How do YOU choose your tires when you buy them online like I often do?

this! never put anything but ethanol free fuel in gas cans for power equipment. and maintenance is key. 4-6 months a year my power equipment hibernates for winter. the two strokes get their covers removed and cleaned up, air cleaners cleaned or replaced, fuel tanks drained, then run out of fuel. have always done that, and that's actually the procedure printed in the manuals for the Stihl equipment i've recently purchased new so i guess i've been doing it right all these years. 4 strokes. near the end of the season i keep the fuel in the tanks low. the machines get cleaned, lubed, air cleaners cleaned or replaced, up, blades sharpened, engine oil changed, tanks drained if tool is handheld (mantis cultivator for example), petcocks in fuel lines (installed by me if came without) shut off and engines run until they stall to empty carburetors. generator gets the same treatment at the same annually whether it gets used or not.

any fuel that's left in the cans get dumped into the older car. in the spring, the cans are filled with ethanol free fuel, Stabil added, and the first couple tanks of fuel in each piece of equipment in the spring gets a fuel system cleaner such as Seafoam for Gumout added at a rate of 1oz per gallon. also, is as a rule of thumb i add a can of Seafoam or Gumout to a full tank of fuel with every oil change on the motor vehicles.

happy engines are reliable, easy starting engines that last a long time.

My father would sort by price. He would always buy the cheapest possible tires. It's a wonder he wasn't killed on the highway as a result, too.

I will sort by brand, because in general once I find a tire I like, I will stick with that particular model of tire, or the successor to that model, as long as possible.

Tires are not tires. Find a set you like, then keep buying them. Someday they will be discontinued and then you will have an adventure. Put that off as long as possible.

Specs are nice, but two tires with the same numbers on the website may feel totally different on your car.

--scott

A man after my own heart. That's what we buy, although the stock tires on my Corolla have convinced me that softer tires are WAY more fun to drive down mountain roads. Not as much fun as the fancy tires on my friend's S2000, though!

Especially if you buy from the Cadillac dealer. The bastard sold my mom a set of obsolete/discontinued Bridgestones for a premium price and then refused to replace them when the bubbles formed, sending us to the Bridgestone dealer -- who replaced them at no charge, which is what the damn dealer should have done. Bastard went belly-up a few years later :-)

Never had that trouble with any of the cheap tires I ever bought at Pep Boys or America's/Discount Tire.

And a good alignment can make a world of difference too.

Especially if your car is very out of line. I had a set of very worn tires on a car, and I did not align it when I put new tires on. I put off the alignment, even though it was pulling. Long story short, I trashed the new front tires in short of 10,000 miles, and had to buy two new ones then got the alignment (first new tie rod ends).

It's a real bitch finding someone who can do a proper alignment on a

My hubby reminds me that it is NOT the wheel itself that determines the number of lock-to-lock turns. I counseled him soundly about the head and shoulders.

I knew I was unclear, I was just too lazy to go back and fix it and I KNEW that everyone would know what I meant. Carry on.

No shop wanted to align my "old" 1983 F-150 either. I finally found one that was willing to do it, but only one part of the alignment... either toe or camber they could not do, I don't remember which. Oh well, they only charged me $20 because of that, and the truck did drive a little bit more straight after that. Probably needed new front end parts.