Cheapest Discount Tires, Wheels and Rims

This one is from The Tire Rack Coupons at Tirerack.com: Michelin tires discounts + $50 cash back deal.  When you but 4 Michelin tires from The Tie Rack, on top of the discount prices, you get $50 in cash back. Or if you prefer, you can choose to get a $50 gas card, or $75 music downloads. (Don’t ask me what has music got to do with tires! :-)).

This Michelin Tire deal applies to many passenger tires, and Light Truck/SUV tires.  It largely covers the entire range of Michelin tires including the Grand Touring, Max & Ultra High Performance (Summer, Winter and All-Season) tires, Street/Sport Truck, & Highway Rib (Summer & All  season), Highway Rib Summer & all season, On-/Off-Road All-Terrain and other light truck tires.

The Tire Rack at tirerack.com has some of the best prices for online discount tire shopping. On top of that, they have occasional sale on specific brands, but cash back offers on some of the top brands. All the discounts are additive, so you can really get a major bargain if you look for these.  Here are some of the areas you should look at first:

The Tire Rack Coupons & Cash Back Offers

Tire Rack has a special page for all of their discount tire coupons and cashback deals.  This should be your first stop before going anywhere else.  I have seen promotions for anywhere from $40 to $200 on major tire brands like Goodyear, Bridgestone, Firestone, BF Goodrich and others.

Tire Sale Offers

• Bridgestone Tire Sales & Deals
  • Dueler tires, Potenza, Turanza, Expedia, Blizzak and others
• Goodyear Tire Sale & Deals
  • Eagle & wrangler tires, Truck tires and more
• Firestone Tires Coupons & Deals
  • Destination le, Firehawk tires, Affinity Touring, Wilderness, Transforce AT and more
• Michelin Tire Deals & Sales
  • Pilot, Harmony, Latitude Sport, Symmetry, Energy, 4×4 XPC, 4×4 Alpin, 4×4 Synchrone, Cross Terrain SUV and more
• Yokohoma tires specials
  • Avid trz. Geolander (geolandar), Super Digger, Parada Spec-2, ADVAN & others
• BF Goodrich Tires Deals
  • G-Force series, All-Season, Standard Touring All-Season, Off-Road Maximum Traction, Highway All-Season, All terrain Mud-Terrain series and more
• Kumho Tire Deals
  • v710, ASX, Solus, ECSTA, Road Venture, Touring Plus, Power Star and more
• More Tires Coupons & deals

That should cover for most major brands.  In the future blogs, I will create similar savings guided tour for other stores.

If you are like me, buying tires online won’t come across as the first option. In the past, I would just go to a local Big O Tires, Sears or Walmart auto center to choose from what they had in stock. This changed a couple of years back when I ordered my tires online for the first time for my SUV.

As my local stores did not have the right size in stock, I browsed online to see if someone sold tires online. Lo and behold, I found several big sites seeling them, almost all with cheaper prices than my local stores. Since then, all my tire purchases are online. Here is what I have learned on the best ways to save money on tire discounts.

The Tire Rack

• As a pioneer in online tire selling, they have fine-tuned their processes for everything to go smoothly
• Since they do not have brick & mortar shops, there is no sales tax to pay. This could be significant savings
• The Tire Rack gives a list of authorized installers by zip code. They can ship the tires to the installers directly, so you just need to show up with your car when the tires are delivered
• When I bought my tires from tirerack.com, I used Walmart auto center to get them installed, as I found Walmart tire service to be the cheapest, with free rotation and balance for the life of the tires.
• Look for tire rack coupons and promotions, which they run often for cash back and money-saving offers.
• Carries all major brands of tires and wheels. Some examples: Bridgestone tires, Goodyear, Michelin, Firestone, BF Goodrich, general tires, Continental, Dunlop tires.
• Extensive tire reviews and survey results
• Expect to save ~20-40% compared to the local stores. You save more with tire and wheel packages

4 Wheel Parts Tires

• Specializes in 4×4, light truck, SUV and Jeep tires
• Great selection of all terrain tires (of road tires), mud tires, snow tires, atv tires and high performance tires in general: This is not your father’s tire store
• Some of the brands they carry: Pro Comp tires, Super Swamper, BFGoodrich, Nitto tires, Toyo, Mickey Thompson, etc
• Offers free mounting and balancing with 4 tire purchase. Better deals with wheels & tires packages
• Offers 110% price match guarantee
• 4 wheel parts coupons and specials are always available, so be sure to use them

Sears Tires

• Free shipping on all tires to your local Sears auto center
• Extra savings with Sears card
• Examples of some tires they carry: Michelin, Goodyear, Dunlop, Sumitomo, Bridgeston, BF Goodrich, Falken, DieHard, Optima, Superguard, Guarddsma, General tires, etc
• Extensive tire revies and education guides
• Use Sears tires coupons, sale promotions and cash back rebates to save on top of the listed prices

Tires-Easy

• This is a relatively new vendor for me, as I have not used their services so far. But their site and offerings look decent
• 59 tire brands including Cooper tires, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Michelin, Continental, Firestone, Hankook, Toyo, Kumho, Pirelli, etc
• Some tires as low as $17. Expect on average 25% savings over local dealers
• In addition to credit cards, they accept PayPal as well
• Tires-easy carry discount car tires, regualr all season tires, all terrain off road tires, 4×4 and snow tires
• They do not sell rims and wheels, truck tires

Walmart Tires

• Like Sears tires, you can buy tires online at Walmart.com and have the tires delivered for fre to your local Walmart auto center
• They carry Goodyear, BF Goodrich, Michelin, Cntinental, Uniroyal, Douglas, Super Sport, Wrangler, Fortera, etc brands
• The only major vendor to carry a complete line of utility tires (ATV tires, Golf cart tires, Lawn andtractor tires, trailer tires) from Carlisle and AT brands.
• The prices are pretty good, but like Sears you need to pay sales tax.

