Online tire stores worthwhile?

[L92 OLDS]

I need a set of BF Goodrich Radial TA's for my truck and have begun shopping around for a good price. The size I need is 285/75/16 and they are quite pricey ($900). Any advice on where to go for a good deal on these? I want new.

Thanks

 

[Bonnewagon]

The price can be good, and don't forget shipping, but then you must get them mounted and balanced. Some shops won't appreciate you not buying from them, and maybe not do a very good balancing job. If you have a means to get that done correctly, then buying online makes good sense.

 

[Fox80]

Tire rack use to be a good choice but shipping on the tires is nuts, I wanted the factory Continentals for my F-350 and by far the cheapest place was the ford dealer, my friend works there and says the OE uses more tires than anyone so they get a way better deal. They can get most brands so its worth a shot to ask

 

[FE3X CLONE]

I agree, I used to use Tire Rack a lot but anymore their shipping is so outrageous that it negates and advantage to buying locally.

And as said, by the time you mount and balance you'll likely end up at the same price as just buying them locally.

A year or so ago I had to buy a new set of tires for my truck. Checked the local Goodyear shop and the price, mounted and balanced and out the door would have been around $850.
I found the tires online for around $140 each. Shipping was another $50 or so and then to have them mounted and balanced was $200. I've found that most shops will gouge you on the mount and balance price if you don't buy the tires from them.

 

[hurst1979olds]

The guy down the road from me he will usually price match to Tire Rack. Or atleast come close. Hes a small business. It might be worth going to a place like that.

 

[tc1959]

I bought the Michelin tires for the El Camino from Tire Rack. They were $30 bucks a tire less than Discount Tire here in PHX.
They also gave me a $120 Pre Paid Visa, as a rebate. (that more than covered the shipping)
I got the wheels from Summit. I had some "Summit bucks" saved up so that helped offset the cost of the wheels.
I took them to Discount and they mounted and balanced all four @ $15 a wheel.
I also got lucky and sold my 15 " Centerlines and old tires on Craig's List for $400
It involved a bit of running around but I did save a few bucks buying online.

 

[L92 OLDS]

Thanks all for your input. The Tire rack price is $150 more than my best local price so I'll likely stay local. I am still searching out Walmart and my local GM dealer to see if they can do better.

 

[pencero]

stop! http://www.discountedwheelwarehouse.com ... _Tires.cfm & if you call the 800# and are buying rims they will probably just throw the tires at you as a pkg deal for less than $200. Don't take the first price this is an overstock warehouse you can get them to throw deals @ you if you bargain hard on the phone! For $1,000 I got beautiful 18" Giovanna rims on 4 Nitto tires and when I went to have them put on my 95 STS the guy @ the shop was perplexed like 'Theyre actually all balanced perfectly & correct psi so I guess we can just put them right on' but dont expect all that of course you should still check

 

[Poncho61]

I shopped around for some tires for the wifes minivan. Found Sam's Club to be the lowest by far for some BFGs. Then, yeah, a disclaimer here, reality hit. 700 miles in on the tires and I needed to remove them to do some brake work. 3 lugs on one wheel cross threaded and one on another. 2 of the lugs that crossed up ended up damaging the rim since they weren't holding it tight. I did the fix, had to buy a new rim, which surprisingly, no yards had a match. I ended up finding 4 American Racing wheels at the u pull it for less than $100.00. 4 new lug studs, a set of 4 lug nuts, and my labor in my drive to get it taken care of. This happened on a friday night, found wheels on saturday morning. I live an hour from Sam's. I went back in with receipts for $117.00 worth of parts, the four rims, the four rim/tire combos off the van, and told them they were gonna mount them free and reimburse me for the parts. I didn't ask for any money for my time. They argued like you wouldn't believe. Said they should have been called to do the work. I asked them if they would have sent a tech to my house, they said no. I asked them if they had their own tow truck, knowing they didn't. Asked them if they were gonna pay for a tow then. Asked them if they had a matching wheel in stock, again knowing they didn't. I told them it seemed like I did them a favor taking care of their screw ups then and I just wanted things made right and $117.00 seemed pretty cheap compared to what a tow, a NEW rim from the stealership, 4 lugs and studs, and labor time would have cost them. They balked and gave me a $75.00 in store gift card, mounted the tires to the new rims, and said that was all they would do. The store manager wouldn't even come out to talk to me. Made one of the techs keep running back and forth. I wrote a nice pair of letters to Sam's and Walmart corporate headquarters. A few days later, the store manager called. I demanded an apology for the treatment and asked them if $117.00 was worth losing a customer over and to remember that my word of mouth would cost them even more. She ended up apologizing on the phone, sent me a written apology, and another $200.00 store gift card. Even then, I'm still not a real happy camper. They assured me they would hand start each lug nut which its obvious now they didn't. Their balancing job sucked since they used stick on weights and didn't bother to clean the rim before sticking them on and half of them fell off, WHILE I WAS PICKING UP THE TIRES!! They rebalanced them while I waited, but I notice some have fallen off again. Lesson learned. Cheapest price not always best deal.

Sorry for the long rant.

 

[Poncho61]

By the way, some of the local stealerships here sell tires, like someone else mentioned. They actually advertise they'll match or beat any local tire deal, so in this case, the place may not be such a stealership afterall. LOL