Need New Tires... Advice please!

[Tea-rific]

I am in need of new tires for my rav 4. Does anyone have advice? I looked up tires in consumer reports and the highest ranking were michellins but they are not very MM ( $200 per tire). I want something safe and long lasting.

We have a Costco near us. Has anyone used them for tires?

Thanks!

[Deleted]

How much do you want to spend? Have you called Sears and see how much is their Michelin (installed price)? I just bought new Michelin tires earlier this month for my Odyssey. I chose to get them from the dealer since the price was comparable to sears and it includes lifetime rotation.

[y4m]

We've always ordered ours from Tire Rack and had them sent directly to whoever we wanted to install them. They have a list of recommended installers, if you don't have one in mind.

[M]

Check out tirerack.com . We've gotten most of our tires from there and they have been comparatively cheaper than everyone else. Two weeks ago we got 2 rear Michelin tires at Discount Tires (discounttire.com) for an even better price. They gave us the best customer service ever so we'll definitely be back.

As far as brand of tires, we normally buy Pirellis or Michelins because they are best on performance cars so I'm not sure what other decent brands there are out there. We tried Hankooks once. They were half the price of Michelin and performed pretty well. Worth checking out at least.

[iamali]

I got mine from Discount Tire a few years ago and was happy with them and their customer service.

I have a friend who got hers at Costco and she's very impressed with them too.

[ddi741]

I think my new ones are Yokohamas or something like that. We got ours at the Toyotal dealership when they were running a special.
I have heard good things about the Costco deals though.

[aerowife2010]

My H just bought new tires at treaddepot dot com. He priced out a bunch of different websites, including shipping, and local places and they were the cheapest overall cost (shipping, mounting, balancing, etc).

[womet]

We got new tires for my car from Costco. We thought the price was good and we've been very happy with them. Plus, we got 2% back because of our Executive Membership. Score!

[polarbearfans]

I splurged on my tires, like $475 for 4 with a $75 rebate. It also included free rotation and balancing for the life of the tire plus 4 oil changes from the place I normally get my oil changed. My husband went cheap on his tire, like midrange in price, and always comments on how he's jealous of my tires because they are super quiet and ride better. Especially when we are on long trips and we are listening to an audio book.

Even the place i bought them from tried to sell me the mid price well rated bridgestones but I like the reviews of the more expensive mitchelins better. I like the quietness and it's the smoothest drive I have ever had. They did very well in the winter driving too.

I would read actual reviews on the specific model from real people and decide what you can live with and what you want most. To me quality matters as much as price. With proper care your tires should last a long time.

I wanted a quiet all season tire that would ride well in rain and snow. The roads get slick in my area but it doesn't snow enough for snow tires.

[Deleted]

We have a Costco membership aslo. I price compared online Walmart, Costco, Firestone and Sears for tires for an 2002 Honda Civic last week. Firestone was the cheapest followed by Sears then Costco and Walmart.

Also Costco did not have the tires in stock they needed to be ordered which took 10-14 days. Moral, costco is not always cheaper even with our 2% back.

[morningmania]

We get all our tires from Discount Tire. I love that they come with lifetime balance and rotation. We also pay a little extra for roadside hazard.
I drive a lot, so not having to pay for balance and rotation every 5-6,000 miles is a plus.
$200 a tire doesnt seem bad for an SUV. I just paid close to $1,000 for 4 tires on my full size car on all season.
Not all tires come in all sizes or for all vehicles. You would be better off searching by size and your vehicle.
If you go to a place online like discount tire they rate them when you look them up by size.

[Deleted]

I believe Michelin has a $70 rebate on tired right now. We just ordered them from BJs.

[Tea-rific]

Thanks for all the advice. I am in the midst of calling around right now.

[krystee]

Costco has never been the cheapest for me. Last time, I called Costco, Midas, and two of the other tire places whose names I forget and Midas was the cheapest with a Buy 3/Get 1 sale. I think I paid $600.

[mrsjuleshs]

I only buy tires from Discount Tire. DH used to be a manager for them and their customer service is really the best. You can buy the tires through Tirerack and they will install them. They will also still offer the warranties on them which have saved us a few times.

[AAM2012]

From what I learned if you want tires to last long then you'll be spending more up front. Last time my rav4 needed replacement I spent about $200 per tire which was on sale down from $250/each. They explained to be that the Rav4's require a "sports" tire that are more expensive than regular car tires. I got mine from Toyota dealership and they were having a buy 3 get 1 free deal but the tires that were a part of the deal were the cheaper brands that I likely would have had to replace sooner rather than later. We ended up with the Yokohamas or whatever they're called.

[apelila]

My DH has worked for Discount Tire for 12 years. Their customer service is stellar. They will match any competitor for pricing, as long as its the exact same product (brand, size, etc) so it usually comes out cheaper to go through them, since you will probably pay shipping elsewhere. Also, they will do flat repairs and rotations/balances on any tires, regardless where you purchased them.

To the above poster Re: DT screwing up your alignment, they don't have anything to do with the alignment on your vehicle. A bad alignment could affect the wear and tear of your tires though, causing them to shred. Also, the wrong size tires could do the same. My DH could tell you the alignment is/was the problem, but he wouldn't be able to fix that for you. He would recommend getting that repaired before replacing your tires, otherwise the same issue will keep occurring.

Re: the upselling, they are not commission based, they are salary. I'm sure some of them will try to upsell you though, because they do have goals they are supposed to reach, but I think the majority will sell you the best tire within the budget you have, my husband included.

*stepping off my soapy tire box now*

[Deleted]

I've found tires to be cheapest when you can find a place that is selling them buy 3 get 1 free. Find a place near you that will price match. There is a place near our house that will price match anywhere, a lot of auto/tire centers will do the same thing. We looked into ordering them online but it wasn't really worth our time when so many local places would price match on the exact same tires.

Don't buy cheap tires though, you'll pay for it in the long run. I used to commute two hours per day and my $600+ brand name tires lasted a hell of a lot longer than the cheap tires I had.

[thedutchgirl]

I am very loyal to Discount Tire, and I generally think it is worth it to pay a little more to get good tires that will last. And keep you safe! Discount Tire also has a warranty program that is awesome, and totally worth the price.

[apelila]

Sorry, I didn't intend to sound all ranty! DH is definitely one of the good guys and it really bothers him that his coworkers don't always have the same ethics that he does. Incidentally, last week he stopped identity theft and helped the guy who's identity/credit info was stolen gather the info needed for the cops to make an arrest. The guy wanted to do a credit app but only had a drivers license, NOTHING else with his name on it to use as a second form of identification. DH told him sorry, he has to have another form of ID. Plenty of other people would have let the guy run the credit app anyway, but DH was "just doing his job and following policy".

He has such an inherently good soul, that even when he tries to play the bad guy on his video games he still ends up making the "good" choices!