Austin

[bimmer635csi]

Originally Posted by X Factor

Has anyone bought a tire and wheel package from Tire Rack?
Did you install yourself or have it shipped to a tire/wheel installer?
How was the experience?

I have done it (for a different car).

The whole package was pretty easy actually. They mount, inflate and balance, so it is really as simple as changing a flat tire 4 times.

If you get tires only from them, then you have to pay someone to mount the tire to whatever wheel you want. This reduces the savings because mounting tires is generally 20 to 30 dollars a wheel.

[ericmpena]

Originally Posted by X Factor

Has anyone bought a tire and wheel package from Tire Rack?
Did you install yourself or have it shipped to a tire/wheel installer?
How was the experience?

Take your price to Discount Tire and they will beat the price plus handle getting everything on your car. I've used them twice for different sets of wheels and it's a piece of cake.

I'd advise looking around for the absolute cheapest online price for those wheels and tires. I used some crazy low budget site that was selling the wheels I wanted for very cheap with free shipping. As long as the product matches exactly and the website shows the product is in stock then you're good. It might take a few weeks for Discount Tire to receive the wheels, but it was worth the wait to save a decent amount of money.

[86-tundra]

Originally Posted by ericmpena

Take your price to Discount Tire and they will beat the price plus handle getting everything on your car. I've used them twice for different sets of wheels and it's a piece of cake.

I'd advise looking around for the absolute cheapest online price for those wheels and tires. I used some crazy low budget site that was selling the wheels I wanted for very cheap with free shipping. As long as the product matches exactly and the website shows the product is in stock then you're good. It might take a few weeks for Discount Tire to receive the wheels, but it was worth the wait to save a decent amount of money.

I second this. Unfortunately, it isn't as easy as just buying wheels + tires mounted, balanced, and with tpms. although i'd like it to be.

[alltrac]

Originally Posted by X Factor

Has anyone bought a tire and wheel package from Tire Rack?
Did you install yourself or have it shipped to a tire/wheel installer?
How was the experience?

I did about five years ago - specifically, I bought four snow tires on rims. The process was fine, but:

a. They were not properly balanced - not insanely off, but not perfect.
b. They were directional, and installed backwards.
c. One of the TPMS units had a bad valve stem.

They were fantastic to deal with on the TPMS issue - I took it to of the shops on their approved list and they overnighted a replacement.

On the mount and balance issue, I honestly just think that I got the slack jawed trainee that day. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the root cause of the TPMS issue.

One thing to keep in mind using Tire Rack vs. a local shop is that some local shops will include free rotations and/or balancing. Factor this into the total price - I had my other tires long enough where this would have probably made up much of the difference.

I don't personally like Discount Tire very much - they're great for new tires on your Camry, but I haven't found their staff to be as knowledgeable as a regular tire shop. Also, they're often just crazy busy with people buying half a tire for their Nissan Versa.

[X Factor]

I assumed Tire Rack would ship wheels and tires mounted, balanced, TPMS installed to one of their recommended installers and they would mount them.

[Rabble]

Discount tire has always been pretty nice to me. Also you just have to know the people who work there that also happen to be members of the local AutoX community

[X Factor]

ERICMPENA, did Discount get your wheels from the seller on the web you found?
RABBLE, if you got a contact let me know.
ALLTRAC, did the installer charge you to rebalance the tires?

[Jyn]

Since we're talking about tire shops, anyone got a recommendation that's knowledgable with aftermarket wheels? I need some new tires and some aftermarket TPMS installed with some stretch on the tires. I know some Discounts will do stretch if you go to the right one.

[ericmpena]

Originally Posted by X Factor

ERICMPENA, did Discount get your wheels from the seller on the web you found?

No, Discount Tire has their own connections to get any set of wheels. They make a few calls to different warehouses across the country to see who has the wheels in stock, and then you put down like $100 deposit to have the wheels ordered and shipped to the store. If they're common wheels then it should just take 3-7 days for the wheels to arrive. If they're older wheels or less common then you may have to wait 3-4 weeks.

I'd just go into the store and ask them about it. Give them the website that you found the wheels at their cheapest price, they will go online and verify the price that you found online (make sure you find a website with free shipping also!!), then Discount Tire will give you their new price quote that will match or beat the cheapest price you found. If you need more time to think about it make sure you don't leave without getting their quote printed!!!!

When I had gone to Discount Tire the first time a guy quoted me a decent price, but I was still on the fence about things. I left and then decided to go back later that day, and then all of a sudden I was getting a different, higher quote from another employee. I asked to speak to the previous employee and they told me, "Well, unless the quote he gave you was in writing I can't honor it. I'm the manager here and this is the best deal I can give you." (Which was about $100 more than the previous quote)

It worked out in my favor though. I was pissed off so I went home and spent 2+ hours going through about 20 websites looking for the absolute cheapest place to order the wheels I wanted. After a few hours I found 3 sites that were a lot lower than Tire Rack and Tire Crazy...with free shipping.

I went back to Discount Tire and slapped them with my new website with an even lower price than before + free shipping...and the manager honored the price match.

So, I hope reading my experience will save you the trouble of going through the same thing. Do your research and find the absolute lowest online price with free shipping, take it to them, and that's it.

P.S. The reason I keep saying "Free Shipping" is because if the website you choose charges shipping...then Discount Tire will just discount the shipping and say they "beat the price". You'll still end up paying the regular amount on the wheels...you'll just save a little on shipping. It's easy enough to find a website out there with free shipping. Take your time and find it! Then when you go to price match they'll actually have to price match/beat the price of the wheels, not the shipping.

Hope that helps!

[X Factor]

Thanks, all good info I can surely use.

[alltrac]

Originally Posted by X Factor

ERICMPENA, did Discount get your wheels from the seller on the web you found?
RABBLE, if you got a contact let me know.
ALLTRAC, did the installer charge you to rebalance the tires?

Ohh, that's a tough question. I don't recall being charged any more at the time, but I do recall being annoyed at a slight wobble in the wheel some months later and paying to have the tires rebalanced then. That said, I was in the winter of 2008-2009 in Wisconsin, which saw 102" of snow. I'm entirely shocked that I emerged with any brain cells left after alternating constant snow shoveling with beer.

That's part of the reason that I would probably seek out a local (ish) shop that does free lifetime balancing/rotations, even if it were 25 more per tire. I would have at least broken even on that.

[ericmpena]

Forgot to mention, the first set of Enkei's I bought had 1 defective wheel. Discount Tire said they couldn't balance the wheel correctly because of an issue with the wheel. They were able to place an order for a replacement wheel and still let me take the unbalanced wheel for the time being. They advised me that I may feel a little bit of shaking while I drive, but I couldn't tell any difference.

I went back a few days later and got the replacement wheel balanced and installed.

There's no other place where you'll be able to get a replacement wheel sent out without sending the original wheel back first. They saved me a ton of time.

[Scottemad123]

anyone going to the WEC race later this month?

[X Factor]

What's WEC?