I am going to replace my Bridgestone RFT with a new set of non run flats for my MCS JCW. I do not use the car on the track so I don't need a super high performance tire but I do want a good handling, good riding, all weather tire.
I have a couple of questions concerning this:

!) I see Tire Rack is a sponsor of the site but why would one find it better to
order online, ship the tires, head to a tire retailer to install and balance them vs going to either say, Costco or a Discount Tire for the same product and remove the hassle? How much if anything can one save by buying tires online?
I mean no disrespect to Tire Rack as I've heard good things about them - As a motorcycle rider one usually is lucky if you get 3 or 4K miles from a rear tire so buying online and having 3 or 4 tires shipped to last a season is a good deal as the online stores will save you hundreds of dollars.

2) I am going to eliminate the RFT as I can't stand the ride. So, what do we do for the flat we will inevitably get? I do belong to AAA and have for years but what do we do to get the flat repaired with no spare? Naive questions I agree but no question should be viewed as too stupid, right?

Thanks for your help - btw whoever came up with peanut butter to eliminate the white stains on my ABS plastic on the car is very wise indeed. It worked like a charm.

Steve

 

Hmmm, no takers?

What I'd say (having purchased tires remotely for a long ol' while, even pre-internet)

a) the savings can be substantial, or not, depending on if you can catch a local tire store with a sale, promotion, etc. Or, they'll offer to match online prices (that's rare around here, it may be more common where you are). We saved $150 *per tire* on Corvette and Trans-Am sized tires, for example. That's probably an extreme, but the savings can be there.

b) there's no "hassle" in buying tires online and having them shipped to an installer, that I can see. I shop online, find what I want, click here and there, done. A couple days later, installer calls to say, "your tires are here" and I show up to get them installed. No calling around, or standing around if I went to a tire store in the first place. No sales tax either (at least, for a while longer) but you do have shipping charges to consider.

c) And I'm saying this with a local tire shop that I patronize and highly recommend. They do a swell job mounting and balancing, alignments, and other services. But I don't purchase my tires from them.

d) Lots of choices in tires, likely several will fill the bill...I like the purchaser / car owner reviews on Tire Rack, and you can sort by make/model of car. I've only tried the Continental DW tires on my MINI, after switching out the run-flats, and love them (other than, they do follow rain grooves ["tramline"] quite a bit more than the supplied tires). No verdict on wear, I'm only about 6k miles into them.

e) I bought a Slime kit from Autozone that has a bottle of stuff and a small air compressor, to go along with my AAA card. I'm a motorcyclist too, so I slipped in some gummy worms and an insertion tool/reamer in the event the issue was some nail/screw that I could see and repair.

HTH.

 

Thanks for the reply mattox - I appreciate the comments
tire rack lists the Michelin I/ve speced out at Costco at
159 per tire - Costco has them at 163 out the door including
installation, local sales tax, etc.

Might just be an anomaly in this case.

 

I have been buying tires from Tire Rack for decades.
The selection is a huge factor. I cannot find most of the tires I want at my local tire
shops, and the ones that are locally available are often much more expensive than
the same exact tire from Tire Rack including the shipping (which is reasonable and
FAST from Tire Rack).

 

First - when you say ABS plastic do you mean like exterior trim with wax residue? If so, that is amazing!!!


Second - Tire Rack actually can work and ship direct to many of your local tire places. So it just becomes a way to build a relationship with a local tire shop to work on the car while accessing a massive selection of tires. My Mini dealer will even take care of ordering from Tire Rack for me - then the dealer handles the install. No markup on the tires (just slightly higher than avg install costs having the dealer do it). I'm still trying to decide who to work with locally - dealer or independent.... I do need to swing by Costco and see what they carry.

 

Yes the black plastic wheel surrounds grille etc - works like magic - no idea who came up with that but it is an easy cleaning -
I don't mean to be in anyway critical of Tire Rack - I just find it impossible to get even close to what I can get tires for locally out the door compared to what Tire Rack will cost when complete - I also find it hard to believe the tire stores prefer installing another company's tires vs selling a set themselves - I've found that the local tire stores will meet Tire Rack prices when you consider shipping, install, balancing (including free balancing and rotation for the life of the tire - I/m certainly as cheap as the next guy and appreciate the comfort of the internet buying experience but I also find that to save a few bucks online at the expense of a local merchant over time will put more local dealers out of business and then we're screwed when we need something quickly - I am no crusader but to save a few $ and still have to have them put on at a shop seems not worth the effort - Lastly, the price at Tire Rack for the Michelins were 180 plus plus plus vs Costco at 161 out the door -

 

OK, so go with your local tire store and be happy !

Many others find that their local tire stores routinely over-charge, never have tires in stock (and take longer to special order than TR drop-shipping times). And they few that match TR on tire price, jack up the installation and balancing fees to compensate. Always compare "all-in" pricing, not just that of the tires alone.