There are a few other relatively smaller online stores that also carry discounted tires, but with smaller variety. More on those on later blogs.

In Part 1 of this series, I explained tire size decoding. In this blog, I will explain the different types of tires and their pros and cons.

Tires are categorized by many different methods:

1. By Performance
   1. All Season tires
   2. Performance All Season tires
   3. Ultra High Performance All Season tires
2. By the Type of Vehicle they will be used on
   1. Passenger Tires
   2. Light Truck/SUV tires
3. Special Usage Category
   1. Snow/Winter tires
   2. Off-road tires (aka All Terrain tires or Mud tires)

Tire catogorgy by Performance

• All Season tires (aka All Weather tires)
  • Best For:
    • Most passenger vehicles (Most nnew vehicles are sold with all weather tires)
    • Year around good performance in all kinds of weather
    • Lowest tread wear
    • Decent traction
    • Most comfortable ride
    • Most economical (Prices
  • But …
    • No high controlled-handing for extremely wet or snowy roads
    • If you live in regions with very wet or snowy conditions, consider other tires
  • Cost
    • Typically between $30 to $90 per wheel
  • Available for
    • Tire size 13, 14 and 15 inches
    • For Passanger and light truck/SUV vehicles
• Performance All-Season Tires
  • Best for
    • Better handling for wet and snowy surfaces
    • Lose some ride comfort to get better traction
  • But …
    • Since softer material is used to get better traction, tread wear is higher
    • Somewhat less comfortable ride
  • Cost
    • $50 to $140 per wheel
  • Available for
    • Tire size 15, 16 and 17 inches
    • For Passanger and light truck/SUV vehicles
• Ultra High Performance All Season tires
  • Best for
    • Sports car and other high performance vehicles
    • Greatest control and handling, best cornering
    • Increased speed rating
    • Summer conditions
  • But …
    • They have the quickest tread wear
    • Not designed to be used in very wet and snowy conditions
      People typically switch to all season or winter tires during winter months
  • Cost
    • $80 to $180
    • If your wheel rims are small, you may have extra cost of replacing them as well
  • Available for
    • Tire sizes 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 inches
    • For Passanger and light truck/SUV vehicles

Tire Category by the Type of Vehicle they will be used on

• Passenger Tires
  • Designed to be used with cars, minivans and other passenger vehicles
  • Designed for ride comfort, low noise, low trade-wear
  • For driving in paved surfaces on highways and cities
• Light Truck/SUV tires
  • Designed to be used with SUV’s, pick up trucks and off-road vehicles
  • Designed for heavier load capacity
  • Can withstand more demanding environmental conditions
  • A must if your vehicle is used for towing or hauling

Tire Special Usage Category

• Snow/Winter tires
  • Designed for maximum braking performance and traction on ice, snow and wet roads
  • Made with special material that can keep it pliable even in extreme cold temperatures
  • In many states you do not need tire chains if you have snow tires on your vehicle
• Off-road tires (aka All Terrain tires or Mud Tires)
  • Designed for use on roads, dirt, gravel, grass, mud, rough terrain
  • Big, wide treads to ensure the tire does not get stuck in mud
  • Typically come in bigger sizes to give higher clearance for your vehicle
  • Sturdy construction to reduce flat tires or structural damage

There you have it! Now you can but tires online or offline like an expert.

Ever wondered what do the numbers like P185/60HR14 on your car tires mean? If you are not sure, you are not alone. In a recent survey 78% of people did not know what their tire spec number meant. A whopping 93% did not know the disadvantages of Performance All Season Tires over regular All Season Tires. So here is a comprehensive guide on how to select the perfect tires for your auto.

Tire Selection Guide: What Everybody Ought to Know About

Let’s start with the Tire number system. A typical tire number looks like: P185/60HR14. Here is how to decode it.

1. The first spot represents the type of vehicle. P for passenger cars and LT for light trucks and SUV’s
2. The second spot number(185 in this example) is the tire cross-section width in millimeters
3. The third spot (60 in this example) is the aspect ratio: The tire sidewall height to the cross-section width. For a smoother ride, choose this number to be bigger. A smaller number here gives a crisper handling.
4. The fourth spot is the max speed rating
   • H = 130 miles per hour
   • Q = 99 miles per hour
   • S = 112 miles per hour
   • T = 118 miles per hour
   • v = 149 miles per hour
   • Z = 150 miles per hour
5. R in the fifth spot means that it’s a radial-ply tire. Other choices here are D (diagonal) or B (belted bias). If this spot has no letter at all, it means that it is a radial-ply tire.
6. And the final number is the diameter of the tire hole in inches. A point to note that this is NOT the outer diameter. So if you were looking for a rim/wheel to fit on a 14″ tire, you would pick the rim/wheel to be 14″ as well.
7. Sometimes, there is an additional number at the end. (E.g. P185/60HR14 89). This last number represents a load index. The bigger this number, the more the load the tire can safely carry. When replacing your tire, make sure that the new tire has at least the same load index as what you had before.

PS: Some tire company use a slightly different format: Instead of P185/60HR14 89, they write P185/60R14 89H.

So there you have it… Now you can buy tires like a pro! In the next blog, I will describe various type of tires, and explain advantages and disadvantages for each so that you can pick the perfect tires to fit your needs.