don't ya just love tire rack

tire rack add in this mos issue of GRM ... Bridgestone RE-11 205 - 50 - 15's $97 ea.... call to place order ... $122 ea

That phone call is expensive

Actually no. I had to lie to them to buy my last set of SSRs.

But still $122 each for tires is CHEAP. Look up the RE-11s in my size.

225/45/18 front, 245/45/18 rear.

I've always had great service from Discount Tire Direct. 'Free' shipping and prices +/- a few dollars. Really quick shipping and very good customer service.

I drove from the Chicago western suburbs to South Bend, Indiana to have tires put on my 1994 Chevrolet Blazer S10 when they were in their old building.

Why? Awesome prices, no nonsense added balancing crap extra prices, and they used a torque wrench to tighten my wheels. This was before they had approved installers around the country. They "get it" as far as I am concerned.

I am a huge fan (260 lbs) of The Tire Rack.

I've never had an order filled properly at Tire Rack and I've been lied to multiple times there.

Discount is the place to be. They'll meet or beat Tire Racks advertised prices which means you can still get them for $97. Brick and mortar stores meet & beat their own online store as well as all others.

The 'Rack gets orders right and fast, but I try to give as much business as possible to my local legends - Radial Tire Company in Silver Spring MD. Paul and Sam actually know all about tires, have been doing it for 30 years, and if you go by on the week before a lot of east coast events the place is stacked to the rafters with race tires and wheels and Paul is up late shaving tires every night.

Just for grins, I searched "Toyo RA1 255" in Google shopping before ordering the other day. I found they were on blowout at "tiresdirect.net" for $125. That's like 45% off regular interweb pricing.

I've not had all that much trouble with Tire Rack in the past ... what I don't like is the bait and switch they seem to be trying to pull... the sales rep didn't try to claim that the price was a mis-print... his "explanation" was there had "maybe" been a lot of ordering lately and the price he was quoting me was due to a large re-order ... bull E26M3 .... bait and switch...

the prices on thetirerack fluctuate all the time. 295/35/18 BFGoodrich T/A KDW2s will be like $250 a piece one week, go back two weeks later and they are like $268. Great for when you try to price out tires to save for!

Prices on tires fluctuate all the time. I have no idea why. I would not be surprised if the price of a particular tire (especially a low-volume one like an RE-11) did spike up in the time between submitting an ad to a print publication and the time the publication actually arrives. The ads for the June issue (the most recent one to hit subscribers) were due on March 19th. That's two months ago.

Of course, that begs the question as to whether Tire Rack should be publishing prices in a magazine, or how long they should have to honor those prices after the print date of the magazine. I'll bet there's some fine print in the ad somewhere that addresses this.

I love the Tire Rack. No other wheel/tire vendor has such a useful website and they keep adding more info to it. They've put out inexpensive wheel options in odd sizes in the TR Motorsports line. Sure, if you're a nut who knows EXACTLY what he wants and need to search by offset, backspace and bolt pattern it's frustrating, but there are guys at Tire Rack who can answer those sorts of questions. Heck, when there were questions as to whether the 15x9 TR Motorsports C3M would fit over the stock brakes of a 2001-05 Miata, they were able to send me a CAD file of the brakes and the wheel showing the clearance, and with that we were able to find a lower profile banjo bolt that gave the required spacing. You can also use your fact-filled car guy brain and search for a different application that has the details you need, such as searching for an E30 instead of a Miata when you need 4x100s with a lower offset and a wider wheel width.

Of course, the fact that I work for a long-time Tire Rack wholesaler gives me both a different experience than most people, but it also gives me a lot MORE experience with them than most people.

Oh, and want those RE-11s for $105? Onlinetires.com. Based on the last three orders I've placed with them, you won't be able to speak to anyone on the phone and they won't ship for at least a week even if they're in stock, but there's a cheaper price for you.

I've been buying tires exclusively from Tire Rack for over 20 years without a single problem.

Tire Rack's treated me well in the past. I'm just annoyed that they don't carry Toyo tires, considering how many of us racers use them. And when it comes to tires for my Mini, they can't seem to figure out if they have them or not (it apparently matters who you talk to). For 'normal' tire purchases though I've been satisfied and recommend them quite a bit.

I don think, however, if you're going to print prices in a magazine ad you need to honor those prices.

Keith wrote: Prices on tires fluctuate all the time. I have no idea why. I would not be surprised if the price of a particular tire (especially a low-volume one like an RE-11) did spike up in the time between submitting an ad to a print publication and the time the publication actually arrives. The ads for the June issue (the most recent one to hit subscribers) were due on March 19th. That's two months ago. Of course, that begs the question as to whether Tire Rack should be publishing prices in a magazine, or how long they should have to honor those prices after the print date of the magazine. I'll bet there's some fine print in the ad somewhere that addresses this. I love the Tire Rack. No other wheel/tire vendor has such a useful website and they keep adding more info to it. They've put out inexpensive wheel options in odd sizes in the TR Motorsports line. Sure, if you're a nut who knows EXACTLY what he wants and need to search by offset, backspace and bolt pattern it's frustrating, but there are guys at Tire Rack who can answer those sorts of questions. Heck, when there were questions as to whether the 15x9 TR Motorsports C3M would fit over the stock brakes of a 2001-05 Miata, they were able to send me a CAD file of the brakes and the wheel showing the clearance, and with that we were able to find a lower profile banjo bolt that gave the required spacing. You can also use your fact-filled car guy brain and search for a different application that has the details you need, such as searching for an E30 instead of a Miata when you need 4x100s with a lower offset and a wider wheel width. Of course, the fact that I work for a long-time Tire Rack wholesaler gives me both a different experience than most people, but it also gives me a lot MORE experience with them than most people. Oh, and want those RE-11s for $105? Onlinetires.com. Based on the last three orders I've placed with them, you won't be able to speak to anyone on the phone and they won't ship for at least a week even if they're in stock, but there's a cheaper price for you.

