so i have a 96 acura integra LS SE - i'm looking for the cheapest way to find tires online - i can have a friend install them for me - or perhaps you know of a vendor in southern california - san diego area that sells tires for cheap - i'm tired of going into a tire shop and dropping 400 bucks on tires - anyone know of a website i can inquire about tires for my integra ?

peace

 

The search button is your friend...this has been discussed many times in the Wheel/Tire Forum.

Anyway, here are some to start:

Tires.com
Tirerack.com
Vulcantires.com
Edgeracing.com
1010tires.com
Ebay.com

Hope that helps.

 

hard to go wrong with tirerack, they seem to have the lowest prices out of anybody. you can just search for your tire size and see what's cheapest.

 

Edgeracing.com is now out of business. 1010tires.com is in Canada and their prices are always higher. And I've observed lots of tires on eBay that are being misrepresented and have other problems.

In addition to Discount Tire Direct (tires.com), Tire Rack, and Vulcan, other places worth checking (especially for Toyo, which isn't sold by those three) include TireDeals4Less.com , onlinetires.com , and tires-easy.com

Since I'm often recommending tires to people (and since I'm not affiliated with any particular tire company), I usually check several websites so I can tell people the lowest price available. In the past few months, whenever a tire model and size is available at both the Tire Rack and Discount Tire Direct, the price you'll pay almost always winds up being lower at Discount Tire Direct, after you take into account the fact that DTD offers free shipping and the Tire Rack charges for shipping (typically around $15/tire).

For example, let's take my standard recommendations for Integras using 15" wheels (like the '96 Special Edition):

1. If you need to use these tires in occasional snow during winter as well as in moderate to warm temperatures the rest of the year, you'll need all-season tires; I recommend the Kumho ASX (in 195/55-15 or 205/50-15) or the Goodyear Eagle GT (in 195/55-15 only). Otherwise, you can get summer tires and take advantage of their better performance in non-winter conditions.

2. Among summer tires, if you want the stickiest tire you can get on dry pavement - like if you occasionally autocross/track your car, or go on brisk drives on winding roads, get the Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec (in 195/55-15 only). If you want a longer-lasting summer tire that does well in rain as well as dry roads, get the Yokohama S.drive (comes in 195/55-15 and 205/50-15 but it's cheaper in 195/55-15).

And let's look up the prices:

Kumho ASX 195/55-15 - Discount Tire Direct not shown, Tire Rack $66+$15=$81/tire
Kumho ASX 205/50-15 - Discount Tire Direct not shown, Tire Rack $68+$15=$83/tire
Goodyear Eagle GT 195/55-15 - Discount Tire Direct $78/tire, Tire Rack $69+$15=$84/tire, both prices after $5/tire rebate
Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec 195/55-15 - Discount Tire Direct $83.50/tire, Tire Rack $78.50+$15=$93.50/tire, both prices after $12.50/tire rebate
Yokohama S.drive 195/55-15 - Discount Tire Direct $76/tire, Tire Rack $71+$15=$86/tire
Yokohama S.drive 205/50-15 - Discount Tire Direct not shown, Tire Rack $87+$15=$102/tire

As you can see, of the six tires compared, Discount Tire Direct has a lower price on three of them, and doesn't show a price on their website on the other three. I've looked up those other three recently and their prices were also lower than Tire Rack's. So don't be afraid to call them if a size isn't listed on their website.

If I were buying a set of tires, I'd check the price on ALL of these websites, and buy from the place that has the lowest bottom-line price (including any shipping charges, as well as sales tax where applicable). But if I want to save myself some time, I just check Discount Tire Direct, since their prices are usually the lowest.

 

nsxtasy alway quick to reply with increadable tire info

 

^^good to know. who do you work for btw? it's gotta be tire-related as you seem to really know your ****.

 

I'm not working, and I've never worked in the automotive or tire field. However, I instruct in a lot of track events, so between driving and riding on a lot of different tires, and talking with folks who work at the Tire Rack (a lot of them are racers at events in the Midwest), I learn a lot!

 

doesnt discount tires have a price match policy to online and local stores?

 

I live right by tire rack and i will not buy new tires any where else but them

 

Discount Tire Direct is the website division that operates as a separate company from the Discount Tire and America's Tire retail stores.

Discount Tire Direct says that they will match prices for other online stores, after you take shipping differences into account. I don't know if they match prices from other retail stores.

Discount Tire retail stores often say they will match prices, but they're referring to other retail stores. I just had a need for getting a tire locally and they weren't able to match the price at Discount Tire Direct, although they offered me a lower price than their regular price.

Tire Rack has a great website, excellent service, and very knowledgeable salespeople. You don't always want to buy somewhere else just because the price is a few bucks lower.

FWIW, within the past few years, I have bought tires from Tire Rack, Discount Tire Direct, tires-easy.com, and Tiresavings.com and had good experiences with all. I have a set of tires on order at a local Discount Tire store which should be in any day now.

 

the store manager can match any price you show them if he wants to, as far as i know, employees can not. for example, they matched a dirt cheap ebay action for me. while there is no promise that your store will also do this, it never hurts to ask

 

You go through tires like water!

 

Yes, I just went through this, and was talking with the store manager. He didn't match the online price, but came pretty close.

I have three cars. All three have summer tires for the street. The two Integras are daily driven during the winter, so each has a separate set of winter tires. I track two of the cars, so each has a separate set of R compound track tires. I instruct in 6-10 track events each year.

How long do my tires last? One of the cars eats tires (I went through a set of the stock rear tires in under 3000 miles - and yes, that is 3 thousand, not a typo - which is why Honda was sued by owners at one point). On the other two cars, the Integras, the summer tires last me 30-40K miles. The track tires last 1500-2000 track miles, which translates to 6-10 track events. (I bring them with me to the track and don't drive on them till I get there.)