screamincheetah

I did a search, but didn't find a thread like this. Sorry if it's been done.

I'm needing tires badly for my Jetta GLI. A friend of mine "knows a guy who can get me a great deal" but he can't get that "great deal" on my tires because they're not a common size 225/45/17

So now I'm back to looking for the above board "good deal." Anyone have any good suggestions of where the best deals are to be found on good quality tires. I've been messing around with TireRack.com which seems to be a good site, but would love other ideas.

Thanks for any help on this.

merkerguitars

Tires....aren't marked up a bunch...but what kills you is the mounting and balancing. My roomates go to tirerack...but you don't save a bunch unless you know someone that mounts them for cheap....

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DEI37

Agreed. TireRack wholesale prices, once I factor in shipping, and small dealer markup (15%) end up about the same. I use it when I need to though, because I have no credit card, and I do have a charge account at the dealership. That said, check around at your local tire stores. They are bound to have something. Some dealerships have tire programs through one of the auto lines that they carry. I know Volkswagen has such a program. Go to your nearest dealer, and go from there. That, my friend, will be your best bet, most likely.

It also depends on just what you want in a tire. Obviously, some tires cost more than others, and the higher you go up the performance line, the more it's gonna cost. That's just a given. My advice...stay away from GoodYear, and Continental. GoodYear is overpriced junk, and Continental is just junk. We have good luck with Bridgestone and Firestone, along with Kumho (I have some on my car), Cooper, and Michelin. Michelin makes a great tire, but they are VERY spendy. Good luck with your search...hope this helps even just a little.

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Generally speaking, if you were to get what you really deserve, you might be unpleasantly surprised.

cyrnel

It can be a longshot but check with wrecking yards. Widen your selection a little and make weekly calls. You can often pick up a great deal on slightly used sets. We've purchased excellent quality tires (Toyo, Yoko, Michelin) for 10% or less of new price. I wouldn't go this route for a show vehicle or one that saw high speeds (out of paranoia) but our daily drivers don't have those problems.

screamincheetah

After some lengthy research on TireRack last night, I've narrowed it down to the Pirelli PZero M&S or the Kumho ECSTA ASX. The Pirelli's are top of the All Weather Performance class, but are fairly pricey at $123 a tire with $39 for shipping, so it comes out to $532. The Kumho's are probably fourth or fifth rated in the category but are only $90 a tire with $49 in shipping, so a total of $406. Both tires have gotten very good reviews by their drivers. The Pirelli's though have universal love from owners and the professional reviewers. So the thought now is, I can spend $400 and know I'll have a much better tire than what I have now, or if I'm spending that much anyway I can throw on an extra $130 and know I have the best tire. There's something to be said for peace of mind with your tires. Knowing you're driving the best is worth something. But I know the Kumho's would be great too.

Also, you mention the Volkswagon dealership. I know one of the maintenence reps there, and he told me to call because they get good deals. I need to do that. The car came with Michelin Pilots that are rated average to below average overall, so I don't want those, but there is a Pilot Sport All Season that is suppossed to be a great tire, but it's like $175 on Tire Rack. I doubt the dealership will be able to get it down to the $123 or less range. We'll see though.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. They really help as I will probably be making the purchase next week sometime. Keep the advice coming

pocon1

I had michelins xgt v4 stock on my integra. Did not like them very much, and I have heard the same complaints from others. Now I have the Yokahama Avid h4/v4. Not a bad tire for the price. I have taken them autocrossing before and they do ok.

As far as the Pirelli's they may be the best rated, but are they the best for you? Its one thing out on a track and they have the best grip, but will they give you the mileage you need? Are they 50% more tire, or do you need that last nth degree of performance. They are obviously not track tires being mud and snow, so will the yfit your needs best? Me personally, I had a set of Pirellis years ago, and they did ok, but the Koreans have been knocking out some pretty good tires lately.

GetRdone

Toyo Proxes 4. Now that is one sexy tire. I used to run Nitto 555r's on my race integra, but those are DOT drag radials and not exaclty good on a street car.

screamincheetah

I know exactly what you're saying. When I first got my car, I thought it handled great, and held the road great. Now the first time it snowed, I knew I didn't have the best tire. Only after looking up the tire recently do I realize how average it is rated. So for me the Kumho's will probably be as much or more than I need as it's heads and shoulders above the current tire, and definitely better in rain and snow.

