How to buy tires for your car (letter to a friend asking foradvice)

A friend asked me how to buy tires for her daughter - and I wrote this up
to email to her.

How does it look (do you have better ideas for a basic college kid's car)?

Here's what I just wrote up for her:

0. Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the
vehicle came with as stock.

1. Go to the Tirerack web site and list all available tires for that size
& load rating and type (e.g., mud and snow, all weather, etc.).

2. Order the cheapest tires with the best ratings for traction you can
find. Use temperature and treadewear ratings as tie breakers. Never ever
buy anything, least of all tires, based on the warranty - but if all else
is otherwise exactly equal, then use the (otherwise nearly useless)
warranty as your tie breaker only. And never buy based on manufacturer's
speed ratings - although, as always, feel free to use them as a tie
breaker.

3. You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end
(but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out).

4. When ordering, choose the option to send them to the installer of
choice, and pick the CHEAPEST local installer by overall price (it should
cost roughly about $15 per tire for mounting & balancing but many have
additional fees so that's total price, including tire disposal fee, new
valve, balancing, and mounting).

5. You'll find the shipping is about $15 per tire, so basically the final
price will be the sales price plus $30 for shipping & balancing.

6. If you want, you can skip the ordering and just print the prices and
visit any local tire shop and ask if they'll match those prices. Make
sure you print the installation costs also to ensure they match both.

7. Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car
aligned when the new tires are put on.

You can expect tires to cost roughly around $100, plus $15 shipping, plus
$15 for installation, for a total of about $520 for a set of four.

In article >,
Joe Mastroianni > wrote:

> A friend asked me how to buy tires for her daughter - and I wrote this up
> to email to her.
>
> How does it look (do you have better ideas for a basic college kid's car)?
>
> Here's what I just wrote up for her:
>
> 0. Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the
> vehicle came with as stock.
>
> 1. Go to the Tirerack web site and list all available tires for that size
> & load rating and type (e.g., mud and snow, all weather, etc.).
>
> 2. Order the cheapest tires with the best ratings for traction you can
> find. Use temperature and treadewear ratings as tie breakers. Never ever
> buy anything, least of all tires, based on the warranty - but if all else
> is otherwise exactly equal, then use the (otherwise nearly useless)
> warranty as your tie breaker only. And never buy based on manufacturer's
> speed ratings - although, as always, feel free to use them as a tie
> breaker.
>
> 3. You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end
> (but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out).
>
> 4. When ordering, choose the option to send them to the installer of
> choice, and pick the CHEAPEST local installer by overall price (it should
> cost roughly about $15 per tire for mounting & balancing but many have
> additional fees so that's total price, including tire disposal fee, new
> valve, balancing, and mounting).
>
> 5. You'll find the shipping is about $15 per tire, so basically the final
> price will be the sales price plus $30 for shipping & balancing.
>
> 6. If you want, you can skip the ordering and just print the prices and
> visit any local tire shop and ask if they'll match those prices. Make
> sure you print the installation costs also to ensure they match both.
>
> 7. Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car
> aligned when the new tires are put on.
>
> You can expect tires to cost roughly around $100, plus $15 shipping, plus
> $15 for installation, for a total of about $520 for a set of four.

That last bit depends on the car. Tires with a low sidewall aspect
ratio can cost a fortune because they need extra reinforcements. Mix a
low sidewall aspect ratio with a heavy car and you're looking at prices
starting at $250 per tire. Most tire shops will try to sell such tires
with a lower load capacity and say they're giving you a good deal, but
underrated tires won't handle well or last long.

There's also sport versus cruising and everything in between. A sport
tire may be so superior in performance that it grips better in the rain
than a cruising tire grips on dry pavement. The downside is noise, a
harsh ride, and rapid wear. Cruising tires are comfortable and long
lasting but not great performers.
--
I will not see posts from Google because I must filter them as spam

On Feb 7, 1:02*am, Joe Mastroianni > wrote:
> A friend asked me how to buy tires for her daughter - and I wrote this up
> to email to her.
>
> 0. Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the
> vehicle came with as stock.

Why?

> 1. Go to the Tirerack web site and list all available tires for that size
> & load rating and type (e.g., mud and snow, all weather, etc.).

Which size...?

> 2. Order the cheapest tires with the best ratings for traction you can
> find.

Why?

> 3. You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end
> (but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out).

That's nonsensical.

> 7. Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car
> aligned when the new tires are put on.

How much longer than between tire sets would you suggest for
alignments...?
-----

- gpsman

Joe Mastroianni > wrote:
>
>4. When ordering, choose the option to send them to the installer of
>choice, and pick the CHEAPEST local installer by overall price (it should
>cost roughly about $15 per tire for mounting & balancing but many have
>additional fees so that's total price, including tire disposal fee, new
>valve, balancing, and mounting).

Problem is the cheapest local installer is going to be using torque sticks
and are apt to overtorque everything and bend up your rotors. They are also
apt to find lots of other things wrong and wind up sticking the customer for
the cost of an alignment (which more often than not is actually a misalignment).

