I need to buy tires. the online tire sites say I need 225/60-16, but the tires on my car are 235/60-16. will either tire work with the rim I have (I bought my car used, no idea if the old owner put the wrong tires on or what).
Also I keep hearing, ‘don’t buy cheap tires’ but even the cheap ones have 50k warranties. Is there really a differenc or are you paying for the name brand.
Also prices are a hassle. some give you installation/balance/valves/etc free, some charge. charges very from $15-30 a tire.
Some offer mail in rebates, but my experience with tech rebates is most never get filled. are tire rebates notoriously ‘lost in the mail’ like tech rebates?
How/where do I get the best deal? are the buy 3 get 1 free deals the best, or do they just overcharge for other stuff?
I went to Tire Rack and found tires that were well rated, and a good price per tire. I made a deal with my local mechanic to mount those tires for me, and had Tire Rack ship the tires direct to his shop. I got what I felt were good tires, at a reasonable price, and paid a reasonable price to have them mounted.
You do need to shop around, and you should look online for reviews of any tire you choose to get. The biggest issue is not necessarily the warranty, but the grip the tires give you in various conditions, road noise and comfort.
Your current tires appear to be wider and taller than they’re supposed to be, check the manual to be sure. If they work, they work, but you may find the speedometer is off. Tire sizes go like this Width/Height(as a % of Width)-Rim Diameter. Going from 225 to 235 makes the tire wider, and the height goes up because it’s based on the width.
Tire Rack is the Bomb! I live close to a distribution center and don’t pay shipping. I get smokin’ deals on tires. Good thing. I need lots of tires!
In your case, I wouldn’t think going from a 225 to a 235 is any big deal. Pretty small difference. Check the sticker on the door jamb.
For what its worth: I don’t care for Michelin, too expensive and don 't wear for shit, either. Federal are the worst tires I’ve ever owned, followed closely by Cooper. I’d never buy a Firestone. Goodyear, Continental, Yokohamas are good, but kinda pricey. Best tire for the money in my opinion is Kumho. Been very happy with many, many sets so far. Hankook look nice but I’ve never tried a set. They have a good selection of sizes for performance tires.
Pretty much all new tires are “safe” (except maybe Firestone ) if mounted/installed properly. So don’t sweat that too much.
Two months ago, I used tirerack.com to put a new set of tires on my Suburban. With shipping and installation, it was less than $750 to put four decent tires on the ground. The best quote I received just calling around locally was $1100++. I’m very happy with the tires I bought.
Great service, and they are all over the west, but some of the “store brand” tires are absolute shit. (I’m lookin’ at you, Federal!) Out of 2 sets of 4 tires, 3 failed prematurely. Unfortunately, their “pro-rated” warranty is a joke, where they just knock a few bucks off and try sell you a new one. There was no “equal value replacement” available any of the three times I tried to get defects replaced.
But, yeah, I’d buy Goodyears from them if the price was right! (But Tire Rack smokes them!)
I’ve always had good luck with Discount Tires* at a variety of stores. It’s the only tire place that I tell Mrs. Cad that if I can’t go to get her tires, that she should go there and ask them to take care of her.
I would feel comfortable on tirerack.com but how comfortable are you with the nuances of getting the tire on your own? What’s the difference between a pretty tread design and a practical tread design? What is a 6-ply tire?** What is the balance between long tread life and traction? Is z-rated really the shit like tuner-boyz make it out to be?
I also don’t think of tires in terms of cheap and expensive. Form what I’ve seen most tires are great of dry smooth pavement and absolute crap under snow, ice, rain or rocky conditions. And yes the tires that work best under all conditions are more expensive. I had some stock Goodyears that came with my Jeep and it was a fucking deathtrap during the first snowstorm. The tires had many complaints of being worse than useless on ice and guess what, they were the cheaper Goodyears. On the other hand I have Hankook Dynapro ATMs on my Jeep which are a better deal but maybe not quite as good of a tire as the BF Goodrich equivalent at $30/tire more.
I’ll post an update this week. I noticed this Saturday that flecks of rubber are coming off the sidewall. When the flood subsides I can take it in and see if they agree it is a defective tire and what they will do.
** My SIL got taken advantage of because she paid a premium for her piece-o-crap tires for her truck because the saleman told her they were special truck tires. They were 6-ply! Holy Jesus Christ! 6 freaking ply and she was lucky that they weren’t charging her that much more (only $25 per tire)
I bought tires recently (this thread reminds me to send in the rebate) and Walmart wasn’t any cheaper than Discount Tires or the other tire joints I checked. They weren’t significantly more either so they’re a valid choice to add to the hunt but nothing about them surprised me.
I tried CostCo but most of their tires in my size were out of stock aside from the ridiculously expensive ones and I just wanted to get it over with. Wound up going to Discount Tires. In my experience, all of the chain places will give you a quote online including balancing, mounting, etc. I just looked at the bottom lines for everything – doesn’t really matter if one place is $15 cheaper on the tire and $10 more per wheel for balancing.
So far, the cheapest I can find tires including all the install prices is about $350 for a set of 4 General (brand) tires.
I am perfectly ok with spending more on tires that have better rain and ice/snow traction though. So if that cost goes up $100 for a set of 4, that is ok. But I really really want to keep it below $500, preferably $450 total.
I have never found Tirerack to have decent prices. Do you have a telephone? Call around to all the tire stores in your area and ask for their prices. One thing to consider is how many stores the place where you buy them has, if you travel out of your immediate area much.
Here is a warning to unsuspecting tire buyers everywhere-
If you have pressure sensing valve stems, the shop’s NOT going to replace them as a matter of course. Charging for new valve stems frequently is a matter of course, however. Don’t let the shop charge you for new valve stems when you haven’t gotten any.
I have been charged for new valve stems twice when they didn’t replace them. Of course, I caught it and didn’t pay for it.
To answer your question about the numbers. The first one is the width of the tire in mm, the second number is the ratio height of the tire/width of the tire and the third is the width of the rim (the diameter of the hole) in inches. Your tires are 0.4" wider than recommended and therefore 0.24" higher than normal (so the tire sits up almost a half an inch higher than recommended). The real danger is that while turning the tire may rub against the car but if you are not having that issue now then don’t worry about it. The previous owner probably did this since the same model of tire will have different costs for different sizes.
For cars, I prefer Pirelli but they can be a bit expensive. On Tirerack there is only one choice in 235s, the Scorpion STR at $584 but $514 after rebate. If you want to go back to 225s, the Pirelli P4 is a great tire especially if you have a lot of wet/snowy roads and it is $456 but of course you would need to pay for shipping and install. I had the P6 on my SRT4, loved them and the reviews for the P4 are much better. As a price comparison, at Discount Tire with install and tax the total is $600.
I like Discount Tire too. I always check the TireRack price and DT is either lower or will match it. Plus they have good TPIs at a decent price, about $125.
TireRack does have an excellent website for recommendations, reviews, ratings and comparisons. I study that first and then go look for the best price.
As for brands, I had N rated Pirelli Scorpion Verde on last and Rossos now. The Verde is made with environmentally sensitive materials and spins w less effort, thus fuel. I loved the Michelin Tour Latitude too and will get Super Sports next. Both make excellent tires, just shop the reviews, tractions and durability.
) if mounted/installed properly. So don’t sweat that too much.