Online Tire Dealers Are A Threat?

[Rand]

Originally Posted by The_Nuke
I haven't gone to a pro/franchised tire shop in ages. I purchase new from TR, and when they are delivered the next day (no extra charge), I clean them up and apply my tire dressing of choice that week to make them look good. Then I take them to the local used tire place to have them mounted and balanced for $15 each.

That is so much more preferable to the old way I used to have to do the new tire thing...muuuuuch more preferable!


The only issue with that is what happens if you get tires that wont balance or have other issues.. you are responsible and have to pay labor again.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted by Marco620
I enjoy getting tires at my dealership. Free nitrogen,free rotation and two year roadside. I'd have to charge at least 150.00 at a minimum. Alignment,air/nitrogen,balancing, AND time. After thinking about it;225.00 is reasonable.


So if you're in Texas on vacation they still provide roadside service?

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Is 1010tires really more of a threat than Canadian Tire? I don't know what the tire market is like in Canada, though.

And here in the US, there are regional and national chain tire shops. DT has their B&M shops, and their online site DTD

 

[GMFan]

My last set of tires were installed at a local Goodyear shop. The tires were the same prices as if I had bought online, and GY was running a free install when you bought 4 tires. They also sometimes have buy 3, get 1 tire free, etc. Having tires shipped to me, potentially dealing with a lost tire or shipping damage, and loading them into my car to the local tire store anyway to put them on isn't worth the hassle to me.

 

[joekingcorvette]

The last tires I bought online were a couple years old but sold as brand new. I go to Discount Tire now and do my business. They seem to car a lot about customer service. If you just bring tires in to some of the local shops they do a half a job balancing and installing them on the rims. I used to buy online all the time but I am not going in that direction any longer. It's not worth the hassle to save a few bucks and I like not having to rotate 20 inch rims myself.

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted by Wolf359
Most tire dealers around me will price match the online price. Only reason to get a tire online is if the local tire dealer doesn't sell it. I'd rather just get some tires from Costco. When they have a sale, they're cheaper than the online tire stores. Plus their mounting and balancing charge includes a 5 year road hazard warranty. Tirerack only throws in a 2 year road hazard warranty. The price match tacks on the sales tax on top of it though so buying online is only for the real cheap skates who don't want to pay for the operations of government.


Believe it or not, there are actually other reasons besides the half-invented, paranoid ones you assign to us all.

For one, none of the advantages you list apply to me, so they don't factor in to my decision. In fact, avoiding the whole deal of dealing with someone trying to sell me tires is one big reason I don't go your route.

Not to mention I do not have a Costco membership, and I do not want one either. So there's that...

I would go on, but I feel like you've already stopped reading and started replying by now...

 

[The_Nuke]

Originally Posted by Rand
Originally Posted by The_Nuke
I haven't gone to a pro/franchised tire shop in ages. I purchase new from TR, and when they are delivered the next day (no extra charge), I clean them up and apply my tire dressing of choice that week to make them look good. Then I take them to the local used tire place to have them mounted and balanced for $15 each.

That is so much more preferable to the old way I used to have to do the new tire thing...muuuuuch more preferable!


The only issue with that is what happens if you get tires that wont balance or have other issues.. you are responsible and have to pay labor again.


Yep, and I'm willing to accept that risk and continue to go this route. And should something untoward happen, I will follow their procedures and be inconvenienced, knowing full well it was my decision. I won't create any negative reviews about their policies and post up under the tires, nor will I log on here and create a thread complaining about how I think I was wronged. I'll abide the contract I have as part of the sale and be happy I got my way, which ever way it goes.

That's how much I prefer this way of obtaining new tires for my car...

 

[Anon9283]

Originally Posted by geeman789
Originally Posted by JTK


It's the $20/tire mount and balance that brings a little bit in. ~$80 for 20 min worth of work.



Uh huh ..

Never mounted a tire in your life, have you.

First, place protective cover over seat. Drive car into bay. Put car on lift. Remove all 4 wheels.

Use cart or roll all 4 wheels to tire machine. Mount wheel on tire machine. Remove valve stem. Break beads. Lubricate beads. Triple check for TPMS sensors. Remove tire from wheel. Grab new tire. Lubricate beads. Check for inside / outside or directional marks. Mount tire. Inflate to set beads. Replace valve stem. Inflate to spec.

Do again 3 times.

