Originally Posted By: earlyre
Originally Posted By: y_p_w
I remember years ago I crunched the numbers and figured that I was saving a reasonable amount buying from Tire Rack, even accounting for the shipping and higher costs of installation.
However, the shipping costs seem to be higher than I remember. A set of 4 used to ship for about $25. Now I'm getting a quote of $60. The prices also don't seem to low enough to offset the shipping (even if sales tax is accounted for), especially when lots of tire shops will price match. Add to that included road hazard warranties, lifetime rotations/balancing, etc from purchasing/installing at the same place.
I suppose buying something like a full mounted set might make sense. I thought they didn't charge extra for the mounting/balancing.
they "used to" ship for $25, how long ago was that?
how big were the tires? (were the past ones 15's, and the new ones 20's, etc)
how much has the Dollar Devalued in the time since then?
15" back then. My current car rides on 16". The last time I bought from TR might have been around 2002. Still - a lot of retail these days have heavily discounted shipping or even free shipping. And for me, it would be coming to Northern California from their warehouse near Reno. I just checked for the same size tires, and the quote was $53.