Decisions, decisions...........

FlatLand Flyer

You may want to check around your local area tire shops. I see you are in Kansas City, so you should have a good selection of shops to choose from. I know that some shops will offer free mounting and balancing if you buy from them. Or they may offer a buy 3 get the 4th tire free type of deal. I don't know if this company is in Kansas City, but Les Schwab is one of the companies that I know does the free mount and balance thing.

bodypainter

I did the tirerack.com thing a couple months ago and bought a set of Kumho tires for my car. The price worked out well even after paying a local shop $100 to put them on.

The thing is, you can research the hell out of your choices at tirerack, get exactly what you want and have it shipped to any number of places that are happy to install them for you. The whole thing took less than a week.

Nimisys

i know my local discount tire store has pricematched tirerack for the actual cost of the tire and then done the mount and balance for free. however at this point since i have acess to the equipment i just do that myself.

bigd999

Honestly the best experiences ive had were with Discount Tire. I used to shop around to try and avoid going to a giant chain store like that, but after buying tires from other guys and then from them I prefer Discount Tire.

Their prices ar very competative, and the ammount of locations is just very conviniant if you get a nail in your tire or something like that.

GetRdone

i also know sometimes places like wheelmax (www.wheelmax.com i think) have pretty good deals on tires in alot of sizes, sometimes they even have free shipping.

screamincheetah

Well, I ended up ordering the Kumho ECSTA ASX's from TireRack. They're very well ranked but just a little bit under the Pirellis which I almost went for. They were $32 more per tire, and I figure I'll never really know the difference. These new tires will be so much better than what I have now, I truly can't wait. Sad as it is, I'm actually really excited to get these things. Of course, then I have to pay another $100 to get them mounted and balanced and all of that crap, but it's worth it, because otherwise I'd just have these really cool tires sitting in my garage forever

Thanks for everyone's input and help on this matter.

GetRdone

hahah having tires lying around reminds me of the past summer; i had like 5 old or not in use tires from my various cars stacked next to my garage, so my mom got sick of looking at them, and turned them into planters.

Ramega

I'm on my second (or is it third?) set of Kumho's and I love them. You cannot beat the bang for the buck. I have a local shop that charges next to nothing to mount and balance them. I just look a little funny piling 4 tires in to my convertible Mustang Cobra and hauling them up there.

You should like them. Keep them rotated so they wear evenly and they'll last a while. They are directional, so you can only swap front to back, but it's worth it.

screamincheetah

I went ahead and had mine mounted at the neighborhood Goodyear. Price wasn't terrible, and they will rotate and balance for free every 6,000 miles, so that's pretty cool. I'm glad you mentioned the front to back thing because I happened to read in the VW manual that they only suggest the front to back as well. They say you should only do the diaginal switch if you see feathering.

I just got them on tonight. I can already (obviously) feel a difference. I'm going to put a few more pounds of air in them and not really test them until I've got around 300 miles on them. So far I love them, but we're only talking about 10 miles of driving, so I know nothing yet.

MiSo

not common???

imo, 225/45/17 is ideal for sport compact tires.
you've got tons of options.

Goodyear Eagle F1 gsd's (the best)
another option i've been looking into are
Bridgestone Fuzions (i've heard great reviews)

to mount and balance go to Walmart. its really cheap.

DEI37

GoodYear? THe best? Only if you like paying high prices for tires that won't last long. I got 25,000 miles or less out of well cared for, and rotated Eagle RS-A's. I didn't pay for 'em, so I can't complain too much, but if I had, I'd have paid almost $450 for the set of four. Way out of line in my book for just a performance all season tire. They aren't that good in the snow, either.

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Generally speaking, if you were to get what you really deserve, you might be unpleasantly surprised.

MiSo

goodyear is known for quality. its all depends on the tires you buy.
i have goodyear gsd's (not F1's) and the wear rating is 180.
they stick like no tomorrow, but wear down quickly.

the F1 gsd's have a wear rating of 300 i believe.

i had Continental Contisports with a rating of 280 and they lasted me over 35k miles with some tread left, but i sold my rims with tires so i cant say when they would have needed to be replaced for sure.

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all the tires i named are performance Z rated tires.
if you just want tires that are decent, and not much performance
look into a set of Nankang Tires. there are the tires that *most* rim/tire combos come with. they ride decent, last fairly long... but dont expect AA performance out of the tire