So it's good to at least beware of these things.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Feb 7, 5:48*am, gpsman > wrote:
> On Feb 7, 1:02*am, Joe Mastroianni > wrote:
>
> > A friend asked me how to buy tires for her daughter - and I wrote this up
> > to email to her.
>
> > 0. Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the
> > vehicle came with as stock.
>
> Why?

This should be obvious - buying a car from some dumbass who put on the
wrong tires, you don't want to propagate that. They might be all four
different size retreads, you know?

>
> > 1. Go to the Tirerack web site and list all available tires for that size
> > & load rating and type (e.g., mud and snow, all weather, etc.).
>
> Which size...?

The size for the car. Usually they list all the combinations that
came with the model, sometimes they might be off. Some cars these
days have 3 different sized wheels available from the manufacturer.

>
> > 2. Order the cheapest tires with the best ratings for traction you can
> > find.
>
> Why?

This appears to be trying to maximize safety for the young 'un.
Probably way over-generalized.

>
> > 3. You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end
> > (but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out)..
>
> That's nonsensical.

I agree, but I do the same thing. These are internet opinions, it
takes some skill to judge them.

>
> > 7. Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car
> > aligned when the new tires are put on.
>
> How much longer than between tire sets would you suggest for
> alignments...?

This is a tough question. I've put 20K on the new beetle I bought
used five years ago, which had apparently OEM replacements with I
guess 5 or 10K on them. No alignment has been necessary, even though
there is obvious off-road damage from the previous little-old-lady-
driving-on-Sunday and I've had trouble with bent A-Arms. This has
surprised me. I'm unsure if I'll do an alignment when I get a new
set.

I would think getting an alignment with a new set makes sense, but I
didn't with the Chrysler, no apparent issues 15K miles later. I think
I've done this several times now with cars up to 200K.

It seems it depends on the car and circumstances. The roads around
where I live are crap, too.

jg
--
@home.com is bogus.
Dang, this guy is getting around.
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_2...ted-2-killings

On Feb 6, 10:02*pm, Joe Mastroianni > wrote:

>
> 6. If you want, you can skip the ordering and just print the prices and
> visit any local tire shop and ask if they'll match those prices. Make
> sure you print the installation costs also to ensure they match both.
>

Be sure and print everything, it seems there are sometimes different
prices between franchise and corporate web sites. There are also
sometimes marketing sites with outdated information that look similar
to the real sites, trying to get referral fees or something.

jg
--
@home.com is bogus.
http://goo.gl/maps/vRSyq

On Feb 7, 11:48*am, jgar the jorrible > wrote:
> On Feb 7, 5:48*am, gpsman > wrote:
>
> > On Feb 7, 1:02*am, Joe Mastroianni > wrote:
>
> > > A friend asked me how to buy tires for her daughter - and I wrote this up
> > > to email to her.
>
> > > 0. Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the
> > > vehicle came with as stock.
>
> > Why?
>
> This should be obvious - buying a car from some dumbass who put on the
> wrong tires, you don't want to propagate that. *They might be all four
> different size retreads, you know?

So why "compare" them...?

> > > 1. Go to the Tirerack web site and list all available tires for that size
> > > & load rating and type (e.g., mud and snow, all weather, etc.).
>
> > Which size...?
>
> The size for the car. *Usually they list all the combinations that
> came with the model, sometimes they might be off. *Some cars these
> days have 3 different sized wheels available from the manufacturer.

That isn't clear.

> > > 2. Order the cheapest tires with the best ratings for traction you can
> > > find.
>
> > Why?
>
> This appears to be trying to maximize safety for the young 'un.
> Probably way over-generalized.

Ya think...?

> > > 3. You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end
> > > (but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out).
>
> > That's nonsensical.
>
> I agree, but I do the same thing. *These are internet opinions, it
> takes some skill to judge them.

Right. Knowledge/skill of which I think we can safely assume the
recipient has none.

> > > 7. Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car
> > > aligned when the new tires are put on.
>
> > How much longer than between tire sets would you suggest for
> > alignments...?

> I would think getting an alignment with a new set makes sense,

Especially if you can't "read" a tire.

> but I
> didn't with the Chrysler, no apparent issues 15K miles later. *I think
> I've done this several times now with cars up to 200K.
>
> It seems it depends on the car and circumstances. *The roads around
> where I live are crap, too.

The roads are crap everywhere, so you must drive like me, which almost
no one does.
-----

- gpsman

On Feb 7, 9:18*am, gpsman > wrote:

>
> The roads are crap everywhere, so you must drive like me, which almost
> no one does.

