Explain Tire rack to me

[jimbrewer]

Tirerack is competitive.

Aa and pa store has poor selection.

Discount Tire is competitive, but they have to order too, are merely matching the Tirerack price, not beating it. I don't view them as a local business, so what is the point?

Tirerack has good info on the tires---hugely important. I go to ma and pa store to have them installed. They are happy too.

 

[Dominic]

Tirerack is useful to find tires and prices, add in shipping and $20-25 a tire to get a round-about good faith estimate on a set of new tires with fees. Then go to your local trusted tire installer and bargain with them if needed

 

[Hokiefyd]

I have found that in almost every case, I can buy tires locally, total price installed, for cheaper than Tire Rack plus shipping plus getting them installed somewhere. Some local B&M stores will match Tire Rack's as-delivered price (after factoring in shipping).

I am glad some people DO shop at Tire Rack, as their tire information resources are vast and extensive. The brand of tires I buy, however, is very popular and I never have any trouble finding them locally (and as I said, for a better price than online). If I were looking for some harder-to-find tires, I may have to resort to purchasing online.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
I don't understand why People use Tire rack. Unless they have a tire nobody can get locally...

Americas tire has them.....

Answered your own question. Not everyone has Discount Tire/Americas Tire b&m stores in their area. With DT/AT, they will match any online price including TR, Treadepot and even a no tax DT Direct price. And IME you get profession service at the time of and after the sale with no warehouse store membership fees.

 

[JHZR2]

Sometimes online is cheaper, sometimes it isn't. The last two sets of tires I've bought were either matched locally, or Costco was cheaper. I've bought a number of sets online though as it is a case by case basis. Shipping has gotten so expensive, that the savings aren't there all the time, but they still can be.

 

[exranger06]

I'm in CT, so Tire Rack charges sales tax AND shipping. Most of the time, they're too expensive.
I order form Discount Tire Direct instead. They don't charge sales tax and they have free shipping. I just bought a set of aftermarket rims and tires from there. The rims were $109 each, whereas every other place online wanted over $200 each for them. I ordered Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires, P265-70R16, $147 each. They mount the tires, do a road-force balance on them, and include new lug nuts. They threw in a $75 discount, and I have an $80 rebate. Total price was $966. There's no way I could've found a deal like that locally.

 

[datech]

Surely location has something to do with shipping costs.

I think I am lucky I have a competent Walmart near me, I order them online free shipping to the store, then walk the cart of tires from the customer service area to the tire service area and they install them with the regular Walmart charges. They have a lot of choices online, many more than what they have in stock at the store.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Tirerack seems to be more expensive for low-mid grade tires. DiscountTireDirct and TreadDepot have good or better deals on low/mid grade tires.

I used treaddepot on my Focus tires. Did the calculation and the Lifeliner GLS was the cheapest, per mile, tire I could find with good reviews and at least 60K treadwear warranty.

I paid $240 to my door.

A local tire chain sells Cooper tires cheap. I would have paid:
336 for tires
027 sales tax
010 mandatory tire disposal (tacked on when you buy a tire)
----
373 Total

Over $100 more to buy them locally.

Not including mount and balance. I'll be mounting myself and balancing at WalMart




Originally Posted By: Chris142
I don't understand why People use Tire rack. Unless they have a tire nobody can get locally.

For instance. 31x10.5x15 BFG T/A's for my Jeep.

Americas tire has them for $165 ea.

Tire rack has them for $154 ea... But theres $16 shipping per tire! That makes them $170 per tire! Maybe many people dont Figure in the Shipping?


If TR had a tire for 154 + 16 shipping (170 total).



The tire shop selling them for $165 would be more expensive. $165+$14(Tax)+$2.50(mandatory tire disposal fee) = puts you at 181.5 ... only $11 more and $44 a set of tires.

 

[CharBaby]

What we are finding is that, in our circle(family/friends), we save between $120-$150 on 4 tires shipped/installed when buying online, whether we buy from thetirerack, discoundtiredirect or treadepot. We don't pay tax for online orders(YET!) This is with our local Walmart* "install" and no NY State tire disposal fee(when bringing in your own tires).

SO! No sales tax(8%), No NY State disposal fee($2.50/tire) AMD W*M install(~ $16/tire) for:

* Mounting w/lifetime balance & rotation,
* Valve stems and(AND)
* W*M will throw away your old tires for FREE! Unless you want to keep'em/sell'em

** Road Hazard Warranty and Flat Repair are both extra cost at W*M unless you buy their tires...of course!

Thus far, only on several Firestone Destination LE/2 purchaces, has there been the same/similar price between purchacing online w/local install AND...just buying the DESTINATION LE/2's from our local Firestone Dealer. This was quite shocking to us, in a good way!

