finally got new tires

I had no idea this occurs. Thanks for the insights.

The tires on my 2017 Azera only lasted about 26,000 miles before I got a puncture in the sidewall of one of them. Instead of replacing just that tire, I decided to replace all of them since I would be replacing the other three in a short period of time. Right after purchasing the car, I had my truck at the tire store getting my tires rotated. At the time I asked the manager of the store about what tires I should put on the car when they needed to be replaced. He said that Pirelli’s would be a great choice. Upon needing the new tires I asked the manager at another store the same question. He confirmed the first manager’s suggestion. I have not been disappointed with these tires. They handle and ride good. Great stopping distance and they have an 80,000 mile warranty. I like Michelin tires but they don’t have the warranty and longevity of the Pirelli’s. They usually come with a 60,000 mile warranty if they come with a warranty at all. Which a lot of Michelin’s don’t come with anymore.

I just paid 1200 for 4 tires on my camaro I was not going to pay a penny more.

My '22 Stinger (bought in summer of '21) came with new tires. Some bridgestone garbage. Did one short road trip with some corners (NW IL, SW WI). Carrying any speed into any reasonable corner was a terrifying experience. That week made an apt to replace 'em with something more suitable for the car.

Went with micihelin PS AS4. Much more confident now. Have yet to even get 'em to squeal. They do much better in the rain/snow too. The car can use upgraded sway bars too to improve body roll. With stock, there is some body roll then the car settles into the corner. This sensation takes some getting used to.

Many OE tires are overpriced. In most cases there are suitable replacements that exceed OE performance in every category at lower cost. Those michelins above cost ~$400 for the set net (245/40/18).

I was considering PSS or PS4, but don't really want to deal with tire/wheel swapping 2x a year. They rate 'em for 45K miles. It's a square set up, so with periodic rotation, I expect somewhere between 30-40K.

How fresh are costco tires? Do you get to see them before they install? My AS4's came from discount tire. First batch was 2 years old. I declined, told 'em I want something no older than a year or less.

Excellent question! I decided to go out and look. The invoice had the ser#'s I remember. No, we as the member never see them, they are shipped directly to the store. Since I go to the one in DE (as do many from VA/DC/MD/DE/PA/NJ), they have a massive amount compared to other warehouses.

The date code was 1622. So that means 16th week of 2022, not bad, which seems to be around May 2? Ordered online the night of 5/11, and they were ready to be installed on May 17th.

Funny my garage queen has the Pilot Super Sports which is the original gen of the PS4, and they were standard on the Ferrari 599GTB. It's simply amazing to be able to afford something like that--they were about $150 cheaper than what came on the car, RE070As (important point--went RFT to non RFT). I also think they had more tread than the current PS4s as we have seen, all mfgs have lessened the amount of tread that comes on a new tire. The real bad move was Michelin and the Premiers at 8.5/32". They all wore prematurely.

Here's why I say UTQG treadwear is a made up number (it's self reported and of no value other than to compare tires of the same make). The RE070As had a treadwear of 140. I tossed them at over 40k. The rears wore out faster than the fronts, as can be typical of a RWD car...

But anyway tires is just one of those things that make me feel like a kid, when new ones go on.

Also, having the AS4s on the car proves to me, my car cannot handle. It's like driving a mattress out of the bedroom and onto the street. Just gave it base Corvette tires, and it's still a mattress!

P.S. I've always had to change over to snows due to 2 RWD cars, and have gotten used to it. I'll try Costco but not sure if 4 rims can fit in the car to bring them there.

Agreed. You need the rest of the suspension to fully take advantage of what a performance tire can offer. Learned that in the accord (it got PS AS3). New tires helped slightly, but the car was just too under damped. Not to mention, no power on the drive out.

I may still get sways for the stinger. The choice would be easier if the rear bar wasn't such a whore to install.

Week 16 April 17 April 23

https://www.calendar-365.com/calendar/2022/April.html

Still pretty good though.

I bought motorcycle tires online, they were over two years old, sent them back and went to a place in person so I could say yes or no before the sale. Cost me a little more, but they were nearly new and lasted a long time.

Discount Tire as well as others I'm sure will stop rotating/balancing once a tire is over 10 years old. They noticed my spare is OEM and won't touch it and suggest taking one of the tires being replaced and mount one of them on the spare. I decline every time. OEM full size spare is now 22 years old and has never been out of the trunk.

From May 2 to May 17 seemed a little too "just in time" lol

Decided to check my wife's....installed 8/2020 but I ordered 6/2020 (that was the first time I left home since the pandemic started). Hers were like 3619 so that was not very "fresh" at all. I bet that year lots of people ordered tires and never picked them up. The fine print says if not installed in 2 weeks may be returned to distribution and refund issued, but seems not to be the case....

a video where an indie garage had a car come in with something rattling inside the tire

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5f_451pPRMc

So I thought prolly 20% chance it's Costco lol

I was saying if my garage queen ever needs tires (tires are new but date code is 2013 and I know supposedly they should be thrown out haha), I'd go to Costco.

