Finding Cheap Tires
If you’d like to stretch your budget on your next set of tires you will want to do your homework before you can drive into any nearby tire store. Otherwise you will get stuck in that familiar pattern and wind up paying more than you really wanted. You understand how it goes. You arrive at the front counter, someone shows you some tires, you choose the cheapest ones, they don’t have them available, you pick the next cheapest, then this salesman highlights how this *really good* tire is merely a few dollars more, on special. You start feeling peer pressure since there are people in line behind you which means you just say “OK” and take out your wallet and start the entire process of convincing yourself that you really did get a good deal.
Ask me how I know.
Should you wish to avoid the usual, if you desire to avoid spending almost $700 on a set of tires for a little sub-compact, you will need to be ready and also you will need to give yourself time. I like to use Discount Tire because it’s convenient and they really do have good service. I have had many flats fixed or repaired throughout the years, and air pressure, rotation and balancing are all included whenever you purchase your tires from them. And they usually give a decent discount when you bring in a set of tires that may have worn down ahead of their normal warranty numbers. And yet I really did spend nearly $700 for my last set of tires, which will have maybe 500 miles on them when I sell the car this month. No, I didn’t do my research, did I?
Your first problem here is the vast amount of tires that are available. Dozens of manufacturers and brand names are out there, and each one of these has a bewildering array of sizes and types and tread patterns. The easiest choice is whether to buy a passenger car or truck tire. Once you are past that, you need to think about the weather where you live. Dry weather and wet weather have different needs, but all tires need to be able to handle water on the road. The farther north you live, the more you need to consider all-weather or winter tires. And if this vehicle regularly goes off of the pavement, that’s another entire category of tires. After that, most of the choices are marketing hype and prices and mileage warranties.
A good place to start is Consumer Reports. They do unbiased testing on tires. You will have to pay, but you can purchase an online subscription and keep it for 30 days for under $10, well worth it to help you narrow down your choice for cheap tires. As recently as October of 2010 Consumer Reports showed that even a good ultrahigh performance tire could be found for around $100. They also noted that prices differed from outlet to outlet and, seemingly, week to week.
1 year ago
