Where is the best place to buy tires, and which brands/models would you recommend?
Asked by
augustlan (
47745
)
November 18th, 2009
I desperately need new tires for my 2001 Chrysler Town & Country minivan, but am not sure where to get them, or what type I should be looking for. We get plenty of winter weather here, and I do a lot of highway driving. I need decent tires that can handle those conditions but I am brokety-broke-broke, so cost is a HUGE factor.
I have never bought tires myself before, so any advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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13 Answers
My dad used to drive a Toyota Sienna for the longest time (it’s a 7-seater mini van) and he has the same driving habits as you. A bunch of highway, a bunch of city and lots of cold weather up here in Toronto. He didn’t want to spend a lot, so he got some Toyo all-season tires. He raves about them to this day.
You can get some great deals by following these rules. Find an authorized Tire Rack Installer in your area. Then go to tirerack.com and order your tires. They will be delivered to the installer and you just pay them to put them on. It usually cost about $20.00 per tire for the installer to put them on. You can save money by doing it this way. Also, make sure you don’t live in an area with a Tire Rack distribution center. If you do, you can pick up the tires and save on shipping.
Good luck
Consumer Reports ( http://www.consumerreports.org ) buys tires (anonymously) and tests them in real-world conditions
The subscription fee ($5.95/month or $26.00/year) is A LOT cheaper than overpaying for under-performing tires.
I have no connection with Consumer Reports, no financial tie, no axe to grind. I am just a satisfied subscriber who prefers actual tests over opinions, anecdotes and advertising.
Ive had great success with tirerack.com as well.
My Yokohama ES100’s arrived the following day, at an amazing $61 per tire before taxes, an incredible price for a V rated ultra high performance tire.
A coworker at a car dealership installed and balanced them. He asked for $20, I gave him $25.
Regarding brands and models. Unless you have specific needs I’d go with a match of the original equipment tire on the car.
Match or upgrade with the replacement. Don’t use a lesser tire than the Car manufacurer reccomends.
Look on craiglist in your area and look for used winter tires, look for a decent tread depth and match the tire size, ie. 225/45/17, to the ones on your vehicle now. You can always google brand names of tires you find and look at user reviews to decide.
I usually type in the size of the tires and “rating” into a web search engine and go through the results. For my Jeep, there were only 2 tires available with that rim size and the tire-pressure monitors.
Most larger tire retailers… Goodyear, Firestone, STS, etc. have searches on their sites where you put your make and model, year and tire size, and it will tell you what they carry, whether they’re in stock, and how much they cost.
Just bought a set of Pirelli’s, http://www.us.pirelli.com, on sale for my wifes car-awesome traction and quiet!
Or try online tire services that deliver to a designated local service area and put on for cheap and delivery charges aren’t necessarily bad. No taxes I think, need to check on that; I am going to do it for my car-though not Pirellis.
We use Firestone because they are convenient, they have good prices on quality tires, and we get a 5% discount by using their Firestone credit card.
i just bought news tire’s from firestone my s,u.v requires a odd size so they had to order them but in the mean time i had them give me a written estimate for how much the tires ($ 112 each and the install $ 15 each plus $50 alightmen) would cost me and i told them that when i come back next week and drop off my s.u.v (when the tire’s come in ) im not paying a penny more and when the job was done they were true to their word and i paid exactly what the estimate said so kudos to firestone !
Thanks for all the input. I’ve been so busy I haven’t even gotten around to buying the tires yet! I looked into the tirerack.com thing, and I think that’s how I’ll order them. You know… if I ever do!
Big O tire shops are good with me.
Extremely fast, all kinds of brands.
if they are in your area…
Michelin Tires, but only from a tire store, not WalMart. the WalMart brand Michelin tires are made to WalMarts specification, not Michelin’s. be sure you read the words Made In Canada on the sidewall of each tire. this ensures that the tire is Michelin 100% and not a “speciality tire”.
I have purchased many sets of Michelin tires and have been extremely satisfied with their performance and longevity.
If Michelins are out of your price range, my next choice would be MasterCraft tires. but, only from a tire store.
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