BG Automotive. Tire buying help

[Meresgi]

So tier on the car went today, its been losing air slowly but wasnt a major issue but went to drive out today and I heard a thumping, sure enough it went flat and I found a fairly good sized gash in it. I have a few questions though about purchasing tires for anyone automotive inclined.

Can I just buy 1 tire or do I need to buy 2 for the front end? (Its front wheel drive)
The car manual says the tires should be 28psi, yet the ones that are on there from the dealer are 44psi. Is that an issue or does it not as long as they are the right size?
Also where should I go to get a decent priced tire/install? Someone told me Sears was decent enough.
Only time I bought tires in the past was when I blew one out on a curb when I was 23 and I just got one from a junkyard for $10 and used that for a year till the car was sold.

[Clash Perez]

I found a great pair of tires in a dumpster once.

They were practically brand-new. It's crazy what people throw out.

[Fr34k]

You can just buy 1 tire as long as you both tires on the drive axle are the same size. I would recommend buying 2 if you can afford it, and especially if the other one has a low tread depth.

As for PSI, did you check it with a tire pressure gauge or are you going by the markings on the sidewall of the tire? If you're looking at the sidewall, that's the max that they should be inflated to, but you should inflate them according to your owners manual or the sticker on your door jamb.

As for where, Sears is ok my dad used to go there for tires and such. Normally I buy my own tires and have a friend mount and balance for me, but in the past I've gone to Lex Brodies (that might only be in Hawaii) but you could also go to Firestone or pretty much any automotive shop that sells tires.

[Sanjurio]

For balance issues I'd say buy two for the front since if you bought one you'd have one tread wearing faster than the other.
There should be a sticker or such in the door jam on your drivers door that says what PSI your tires should be at.
Sears is good yeah, idk about what's around you but Discount Tire around me, IL, has some decents tires that aren't overpriced toomuch.

[Meresgi]

You can just buy 1 tire as long as you both tires on the drive axle are the same size. I would recommend buying 2 if you can afford it, and especially if the other one has a low tread depth.

As for PSI, did you check it with a tire pressure gauge or are you going by the markings on the sidewall of the tire? If you're looking at the sidewall, that's the max that they should be inflated to, but you should inflate them according to your owners manual or the sticker on your door jamb.

The manual says 28psi, the tires say 44psi (I didnt know that was the max) but if I dont inflate them to max I get a warning light in the car indicating low tire pressure. It might be due to that tire just having a leak though so ill have to see if it goes away with a new tire there, if so ill lower the psi on all the others to 28 too.

I'm guessing most places include the mounting/balancing fees with the tire price? I'll probably go with 2 for the tread wearing reason San said, I dont want to have to go buy brand new tires again sooner then I need to, ill check the tread though first just to see how it looks. Thanks for info guys

[Fr34k]

If you buy 1 now, it just means that the other one will wear out before the brand new one does, because it's been used for xx,xxx amount of miles and the other one will be starting at 0. They will both wear at the same rate (if your car is within alignment specs), but down the road you are going to have to change the tire you didn't change and the one you did change will still be ok.

It's kind of like do you want to buy 2 now and be good for 50k miles, or buy 1 now and possibly have to change the other one in the next 10-15k (maybe sooner, maybe later depending on how worn down the tire is) and going back and fourth each time. 1 new tire and 1 old tire won't cause the new one to wear prematurely, an out of spec alignment could do that however.

[Kohan]

Only time I bought tires in the past was when I blew one out on a curb when I was 23 and I just got one from a junkyard for $10 and used that for a year till the car was sold.

Considering, I assume that you don't drive very much. How many miles would you say that you drive per year on average?

As for the used tire part, this can be dangerous, but I have bought used tires more than once. If you decide to take this route and get a tire that's about as worn as your other good one, there are some things you'll want to do.

1. Make sure that you can get a good look at the tire, inside and out, before they put it on. Look for gashes, uneven wearing, patches, and anything else alarming.
2. While looking at the tire, check the date of manufacture (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11). If the tire is more than five years old, forget about it. If a place has more than one, get the newest and best-looking tire.
3. Ensure that they're not charging you so much in labor that you may as well have bought a new one, as that would defeat the entire purpose.

I've picked up nice tires for $20 installed, no tax, that served my purposes. I've bought at least six used tires in this manner, and none of them ever went flat or otherwise caused me any problems. Websites like Consumer Reports will tell you not to do it, but if you get a good look at them and they're not damaged, it's not likely you'll get one that's going to prematurely bust—new tires can carry manufacturing defects, be installed and/or inflated incorrectly, and so on, so forth. Buyer beware in any case and all that.

