Pick the chain store that has their own race car team over the one that doesn't.
See what happens when you offer the man a $20 tip to use a torque wrench instead of the sticks. If he isn't sure how to use it, go elsewhere.
Don't ever, ever let them do an alignment unless there are clear and obvious signs of an alignment problem. If you absolutely need an alignment, find some race car guys and ask whem who the guy in town that does good alignment work is.
Go to Kraus Tires in Castro Valley. Brandon Kraus is THE GUY for alignment work in Northern California. I would trust those guys 100% with anything under there.
I don't know. I was at my favorite gas station/ repair shop, watching truck getting towed in. Fender damage, wheel off. Finally heard the woman was crossing a bridge, and tire came of. Just came from NTB.
A friend asked me how to buy tires for her daughter - and I wrote this up to email to her.
How does it look (do you have better ideas for a basic college kid's car)?
Here's what I just wrote up for her:
Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the vehicle came with as stock.
Go to the Tirerack web site and list all available tires for that size & load rating and type (e.g., mud and snow, all weather, etc.).
Order the cheapest tires with the best ratings for traction you can find. Use temperature and treadewear ratings as tie breakers. Never ever buy anything, least of all tires, based on the warranty - but if all else is otherwise exactly equal, then use the (otherwise nearly useless) warranty as your tie breaker only. And never buy based on manufacturer's speed ratings - although, as always, feel free to use them as a tie breaker.
You can read the reviews - but they'll be nearly useless in the end (but read them, by all means - there's no telling what you'll find out).
When ordering, choose the option to send them to the installer of choice, and pick the CHEAPEST local installer by overall price (it should cost roughly about per tire for mounting & balancing but many have additional fees so that's total price, including tire disposal fee, new valve, balancing, and mounting).
You'll find the shipping is about per tire, so basically the final price will be the sales price plus for shipping & balancing.
If you want, you can skip the ordering and just print the prices and visit any local tire shop and ask if they'll match those prices. Make sure you print the installation costs also to ensure they match both.
Depending on how your old tires wore, you may want to have the car aligned when the new tires are put on.
You can expect tires to cost roughly around $100, plus $15 shipping, plus $15 for installation, for a total of about $520 for a set of four.
If your friend needs this much advice, skip Tire Rack and find a reputable dealer.
Only if you don't care whether you got the best value for your money or not.
Personally I support the OP's seeming obsession with getting good tires, as they are literally the most important component of a motor vehicle (save the driver) when it comes to safety.
eh? they're important, but not as important as working brakes - if you have crappy tires, you can "slow down". [i know, bizarre concept for someone who purports to be an engineer to think of contemplating.]
For brakes, if she did ask, I'd tell her to ask the dealer what the original cold:hot friction codes were and to get nothing lower but get the lowest cost pads that MEET (or exceed) those friction ratings (which are, by law, printed on all pads & shoes).
For example, if the original friction ratings were FF in the rear and GG in the front, then THAT is all she needs to buy the least expensive brake pads that meet (or exceed) the original equipment.
I would tell her to forget all about "ceramic" vs "metallic" and every variation in between. I would also tell her, as always, to use warranty ONLY as a tie breaker, and specifically NEVER as a feature.
For pads, the goal is to meet the manufacturer's friction rating at the lowest possible price.
About the only other thing I'd warn her about is 'dusting' for certain vehicles, where the color of the dust is objectionable (e.g., BMW OEM FF Jurid front pads dust an objectionable color whereas aftermarket Axxis PBR pads dust a less objectionable color), but, that is probably something I wouldn't even bring up unless she had fancy wheels.
What else (other than friction ratings) would you recommend we tell a mother when purchasing brake pads?
Well, dust is a concern to me, but I in fact *do* drive a BMW :) This past year not only had to clean up the stock wheels, but the used ones I bought for a winter set as well, what a miserable task. (and the outsides of the wheels were nice; I just think that open-pattern wheels should have the barrels cleaned and waxed as well.)
Personally I tend to drive cars that have a good enthusiast following, so getting opinions on brake pads for my vehicles is as easy as subscribing to the appropriate forum.
FWIW I really like the Centric Premium rotors as they work just like a good rotor should, *and* have the cool e-coating that keeps them from turning into a rusty mess. I have less nice things to say about the Performance Friction pads that I bought for my Jeep; I tried to save some money but I should have popped for Black Magic or EBC (at 3x the price though...) they're probably OK on vehicles that don't have marginal brakes to begin with, but still.
I am hard on tires, they only last 35k-40k miles. The only tires that have ever gone bad were ones I myself destroyed by running over stuff at construction sites and curbs. I am not going to go faster than about 85 mph in my Kia so I'm not concerned about ratings.
I get the cheapest American made brand at O'Reillys Pep Zone and put them on myself. Fronts last 35k miles. I don't intend on racing my 06 Kia Spectra so don't care about friction coeffs.
Jeep Cherokee for one; the brakes require higher-than-normal pedal pressure for people driving sanely in normal traffic and with no modifications. It's pretty well known that once larger/heavier wheels and tires are installed that brakes are the next upgrade that the owner finds is needed.
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