Don't forget taxes - no taxes on out-of-state TR tire purchase, which can add up to $50-100/set, depending on the price of your tires.

Many tire stores will refuse to install tires if you bring them in, or drop ship them from TR.
Some (both high end as well as budget minded) appreciate extra business, and self-register here: https://www.tirerack.com/installer/index.jsp

To each his own.

a

 

Oh - anything I buy local has 9% sales tax (on parts not labor) - so that almost always skews things in Tire Racks' favor by about $40-50.

That's a very good price on the Sport A/S Plus from Costco - any of my local "discount" tire places want that much just for the tire - and then plus plus plus for install, TPMS, disposal, etc...

Also, i wouldn't consider buying at Costco to be helping out local merchants....if you want to do that, go to the garage with one or two guys that do tires for a living. Not the national big box paying minimum wages.

 

I have found TireRack and DiscountTire to be comparable in price, selection and availability whenever I've been looking for tires. I don't have a problem ordering from TireRack, just never had the need to. If I didn't have a DT close by though, I'd probably be more inclined to use TR.

Once I swapped out the RFTs, I purchased a small pump and a plug kit that I carry in the MINI. If I run into something that exceeds the possibility of a DIY roadside repair, I have AAA to fall back on.

 

I found the same thing to be true - Discount Tire beat both Costco and TR and the tires will be here tomorrow. Plus they offered me 50.00 per tire for my run flats, though I decided to try and sell them on CraigsList since they're only a few months old with 2500 miles on them.

 

Costco doesn't pay minimum wage by a long shot - they offer not only competitive wages they provide health care retirement etc - you might be speaking of Wal Mart which I'll agree with - From my experience any decent tire shop will match TR and or Costco any day out the door.

 

Maybe it all depends on what you want. If you want to go to a store and buy what they offer I doubt if you can beat Costco's prices. Costco keeps costs down by offering limited product choices and marking up the same percentage on all products.

In 205/50-16 they offer five tires. TireRack offers 46.
205/45-17: 10 at Costco.com, 54 at TireRack.com.

 

No doubt you're correct. Not being knowledgeable I like that Costco pre selects for me.

 

After looking at tires that costco sells in sizes for the MINI, the tire selection is marginal.

They may or may not have the right size in stock, requiring them to order and ship to your store, and they may not be willing to work with tire sizes that are not OEM, it may depend on your store/tire mechanic.

Let's deal with your actual case. What size wheels do you have, what suspension (any plans to lower it?) and do you want an All Season non runflat tire that is longer wearing and comfortable for street use yet handles well?

If so then the first place to look is Ultra High Performance All Season tires.
Each tire varies with treadwear, tread design, and capabilities in dry, wet or light snow. Then consider your budget.

Costco can be a good option because the package price of the set of tires minus any special they run like $70 a set of Michelins or Bridgestones and a decent price on mounting and balancing and road hazzard can be OK.

I live in Hawaii so the cost of shipping using tirerack is large and all tire shops have to ship product so prices are very high, in that case costco is competitive.

For a flat you can buy a compact spare tire, cover it with a plastic bag and put it in your boot. You will need a small tire jack and tire iron, road flares and flashlight.

 

I stopped in at Costco yesterday, and here's what mine could do for me:

Michelin Pilot Sport AS/3 (W Rating) for $144 + $13 Tax + $1.75 disposal + $15 install

This is certainly a better deal than Tire Rack can do for me.

But if I want Continental DWS or some non-Michelin option that is popular, Costco is no longer an option, and Tire Rack starts to look better than my discount tire places.

By the way - any one running the AS/3's yet? I'm curious about them. Especially with the extra $70 off.

 

i didn't read all the comments so maybe someone mentioned this, but - you can get discount tire or costco to price match tire rack's prices, usually.
i did this with michelin hydroedge tires on my last car (non mini) and they were also running a rebate plus 0% financing, so i got $800 of tires from discount tire for $400.

 

Don't forget to factor in rebates and the rebates that the seller itself sometimes offers. That's what drove me to purchase tires online from DTD. They added a $75 rebate in addition to the $80 Hankook offered. After rebates I got a set of 205/45/17 Hankook V12 Evo's for 229 shipped.

Not to mention some online companies don't charge tax, which is a significant chunk of change.

 

The Pilot Sport A/S 3 is brand new, it's good that Costco is carrying them, there is a rebate of $70 on a set now. The tirerack price is slightly higher per tire than the costco price+ tax. $153 each, 500 treadwear, 21 lbs for 205/45-17.

If you were ordering rims then Tirerack can mount and balance tire to rim for free, if you would rather have the Continental Extreme Contact DWS in 205/45-17 then it is $121 each, 540 treadwear, 20 lbs each.

The Pilot Sport A/S 3 only came out about 6/26 so they are just started hitting the road. There is not even one owner review on tirerack.com for it.
Tirerack test result-
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=170
Seems dry and wet handling was decent, no report on street use yet.