the only place he could find ones at a semi-reasonable price. He got his from Discount Tire.

Do you put a lot of miles on your car? Going on your 3rd set of tires (assuming original ones, a half set from Costco and now needing 4 new tires) on a 3 year old car seems like a lot.

[hamster]

Pretty sure there is a sticker on the inside of your door that says what size tire to use, unless you have non factory rims. Your tires will also say what size they are somewhere.

[Mrs.Rad888]

At only 27,000 miles on the car, you shouldn't have had to replace tires at all. I've gotten good service at Costco, but it's really luck of the draw as far as the salesperson's knowledge and how hard they're willing to work for you. 
I second the recommendation to go to Discount Tires. They can look at your tires and give you an idea of what problems you may be having. They would probably also be willing to tell you what to keep track of with your tires (i.e. wear patterns, proper air pressure, rotation schedule). Really, just doing a Google search of "How to shop for tires" or "how to maintain tires" should give you a lot of good info. 
Also, tires don't necessarily need to be replaced as a set, unless all 4 show signs of wear, but it's a good idea to replace them in pairs, otherwise your alignment can get knocked out of whack. When the dealership tries to upsell me on a product or service, I always try to get a second opinion. I got 100,000 miles on my last set of tires, no exaggeration.

[Deleted]

There are multiple tire sizes that will fit a car. A tire size contains three numbers- the diameter of the tire, the width of the tire, and the rim size that it will fit. As long as the rim size is correct, the other two numbers can vary from the OEM size. I'm guessing Costco didn't necessarily put the wrong tires on the car, but rather, they used a different size than what is listed as the OEM tire size. If you truly had the wrong tires you would know. BUT, all four tires need to be the same. That is the issue, and they shouldn't be deviating from OEM sizes unless you tell them to for whatever reason.

The easy way to figure this out is to look up the tire size for your car and compare it to the size stated on your tires. It should be on the sidewall.

I'd also suggest not buying cheap tires. Look for tires that have a mileage warranty. A good tire on a small commuter car- you can find warranties for over 60k upwards to 90k, and ask them how the warranty works also. I have 83k on my Michelin Defenders and I won't be replacing them for another few thousand, they're no where near bald but I want more tread for winter. They came with a 90k warranty. Also make sure your car is always in alignment and you get tire rotations.

[mainelyfoolish]

(Disclaimer: I let my DH pick out my tires) Michelin makes great tires, but they're very expensive. You can get good tires from other brands for less money. Check out tirerack.com and read reviews. DH just got a set of Continental tires (sorry, I don't remember the model) for his Corolla put on at a tire shop for about $500, including an alignment. If you're buying all new tires, don't skip getting the alignment. The factory tires that need replacing at 27k miles doesn't surprise me at all; car makers put the cheapest tires on new cars.

[aurora]

As long as your car isn't AWD you shouldn't have to replace all 4 tires at once but can do front or back pairs.

OEM tires (the ones that com on new cars) tend to have shorter lives than anything you'll buy later, but 27k miles is *really* short for needing a 3rd set. Are you sure they are properly inflated? Try to remember to check monthly to get them to last their full lifetime.

We tend to pay ~$150 per tire for our Subaru and closer to $200 for our truck to get fairly good tires (we do a lot of snow driving). So, $430 for 4 could be a really good deal or could be cheap tires; I don't know the specific models well enough to speak to that.

[midnightmare81]

Sept 1, 2015 23:32:35 GMT -5 @juno said:

The Costco quoted tires are Ecopia, which Google tells me are Bridgestone? They have a 70K mile warranty.

papiercherri, that explanation about all 4 needing to be the same is ringing some bells with me.  Maybe that's it.

I just wanted to jump in and say I put the ecopia on mine in December 2013. I haven't put a ton of miles on them overall but I have been happy with them.

That said, we just put Michelin defenders on my husbands car. His car was made with some off the wall tire size (only ever used on that car for that year, that model, in that plant) so when he ran over a bolt we had to either put 2 new tires on of the hard to find and pricy tire (because only one mfg makes it, they charge insane amounts) or all new tires. We went with all new. The tire size is nearly identical but much more common. So it might have been that you had 2 different tire sizes on the car and that's what they meant by being the wrong size since all tires should match in size.

