[Shop-talk] Buying tires online (or is it Tyres?)

[bjshov8 at tx.rr.com]

I have shopped TR but never bought tires from them, partly because all of their listed installers in our area appear to be a bit odd.  I had a Bridgestone/Firestone dealer near me and I never went there because at the time I didn't want to buy Bridgestone/Firestone.  I did go there for tire repairs and Interstate batteries, and one day they told me that they could get any tire brand I wanted.  The next time I wanted tires I asked them for a quote and they were competitive with TR so I bought tires there ever since.  Ironically after doing research I realized that Bridgestone does make some good tires and some of their performance tires are a good value compared to other brands.  Unfortunately that store got wiped out by a freeway expansion so I had to go to Discount Tire for my last tires.  I have noticed that Discount Tire seems to have a lot of tire models that aren't on TR so it is hard to comparison shop there.


> I have had good experience with TireRack too, but also learned something
> important the first time I used them.  I ordered the tires and then made an
> appointment with one of their listed installers to have the tires mounted
> locally.  He told me the only reason he worked with TR was to get new
> customers and that he could generally beat their prices.  After that, I would
> shop TR and then give him a call.