Tire Shopping . . . GRRRRR

[Liet-kynes]

I've had good experience with east hill tire in kent. They're a part of tire factory if I remember correctly. Just bought a set from them last week. They gave me 60,000 mile tires for the price of 40,000 mile tires because they didn't have any of the cheaper ones in stock. I did have to haggle a little bit and tell them that I'm not buying the more expensive tires and that I'm not waiting until the next day, but they did come down. Discount has treated me well in the past as well, but I'll never set foot in another les schwab.

[prq9218]

If you go to discount tire, make sure you check the price for the tire at discounttiredirect.com first and bring the print out with ya. The store should price match the website. It saved me almost $400 when I got tires for my Nissan Titan.

[Chrisb9381]

Tirerack.com has some good user feedback sections and a decent amount of info on the tires I've been researching. Wouldn't necessarily buy there though unless you know a guy who will install them for a reasonable price.

[L_O_G]

Check out Good Neighbor tire in Renton, my buddies manage that place. If you decide to go in, drop me a pm and I will let them know.

http://www.goodneighbortire.com/

[Massivedesign]

Les Schwab patches for free. Was just there on Friday getting the large nail out of one of my tires!

[TINCANBANDIT]

our Ford Escape (which is in the same class as your Jap rig) got 96,000 miles out of the Continental Conti-Track tires that came on the vehicle from the factory


just beware of Chinese made tires.....

[MadPick]

just beware of Chinese made tires.....

That's the second time I've received that advice this morning. Will do!

[Chrisb9381]

just beware of Chinese made tires.....

That's the second time I've received that advice this morning. Will do!

The Korean ones aren't bad though (Kumho).

[MadPick]

Thank you for all of the quick input. I'm headed down to Discount Tire shortly.....

[L_O_G]

your going to come out of there with some spinning gold rims.

[MadPick]

your going to come out of there with some spinning gold rims.

LOL ... no shit, that's the kind of result I was afraid of!

Discount Tire opens at 8:00. I showed up at 7:55 and walked right in, they were already at work. I walked out at 8:07.

My tires have 7/32 of remaining tread, from an original 10/32. They said that as long as I'm within 4/32, I can just replace the one tire, so they ordered one Bridgestone (OE tire) from the distributor and it should be here in a couple of hours. I left my wheel with the flat, so I think I'll be able to come back this afternoon and just get the wheel out back on.

Total out the door with a small Boeing discount: $182.

No biggie. A relatively happy ending, so far.

[golddigger14s]

You're lucky, my Subaru being AWD if one tire gets damaged I have to replace ALL four.

[deadshot2]

Well, I picked up a screw in my CR-V tire tonight. It's a big ol' hole, and it's in the tread but almost touching the corner where it meets the sidewall, so I'm expecting that it won't be repairable.

I used to work for a tire company and my office (at corporate) was a block away from the "National Training Center" for the company.

When I picked up a nail/screw/etc I just went over and repaired the tire myself. I have a set of tires sitting out in my garage on my wife's car, one of which has that "prohibited shoulder repair" on it. That tire has made no less than 20 round trips to Denver and back from the Seattle area as well as all kinds of driving around the PNW and hasn't failed yet.

The key isn't where the hole is (as long as it's repairable which is defined as less than 1/4" in dia by RMA) as much as what material you use to repair it. A reinforced patch from the inside or a Patch that incorporates a "stem" that seals the tire body as well as the inner liner is the proper way. Plugs or any kind of "String Repair" that is inserted from the outside of the tire is just asking for a future failure.

The tough part is finding a tire shop that will do the repair and not just want to sell you a tire, making all kinds of excuses why it "can't be done".

FWIW, of all the "Chain" type tire stores around, Les Schwab tends to be the best when it comes to their people knowing what they're doing and Discount, not so much. (BTW, I didn't work for any of them but today I take my vehicles to Les Schwab when I need tire repairs). As for "Warranty" on a repaired tire, careful reading of the manufacturer's warranty info usually shows that a "repaired tire" has no more warranty except in rare (as in very rare) instances.

If you want (or have to) buy a new tire, check out Tire Rack and just buy a tire that matches what you have for the other three. Then have your local Tire Shop mount and balance it for you. May end up paying a whole lot less with a lot less BS about having to change the rest of the tires so you don't " 'eff up' your ABS, etc, etc, etc"