[mich1]

To start with, a good resource for car tires is tirerack.com. Not only do they give you what the OEM tires are, but others that are better. I'd go there first and read the reviews and look at what's recommended for your car.

It's not unheard of for a car to need new tires (especially if they are OEM) after 27K. Many times, the tires put on new cars are not the best. Another thing you want to do is to check to see if your car is in alignment. If it is out of alignment, even if you get new tires they will wear out quicker than what they should.

I have a Subaru, and AWD cars need to have all 4 tires replaced at the same time. My set that came on the car got 50K miles on them, and I could have gone another year but we were going into winter and I wanted the better tread on them for snow. I want to say that I paid about $600 for them last year, so much like aurora, about $150/tire.

I do have a question though.....when you bought those tires, did you buy road hazard for them? If you did and you get a nail in them and they can't be repaired, then Costco should replace them. I really don't buy that Costco put on the wrong type of tires. However, you should be able to easily determine this yourself. The tires that they put on your car have numbers on them. Compare the numbers to those that are in the door of your car, they should be the same.

Finally, I would NEVER go to a dealership for tires. In my experience, dealerships WILL lie. I took my Subaru into the dealership for a recall repair and I was informed that my brakes were dangerously bad. The dealership would squeeze me in for new brakes/rotors for a mere $700. I had 30K miles on my car and had just had the 30K maintenance done on my car, my regular mechanic hadn't flagged my brakes needing attention. I went back to the mechanic, he took the tire off my car and showed me how much brake pad I had left and the condition of the rotors. I had barely used 30% of my brakes! So yes, a dealership will lie.

Finally, you should be rotating your tires regularly. I normally have it done at the oil change where my car is going to turn over X0,000 - every 10,000 miles. SO does his every other oil change.

[redheadk]

Glad you got it worked out.

FWIW, in the future you can order tires from tirerack.com and have them shipped to the shop of your choosing (most shops, at least). Then just make an appointment and go in for the install. Easy peasy! I have an AWD so had to do all 4 tires at once. We got a screaming deal on some closeout Pirellis. All you need is the tire size which is on a sticker on the inside of your door.

[gt7301b]

This who thing is really odd to me. I've always bought my tires at Costco and had nothing but good luck with them. Like others have said 27k seems like really low mileage for needing a third set of tires. If you do, in fact, have alignment issues I'd get that fixed cause you are just going to keep buying tires all the time. If You believe Costco installed the wrong type of tire ask for a refund. They have excellent customer service.

[ladyk]

My Accord that only has 292K miles on it is on its 5th set of tires. 3rd set at 27K is ridiculous.

I see you've already bought them but next time, you always want to make sure your tires have a temperature and traction rating of at least A, a speed rating of "M" or better (which has max speed of 81mph for 1 hour). The higher the letter the better, except for "H" (130mph) which falls between "U" (124mph) and "V" (168mph).

Also, make sure they are not old when you buy them. There are 4 digits. For example, 4214. That means it was manufactured the 42 week of 2014.

(all of that info is on the tire sidewall)

As for the rotation, 5K miles isn't excessive. Most people rotate them every oil change or every other oil change (depending on how often you change your oil). I would not go more than 10K miles between rotations.

[chloesilverado]

Sept 1, 2015 21:49:42 GMT -5 compassrose said:

Try looking online at other car places (Tire Discounters, Discount Tire, Tirerack.com) and price out the tires. You need to know the exact make/model/trim/year/4WD etc of your car for them (the website) to be able to tell you the right size. If you do have 2 different sizes of tires on your car, you probably should replace all 4 at the same time.

I have the best tire guys, but I doubt you want to drive to Ohio : )

Are you by any chance in the Cincinnati area? I'd love a tire guy reco if you are.

[dcrunnergirl52]

We also have a Honda Fit, and we go through tires really fast. We bought our 2007 Fit in 2010 and the car has about 60K miles on it, and I'd say we have gone through at least 2 full sets of tires. My hypothesis is that because the Fit sits so low to the ground and the tires are so small and thin, they are more susceptible to flats. It's like the car is driving on bike tires.

[LoveTrains]

I believe AWD vehicles require tired to be replaced as a set.

[Cicero]

Ditto what other people said about that being really fast to be needing new tires. My car is a make and mode that is notorious for eating through tires and it still got more than 30,000 miles on the OEMs.