Maybe other Firestone tires are similar between Local & Online, we don't know yet!

And you get the total Firestone package of RHW & Flat repairs. Not many in our circle buy Firestone tires.

We check all of our favorite tire web sites and local tire stores/chains for prices before buying.

 

[SteveSRT8]

My local Tire Kingdom manager beats ANY online quote.

They did not do this in the past, but they are getting more aggressive!

 

[pottymouth]

I used to buy from them, but then I did some real comparison shopping. I found several local tire sellers who were willing to negotiate on their initially quoted prices. As soon as I told them what Tire Rack or DTD had and for how much, they came down. Not always a match, but enough that it was not worth the hassle to order and have them shipped to an installer.

To save $50 or $60 bucks on a set is less important to me than supporting a local businessman who will stand behind the product he sells. The majority of the Tire Rack installers I have dealt with became very apathetic when they discovered that I was only there to have tires installed and had no other work for them. One failed to put the center caps back on my Taurus and insisted that they were missing when I drove in. Then I walked right past the guy and pointed to them sitting on the tire machine. The only word said was, "Oh," and no attempt to even put them on the car for me.

No thanks. Good service is worth a little money to me.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Rand

Sometimes the difference is getting a local tires cheapo chinese tires, or a tire like the kumho sense... for the same price.



This was pretty much my deal. I wanted a middle of the road brand name tire, happened to be kumho. Local dealers either have super cheap chinese or gimmicky high performance brand names that wear out fast. Or $$$$$$ michelins.

 

[CharBaby]

I ONLY compare the same tires(apples 4 apples). Exact tire brand, model, speed rating, size etc.

 

[MNgopher]

Tire rack has only ended up being cheaper a time or two when I've shopped tires for the tire I wanted. In both cases, as others noted, that was a negotiation point with a local shop, and in both cases, they lowered their prices enough it wasn't worth ordering online.

On the other hand, I've ordered two sets of snow tires from Discount Tire Direct. One was part of a mounted and balanced tire and rim deal, and nobody here could touch the price. The local Discount Tire would have had to order the stuff the same as I did, and then do the work themselves. The other was not, but the tire price was way lower on a set of Hankooks with good reviews (rather than a cheapo Chinese tire, I'll take the Korean tire thanks) that were not available without a special order here anyways.

 

[Tdbo]

I think that the value of Tire Rack depends on timing of purchase, the tire that you are looking at, and other incentives available. I have purchased several sets of tires from Tire Rack. My father-in-law would order them through his business (he got a discount at the time) and between the discount, and the sales tax break, saved quite a bit. I once purchased 4 BFG Radial T/A's for a Chrysler that I had and saved $100. over the best that I could do locally. Took them down to Wally's for mount/balance.

That was before Discount tire came to town. Anymore, it is easier to do a net search, go there, do the price match (even though, they generally seem to be the same price w/shipping because they claim to shop the net and adjust pricing accordingly.) The only difference is the sales tax, and in my mind that is offset with the ease of purchase and any follow up issues I may have.

I'll add another thing that I like about Tire Rack, options. Many times, I have seen tires that are not easily available locally. With that knowledge, I can then shop locally and if they don't stock them, or refuse to order them, I know where to access them.

 

[tdpark]

Depends on where you live and the tire chains around you. I have saved hundreds using tirerack. Lately I have noticed that the tire chains around me price so that they are competitive with tire rack.

 

[SteveSRT8]

We buy tires quite regularly for our fleet trucks. For a LONG time I was a DTD online buyer, as their prices were the bomb. No sales tax and free shipping made it so easy.

But the local TK dealer noticed and now beats anything I bring him. Really paid off on the higher end tires we like to buy for their long life and superior performance.

 

[tommygunn]

The best tine to use Tire Rack is for high performance tires.

What I don't like about them is no discount for closeout and old stock tires.

And of course, YMMV

 

[Colt45ws]

I have used them and DTD. I buy from whoever is cheapest for the tire I want. Then I bring them to WalMart and get them mounted (I know the techs there so I trust them and they dont give me fuss over wrong size tires, if I didn't I probably wouldnt use them.)
I don't like any of the tire shops locally.

 

[rjundi]

Currently(last 5 years) tire shops especially chains had to bring prices down to compete with mail order houses. In the past it was cheaper to mail order.

Live rural it becomes cheaper too to mail order vs using the one local guy. The thing is the local guy is smart:

1) won't install other stuff
2) charges high prices to install other stuff(smart!!!!)