Yah, I'm the guy in the Bug who thinks he's James Dean in the
Spyder ;-)

jg
--
@home.com is bogus.
http://content.clearchannel.com/cc-c...1360213161.pdf

On Thu, 7 Feb 2013 08:48:41 -0800 (PST), jgar the jorrible
> wrote:

>On Feb 7, 5:48Â*am, gpsman > wrote:
>> On Feb 7, 1:02Â*am, Joe Mastroianni > wrote:
>>
>
>>
>> > 3. You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end
>> > (but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out).
>>
>> That's nonsensical.
>
>I agree, but I do the same thing. These are internet opinions, it
>takes some skill to judge them.
>

But not too much skill. When you see the reviewer has put 100 miles
on the tires and says they are "Awesome!" just ignore that.
Not much different than wading through product reviews on Amazon.
I trust my take on enough good Tirerack reviews much more than a tire
rating from Consumers Report. They still around?
You just need enough reviews for a tire on your car type.
I don't bother reading reviews where the tire is on a car
substantially different than the car I want them for.
Don't recall if the OP said look up reviews by tire size, but that's
useless. Has to be by make/model..
You do have "tire nuts" writing some decent reviews there.
I've trusted some of them enough to buy based on their reviews, and
was satisfied with the result.
I've found the biggest problem is when there aren't enough believable
reviews for my car, or the tire model is discontinued.


>>
>> > 7. Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car
>> > aligned when the new tires are put on.
>>
>> How much longer than between tire sets would you suggest for
>> alignments...?
>
>This is a tough question. I've put 20K on the new beetle I bought
>used five years ago, which had apparently OEM replacements with I
>guess 5 or 10K on them. No alignment has been necessary, even though
>there is obvious off-road damage from the previous little-old-lady-
>driving-on-Sunday and I've had trouble with bent A-Arms. This has
>surprised me. I'm unsure if I'll do an alignment when I get a new
>set.
>
>I would think getting an alignment with a new set makes sense, but I
>didn't with the Chrysler, no apparent issues 15K miles later. I think
>I've done this several times now with cars up to 200K.
>
>It seems it depends on the car and circumstances. The roads around
>where I live are crap, too.
>

I never align because I put new tires on, unless there are wear or
tracking issues. But it seems how it's worked out the last couple
times is when it was time for front end maintenance like struts, or
tie rod ends, it was time for new tires too. So I did it all at
within a week, tires and alignment last.

On 02/07/2013 01:25 AM, Kevin McMurtrie wrote:
> In article >,
> Joe Mastroianni > wrote:
>
>> A friend asked me how to buy tires for her daughter - and I wrote this up
>> to email to her.
>>
>> How does it look (do you have better ideas for a basic college kid's car)?
>>
>> Here's what I just wrote up for her:
>>
>> 0. Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the
>> vehicle came with as stock.
>>
>> 1. Go to the Tirerack web site and list all available tires for that size
>> & load rating and type (e.g., mud and snow, all weather, etc.).
>>
>> 2. Order the cheapest tires with the best ratings for traction you can
>> find. Use temperature and treadewear ratings as tie breakers. Never ever
>> buy anything, least of all tires, based on the warranty - but if all else
>> is otherwise exactly equal, then use the (otherwise nearly useless)
>> warranty as your tie breaker only. And never buy based on manufacturer's
>> speed ratings - although, as always, feel free to use them as a tie
>> breaker.
>>
>> 3. You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end
>> (but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out).
>>
>> 4. When ordering, choose the option to send them to the installer of
>> choice, and pick the CHEAPEST local installer by overall price (it should
>> cost roughly about $15 per tire for mounting & balancing but many have
>> additional fees so that's total price, including tire disposal fee, new
>> valve, balancing, and mounting).
>>
>> 5. You'll find the shipping is about $15 per tire, so basically the final
>> price will be the sales price plus $30 for shipping & balancing.
>>
>> 6. If you want, you can skip the ordering and just print the prices and
>> visit any local tire shop and ask if they'll match those prices. Make
>> sure you print the installation costs also to ensure they match both.
>>
>> 7. Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car
>> aligned when the new tires are put on.
>>
>> You can expect tires to cost roughly around $100, plus $15 shipping, plus
>> $15 for installation, for a total of about $520 for a set of four.
>
> That last bit depends on the car. Tires with a low sidewall aspect
> ratio can cost a fortune because they need extra reinforcements. Mix a
> low sidewall aspect ratio with a heavy car and you're looking at prices
> starting at $250 per tire. Most tire shops will try to sell such tires
> with a lower load capacity and say they're giving you a good deal, but
> underrated tires won't handle well or last long.
>
> There's also sport versus cruising and everything in between. A sport
> tire may be so superior in performance that it grips better in the rain
> than a cruising tire grips on dry pavement. The downside is noise, a
> harsh ride, and rapid wear. Cruising tires are comfortable and long
> lasting but not great performers.
>

I agree with both of your comments, I would also add that unless this is
a car that a) never sees snow, EVER or b) has a set of dedicated winter
tires to exclude anything that has "summer" in the description (or
doesn't have "all-season.")

Sounds like you actually have a pretty good handle on it, and I would
definitely try to price match with a good local independent shop before
just ordering from tire rack - it works out the same in the end but you
build a good relationship with the shop that way. It's an easy sale for
them if you walk in already knowing what two or three models, sizes,
etc. of tires you're thinking are acceptable.

Finally, I've had excellent luck with Michelin tires and find them to be
a little more expensive but wear a lot longer than other mfgrs.
comparable tires, while still having good traction. Whether the premium
is worth it really depends on how long friend's daughter anticipates
keeping the car.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel