How much to spend on tires?

[multi-vitamin]

Hi All,

I have a 2012 Chevy Impala that needs new tires. Any suggestions on where to buy them to get the best value?

[nereo]

Hi All,

I have a 2012 Chevy Impala that needs new tires. Any suggestions on where to buy them to get the best value?

I've had very good luck with www.tirerack.com.

BTW - the size of the tire is what's important here, not so much the make/model (models can have several different varieties of wheels).  If you don't know what that is, it's written on the sidewall of the tire. 

[Le Poisson]

Tire rack is good, but can be beat. I budget $125 per tire, but I think its worth it to spend a little extra here. You can probably go as cheap as $80 per tire especially on a common car like that, but I choose something a little higher quality. My snow tires are Continental Extreme Winter Contacts and have been very good so far. A set of four was $435 CAD last winter, came to $491.91 with tax, and I mounted/balanced myself. They're so good that Momma is getting a set for her birthday.

[HenryDavid]

Phone around to local dealers and garages. Ask for slightly used tires with say 80% wear remaining. Lots of people have brand loyalty and swap out the stock tires on cars before driving them all that much, cause they like another brand better. Saved hundreds on snows a couple years ago this way.

[h82goslw]

Agree with others.....tire rack can definitely be beat. The initial purchase price from them may be cheaper, but then you have to pay someone else to mount and balance. Unless you have the equipment and can do that yourself, which I'm guessing you can't since you're asking this question.

I've purchased slightly used tires off eBay at a good discount and had very good luck with them.

[Fireball]

We just recently bought tires for my wife's car.  We went with Simpletire.com and plunked down $73 per tire including shipping. After mounting and balancing at Wal-Mart it came to $320 total. Tire size is P225.65.R17.

Ryan

[soupcxan]

In my experience, you get what you pay for with tires. Cheap tires wear out fast and don't handle well in the rain/snow. Safety and longevity are worth paying for.

[h82goslw]

UPDATE....just for shits and giggles I went to TireRack.com to see what tires would cost for my entirely too big, gas sucking SUV.  I had budgeted $1000 for new tires that will be needed before winter.   Found a set of discontinued name brand tires that will cost me $300 less than I had planned after mounting, balancing etc.  Thanks to OP for spurring the discussion!  Guess that TireRack isn't as worthless as I had thought. 

[HipGnosis]

You're not giving much information to base suggestions on.
Since you need new tires on a 3 year old car I deduce you don't use snow tires in the winter and drive quite a bit.
Fuzion brand tires are Bridgstones value line.  I've put them on two cars and been very happy with them (and I'm a car / motorcycle guy). 
If you do drive so much, I recommend you buy from a major (national?) tire or auto sevice chain in case you have any problems away from home. But don't go to a 'brand' store (like GoodYear).
Find out what size you need and then use the internet to figure out what model of tire you want/need.  I compare mileage rating vs price.  Then call the tire stores & auto service centers for best price (be sure to include all charges).
Then search the internet for that tire.   Find out how much it would be to have them mounted (TireRack gives you the cost of shops near you).
Then call the tire store and ask if they will meet or beat an online price.

[gimp]

I would go for tire rack as well. If you have snow needs, factor that in. If it often rains, factor that in. Then choose a good balance of highly rated and low-priced. Stay away from any DOT junk or similarly shitty tires, and don't go for performance tires, and don't get big name brands (like michelin) unless you need something specific.

[Digital Dogma]

I would go for tire rack as well. If you have snow needs, factor that in. If it often rains, factor that in. Then choose a good balance of highly rated and low-priced. Stay away from any DOT junk or similarly shitty tires, and don't go for performance tires, and don't get big name brands (like michelin) unless you need something specific.

I think this covers it well, but id like to add this - pay attention to expected mileage till they need to be teplaced, paying 100 bucks a tire is great but if they last half as long as the 120 dollar tires its a poor choice.

I personally went all out on my tires because I need to get to work rain/sleet/hail/snow, but while I spent 200 per tire they last 75k miles before the tread wears down. Thats a penny per mile in tires.

[acroy]

Tire Rack is a great source for reviews and such. But then you have to pay to have them shipping, mounted, balanced locally.

The local Discount Tire or similar will usually price match Tire Rack.
There is also www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/home.do which Discount Tire will price match. Odd but true.
I've yet to actually buy tires from Tire Rack. The local guys always end up the same price or cheaper.

[ketchup]

I got a set of four Kumho "85,000 mile" tires for my '99 Metro 17,000 miles ago from Discount Tire and they still look brand new.  Was $247 all-in but the Metro uses 13" tires which are cheap anywhere.

[WranglerBowman]

When I'm getting to the point where I need tires I start checking Craigslist.  I can normally find nearly new tires at 1/4 of the price for new, but you often can only find 2 matching tires at a time.  I've been doing this for the last 160k miles on my Honda and have saved a significant amount of $, with no issues so far.  Getting ready to buy tires from Walmart for my wifes car as she has a rarer tire size.  I found that Walmart was cheaper than Tirerack in many situations after you get them mounted, balanced, and on the road.  Don't fall for the buy 3 get 1 free scams, it's often more expensive then buying just 4 tires from those places because they make you buy warranties and charge more for the install fees for those deals.

[Le Poisson]

Wow after all the input I offered here I am awestruck... Just ordered Momma her tires for her van.

Last year I ordered tires for my car. The difference in price is night and day. Also, I don't do cheap tires, so you can definitely find better deals out there, but I find that off-brand tires wear surprisingly quickly, throw belts, and do other bizarre things.

So Poppa's car last year:

Car: 2012 Chevrolet Sonic Hatchback
Tires: Continental Extreme Winter Contact - 195-65/15
Purchased at: https://www.pmctire.com/en/
Shipping: Free
Install: Self-installed in garage
Tires Cost: $435.32
Taxes/fees: 56.59
Total Cost: $491.91

Momma's Car this year:

Car: 2006 Toyota Sienna
Tires: Bridgestone Blizzak WS80
Purchased at: www.costco.ca
Shipping: Free
Install: $15 per tire*=$60.00
Tires cost: $519.96
Taxes/fees: $94.60
Total Cost: $674.56

Why $182.00 more for momma's tires? Well, for sure the install is a bunch of it, but at Costco you MUST have the tires installed in house if you buy there, which is OK since Momma doesn't trust me to mount/balance her tires anyhow. That's $70.00 of the difference once you include 13% tax on that. Also the bigger vehicle (van vs hatchback) is enough to push her up into the SUV/Light Truck codes for the tires, which means about $5 extra per tire = $20.00.  But I am surprised that her tires come out so much more than mine.

The good news is that there is a $70 rebate on teh tires, so I guess its a wash??? https://winter-tires.pmctire.com/enw/service/postal.tire <EDIT - Damn! That rebate starts next week and excludes Costco Purchases. I'll have to cancel my order and try again... </edit>

[Guses]

The grippier the tire, the faster it wears down. For that reason, low rolling resistance are usually longer lasting.

When I last changed my tires, I went for an inexpensive but highly rated for mileage tires. No complaints and cost was about 50% cheaper than local tire shops.

[cars+FIRE]

Keep in mind when buying tires that they are the only thing that touch the ground and that they are a critical safety item.

If you want a good deal on quality tires, buy takeoff rims + tires on craigslist.  OEM wheels and OEM tires.  Pay attention to date codes so you know you're getting a newer tire.  No need to pay anyone for mounting tires, you can swap out wheels yourself.  Resell the old wheels on craigslist.

[Guses]

No need to pay anyone for mounting tires, you can swap out wheels yourself.  

How?

Don't you need a thingymajig to get the tire to seat properly on the rim?

[Cole]

They are saying to buy an entire set of wheels AND tires and switch them out. No taking tires off wheels at all. This in my area would increase the cost of replacing tires on my car by nearly 300% so unless you find an amazing deal don't do this.

I buy my tires from discount tire FYI and I drive a lot (35k miles+ a yr)

[Le Poisson]

I think he meant changing the tires, but still you can mount/balance yourself using a $30 tool from Harbour Freight/Princess Auto. Works really well on steel wheels, but may mark up alloy wheels.

It takes about 5 minutes per tire to change them yourself. Mounting isn't crazy difficult but it takes muscle and patience. Youtube to the rescue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J_2SD-snd0 - start at 6:00 for the mounting process.

[Cole]

Keep in mind when buying tires that they are the only thing that touch the ground and that they are a critical safety item.

If you want a good deal on quality tires, buy takeoff rims + tires on craigslist.  OEM wheels and OEM tires.  Pay attention to date codes so you know you're getting a newer tire.  No need to pay anyone for mounting tires, you can swap out wheels yourself.  Resell the old wheels on craigslist.

I bolded relevant areas.

[cars+FIRE]

Keep in mind when buying tires that they are the only thing that touch the ground and that they are a critical safety item.

If you want a good deal on quality tires, buy takeoff rims + tires on craigslist.  OEM wheels and OEM tires.  Pay attention to date codes so you know you're getting a newer tire.  No need to pay anyone for mounting tires, you can swap out wheels yourself.  Resell the old wheels on craigslist.

I bolded relevant areas.

Exactly.  But I'm not sure how that would increase costs by 300%...

If you buy newer used wheels + tires off craigslist and sell your older wheels + tires, you will only pay for the difference between a used tire with 80% tread and a used tire with 25% tread.  This is significantly cheaper than buying new tires.

Example: New tires = $600
Wheels + Tires 95% tread = buy for $1000
Wheels + Tires 20% tread = sell for $700
Savings $300

I do this frequently on my Corvette and end up saving about 50% of the cost of new tires and get to change out wheel styles at the same time.  I will admit that there are certain types of cars where people buy the car, don't like the factory wheel style and immediatley replace them.  You may have much more difficulty doing this on "normal" cars, but my FIL does this all the time with his normal cars and seems to make out pretty well.

[Le Poisson]

I used to buy used tires fairly regularly, but stopped after repeated issues with thrown belts, weak sidewalls, etc. Not all faults are visible until the tires are on and you get them running up to speed. I found that my used tires were costing me more than just biting the bullet and buying new. YMMV