FWIW on GYE Tires

[ROBERT CROSS]

If you are thinking of buying...Ck with a local Good Year store before committing to an online "discounter".
I bought 4 from Tirerack last Season.👎🥴

Our store is/was $8 bucks per cheaper w/o the shipping hassles.

Bob
🇺🇸

[Mollysdad]

I've had good luck with Discount Tire.
Nice people, clean stores, only tire place I've seen use a torque wrench on lug nuts.
And they're a dealer for the Dill metal stems if you want to use a TPMS. (902-W for my Sendel rims)

[Rich W]

I've had less than stellar experiences with Tire Discounters or Discount Tires, I forget which. This was long before the Internet existed. I got a good price on the tires but then they nickel and dimed me to death on the mounting, balancing and new stems. After I paid a high price for the valve stems but while I'm still standing there, he sells a bunch of stems to a "friend" at the counter for 80% less than what he charged me. He looked sheepishly at me, then walked away. I've not been back to either of those places.

About 5 years ago I ordered tires from Tirerack and had them delivered to a Walmart for installation. After spending the entire morning there, waiting my turn, I figured there was a better way.

A year after that I got 4 new tires from a local/major tire store, pretty good price and the car was ready for me when I got there. That was in December when it was dark, cold and windy. A few months later I was washing the winter road salt off. I washed one of the wheels and the lug nut cover fell off into my hand. I checked the cover and most of the supporting rings/clips had been smashed. The cover had dents as well and there were scratches on the alloy wheel. I checked the other covers and they were all damaged. Replacing those cost quite a bit and overwhelmed any possible savings. I don't go to any of those stores any more either.

This year I started taking advantage of the tire sales at my local Toyota dealership. When priced out, it's about the same I would pay elsewhere and I don't end up with damaged wheels. I think it's limited to Toyota vehicles, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

I needed tires for the AS last summer before our trip. I learned of an independent garage owned by someone in our neighborhood. I called them up, told them what Tire Rack was asking and he matched the price. He came in a little lower after it was said and done. The date stamp on the tire was from the previous month, so really new tires. I told him I would take the wheels off and bring them in. He had all of them done in a few hours. A month later I went back for 2 more tires for my boat trailer and got the same price and quick installation.

I bought 12 tires in 2019 and felt that using the Toyota dealership and the independent garage I got the best deals. So before you make the leap, check locally and see if they will match your online prices.

[Tall Grass]

My local tire/fuel/propane/battery dealer costs a bit more than the discount chains, but they make up for it in service. If they don't have what I want/need, they can get it in 24 hours. I throw my business their way whenever possible.
That said, I have and will buy tires from Discount. Their service hasn't been too shabby.

[jcanavera]

I've bought two sets of Michelin tires for my Airstream and 2 sets of tires from Discount Tire Direct. I just bought a set of Pirelli's for my SUV (that I don't tow with) from Tire Rack. In all cases these folks have agreements from local tire dealerships locally for mounting the tires.

My biggest challenge has been the fact that putting the Michelin LT's on the Airstream has been a do it yourself job. Do it my self is pulling the old tires and wheels off, transporting them to the tire dealership for mounting and balancing, then bringing the newly mounted tires back to put them back on the Airstream. The reasons in this area is always the fact that no major dealer will put an LT tire on a trailer.

On my automobiles it's easy and no hassle. For example on my Pirelli tires were shipped by Tire Rack to a local NTB store within 48 hours of my order. They were mounted balanced and the old tires were disposed of and placed on my Hyundai Santa Fe for $51 total. Based on my state's law, sales tax is not charged on my new tires and with free shipping, I typically save close to $200 on a set of 4 new tires over local purchases. I've never had any tire failures that made me regret purchasing via the Internet.

Even going to Costco or Sam's Club which is usually the cheapest outlet in our area for tires, is not competitive with many Internet outlets. I've also found that the manufacturing dates of the tires supplied by the outlets averages anywhere from 8 weeks to 6 months old. Now if you have a lot of road hazards in your area, you might get some lifetime deals from your local dealer. Knock on wood but the last hazard repair I had was on a Cooper tire on my van. As it ended up it couldn't be repaired and the tire had to be replaced.

The other issue to be aware of is that replacing a 16" LT tire may be challenging dependent upon the location you are at when your tire fails. In 2018 I had 225 75 R16 tire on my tow vehicle fail due to road hazard damage in Benton Harbor Michigan. Issue was the AAA authorized tire dealer in town was only able to find one 16" LT tire in the entire town. He ended finding a no name tire at a Discount Tire Dealer. No one else had that sized tire. Looks like the major truck manufacturers aren't using 16" tires anymore thus leading to a shortage of 16" tires in many locales.

