I like Discount Tire. DT and Tire Rack are the same company now.

DT will rebalance your tires every time you rotate them.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

DT will rebalance your tires every time you rotate them.

Only if you buy the road hazard insurance, usually in the $20 to $30 range per tire, depending on the tire.

I wish I had a Discount Tire location near me.

My shortened you should go to Discount Tire story:
On the way back to Florida from Michigan, I had one of the new China bombs on my new custom trailer blow in Kennesaw, GA. I showed up at Discount Tire there at 5 minutes to closing. The boat and the trailer are around 30’ long and 10,000lbs, so they don’t have a lift for that. They had to use jacks and blocks, but I was out an hour later with 4 new USA Goodyears. I had called first, told them I could spend the night, and they could do it the next day, but they said if I got there before close, they would take care of it.

I stopped by the folks that made the trailer on the way back the next day and they cut me a check for the new tires. I kept the old tires. Two blowouts and the other three were clearly not long for this Earth after towing the trailer 1,400 miles empty and 1,000 miles loaded. The USA Goodyear Endurance tires have 7,000 trouble free miles.

Been a Discount Tire guy for 25 years. Recently moved and none are close. Tried a Belle Tire. They have been popping up all over this area the past few years. Anyhow. Had an A+ experience with new tires and alignment. I have lowering springs and my Ford dealer said they could not get the rear in alignment. Belle Tire got it right no problem. Great service and will use them again.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

DT will rebalance your tires every time you rotate them.

Only if you buy the road hazard insurance, usually in the $20 to $30 range per tire, depending on the tire.

Not in my experience. I never buy road hazard insurance.

They balance every time I rotate. I frequent 2 different stores that I have nearby.

They do take each wheel off, put it on their balancing machine, spin it up, and move/add/remove weights as needed before putting them back on the vehicle.

I rotate every 5000 miles.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

They do take each wheel off, put it on their balancing machine, spin it up, and move/add/remove weights as needed before putting them back on the vehicle.

Do they charge for that?

I have been a customer of DT for over 20 yrs. They are only 3 miles from my house and have treated me very well during that time. Going to have my tires rotated and balanced this Friday and it's free.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

They do take each wheel off, put it on their balancing machine, spin it up, and move/add/remove weights as needed before putting them back on the vehicle.

Do they charge for that?

No, I don't pay anything. It's free/included for the life of the tires if purchased there.

Edit: I pulled up my purchase receipt for my most recent set of tires. The line item is $21 for Installation and Life of Tire Maintenance. Otherwise, there is no recurring cost. Road hazard is a separate charge that I always decline.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
Do they charge for that?

No, I don't pay anything. It's free/included for the life of the tires if purchased there.

Edit: I pulled up my purchase receipt for my most recent set of tires. The line item is $21 for Installation and Life of Tire Maintenance. Otherwise, there is no recurring cost. Road hazard is a separate charge that I always decline.

Looks like you're correct. Somehow, I was under the (wrong) impression that rotation was free for life of the tires, but spin balancing was done only if you paid for road hazard.

The source of my confusion might be a different Discount Tire policy. My wife bought a new car that (obviously) had new tires, not purchased from Discount Tire. They (Discount Tire) sold her Road Hazard insurance for the tires, at a cost of around 20 or 30 bucks / tire, that includes rotation and spin balancing.

My local shop - Kantner's Tires - handles all vehicle tire needs and provides lifetime balance/rotate on the set.

They win on cost, service and attitude!

Unless I lived in the sticks and was set up to do my own mount and balance, I wouldn’t buy tires online. Sam’s club is cheaper than any place around me, has a large selection, free rotation, and a pro-rated system in place for road hazard damage. Being able to pick up necessities while they are mounted is an additional bonus.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Unless I lived in the sticks and was set up to do my own mount and balance, I wouldn’t buy tires online. Sam’s club is cheaper than any place around me, has a large selection, free rotation, and a pro-rated system in place for road hazard damage. Being able to pick up necessities while they are mounted is an additional bonus.

Only rub is Sam’s will not mount tire sizes that did not come on the vehicle from the factory.
Also they don’t do alignments.

Check out Walmart online. Prices for what I buy are better and a I just get a local place to mount and balance for $25 a tire.

In western PA/eastern OH, it's Flynn's Tire Service. Good prices and excellent service. Every time I have gone to Flynn's the service has been top notch. I had the car in the local dealer for service. They rotated the tires and screwed up the balance, one wheel was off by 1 oz. Flynn's rebalanced at no charge. They will accept shipments from Tire Rack as well.
The excellent service I have received over the course of 20 years locked me in as a customer.

Discount tire. They price match and their after purchase service can't be beat. Plus you get free tire rotations.

I checked Discount Tire's website to see if the local store had the tires I was looking for. I ordered them and set up an appointment. I got a phone call from the store and was asked if I could come in a bit early. I was in and out of there in less than an hour.

(Pssst! If you order your tires on line with them then once you get there you are placed at the front of the line.)

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Only rub is Sam’s will not mount tire sizes that did not come on the vehicle from the factory.
Also they don’t do alignments.

Does Discount do alignments? Last I saw they did not but I wish they did. Wonder why they don't.

quote:

Originally posted by KDR:
Check out Walmart online. Prices for what I buy are better and a I just get a local place to mount and balance for $25 a tire.

Sorry, I just don't trust Walmart to work on my vehicles. I'm not saying the techs at DC are MIT graduate engineers, but I'll bet they get a lot more training then the Walmart tire guys. And, the techs and sales people at DC are always up beat and ready to help. The few times I've been at the Walmart automotive department (bought a battery there that I installed myself) everyone seemed grumpy and put out that I asked a question. YMMV

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Unless I lived in the sticks and was set up to do my own mount and balance, I wouldn’t buy tires online. Sam’s club is cheaper than any place around me, has a large selection, free rotation, and a pro-rated system in place for road hazard damage. Being able to pick up necessities while they are mounted is an additional bonus.

Only rub is Sam’s will not mount tire sizes that did not come on the vehicle from the factory.
Also they don’t do alignments.

Maybe your Sam’s does, but the closest one to me doesn’t ask or care. I’ve even had conversations with the guy doing the tire orders along the lines of me wanting a little more ground clearance or width.