used tire question

Used, I have no idea. New, maybe. The photos are five bolt but they say for 2002 Escort, so they may be generic photos.

more likely that the used tire market is dry in your sizes because the demand for them is so strong. that's how it is in my neck of the woods at least.

it used to be that junkyards would just leave the wheels on cars and anyone who wanted them could pull them if they thought the tires were any good. now, they all come off, and the tires get sold either at the front gate for prices very close to that of new, or in bulk to dudes who'll fill up their pickup and sell them at the local flea market, again for crazy money.

You must be kidding or are talking about alloys. steel 14"ers for subaru 5-112 could be had for $50 a piece used at a steel rim place in norcal (San Jose). that was NOWHERE close to $200 or so asked for a new OEM rim.

also, last time I checked tirerack was selling steel rims for < $50 a piece and those were aftermarket new rims. though you have to jump through a few hoops to land them in a cart without tires

alloy prices are all over the place, just as is their quality

LOL! yeah I remember those days. Use to just go to the local junkyard sifting for a good tire. But its the same here in Virginia. Im assuming the bad economy has gotten more people to buy used tires more often, and manufacturers have slowed down production due to the low demand of new tires. (I guess) However I did some searches on this subject and I came up with some posts that explained that newer vehicles are all coming in 17 and up tires. The supposed reasons is that the price of rubber has skyrocketed in the last few years and that car and tire manufacturers are moving on up to 17 inch rim tires since they use less sidewall rubber and add more width to the radial.(im not quite sure if this is true or not)

i think you're misreading me. the fact that you're buying them at a used rim place means exactly what i said - that you /can't/ any longer get them at the junkyard. or only rarely.

they're in the $5-$10 each range - if your local junkyard has them.

i've seen those. what is the quality like? i've considered them as a way of getting a set of straight integra rims - "black steelies" being close to impossible to get otherwise.

These things are true. What they might also tell you is that demand for used tires in general is rising, the supply is drying up, and therefore prices are increasing.

This is true, and it's more a matter of being fashionable than anything else.

That's a question for the junkyard. However, I suspect that you will find that you don't save all that much money doing it. These days, used tire prices aren't all that much lower than new tires when you figure in the wear... you may even find decent quality new tires wind up costing you less money. It's a hell of a world.

You'll also find the ride on 17-inch tires to be harder than on 15-inch. You may or may not mind.

--scott

supply is definitely drying up. maybe worn tires are being shipped to china and india as cheaper alternatives to new? it's not like their tire tread laws are enforced as much as here.

true, but i'll take a set of used michelins for my car at $180 before i take a set of used chinese cheapos for $180. it's not just price but quality.

otoh, you can say that new tire prices are pretty freakin' high. anywhere you see something sold out of a premium retail location, with signage, and loads of advertising, you know that's a product with an s-load of mark-up on it.

ps. in your sig, it's "Suisse", not suisse.

never seen them in norcal (even in late 90s). maybe in some states that are not as screwed up they can be had at junkyards.

I really dunno. If you trust the stuff thinly veiled as advertisement the steels made in urop are flawless and the chinese knockoffs have one problem or another. but given that tirerack has a reputation to uphold I'd doubt they'd carry much of steel stock with major corners cut (but I'm speculating here).

given that I am no longer in the states i did not take chances and bought used OEMs in excellent conditions. modern vw/audis just like subaru seem to have standardized on a single bolt pattern (though offset varies from about 32 to 48)

P.S. it was -20C lately here and half of the diesels were, thankfully, absent from the daily rotation :^]

a girl with a bmw 530D drives to work rain or shine though :-[

Around here a lot of them go to Mexico. But I think much of what is happening is that people are just driving longer on older tires because everyone is tightening their belts a little.

Sure, but if you buy a new pair of michelins for your car for $360, will they last more than twice as long as or less than twice as long?

That's why we have stuff like tirerack.com, etc.

--scott

something i used to see fairly regularly, and have bought a number of times, is tires on a vehicle that was intended to be kept, but was then crashed or failed smog/donated/whatever. iow, you're getting tires that are almost brand new, complete with little rubber injection tabs still intact, for considerably less than new. and if they're not, just don't buy them!

tire rack isn't that cheap. by the time you've paid extra for shipping, fitting, balancing, disposal, etc., there's not a lot of difference between tire rack and calling around for competitive quotes or going to costco. especially not from a decent independent dealer.

en anglaise.

If you can flip them on and off and maybe balance them yourself, free shipping 64 bucks each...

Except tirerack is uber polished and neat

and if you shopped around for mounting& balancing you save quite a few bucks. at least on norcal that was the case

more so as the diameters and width go up I'm sure

cosco usually carries limited selection which is typically composed of the cream of the crap