Jack

[ROBERT CROSS]

POI....M&B is free for Vet's/military at our local GY store.
Except for the boat and AS I've purchased all our tires from local shops. All build dates were less than 7mos.
Tried the online option once...won't happen again.
When I called TR and told them about the price difference they said, "So what, we don't have discounts, the prices are what they are".
Kind'a like when folks went to the barber shop to have a tooth pulled.

When I was self employed if a customer inquired about a 'discount or price' I always made sure we gave him/her something that brought a 😀.
It's called... "the customer is always right."

Bob
🇺🇸

[suncoasteng]

I always try to get my tyres from Discount Tires. They are a nationwide chain, have prices comparable with the on-line tire sellers and have a great warehouse system that can usually get you the specific tire you want in 24 hours, which is important when you on a long road trip or vacation away from home base.

Never had problems with their techs. However I do remove lug covers and hub caps before I drop off,,,,,,,and ask them to let me torque down the wheels so I know I can remove the lug nuts on the side of the road if needed.

Have had shops with kids running air wrench at top speed that put lug nuts on so hard that I needed torch and breaker bar to get them off! I learned my lesson, if you want it done right, do it yourself.

[BeemerPilot2]

++++ for Discount Tire. Going through Castlerock last summer had a major hunk removed from the Airstream’s LF Tire. DT said I’d be out in two hours and they were spot on. I just got back from Mardi Gras in New Orleans - another puncture (almost) in a sidewall. DT replaced for no charge even though it was 60% gone in tread. Never had a problem with them PLUS they’re everywhere. I don’t shop anywhere else.

[SYC2Vette]

Just to chime in on experience with both our local Discount Tire and TireRack. I had two Goodyear Endurance tires installed on my AS wheels (which I removed and reinstalled myself) the price was good and the in-stock tires were fresh, downside was that they scratched one of the wheels. Recently purchased a set of wheels with Blizzak tires for winter use on wife's car from TireRack price was good and tires were very fresh. Two of the four TPS leaked very badly to the point they would hiss and leak down to zero within 20 minutes. Unfortunately discovered this the day before we were leaving on trip to snow country. Ended up going to 4 times recommended torque on TPS and got the leaks down to 2 psi/week. So I would use either one, but neither is perfect.

[Mollysdad]

I didn't believe the hype about Discount Tire...until I tried them.
Now I drive 40 miles to the nearest one.
Clean shop, the techs are hustling, but seem to be enjoying themselves too. Looked like college kids. They didn't know about jacking the Airstream, but they did what I asked. They also used a digital torque wrench on the lug nuts!
My old tire shop (O.M.) I was lucky to escape with all my valve caps and no grease stain on the seat.

[jaybauman]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

I didn't believe the hype about Discount Tire...until I tried them.
Now I drive 40 miles to the nearest one.
Clean shop, the techs are hustling, but seem to be enjoying themselves too. Looked like college kids. They didn't know about jacking the Airstream, but they did what I asked. They also used a digital torque wrench on the lug nuts!
My old tire shop (O.M.) I was lucky to escape with all my valve caps and no grease stain on the seat.

My neighborhood DT seems to have low staff turnover and they don't hesitate to spend time trying to get me what I want/need. Their prices are competitive and they are genuinely nice guys who stand behind their work. I've only experienced high-quality service with them.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Support...go local, face to face, avoid on-line.
Also my experience.👍

Bob

[HRTKD]

My local Discount Tire loves me. Fall of 2018 I stopped in and bought 5 sets of tires and two sets of wheels. The service is good. The manager greets me by name now. They get me in and out quickly.

I had a vibration with a set of all season Michelins. They rebalanced, road force balance and put their tire balancer into technical mode trying get it right. It never did solve the problem. So they replaced the tires with a different brand at no cost.

I bought a set of Toyo tires online. One of them went bad and the online retailer told me I was SOL. No more online tire purchases for me.

Getting back to the Goodyear Endurance tires, they have a very good reputation. I was going to use them but ended up with the house brand of trailer tire at Discount Tire. So far, so good after 5k miles.

[sarge12212]

If it says Made in China, keep your money in your pocket. You get what you pay for! But Goodyear, Michelin, Yokohama, etc. Sidewalls on cheap, China tires are thin. Any curb check and you might be done! ��

[Mollysdad]

Originally Posted by suncoasteng

I learned my lesson, if you want it done right, do it yourself.

I had that attitude when I installed my metal valve stems. I had a plan, a bead breaker, and a handful of Dill 902-W. The plan worked perfectly until I discovered my beloved Viair 400 couldn't supply enough VOLUME of air to pop the bead back on. Maybe if I had a ratchet strap around the circumference, but I didn't.
It's a dirty sweaty job, and I ended up at a nearby tire shop where I slipped the guys $10 to air me up! POP!