I don't know where you are in Missouri, but if you're near a larger town, go check a Car Stereo & Rim shop. One of the places that do all the aftermarket stuff to cars (Lift, ground effects, different rims...).

They usually have a decent amount of used tires that they want to get rid of.

ie; Someone buys a factory Jeep Wrangler, wants to lift it and get larger rims & larger profile tires.
The shop has to do something with the original tires & rims they just took off the car.

Check your local Walmart for some cheap Milestar tires.

Crap tire, but it's around $100 each.

It should be good enough for your lease turn in.

I did the same on my exwife's lease when her tires were shot and we still had a few months to go before her lease was up.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:

quote:

I have a leased vehicle with contract that expires at the end of February.

What does the lease say about condition on return? This is probably normal "wear and tear". I doubt they expect new tires.
You can't make it 5 months without?

Going into winter, thinking I need tires, but don’t want to spend a fortune on tires I’m going to turn in shortly. Hmmm, my Dad passed away when I was eight, but I still remember him saying “Good tires are the best and cheapest insurance you can buy.”

I think checking out an early lease turn in seems more prudent than trying to skate through winter on tires one knows need replaced.

We make almost as much money selling used tires as we do selling new ones. Kinda like a car dealership.

I don’t mind buying used, if the price is right. About 6 months ago I bought 2 used 18” truck tires for my Silverado. I already had 2 new Michelin LTX tires mounted. I have 2 Blizzacks I want to use up once Winter comes.

I bought 2 almost new Bridgestone Dueler tires off eBay. They spent just about all their life as a spare, mounted under the bed. In age they are older than I normally like.

I offered the seller $205 shipped, for both tires, he accepted. A single new LTX is close to $300.

There are sets used in every stage of life, newer takeoffs, to ones with 1/3 life left, whatever. The prices should reflect condition.

Of course, one has to have adequate tires until the end of the lease. Could even have a touch of Winter in MO.

It is kinda a pain & cost $$ to switch around, should you want to change tires to lessor before the end.

One solution is to get a good set with about 1/2 tread life left.

A guy down the street had a set of almost new used tires and a spare w/rim on the side of the road for $125 a couple of months back. They fit my truck, so they are now in my shed waiting on the next time I need to change them out...saved me more than $500 over new set of Chinese ones.

Junk yards and auto body shops used to be good places to get a deal on used tires. Sometimes an auto body shop will have the spare tires that have never touched the road taken from late model wrecks. Similar for junk yards. If all four tires need to match not only in size but also make/model, that could be a challenge.

It seems like junk yards have mostly vanished around here. But auto body shops seem to be everywhere.

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions. For both safety and ease of transaction (one stop shop), I decided to go with 4 new tires installed for $579.43 (tax incl).

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
A set of new chicom 20" for $400?

Tires have gotten really expensive. 5 years ago you could buy a set for $800. Now more like $1300.

Things are really screwed up.

Used to me would mean newish take off's. Go to your local tire shop.

Tire rack has new ones for $138.44, I too wouldn't screw with used tires, not for 9k miles more, no way.

I think the original poster bought tires, great.


One of the better deals I got in the last year was a used mattress, sorry but yes. It was a $1200+ Bear ‘Elite Hybrid’, < 6 months old. For some reason, his wife didn’t like it.

I told the seller, ‘very few would buy a used mattress’. It was clean as a whistle. We settled around $300.

Back to tires, maybe slightly used high quality, name brand, can be better than new off brand tires. It all depends.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
Check your local Walmart for some cheap Milestar tires.

Crap tire, but it's around $100 each.

It should be good enough for your lease turn in.

I did the same on my exwife's lease when her tires were shot and we still had a few months to go before her lease was up.

I second Walmart. link. A few different $100 tires.

quote:

I second Walmart. A few different $100 tires.

I used to always buy my tires at Sams Club.
Owned by Walmart. But run separately. Better service.
Now, for some reason, Sams Club is no longer competitive with Walmart on tires.

While in high school my car lived on tires purchased from a car scrap yard. Definitely a money saving move and I never had a problem with them. All brands were potentially available and some were new spares out of that trunk of the wrecked car.

These days, since I’m 40+ years older, I would go to a local tire service/dealership and check on what they have used. It seems to happen often enough that someone will come in with a new (to them) car and they want new tires and rims. The old ones, if the are low miles or newer, go on the shelf for resale. Often they will have whole sets of tires.

It’s real easy to find brand new or near new oem take offs from trucks and suvs. I haven’t bought a brand new set of truck tires in years because I always buy take offs. The last set was fallen wild peaks that were around $1200 ish retail. I got them off a brand new sequoia for $400 plus $150 to mount and balance.

One thing I’ve noticed is the oem tires are often not exactly the same as the retail tire. If you compare the fallen wild peak that comes on the sequoia to the wild peak at your local tire shop, the local tire shop model has almost twice as much tread…. That doesn’t mean you will get half the life… it just might be a harder compound or something to get better fuel economy or last longer vice a true off road tire…

Daughter's boyfriend was shopping for tires and found an ALL WEATHER tire from Milestar for around $90 from discount in his 16" size.

Johnny has had six used cars in 20 years,

In that time he's purchased six sets of tires, all previously owned,
But
He says that he has four reputable retailers that
He deals with,
If
One doesn't have what he requires, someone will.


He claims that he's never gotten a bad deal.

quote:

Johnny has had six used cars in 20 years,

In that time he's purchased six sets of tires, all previously owned,
But
He says that he has four reputable retailers that
He deals with,

Flashback to “story problems” in 4th grade math.

What about retreads?
Basically a new tire made with recycled rubber.
They can be quite good and generally much cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:

Flashback to “story problems” in 4th grade math.

If two trains leave Chicago an hour apart ...