If you decide to go new, I recommend http://www.tirerack.com/. Look at their cheapest tires for your car, and compare them to all of your local sales. Usually, you can get a much better brand of tire from TireRack shipped to a local repair shop and installed for the same price as their generic and crappy tires. As for sales at physical stores to look for, WalMart Super Centers can run some great deals on name brand tires (like Goodyear) with dirt-cheap installation. If you're the kind of person who likes the peace of mind that warranties provide, WalMart's are $10 per tire, and have fairly nice coverage (http://www.walmart.com/cp/Wal-Mart-T...s/538475#28708).

[Senji]

44 is the max psi rating of those tires.

28 is the recommended psi for the stock tire size of your car. Compromise between grip, efficiency, comfort, and safety.

Tire price is always only for just the tire, unless they are running some sort of special like "buy 4, get free mounting and balancing." Any place that doesn't have kids as the only employees should be fine; its just mounting tires.

[Brill Weave]

Most chain tire shops will not sell only one tire. They will usually only sell two and they will claim it's for alignment issues. Stores like Sam's Club and CostCo usually have fairly decent prices on tires as well as decent quality brands. If you don't want to go there E.W. Flynn isn't all that bad either. This may seem rather stupid to post but make sure you're rotating your tires regularly to keep them from deteriorating.

[Meresgi]

Just got em done at Sears, $190 for 2 front tires. Alignment is off slightly on the car but not enough that i'm worried too much, only like .2 - .4 degrees on the left and right front. And they took the alignment with the donut on so not sure if that fucks with it.

[Dolmen]

Buy off tirerack.com and have them shipped to the shop you want to install them. A lot of shops will do only 1 tire, but normally they like it to be the same tire and not have significant wear on the other tire. Costco/BJs are good for tires if you don't want to go the online route. Stay away from Sam's Club though as I've seen them cross-thread way too many lugnuts.

[Kohan]

Just got em done at Sears, $190 for 2 front tires. Alignment is off slightly on the car but not enough that i'm worried too much, only like .2 - .4 degrees on the left and right front. And they took the alignment with the donut on so not sure if that fucks with it.

I'm surprised by this for two reasons: one, someone actually went to Sears on purpose and bought something, and two, if they were good tires, that's not necessarily a terrible out-the-door price (assuming that includes labor and taxes). When you order from TireRack, you can get a full set of four for $200-$300, depending upon the car—for me, it's always been closer to $200, as I don't require an uncommon tire size. Common installation costs are $10-$15 per tire, so you could theoretically install a full set of tires for under $300, if you're fortunate.

$190 for just going to a local place and picking two tires isn't terrible. I would guess that they were around $80 each, and that you paid $30 for the labor.

[Awoir]

When you order from TireRack, you can get a full set of four for $200-$300, depending upon the car—for me, it's always been closer to $200, as I don't require an uncommon tire size.

Plz order me 4 tires from tirerack for $300. p275/55r20, kthx.

[Plow]

This problem has been solved but:

There's absolutely nothing wrong with buying 1 new tire. You might have to take an extra trip the next time you need one but... welcome to life, lol. Between the wasted money on an unneeded new one, and the cost to have your old one "disposed of" (read: paying someone to turn around and sell it used), it's probably not going to be worth buying the pair unless the other one is not far from needing replaced anyway.


As to used, they're fine if you know and trust the place you're getting them.

[Meresgi]

I'm surprised by this for two reasons: one, someone actually went to Sears on purpose and bought something,

This made me lol, fucking Sears. Everytime i'm in that store I can't understand how they're still around and their service is shitty. The autoguys were pretty cool, I chatted with them and shit and joked around, but everyone in the store is like a really angsty drone. If you even look at them they scowl and walk away so they dont have to help you or keep talking to people and ignore you.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with buying 1 new tire. You might have to take an extra trip the next time you need one but... welcome to life, lol. Between the wasted money on an unneeded new one, and the cost to have your old one "disposed of" (read: paying someone to turn around and sell it used), it's probably not going to be worth buying the pair unless the other one is not far from needing replaced anyway.

Yeah was planning on only 1, but when I walked outside I decided to check the tread since I havnt in a long time, fucking tire was worn down way too much to not justify getting a 2nd. Probably would have been back to Sears in a few months.

[Kalmado]

Regarding Sears, yeah I don't get it either. Majority of their products other than clothing seem to be at least 25% more than any other retailer. Not sure why anyone goes there. I have never used their auto center so I can't speak on it.

Regarding used tires, recently a friend was riding on belts and one tire had a bad leak. We went up to discount tire as it's right by my house and (of course) they couldn't patch it and tried to sell her 4 new tires. The kid was nice enough and after some conversation he said they occasionally get used tires they will give away. Gave us his card and told to call and check to see if they get any. Thought that was decent.

[Kohan]

Plz order me 4 tires from tirerack for $300. p275/55r20, kthx.

I'm glad mine aren't as much as yours. I'm anal about spending money on tires, though not so anal as to buy total shit. (They do have some namebrand tires on closeout for $99 a pop, though.)