But come to think of it, would they even know how to drive a stick? Maybe I have to keep it online and an independent to install.

…at Tire Discounters how often a tire should be replaced using age as a factor. The manager told him that they should be replaced every five years no matter the miles that is on the tire. Reason being that the rubber content is different now than it was several years ago. He stated that UV rays will break down a tire’s composition faster today than say fifteen years ago. I have noticed that tires don’t seem to age as well as they did when I was somewhat younger.

And I guess the number 6 in my head was somewhat correct. But it's also not science, when car mfg say 6, tire mfg say 10.

https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-aging

Also, I know that with baby seats they say 6 (some of these are $300-$500, it would be very natural to have it be a hand me down, not thrown into a landfill).

Remember the Arm and Hammer commercials where they told customers to take it and pour it down the drain, and go and buy some new stuff? This tire business reminds me of it. Where's the science?

My wife's car came with Michelin Latitudes and there was a dry rot scandal and recall. Here's looked really dry rotted in 2 years. Guess what? The ser#'s that were recalled and replaced, excluded hers! Again, this isn't science, this is business. This "we will do xyz for your safety" is hogwash. The dealer noted the dry rot, and then concluded after checking with mfg. it is fine.

We used to be able to afford to throw tires away prior to 2/32" and go by appearance. When tire mfgs have pulled the 52 oz. quart of orange juice, makes me wonder. Where's the other 2/32" on a new tire these days? Where's the other 12 oz in the quart bottle? lol

I check my tires and air pressure all the time. I bought 5 new tires for my jeep in 2005, The spare has never been on the ground still has the little rubber tips on the tread. The rest of the tires have over 100K and still have tread plus no side wall cracks. Of course, I don't put over 3.5k a year on it now that I retired over 20 yrs ago. and keep it inside the garage when not using it.

I have a Wrangler and when I rotate I rotate all five, they say you get 10% more use from them that way, I don't know how "they" came up with that, but I have seen so called brand new never touched the ground tires with those little dry rot cracks around the rim. So I use all 5, if I'm paying good money for them I don't want to throw one way that was never used because the oil in the rubber dried out and the tire was no longer of use.

which cars even have a spare nowadays, but I'm comfortable having no spare and no AAA.

Why? What's happened over the last 20 years, should I worry about what may be, or go by what has actually occurred?

Two, what car has tools capable of changing a flat tire today?

Three, many roadways do not allow for a motorist to change their tire, nor is it even safe--look at police vehicles being struck by distracted drivers.

Conclusion is I don't even give a spare a thought. The car I mentioned in this thread does have a full sized spare, and it's from 9/05, never been used, and not willing to blow $204 on it (plus mount and balance). Another thought is a person could get the least expensive tire in the respective size, or even a used one, for a spare, if they really wanted one.

If I got a flat? I'd use a snow tire from the shed as a spare (they are on rims), and I'd have to get a floor jack from home and the proper tools. If not, I'd pay a tow truck to tow the vehicle to a public place, then go home and get the tools. I suppose on the two costco tire'd cars, tow it to Costco. What is a more likely scenario, is to get a screw or nail and a slow or moderate leak. If this happens, get the 20V compressor and drive to Costco. Or the non Costco car, to a German car specialist who would be a little kinder on dismounting the tire and handling the rim.

My buddy calls me a fool for belonging to Costco and amazon prime, says I am one of those sheep who pays to buy things, dumb.

I asked him so you've been a AAA member for over 20 years, how many times have you used it. Zero? Then he argues how what he does makes sense, and what I do does not hahahahahahahaha (we're the best of friends, like brothers)

I have both AAA and Costco. I save enough money each year to cover my AAA membership and also my Costco membership. Costco costs $60.00 a year and last year, I got a check back for $227.00. AAA is a little more expensive, and I save money on motel bills and car repairs. Considering that a tow around my house is about $125.00 bucks a tow, it is well worth the AAA membership fee.

Tires alone, $752 out the door (everything, mount/balance 5 year road hazard) for 245/45-18 Michelin Pilot AS4, anyone can google and shop online, and see if there is a legit savings through Costco, or not. This virtually pays the entire executive membership @ $120. But I'm glad I realized there's a good chance the techs can't drive a stick, so I won't bring my garage queen there.

My membership is $120, and actually without a tire purchase, we barely break even on the executive membership. I'm not sure if you pay $60 and are referring to the Citi rebate check, but as far as I know, the only way to get the 2% rebate is via the $120 executive membership.

