Tire buying advice?

[dud]

This last weekend I rotated the tires on all three (3) of our vehicles. When I got to the last one I was surprised/disappointed to find that the car needed new tires. I was wondering how everyone here buys their tires LOCALLY? Sorry, but I have no interest in buying tires online and having them shipped to a store. My hope was that I could call/drive up to a store, get a good price and have 4 new tires installed. The car is only driven 3,000 miles a year and here in Florida ... we get no snow.

My local store choices include:

1 - Tire Kingdom
2 - Tires Plus
3 - Sears
4 - Action Gator Tire
5 - Firestone
6 - Pep Boys


Any recommendation for/against? Any tire buying advice would be appreciated.

Thanks ...

 

[NutBucket]

Costco not an option?

Hell, at 3k miles a year the tires rot before they wear out.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Costco for 'good' tires, discount tire for 'cheap' tires. I won't go anywhere else unless I need an alignment.

 

[Kroze]

I used discounttiredirect.com and it's great!

 

[wirednuts]

This last weekend I rotated the tires on all three (3) of our vehicles. When I got to the last one I was surprised/disappointed to find that the car needed new tires. I was wondering how everyone here buys their tires LOCALLY? Sorry, but I have no interest in buying tires online and having them shipped to a store. My hope was that I could call/drive up to a store, get a good price and have 4 new tires installed. The car is only driven 3,000 miles a year and here in Florida ... we get no snow.

My local store choices include:

1 - Tire Kingdom
2 - Tires Plus
3 - Sears
4 - Action Gator Tire
5 - Firestone
6 - Pep Boys


Any recommendation for/against? Any tire buying advice would be appreciated.

Thanks ...

key points are in red, people.

op, i think tires plus is probably the safest value, and sears or firestone being a little more costly but hopefully a little more professional service. just go to the stores and watch the workers for 5 min. it really depends on what store hired who. if it looks like a bunch of kids working there, i wouldnt use that store. usually sears and firestone employ more seasoned workers.

 

[mwmorph]

Sears sells good brands for tires. What year/make/model do you have btw?

 

[dud]

Sears sells good brands for tires. What year/make/model do you have btw?

1993 Lexus SC400 with 56K miles.

 

[MacLeod1592]

I really like Firestone tires. Have owned several of them and they've always performed very well and had good tread life and they don't cost a mint like Michelin. I like the Firestone shops as well. The ones we have here locally are very professional and I've always had good service from them. YMMV of course but my local Firestone is my first stop usually.

 

[JimKiler]

Go to tirerack.com for reviews and recommendations. I believe you can have tires ordered from there shipped directly to tiresplus. Tiresplus generally can order tires they do not have in stock as well. I am sure other places can do the same. But find some tires that will work and decided what you want and then compare prices.

 

[mwmorph]

1993 Lexus SC400 with 56K miles.

Nice car, I used to drive a 97 SC400. For that car, I would call around and see who can quote you the lowest price on a set of 4 Continental ContiPremiumContact or Firestone Firehawk Wide Oval Indy 500 or Continental ExtremeContact DW. They're all on the lower end of the price spectrum. All grip and ride very well for their class, with the Continentals more comfortable and Firestones more sporty and the Extremecontact the most sporty. I'd estimate about 30K miles on any of those tires with normal driving.

As long as you get a good tire, everything else is easy. Mounting and balancing tires can be done by a trained chimpanzee given the right tools so anywhere is fine as long as the tire is good.

 

[dud]

I really like Firestone tires. Have owned several of them and they've always performed very well and had good tread life and they don't cost a mint like Michelin. I like the Firestone shops as well. The ones we have here locally are very professional and I've always had good service from them. YMMV of course but my local Firestone is my first stop usually.

Interesting that you said this as the brst deal that I've been able to find is a set of 4 Firestone Champion HR (40K miles) for $460 plus tax. The price is low because they have a buy 3 get 1 free instant rebate.

Thanks for the feedback ...

 

[superccs]

go online and get the best prices for each type of tire you are interested in and then call the local guys and get quotes for them and availability. Go with the best option.

They will all want to work with you and if they know you have multiple vehicles they will for sure try hard to get your business.

 

[Vetterin]

Walmart