Buying tires On-line vs. local

[blkfordsedan]

Tax return's coming any day now, and I need to put new shoes on the Mustang. I've never bought tires on-line before, but I'm seriously considering it. All local tire stores charge extra now to mount and balance, not to mension the taxes and misc. fees they add on. I've looked at various on-line tire stores and Discount Tire Direct seems to have the best prices PLUS FREE shipping. Of course, I would voluntarily report the out-of-state purchase on my State Income Tax filing next year so they could deduct the sales tax from my return.....**cough***

Any other places you guys have used that you would recommend? Also, any recommendation for a good budget price tire? The size is 245/45-17. I don't want a directional tread or summer only tires that last 20k miles. I'm looking for an UHP All Season or Touring tire that I can rotate side to side. Long tread life and a quiet ride with even tread wear are more important at my age. I've looked at Falken, Nexen, Hankook, Sumitomo, Reiken, Khumo and Fusion.

[Larry Hampton]

I have a Discount Tire in town. Bought a pair of Kumho 12's for my Festy and loaded them up. He tried to sell me road hazard on them ($11.25 ea) and I said no as that was 25% of the cost of a new tire. He said you buy one and I'll throw the other in, so I did. come to think of it, I think that's one of the ones I have a knot on.....

I took them to a local Mexican used tire shop and got them mounted and balanced as well as old tires removed for $20.

[kellen302]

I know tires easy has gotten a bit of a bad rap around here but they are having a sale on Sunny brand tires (165/70-13 for 30.60$ 11.75$ shipping each) I'll be ordering these online (local shops want too much for tires.) I can mount these at the High School shop on some steelies from PnP that I need to get. I'm assuming you have nice wheels on your stang so you can't exactly just mount those with hammers. Side note: has anybody had any experience with these Sunny brand tires?

[kumalaba]

stick with discounttiresdirect.com i have purchased numerous wheels & tire sets from them & 100% satisfactory with my dealings with them. stay away from tires easy also if you call discount tires direct its about 5.00 less per tire than ordering them online. make sure you mention this to them when ordering.

[kellen302]

I think you mean Discount tire direct, no S on Tire. it takes you to some weird site. I just saw that tires-easy does paypal, so I might do that. Paypal makes it pretty safe.

[kumalaba]

oops tks!

[sketchman]

It's actually just discounttire.com now.

Regardless, do it. You'll never(probably) buy another over-priced, nickle and dime you for every little thing, set of rubber again.

I know I won't again if I can help it. Mount and balance is around $100/set here now. That's just STUPID. $24 for the "proper" tire bars and $40 for a bubble balancer and some of my free time. Winning.

[blkfordsedan]

Sunny Tires.....I have a friend with a Trailblazer SS that bought the cheapest set of tires he could find. They were Sunnys and they were dirt cheap. He took it to the local track and said they hooked better than any street tire he ever had. Good enough to cut a 1.8 60' and run 13.40s, lol. He drove it for a year and said they were wearing great. That's the only thing I've ever heard about Sunny tires.

[sketchman]

Mom got Sunnys on her Escape. Seem fine so far a year or so later.

[Twistiva]

Brian -

Try this: http://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/brands

I bought 4 Nexen N3000 195-45-15s for about $300.

(Tires were about $70 each and I got free shipping but then I got nailed for ~ $20 in city taxes because there's a Nexen warehouse somewhere here in OK. Frickin' government leaches will get their money out of you one way or another!.....)

[blkfordsedan]

Brian -

Try this: http://www.tirebuyer.com/tires/brands

I bought 4 Nexen N3000 195-45-15s for about $300.

(Tires were about $70 each and I got free shipping but then I got nailed for ~ $20 in city taxes because there's a Nexen warehouse somewhere here in OK. Frickin' government leaches will get their money out of you one way or another!.....)

Thanks Dan! Looks like some great prices. I like the Nexen N5000 due to the 60k mile tread warranty. I started a checkout, but it looked like they wanted to charge me sales tax as well. 7.5% on 450.00 would almost pay for installation costs. As soon as my refund shows up, I'll check with them again. I wonder if I'll get raped on install when the tire places see that I bought tires on line and not from them. I also plan on getting an alignment when I get the tires installed.

[200KGPGTP]

Tirerack.com!! I've bought half a dozen full sets from them and have no complaints. I love all the reviews and comparisons and whatnot.

[Movin]

Tires easy worked ok, Walmart, tire rack, Buy your own coats machine used=WIN

[gergorian]

I bought tires for my Probe at a Ford dealer. They will beat any deal you can find if they can get the tire. So, with my Ford discount and them beating Walmarts $10 cheaper a tire I got 4 General Ultimax HP's for I want to say 460 out the door tax included. That was almost $60 dollars cheaper than Walmart and even more than some online places.

[blkfordsedan]

You guys are all giving me some great resources. I love the Tire Rack site as well, but by the time you add the shipping I can buy just as cheap at the local tire shops. Plus, there are so many different brands that they don't offer.