thanks for the link ... I hadn't found them on my own

and less anyone wonder my only problem with Tire Rack is the lack of honoring their posted prices, otherwise they have been very helpful over the yrs... at least their tech people if not their sales folk

ddavidv wrote: I don think, however, if you're going to print prices in a magazine ad you need to honor those prices.

Wanna edit that? You either added an "N" or left off a "T"?? Either way changes the statement pretty drastically...

wbjones wrote: tire rack add in this mos issue of GRM ... Bridgestone RE-11 205 - 50 - 15's $97 ea.... call to place order ... $122 ea

tirerack.com shows them at $122.

It wasn't a bait and switch. The price of the tire changed between when they submitted ad copy 2 months ago, and now.

we get yelled at all the time at work because we cannot honor a price from a five year old catalog...

I am sure there are plenty of disclaimers out there that say "prices are subject to change without notice"

maroon92 wrote: we get yelled at all the time at work because we cannot honor a price from a five year old catalog... I am sure there are plenty of disclaimers out there that say "prices are subject to change without notice"

the only disclaimer in the GRM placed add is that the prices "effective May 1 through May 31" .... then even smaller print that says prices subject to change...

I'm in no way expecting price honoring from "5 yrs" ago... just the current mag quotes... so in a way I consider it to be "bait and switch" or at least deceptive advertising ... if you quote prices that you know are going to change you really shouldn't print them

rant over (besides I ordered them from Onlinetires.com ... thanks Keith)

I had good experiences for street tires from Tirerack as well, but I now deal with Discount, another advertiser. Tireracks' tv ads show a huge warehouse, stockpiled with tires. How old are they(tires) really, and if they are already in stock, aren't they already paid for? Or is a retailer like Tirerack only a warehouse for manufacturers?

Keith wrote: You can also use your fact-filled car guy brain and search for a different application that has the details you need...............

This.

Searching for wheels for the Fiero was difficult to say the least. TR listed, I think, maybe 6 or 8 wheels for the car and nothing wider than 7", while their listing for PT Cruisers had over 40 different wheels (these cars share the same bolt pattern and hub dia.). And a wheel with an 8" width.

I little more intarweb searching and I confirmed that the PT wheel would fit on the Fiero. Had to call TR several times before I got a guy that would work with me.

Overall pleased with TR. Discount Tire has also treated me well in their stores locally, even if the dude freaked out a little when I had him mounting drag radials I bought from their store on rims that I had widened by Weldcraft! He had me sign the bottom of my invoice that the store wasn't responsible if the wheels separated, or some such damn thing..... hehe. I did remind him that he was mounting tires designed by the manufacturer for drag racing.

ddavidv wrote: Tire Rack's treated me well in the past. I'm just annoyed that they don't carry Toyo tires, considering how many of us racers use them.

That's always bugged me, as well.

Tire Rack doesn't carry Toyo or Falken, my two favorite brands. On that fact alone I will never use them. I have, however, had nothing but great service and always honored prices at Discount Tire Direct (which had 4 205/50/15 Falken Azenis Rt-615's for $254).

The current issue of GRM has been in subscriber's hands for nearly a month. It's definitely a problem for them. As for how tires can change prices when they're already in the warehouse - as your local gas station how that works As with anything else, go to the website for up-to-date prices instead of relying on dead trees. Our print catalog is usually outdated by the time it actually hits the presses after getting signed off, and that's only a 5-day window.

Toyo is very protective of their distributors, and they simply won't let TR sell them. From what I know of Toyo distribution, I'm surprised anyone is allowed to sell them online. I worked with Tire Rack to get a bunch of R888s for a group buy (details - 15x9 wheels with 225/45-15 R888s), and they had to work pretty hard to get any at all. Falken was apparently not even an option, as I was also looking for the NT-01 as an option. I don't think you can blame TR for this particular hole in their product line.

I dunno Keith, I can buy Falkens from every other online vendor in the US. Toyo's are nearly as easy.

I called Tire Rack to ask them why they don't sell Falken and they told me it was some sort of distribution issue..

orphancars wrote: Had to call TR several times before I got a guy that would work with me.

Same here when I tried to get my SSR hub ring.

Guy 1: We don't have them. Guy 2: We do have them. Guy 3: We don't have them. Guy 4: We do have them and can actually ship them.

I also wish they carried Falken/Toyo/Nitto.

I'm planning on trying the NT-05 on my Z when the RE040's are worn out.