Buying Tires Online

Besides Tire Rack what other good tire sites are there? Which do you recommend?

Thanks. RS

Look in the back of any GRM mag!

Jokes aside, tire rack is the only site ive ever used when not going to a brick and mortar store. Never had any issues. I think they have a discount for GRM subscribers, but I may be mistaken.

There are other tire sites?

Edge Racing is great and they carry Falken (which TR doesn't). They're also a GRM advertiser.

You can order your tires online at Wal*Mart and then have them instaled at the store of your choise!

wow, that was an even worse joke that i thought it would be

GameboyRMH wrote: There are other tire sites?

As mentioned, TR doesn't carry Falkens. I'd be interested to know why, as they're a great tire. I mean, the ZE 912 won GRM's budget comparo!

Vulcantire.com is another great site.

I have the new issue next to me and I do see a few in the back but none of them seem to be competitors to Tire Rack. I have looked at Discount Tires online but they are more expensive than Tire Racks.

Thanks for your thoughts. RS

I've always had a less than pleasant experience with Tire Rack. They've never gotten the order quite right, close but not right and timing hasn't been as promised.

I've ordered rims from them and on them Jim just outright lied to me.

I've used onlinetires.com for Toyos and Falkens. Never had a problem with Tire Rack.

carguy123 wrote: I've ordered rims from them and on them Jim just outright lied to me.

?

I ordered three sets of tires from discount tire, and everything went perfectley.

Joey

I have bought a lot of tires from TR, never a problem. Even if I call or e-mail i get straight answers. A couple of times, they called me when there was a question about my tire purchase.

I've ordered dozens of tires from Tire Rack. Only once have they messed something up, and they fixed it immediately, via a call tag for the wrong tire and a next day air shipment of the right one.

Tire Rack is fine if you know exactly what you want, and they have it available. You should not deal with them if you want to do something non origlnal (different tire size, buy wheels that arent listed as fitting your car, etc) if you arent sure what you are talking about.

The prices are normally comparable between tirerack and discount. Tirerack charges for shipping, discount does not. Due to a poorly handled experience, with lots of buck passing, I'll not buy from tirerack again. I'll pay a little more for better service, anyway.

As my car gets older, I've found that less sites tend to carry the tire/size I want... they'll carry the brand, but not the size. Sometimes it makes it easy to decide whom to buy from(only one site has them), and sometimes and just a huge pita just to find them(nobody has them).

It might not be a good idea to do something non-original if you're not sure what you're talking about, no matter who you're buying tires from

I use Tirerack for my V710s and most family vehicle tires. Their tech people have been helpful the few times I needed assistance.

I have purchasd Falkens from Edge Racing and had a good experience.

I've purchased many sets of rims and tires from Tirerack.com and have always had good experiences. Most of the times I've found that my orders arrived much sooner than they predict, which has been a bonus.

I only wish they'd offer a repeat/frequent buyer program!

DJ

Monroe wrote: I have the new issue next to me and I do see a few in the back but none of them seem to be competitors to Tire Rack. I have looked at Discount Tires online but they are more expensive than Tire Racks. Thanks for your thoughts. RS

Yeah, be careful when looking at per-tire prices. Shop by checking the total price after shipping. It isn't that Discount Tire Direct doesn't charge for shipping, they just charge a bit more for the tire right away. I ended up getting my Falkens from them for a little less than what Edge Racing wanted because Edge charged a bit more in the end to ship everything.

I buy my tires through classified ads here, craigslist, miata.net. etc. I did buy one set of new v710's about a year and a half ago when the 13's went on sale for $104 a peice a tirerack.

I'm really shocked to see anyone has had problems with TireRack. I too have purchased many sets of tires over the years, and have never had any problems. Usually arrive the next day for me as well. And like mw, if you are lucky you will catch a closeout sale and get a hella deal, I got a set of new V700 Victor Racers for $50 each of TR once.

I've had good results with TireRack, Edge Racing, and Discount Direct.

I've had good experiences with Tire Rack, Discount Tire Direct, Vulcantire.com, and Onlinetires.com. DTD, Vulcan, and Online Tires are good sources for Falkens. Since shipping is a big component of tire costs, Onlinetires will probably be cheapest for West Coasters, Vulcan will be better for East Coasters, but DTD and TR have multiple warehouses so they will give roughly equivalent shipping costs to any part of the country.

Sometimes the free shipping from DTD can be a great deal. I once got a set of 4 Falken 912s for the Miata for $110 SHIPPED when they were offering a "$100 off any set of 4 tires" coupon deal. I think they got less than $10 for each tire :).

Travis_K wrote: Tire Rack is fine if you know exactly what you want, and they have it available. You should not deal with them if you want to do something non origlnal (different tire size, buy wheels that arent listed as fitting your car, etc) if you arent sure what you are talking about.

I've heard that the trick to this (I'm assuming you're ordering over the phone since that's the only way this could be an issue) is to say the tires or wheels are for a kit car. That will flip a switch in the sales rep's brain to unlock non-standard sizes

i'll put my little plug in for tirerack.

i've only ordered one set of tires from tirerack, ordered online. i submitted my order about 4:30 central time on a thursday, to be shipped from their shreveport, LA warehouse (i'm in texas, so this means no sales tax) via ups ground. the next day i go out of town for the weekend, and while on the way, i get a call from my roommate letting me know that my tires have arrived. this was around 4pm on friday. i thought it was pretty impressive that they managed to get my tires to me within 24 hours of submitting my order online.