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: 0. Write down the current tires on the vehicle & compare with what the vehicle came with as stock. 1. 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.). 2. 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. 3. 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). 4. 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 $15 per tire for mounting & balancing but many have additional fees so that's total price, including tire disposal fee, new valve, balancing, and mounting). 5. You'll find the shipping is about $15 per tire, so basically the final price will be the sales price plus $30 for shipping & balancing. 6. 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. 7. 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.

That last bit depends on the car. Tires with a low sidewall aspect ratio can cost a fortune because they need extra reinforcements. Mix a low sidewall aspect ratio with a heavy car and you're looking at prices starting at $250 per tire. Most tire shops will try to sell such tires with a lower load capacity and say they're giving you a good deal, but underrated tires won't handle well or last long. There's also sport versus cruising and everything in between. A sport tire may be so superior in performance that it grips better in the rain than a cruising tire grips on dry pavement. The downside is noise, a harsh ride, and rapid wear. Cruising tires are comfortable and long lasting but not great performers.

Here is what I think the pros and cons of mounting tires is. (BMW even puts a match mounting dot on all its wheels for this.) CON: 1. Takes an extra few seconds for the tire mounter to mount 2. Any other cons? PRO: 1. Saves a bit of lead per tire (for a zillion tires) 2. If that lead falls off the wheel, the result will be 'less' unbalanced 3. Any other pros?

How to buy tires for your car (letter to a friend asking for advice)

Feb 07, 2013 Last reply: 13 years ago 66 Replies

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jim beam 13 years ago

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i know what some manufacturers say to do - the question was whether it's worth it. michelin, who are no slouches, don't think it is. either that or they've perfected perfectly balanced tires - which they haven't.

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Joe Mastroianni 13 years ago

The Bentley manual says the rear rotor limit is 0.720 inches, and the front is 0.800 inches for my model BMW, and I generally am only a few thousandths above that by the time the Jurid/Textar or Akebono/Axxis/PBR pads are worn to about 1mm (which is their wear limit).

So, I do agree.

It's close to the minimum spec on a single set of pads.

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Joe Mastroianni 13 years ago

I don't know.

But if it saves an ounce of lead, isn't it worth it?

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jim beam 13 years ago

you have a point, but i'd rather tire manufacturers focused on making product that didn't need as much of it in the first place. i have 4 michelin pilots on one car - the largest weight on one tire is 1oz. all the rest are either zero or 1/4oz.

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Paul D. DeRocco 13 years ago

Given how obsessive electronics manufacturers are about keeping milligrams of lead out of their products (ROHS standards), it's not surprising the virus is spreading to other industries.

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