So, You Need New Tires...

Aioua

A trip down to the Les Schwab to get a leak patched ended in the unfortunate conclusion that I need new tires. Also that my allignment's off (I knew that). Because of the allignment, they're all worn down nearly bald on one side. D'oh.

So, what's the scoop on buying tires? I've never had to do it before... First off, I'm in Seattle, so weather is plenty mild. Snow is not really an issue. I've got a '97 dodge neon.
With tires, is it the kind of thing where you should just buy the cheapest you can find that are from a good brand; or are the extra features (or whatever) actually important?
The les schwab guys gave me two quotes, one for about $350 and one for $400 (for different tire types, I guess). They also said doing the allignment is about $80. Are these prices about normal? What should I be looking for?

Dark_Side

Hmm, I think their prices are a little bit high, what brand were they trying to sell you? Usually the big selling points for expensive tires are mileage warranty, quality of ride, cornering ability, tread design, and so on, although there are exceptions, most low profile tires don't have tread warranties.

I would definitely call around to every tire shop within a reasonable distance and price compare. I'd say anything above $250-$300, is probably too much for a car that old, as are you even going to put 20,000 more miles on it? I only ask that because that's usually the main problem behind cheaper tires, is that they just don't last as long. As long as you don't go "mexico second hand" cheap, you should be fine buying off brand tires. Probably worth it to get the alignment though.

Which leads me to my last point, don't buy the extended tire warranties or service packages that most tire shops try to upsell you on, shit is worthless, it's the same racket Best Buy is running for the most part. Also don't let them try to convince you to do more service work on the car, like change plugs, belts, air filters, or so on, just buy the tires and tell them you have your own mechanic you'll take your car to for the rest. And then check the belts and plugs yourself on your own time.

Edit: I should point out though, that my philosphy when it comes to driving junkers, (no offense meant to your neon obviously but..) is that putting consumer name brand stuff on them is a waste of money. If you're really concerned about tire safety like blowouts or whatever, than go with a name brand, but at least for me, I just go cheap.

Also: Checking Discount Tire's website, here's what I found if you have 15" tires on that bad boy. So you're quote isn't totally out of line.
15" Tires

But if they're 14" tires, you could totally save some money, I'm finding tires in the $50 dollar range.
14" Tires

King Kong

350 isn't bad for 4 tires. That's under 100 bucks for each tire. As far as taking it somewhere and they recommend other items that's up to you. I work as a tech and if I'm telling you I recommend something it's because it's needed. Most decent techs will even have you come out in the garage and look at it yourself if you want.

Also those websites are not including tire disposal, mounting and balance to my knowledge which your 350 quote more than likely is.

Newton

Definitely shop around. Les Schwab seems to have really good service, but you're paying extra for it. Discount tire or costco would be better if you're on a budget. And I would second skipping the extra protection they try to sell you. I think discount tire charges something like $15 or $20 per tire for it, which basically works out to about the price of a new tire if something happens anyways. I'd just save my money and pay for it on the off chance that a tire needed replacing.

RUNN1NGMAN

www.tirerack.com

At least to compare prices. And you can always buy the tires online and get them mounted locally.

citizenMckee

Tires are one of the first things you do not want to cheap out on. Not only will they pay for them selves in durability and peace of mind, but the afforded traction from good tires over bad ones is could very easily mean the difference between having a collision or not.

Most other places on the earth I wouldnt suggest all-seasons (or no-season tires as a lot of people like to put them), but since seattle doesn't really have any definable seasons a good set of those would be great. Check around tirerack.com, read some reviews on different brands, and it should point you in a good direction

Six

If you have a Costco membership, go there. I've found the prices to be competitive, and their services is great. The tires have long warranties, and if anything goes wrong, they'll fix or replace the tire for free.

Of course, the scam is that you're free to wander around the store while they're doing work, so you end up buying 4 gallons of Dijon mustard and a plasma TV on top of the tires...

Thundyrkatz

i second the advice on not buying the warranty from the tire shop. i have the worst luck with tires and replaced a set on my all wheel drive car. then a year later i got a flat and invoked the warranty. here is the catch.

the tire with the flat is replaced for free. however, since it is an all wheel drive car, they require you to replace all 4 tires at the same time. the other 3 tires are at full charge. tricky tricky.

Also, be sure to rotate your tires every 6k miles or so. you will not get the full life out of tires that are not rotated.

Six

Thundyrkatz wrote: »

i second the advice on not buying the warranty from the tire shop. i have the worst luck with tires and replaced a set on my all wheel drive car. then a year later i got a flat and invoked the warranty. here is the catch.

the tire with the flat is replaced for free. however, since it is an all wheel drive car, they require you to replace all 4 tires at the same time. the other 3 tires are at full charge. tricky tricky.

Also, be sure to rotate your tires every 6k miles or so. you will not get the full life out of tires that are not rotated.

Some shops will shave a new tire down to meet the wear on the other three for all wheel drive cars so that you dont need to replace them all. Of course, you're trading life on the new tire for not having to replace all four.

mts

so the nice thing about costco is that you can go to any costco with a tire center and have them checked etc.

les schwbb comes with free repairs and rotations etc for the life of the tires. i always had good service from les schwabb and they often fixed stuff for free for me.

the nice thing about costco is that they are everywhere where as les scwabb is only west coast

MushroomStick

Are your quotes the out the door price or are they just for the tires? If the price has all the labor and stuff included already, that's about the normal price for tires on that car. ( I used to have a 95 neon.)

THEPAIN73

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

www.tirerack.com

At least to compare prices. And you can always buy the tires online and get them mounted locally.

Beat me to it.

Also what you can do is make people compete for your business. The tire market is fierce and there is typically little markup on tires because it's so competitive.

Do some "they said this much" propositioning and see where you can get.