Roll wheels over to balance machine. Check for weights, and remove. Mount wheel on balance machine. Take measurements for width. Spin wheel. Mount weights as directed. Spin wheel again. Zero's , good. If not, do it again.

Do 3 more times.

Roll / cart wheels back to car. Install wheels, checking for directional tires proper orientation. Snug wheels down. Use torque wrench for final tightening.


There is NO WAY you can do this in 20 minutes, ever. Most flat rate shops pay 1.5 hours for a tech to mount and balance 4 tires.




For your everyday standard sedan? I worked as a tire tech for only like 9 months in college years ago and it can be done significantly faster than 1.5 hrs with experience. And correctly at that

 

[geeman789]

Actually, most flat rate shops have an apprentice making minimum wage or close to it do all the tire work. Experienced techs don't usually do oil changes or tire swaps ...

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by The_Nuke
Originally Posted by Wolf359
Most tire dealers around me will price match the online price. Only reason to get a tire online is if the local tire dealer doesn't sell it. I'd rather just get some tires from Costco. When they have a sale, they're cheaper than the online tire stores. Plus their mounting and balancing charge includes a 5 year road hazard warranty. Tirerack only throws in a 2 year road hazard warranty. The price match tacks on the sales tax on top of it though so buying online is only for the real cheap skates who don't want to pay for the operations of government.


Believe it or not, there are actually other reasons besides the half-invented, paranoid ones you assign to us all.

For one, none of the advantages you list apply to me, so they don't factor in to my decision. In fact, avoiding the whole deal of dealing with someone trying to sell me tires is one big reason I don't go your route.

Not to mention I do not have a Costco membership, and I do not want one either. So there's that...

I would go on, but I feel like you've already stopped reading and started replying by now...


In my area, there's lots of tire chains. I used to go to one that offered a free front end alignment if you bought tires there but they only mounted and balanced and just included free rotation, but not balancing and no road hazard. A couple flats later at about 200 a pop (pun intended), it drove me to Costco for their road hazard. I have 18 inch rims which were factory unfortunately and there's lots of potholes around here so bent and cracked rims along with flat tires are the norm. Getting them balanced is how I end up figuring out if they're bent or cracked. And it's not like I'm going into Costco asking them to sell me a tire, they just happen to sell the Michelin A/S 3+ which are popular on my car. I suppose you could always get a Costo membership and then just cancel after less than a year and get a full refund. Remember this thread is about cheap skates buying tires online. There's nothing wrong with just buying tires at the local tire store and paying whatever they want.

 

[geeman789]

Many people don't understand that BUYING the tire is step 1, mounting and balancing are step 2, and rotating the tires is step 3.

Buy the tires online, and you will pay for step 2 and 3. Maybe a few times ... and throw in a flat repair, and maybe a vibration issue, and the dollars you saved buying online quickly disappear.

The vibration issue is a big one for me. Buy tires at a shop, and they will usually do their best to resolve a vibration issue, by re-balancing, or road force testing / balancing, or even replacing a suspect tire. Try that with the shop that you DIDN'T buy the tires at ...

And nearly every set of tires I have ever purchased has had one tire that needed some extra finesse to get smooth.

 

[Revving2Redline]

Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
Originally Posted by Marco620
I enjoy getting tires at my dealership. Free nitrogen,free rotation and two year roadside. I'd have to charge at least 150.00 at a minimum. Alignment,air/nitrogen,balancing, AND time. After thinking about it;225.00 is reasonable.


So if you're in Texas on vacation they still provide roadside service?


Last time I got nail in sidewall and took to a Honda dealership in KCMO. Guy shrugged and had a new Yokohama installed no charge. I should have used the roadside but was only 3 miles away and it slipped my mind.

Back to this online thing, I think those factory direct stores are kinda fishy and they are brick and mortar.

 

[Chris142]

Local Firestone quoted me $320 to mount and balance my carry in tires.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Marco620
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
Originally Posted by Marco620
I enjoy getting tires at my dealership. Free nitrogen,free rotation and two year roadside. I'd have to charge at least 150.00 at a minimum. Alignment,air/nitrogen,balancing, AND time. After thinking about it;225.00 is reasonable.


So if you're in Texas on vacation they still provide roadside service?


Last time I got nail in sidewall and took to a Honda dealership in KCMO. Guy shrugged and had a new Yokohama installed no charge. I should have used the roadside but was only 3 miles away and it slipped my mind.

Back to this online thing, I think those factory direct stores are kinda fishy and they are brick and mortar.


