Online Tire purchase - installation?

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I am buying 2 tires from amazon, where do I go to get them install on my fit?
Walmart? Costco?

I am getting General Altimax, anyone use them, good for snow? hwy?
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
I am buying 2 tires from amazon, where do I go to get them install on my fit?
Walmart? Costco?

I am getting General Altimax, anyone use them, good for snow? hwy?


Have you checked just buying from Discount Tire? The aggravation of dealing with the long waits at Costco or Walmart just aren't worth it for me, especially if you rotate them regularly.
 
I bought loose tires this year, and had them installed at Costco. Can't beat their pricing.

Which General Altimax are you asking about? When I used the Altimax Arctic (older model), I loved them, they wore well, had excellent snow and ice traction, and did well for a winter tire on bare pavement, even at highway speeds.
 
My local mom and pop install them for like $20-30 ea. Walmart here refuse to install low profile tires.
 
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The local tire shop charges $30 a tire to install mail order tires, balancing extra. Why? Because anything goes wrong who gets blamed? The tire shop.
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
I am getting General Altimax, anyone use them, good for snow? hwy?


I haven't tried them in the snow, but I like them so much that I'll keep buying them as long as they keep making them.
 
Have used them for 2 winters now on all 3 of our vehicles, well now only 2 vehicles since HS daughter got in accident a couple of weeks back and so the 2002 honda is totaled, Honda going to salvage yard as soon as insurance settles out, so now only on Sonata and the Santa fe. I bought them from tire rack who drop shipped them to my installer. Before the General Altimax I had cooper snow tires for about 3 years. Can tell no difference, as both have a nice winter tread and had zero issues on snow, ice or slush. great traction and braking. Like any winter tire the rubber is much softer and will wear down quickly if you run them far into the warmer months. They are noisier on dry pavement, but that is to be expected as they are snow tires with an aggressive tread. Here in Nebraska I run them from mid October to late April. A few years back we had a big winter snow blast in mid April and I had just switched back to all seasons and was wishing that I had left the snows on. I would think that Amazon would drop ship your general Altimax tires to whatever local installer you choose, as long as you give the installer a heads up to expect delivery.
 
I always buy my tires on ebay and have them installed at tires plus or firestone. Believe it's 12each. Local shop right up the road is 24 each so it's worth the 10 minute drive.
 
I just bought a set of snow tires on eBay with the recent sale, took them to a local Mom and Pop store, they mounted and balanced them for $12ea, I think. They said they would have charged more if they had to remove and install the wheels on the car, I brought them in loose in my trunk.
 
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
My local mom and pop install them for like $20-30 ea. Walmart here refuse to install low profile tires.


The local shop is $12 mount and balance (up to 17").

Wal-mart in Waco will not mount tires that are not purchased from them!
 
I have had Wal-Mart install tires I've bought of the TireRack with no issues. BUT, I have been able to walk into Discount Tire, order tires they don't necessarily show on their website and get pricing that matches the cost of buying online and having someone else install them. Tell them your intentions and they will work with you. My wife ordered and got the new General GMax AS 05's for her Audi a few months ago at Discount Tire and they are great.
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
I am buying 2 tires from amazon, where do I go to get them install on my fit?
Walmart? Costco?

I am getting General Altimax, anyone use them, good for snow? hwy?


I would have taken that on-line price to my local tire shop to match/beat...which they always do since they advertise they will beat ANY advertised price. They they order them (1-2 days away) and install them for free during an appointment I set up. Takes about an hour if an alignment was needed going in. Also get free rotations for life.
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
I am buying 2 tires from amazon, where do I go to get them install on my fit?
Walmart? Costco?

I am getting General Altimax, anyone use them, good for snow? hwy?

Your tires are going to be useless, and dangerous if your only buying 2! Buy 4 or nothing. You are not saving a dime only buying 2.
 
the only time i've bought tires online, i bought them from Tire rack, and had 'em shipped to my local Ford dealer, who did the install on my Neon for round $12/each.

yes. I had the local Ford dealer replace the tires on my Dodge. Even wore my mopar t-shirt just by chance that day. nobody said a thing. (apparently my $$ was just a good as the next guys)
 
Big O installed the ones I bought online from Simpletire. Gave me a Veteran's discount and did a good job balancing.
 
Originally Posted By: stockrex
I am buying 2 tires from amazon, where do I go to get them install on my fit?
Walmart? Costco?

I am getting General Altimax, anyone use them, good for snow? hwy?



Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it would have been best to consider the installation first. I know there's tire shops around me that will not mount new carry-in tires. They'll mount used (snows, etc), but not new. This makes no sense to me, especially when they have zero cars in the bays and the Techs standing around. Like said, Walmart or Sams Club will mount any carry ins. I just paid Walmart $10/tire for a pair of Walmart.com tires that were shipped to the store. I didn't need stems. My 2 local tire shop that will mount carry-ins charges $15/ea.
 
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You guys are doing this wrong.

Call around on the phone. Say you have loose snow tires you want mounted on your rims. What's the price. Even ask what the cash price is. You want it done today or real soon but are flexible on time, and could even drop off loose rims & tires. Take the name of the guy on the phone.

When you show up, say "Bob said he'd mount them".

This $30 outside tire fee, whatever, they don't want your work. You don't want their spite. You might even find a nice shop with actual customer service. It could be a dealer, tire shop, or gas station from the anecdata in this thread.
 
Originally Posted By: Traction
Originally Posted By: stockrex
I am buying 2 tires from amazon, where do I go to get them install on my fit?
Walmart? Costco?

I am getting General Altimax, anyone use them, good for snow? hwy?

Your tires are going to be useless, and dangerous if your only buying 2! Buy 4 or nothing. You are not saving a dime only buying 2.


That's a strange sentiment. I used to buy 2 tires once in a while too. I used to get lazy and not rotate the tires so the fronts would wear out after 50-60k and the rears were still good up to 80k. So after a while, I'd just buy 2, stick them on the rear and then rotate them later. Then it would repeat... Eventually I got rid of the car without having to buy 2 more.

I used to buy online, but then I just had the local tires store price match. They end up charging you tax but they don't charge to mount the tire, just for balancing. If you didn't buy the tires there, then there's an extra charge for mounting plus when you buy them there, you get lifetime balance, rotation which you don't get when you just bring the tires in.
 
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