I decided to go with the Michelin Defender tires. I got a price of $120 each from my dealer. Originally he wanted $145 each but when I told him I can get them from TireRack for $120 each delivered he matched the price. Now here is the question. He quoted $130 for installation. It has been quite a long time since I purchased tires. (usually I get a new car) Does $130 sound reasonable? If not what is a reasonable price to pay for installation? Thanks......
The last time I had tires installed was from Les Schwab on the West coast. The going rate varied depending on which one you went to (different cities charged different prices) and if you bought the tires from them. I would buy tires online, ones they sold, and go in to get them installed and it on average ran me about $25-35 per tire. The valves were around $10 each, the spin balance was $15 each and they charged me to recycle the old tires (only sometimes which is why the amount varied.) $32.50 a tire seems fair. There is a chance you could save $10-$15 bucks by loading up the tires and driving all around town to see what someone else would charge, but is it worth stinking up your car like rubber to do that? I'm also a savvy online shopper and love to save a buck, but I'd pay the $130 to have the dealership install them.
My dealer called back and said $24.95 each. Which comes to just under $100. I don't know if that includes new valves. But I'm also considering an alignment at the same time. It seems my dealer is willing to price match so I'll probably just go with them. Plus I think I have a 5% off coupon around here somewhere.
I would imagine the tire valves will be reused because they're actually tire pressure sensors and aren't that cheap.
The dealer will match price but none of the ones I've asked have free balance and rotation for the life of the tires -- the major tire chains include that. I wouldn't expect a tire installer to give much of a deal if you buy the tires elsewhere. They make more profit and move inventory.
Katiesdad7, FYI...I paid about $500.00 for 4 DEFENDER tires at COSTCO a few months ago. It includes mounting and balancing. COSTCO had a $70.00 discount during my purchase. It also includes free lifetime tire rotation and air checks/adjustments. I hope that info helps. Alan
I just had my OEM tires removed, the Michelin P215/45 R17 Primacy Alpin PA 3 winter tires installed and they charged me 24 bucks a wheel, but I purchased the tires from them, so they didn't need to make all the money on just the install. But far more important, they hand torqued the lugs to the correct 76 ft.lb the Prius lugs require, and they spin balanced each wheel, and allowed me to see each wheel as it spun. I discovered one was slightly damaged and wobbled, so I will replace it when I switch back the tires in April. The TPMS sensors also had no need for resetting, and that would definitely add money to the install prices. So it depends upon what they planned on doing to determine if $ 130.00 for the 4 tires was a good price or not. The cost of my snow tires installed was right at a thousand dollars for everything, tax included.
