How I Bought New Tires for My SUV

Recently, I went through the process of buying new tires for my SUV. The old tires looked more like NASCAR tires (no treads) than SUV tires, and since I live in the snow belt, I needed to do something about it before winter set in for good. This post will detail how I went about buying them.

I started (as I do with most major purchases) by looking at Consumer Reports' ratings for the best tires. From there I narrowed it down to a few options, and my wife called four or five local places to get cost estimates. When we had all the data, we sat down and decided what to do.

The final two candidates were as follows:

Our local Goodyear dealer

The positives:

• He had good-rated tires (not as good as the other option, but still good) that lasted a long time (80,000 miles), so we'd never need to put another set of tires on this vehicle (we'd get rid of it before the tires wore out).

• This dealer is where we get our oil changed (great prices!), so it would be easy to get our oil changed and tires rotated in one trip if we went with them.

• They schedule appointments, so we could set a time and know we'd get service.

• They are a tad bit closer to our house, though we're at the other place much more often.

The negatives:

• The tires were not as well rated on key issues like braking distance, handling, etc. -- the key measures Consumer Reports recommend you give the most weight to.

• Their tires were about $80 more expensive than the other option.

Costco

The positives:

• Great tires. Michelin performance tires that were very highly rated on Consumer Reports' list.

• Great prices. Costco was running a promotion featuring $60 off a set of four tires. They had a good price before the promotion, so the extra money was icing on the cake.

• Customer service. I know that if anything ever goes wrong, Costco will make it right for me.

• We're in Costco quite often, so getting the tires rotated shouldn't be that big of an issue.

The negatives:

• The tires only last 45,000 miles -- which will be close to when we will start looking at getting rid of the SUV.

• The "ice braking" on the tires was lower rated than the other tire option and it was lower rated on a few, less-important qualities as well.

• No appointments are taken at Costco. It's first come-first served. On a busy day, I could end up waiting two hours for a simple tire rotation.

• It's an extra trip. With the first option, I'd have my tires rotated when my oil was changed. With Costco, it would be a separate trip.

In the end, I went with Costco. Their advantages were in the most important categories for me (rating of the tires, price, customer service) and I can deal with their negatives. I paid $460 and am now ready for the Michigan winter. ;-)

Comments

[Finance Buff]

Make that $60 off four tires at Costco. $600 off would be a killer deal.

[FMF]

Ha! You're right! Guess I got carried away with an extra "0". ;-)

It's been corrected. Thanks for letting me know.

[Nick]

Sam's club will get you (4) bf goodrich (75,000 miles) tires for $380 when dealerships and tire stores will charge you upwards $500 dollars or more for tires that are rated for 50,000 miles.

Great deal. They will even fix and patch flats for free.

[Susan]

I personally would not buy any more tires at Sam's. A few years back I experienced horrific noise from the back of my van-only really loud at speeds of 40+/mph...it drove me crazy and I brought it to the dealership, which was very close to my house.

One of the lug nuts was flying around loose in the inside of the hubcap. You guessed it--it wasn't tightened when I bought my new Sam's tires the previous week.

That was too scary. No bargain there if my tire will fly off down the interstate with my kids in the car.