Where to go for new tires?

I've had good experiences with Costco and Discount Tire (called America's Tire in some states). I don't know anything about Sams for tires but they are probably OK too.

 

Costco, Americas Tire Company/Discount Tire, TireBuyer.com, TireRack.com. Those are the commonly used retailers.

 

I've purchased tires from tirerack.com several times. My experience is they had the best prices (be sure to factor tax & shipping when comparison shopping), huge selection & informative reviews. And if you don't have a local installer you use, they have a database of preferred/reviewed installers. I have them drop ship to the installer--they usually arrive in 1 or 2 days.

 

I buy my tires from Sam's with good results and good pricing. I particularly like Sam's due to the fact that they are open on weekends for routine tire rotation and balancing. Plus they have a good Road Hazard Warranty which they are good about honoring without much hassle.

 

Walk into your local tire shop and get an installed quote for his product and for installation of tires you bring in, now call discounttiredirect and get a quote for the tires, free shipping, if you save money buying the tires elsewhere do so, otherwise just buy them from your tire shop.

 

eBay along with Discount Tires Direct has a special on several brands that offer $100 prepaid visa card. For my brothers car Cooper CS4 205/60/15 $360 shipped - $100 = $260 + 80 (local mount/balance) = $340.

 

I've purchased at Sam's Club and Discount Tire during the past two years (a variety of other spots before then), and both times it was a good experience. Both places seem to have good customer service and follow-up. Sam's is great about free fixes for flats (through the tread, only) and a decent road hazard. Discount Tire has a better selection, allows you to set up an appointment, and works very hard to make certain they will beat ANY price you bring in. They beat my dealer and Sam's Club's prices, and they offered a better road hazard plan, so for my recent tires, that's where I ended up going.

 

Good choices for above.

From my personal experience with the car scene (street racng/drifting/meets blah blah blah), the best pricing is to maintain a friendly relationship with a shop or tire store. I usually go to car meets (not the young fast & furious crud) as they may have professional relations in which could hook up up with best pricing on tires & installation.

Otherwise, try pricing with Tire-rack and Costco. I do not know about IL, but a lot of times I could price match or best it when taken to a smaller tire shop.

 

I like Americas Tires. They price match and they'll give you a loaner tire if you are driving on a spare and they cannot get your tire that day.

 

I've now purchased three sets online at Tire Rack. They can deliver direct to an installer or you can take delivery and then find a place to install them.

Our local place couldn't match the Tire Rack price, but I had the tires delivered to my house and they got the installation fee.

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I also benefitted from the posts here. Is this tire size correct "195/65R15"? I'm looking to buy them from Tire Rack and just wanted to make sure I had the size right. Thanks!

 

Yeah...the gen 3 prius tire size is 195/65/R15

 

+1 TireRack.com where I've gotten about 6 sets of tires.

Only problem is that the last time I went to my local tire shop, the guy chewed me out for buying from an online company, not from him (I didn't mention I went online after buying a set from him about 10 years ago!). I'll be taking them elsewhere next time.

 

One thing that is important to me: getting the tires rotated every 5,000 miles. Many tire dealers include free rotation for the life of the tire. But, I've found the hard way that getting the rotation done can be a pain. My local Sears has tried to make me wait 2 hrs. My local BJ's basically makes you leave the car. A local tire chain (Dunn Tire) is the best - usually a wait of less than an hour for a free rotate. The trick is to find a tire dealer with several bays (unless you are fine with leaving the car).

 

When I lived in Tidewater Virginia (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton or Newport News), I oftem bought from Tread Quarters. The nice thing about that marketing area was that there was high comprtition and they always advertised a complete "out the door price," which included everything including mounting, balancing and lifetime rotation.

 

Costco usually has the best "Out the Door Price". They only charge $14 to install a tire, most places I know charge at least $20 + $5 if you have TPMS sensor which the Prius does. Tirerack has good prices but after you factor in having to pay $20-$25 to install one tire, it's not a good deal.

Costco offers free rotation and flat repair, so will many of the B&M shops but their prices tend to be higher.

 

Sams is the best for tires. You can order your tires online (no need to pay up front) . Sams ships it to your club of choice in 3 days or so. By the way Sams has a $60 off goodyear tires promotion going on right now.

Just out of curiosity, how many miles did you get out of the OEM tires?

 

Besides their low prices, Costco (at least in Canada) also deducts manufacturer's coupons, that are normally mail-in, at the till, ie: your price is lower by the coupon value, you avoid the hassle/delay of mail-in, and your sales tax is on the lower amount.

The downside to Costco is obviously the anuual membership fee, and the fact that it's impossible to enter/exit the damn place without dropping at least a $100. Oh yeah, and the dorky green valve caps. The cure for that is to take your current caps off before handing the car over.

 

Costco works the same in the U.S. The rebates are deducted at the time of purchase which is nice. Down here, you cannot walk out without dropping at least $100. My girlfriend always comments on this.