My first purchase from discount tire

Normally if I buy tires online, I use tire rack. I wanted the new Cooper CS5 for the wife's dd, tr doesn't carry cooper, but dtd does and had a great deal on them. I placed my order last night and everything went through. Today I received an email that the tires are out of stock. TR would have had that front and center with an estimated in stock date, not an email a day after I bought them that just said "soon".

Now it's a waiting game, I was going to get my tires from them as well, but I'll wait and see.

I've bought a couple sets of tires from discount. Actually found a great deal on discount selling on ebay. Went to my local store and they matched the price. They were coopers for my FJ and I really like them.

I typically use discount tire (America's tire around here), but use their online system only for pricing and searching. I purchase from their physical location.

I needed all season SUV tires and they have a house brand called Prodigy that's actually made by Yokohama. They're pretty nice. For 265/75/16s, they're pretty cheap at $98 a tire.

I also worked there for a few months until I found out how their hierarchy worked and they kept dropping my hours, so I bailed.

I've purchased from the Discount Tire Direct eBay folks twice now. Bought some tires with that discount posted here a couple weeks ago. That worked great, no complaints.

I bought a set of Eibach springs from them a few years ago. The springs were dropped shipped from Eibach, requiring signature on delivery, without anyone informing me that a signature would be required. The springs arrived on a Friday while I was at work, no one at home to sign for them, and UPS was closed by the time I got the notice. I had to work the following Saturday, and couldn't go to the UPS warehouse to get them before they closed. I was driving SWMBOs car to work since she was out of town at the time, so I had already disassembled the old suspension from my car in anticipation of the new springs arrival. I intended to install them Saturday night/Sunday. SWMBO got home late Sunday, and we both needed our cars the following Monday, so I had to put the old suspension back on my car to get to work, and to the UPS warehouse to get the springs. I was not happy. Discount Tire Direct, refunded my shipping plus $50 for the trouble. It was WAY more trouble than $50, but better than a sharp stick in the eye I guess.

I've gotten three things from Discount Tire. A BFG Rival which was supposed to be "Tire Rack exclusive" (they got it for cheaper than Tire Rack), a set of snow tires for cheaper than Tire Rack, and a set of all-seasons for cheaper than Tire Rack. Their store is also clean, full of helpful people, and has 3 (THREE!) Road Force balancers. I had to drive 40 minutes before to have access to one of those!

Did I mention they're cheaper than Tire Rack?

I've had pretty good luck with discount tire here in the Austin area. They even patch my wives flat tires when she runs over nails. The prices always seem fair and pretty reasonable.

Did I mention they're cheaper than Tire Rack?

They're hardly ever cheaper than Tirerack unless you make them be.

Discount Tire shopping tip: Make them price match. In my experience they are perfectly willing to dump significant amounts of money off their asking price if you can show that someone else is selling for that amount. The advertised price, then, is basically for suckers.

neon4891 wrote: Normally if I buy tires online, I use tire rack. I wanted the new Cooper CS5 for the wife's dd, tr doesn't carry cooper, but dtd does and had a great deal on them. I placed my order last night and everything went through. Today I received an email that the tires are out of stock. TR would have had that front and center with an estimated in stock date, not an email a day after I bought them that just said "soon". Now it's a waiting game, I was going to get my tires from them as well, but I'll wait and see.

This is why Tire rack is a better supplier. Tire rack is on point with their customer service in unusual or difficult circumstances. Sometimes, they will call you about an issue, which is more effective than an e-mail. I've bought a set of tires from Discount tire, and I like to get tires from them that Tire Rack doesn't carry.

Discount is always cheaper than Tire Rack for me.

I actually got an order from Discount today. Ordered on Friday. 2 days slower than Tire Rack, huge amount cheaper.

I buy things from TR at a premium when I need to because they ship like ninja magic but for anything with forethought I can usually save a ton of money by going somewhere else. Especially for track-only rubber or race pads. TR is the last chance option that is guaranteed to deliver when all else fails. I'm not really that petty either - so we are talking like $40 on a set of pads and maybe $100 on tires. Money you don't spend unless you have to.

Tire Rack doesn't have wheel and tire sets any more it seems. Discount Tire still does, it appears.

In reply to 850Combat:

Huh? Yes they do...

I finally picked out wheels for the MR2 SC from Discount Tire & called in a local order on Monday. Decided on tires and called those in yesterday, the guy said the wheels would probably beat them there. I am hopeful to have everything by Saturday. (I tried TR first but just didn't see any wheels that interested me, at least less than $300 each)

I've used Discount and always had pretty good service. TR has great information on specific tires on their site, if you are looking to compare between models.

For those that use TR don't you still have to go and pay to have the tires installed and balanced? Or are you doing that on your own?

In reply to octavious:

I used TR once & had them shipped to my local SCCA-owned shop, where they mounted and balanced for me. (If you're buying both wheels and tires they can m&b them before shipping.)

Discount Tire beat Tire Rack for my boss' Hoosiers. Seriously; they will get any tire for either as cheap or cheaper than anyone else. At that point, the only question is do you like your local store, because mine is amazing.

The only downside is Discount Tire's wheel selection is... subpar.

SlickDizzy wrote: In reply to 850Combat: Huh? Yes they do...

When I look for packages I get wheels alone, with "Add to cart and shop for tires" Not quite the same thing in my book.

I've used TR quite a lot over the years. As mentioned, they've always been Johny on the Spot when something changed or was needed. But I've also found for DD tires, Discount is a convenient alternative. Since they are only a few blocks away.

And speaking of DD tires, I've noticed Costco can have some great deals from time to time. Like anything else at Costco, timing of what they have compared to what you are looking for, is everything. But my neighbor, who drives mainline North American rides, has bought two sets from them & swears by their service.

Costco is great, but as a matter of corporate policy they can't touch aftermarket wheels. So unless they're OEM, you're out of luck.

I didn't even look for a store, just ordered online and I will take them to my local shop for mounting. At least with this fresh bit of snow I'm not too anxious to remove the snow tires yet.

850Combat wrote:

SlickDizzy wrote: In reply to 850Combat: Huh? Yes they do...

When I look for packages I get wheels alone, with "Add to cart and shop for tires" Not quite the same thing in my book.

You want them to decide what tires you get with a given wheel? I can't say I've ever found that useful.

Also, TR wheels-n-tires come balanced, so just put them on the car myself and save a bundle on installation. Not sure why you would take them to a shop unless you just didn't feel like doing the work.

I always shop both but my last 3 or 4 tire purchases have ended up being through discount tire. If you are able to stack a couple current rebates you can get a hell of a deal on a set of tires.

Zombie thread, canoe deleted