The whole funny thing about this is whole thread is that Tire Rack has been around for the last 40 years. They always spent heavily advertising in car magazines, they had the biggest set of glossy ads in the major car magazines which is probably why they're one of the few big ones around. They only recently started offering a road hazard, 10+ years ago they didn't so it was easier to get a price match and the road hazard from a local tire store than to go the whole mail order route.

 

[The_Nuke]

Okay, I guess I missed it the first couple times around. This thread is about saving money (or not actually saving any) by buying tires online and having them mounted and balanced locally. Technically I guess this rules me out as someone to which it applies because I don't buy my tires online to save money. I don't know if I am saving money by going the route I go, I honestly do not know.

I buy tires online (from TR specifically) because that is the best way I have found to do it for me. ‘Best' meaning easiest, most convenient, least amount of frustration.

I have them mounted by a used tire joint locally because again, that is the best way I found to check all the boxes I have for the experience - no waiting around, no one drives my car, completely on my terms as far as schedule and such.

I realize if I have a major issue that my way could turn into a crap show, I do, but in 8 tries at this so far I have had no issues (2 tires at a time; back tires always wearing quickly due to Hemi, I rotate myself), so I'm content with my own personal procedure...more than content, supremely happy I would say.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted by geeman789
Originally Posted by JTK


It's the $20/tire mount and balance that brings a little bit in. ~$80 for 20 min worth of work.



Uh huh ..

Never mounted a tire in your life, have you...




Sadly, in 35yrs of fiddling with cars I have not.

Regardless, I haven't waited more than 30min for the shop I go to, to mount/balance 4 tires for me and this includes check in and check out time, so they must be super special.

They charge $15/ea if the tires were purchased from them and 20 for carry ins. The shop owner has told me over the years they make very little on the tires themselves.

 

[Sayjac]

If Richard Bender is just sounding the alarm now for ITDs, I'm wondering where he's been. Granted there's been an expansion in online tire sales sites, but places like Tire Rack been around a long time. TR has their preferred installer listings to help them. Others I assume just go to WM if the IDT asks too much to mount and balance. If an ITD hit me with the "$225" for mounting and balancing, that's what I'd do. Fortunately with DT don't have make that choice.

So while there's no doubt online tire sales a threat to IDTs, they are not going away any time soon. And I suspect the saving "$20" customer mentioned, in most cases a very low ball price difference example. That said, I'm sure that number to make a point.

 

[jeepman3071]

I don't think they are a threat, depending on the shop's business model.

We have a local mom and pop tire shop we have been going to for years. They mount all of my family's tires, all of which have been bought online for the last 10 years or so. This particular shop does very well, and their prices are decent. They also do alignments, exhaust, brakes, and front end work which I'm sure helps support them quite a bit. Having customers come in for tire mounting also brings in the potential for up-selling other services like brakes, front end work, etc. Buying tires from the shop directly is expensive, but many still do it, and they also sell plenty of used tires being in a lower income area.

I think they actually have an increasing number of customers who bring in tires and ask for mounting/balancing and alignment. They do excellent work and have a good reputation. The two closest tire chains are Town Fair and Firestone, both of which have minimum wage drug smoking employees attempting to perform alignments. Those chains that try to do everything on the cheap with shoddy work are the ones who need to worry. I went to Town Fair twice, and they screwed up both times. The second time I was there, two other people were complaining about issues that were repeat problems.

 

[CapriRacer]

I can't remember the actual values, but in order to have a tire shop, it requires so much equipment that the shop has to charge about $50 per hour just to break even. So I can see where an independent tire shop would complain about online retailers.

OTOH, they are their own worst enemy. They don't pay very well, and there is little chance for advancement. The only positive is if that shop also does minor car repairs - brakes and the like. That's where both the shop and the mechanic can make out.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted by Chris142
Local Firestone quoted me $320 to mount and balance my carry in tires.

WOW!!!
Anything special about these tires?!?!?

The indy tire shop I prefer to patronize charges $100 to mount/balance carry in tires, but it's included if you buy from them.
If they can dig up a set of tires I'm interested in and their price is within $50 of the total price I'd pay buying from TireRack and then paying them the $100, they have my business.
The last time I didn't buy from them was when I also wanted to get a set of winter wheels so I could put my snow tires on myself...the shop couldn't even come close to the price I could get for a decent set of alloy rims from TR and a bonus was the units were shipped already balanced.
When it's just tires, I almost always go with the shop I like.