Humans are risk-averse, and humans who realized that early on, made a fortune (sometimes the bad scenario is exposed, like annuities and whole life insurance and people don't pay anymore--takes hundreds of years though). Think about collision auto insurance or home owners. Decades of premiums without any payment. Beautiful. How does one think those fancy company cars are issued like candy? lol

Many years ago, we had the Executive membership but we had a lady in customer service tell us that we could save money by using the regular membership and using the Costco Visa card. (Now, I realize this only works if you pay your bill in full every month.) So, everything goes on the credit card, we pay it off every month and I get anywhere from 2-4% back every year depending on what I buy. Most years, I get back my membership fee. But last year, we took a trip out west and everything from the rental car to the hotels to fuel went on the card; hence the $227.00 back. This year it will be a little over $100 bucks that I will get back. Of course, with gas going up the way it is, I may get back closer to $150.00 because I buy 98% of my gas at Costco and I get back 4% on gasoline. At almost $5.00 a gallon, I will get back almost .20 cents per gallon on my yearly rebate check.

I thought Costco were high and mighty, 92% retention on the membership, never discount the membership unlike the other two, and what do I see?

Costco membership on Groupon! hahahahahahahaha

If you pay $60, you get a free membership plus $80 worth of money to spend, wth?! (new members only)

Last I checked, $60-$80 is minus 20!!

My theory is as one gets bigger, and better, one day they revert to worse? lol

I mean Bezos predicted amazon will be out of business. The stock has tanked as of late, although remember I had bought 1 share @ $1800 and it's still up...

Anyway, since we do Executive, we get 2% back, 1X per year, on whatever we spend.

If I'm not mistaken, the break-even is spending $3,000 per year. Because that yields $60. We've gotten rebate checks of $47 (DOH!!) and even $63, meaning, we're not truly Executive membership material. Although since the pandemic our expenditures shot up, especially 2020 which also included a set of tires, though warranty so it was only in the $400's.

Our friends once had their rebate check on the fridge, not to show off, but as a reminder it needed to get redeemed, and their check was in the mid $200's, so they spend A LOT, family of 4.

We use our Costco Citi for restaurant and travel (3%), and Costco (2%), unless there is a rotating 5% through Visa at warehouse clubs.

Since we are grandfathered into a 5% cash every month automatically on gasoline, we never do a 5% gas or the 4% Costco Visa gas.

I did learn something this year. In the fine print, Costco does not redeem certificates for cash. Remember, I am referring to two certificates. One is the Executive Member which is 2% of purchases, the other is Citi Costco Visa, 2% on Costco, 3% on restaurant and travel, 4% on gas (we never buy gas with it), etc.

Example, say your certificate were $300. I've seen people pay for their purchase using it. Why? To your point, I'd rather get $300 cash, and charge the $300 in purchases, to earn 2% or $6. $6 isn't the end of the world, but I'd pick up a $6 bill laying on the ground. They now won't do it, i.e. redeem a certificate for 100% of its face value, in cash.

BUT! As a clerk told me, if you use the certificates to buy anything, even $2, we can refund the remainder in cash. I just did it on Thu. where I bought Hawaiian bread and hamburger rolls with my cert, and got like $111 back in cash. I'm ok with not earning 2% on like $9, less than a quarter....

Sorry to see Costco on Groupon, imho that doesn't look too good...

Speaking of tires, now's a good time to check that spare.

Mine was at ~50 psi. I topped it off at 57. Figure by the time it gets to ~80F in this area the tire should be at 60psi.

Spares are rarely checked, even at a service facility doing an oil and filter change. Yet the spare often carries 60 psi. Unfortunately when you need them they are down to 15 to 20 psi and are virtually useless. I probably stop 2 to 3 times a year to inflate spares for people that changed a tire, only to find the spare useless.

I was renting cars all the time for work.

Also, getting loaner cars at least 1x per year from BMW dealers.

I have a conspiracy theory, but anyway, every single car had the tires inflated around 45 psi. Maybe someone out there knows why fleet cars are overinflated like that. I let air out until they reached recommended, which normally is in the 32-35 psi range.

It was because of this action that I realized 2-3 sec of air being let out barely does much, when you need to get from 45 to 33.

There is no way I trust a dealership, I purchased a Used jeep and did not know there was no jack till i got a flat. Live and learn.

It's a used car, it may or may not come with all the accessories the original car came with. While dealerships in general are snakes, if you didn't check for the presence of the spare/jack/tools, then that's on you.

I bought a new car last summer. Inspected as much as I could, including having them raise the vehicle and remove the lower engine cover. Poked around for a good 10min+ with a flash light looking at the engine/trans from diff angles trying to spot any leaks. Mind you, this was car #3 that also involved a lengthy test drive (25 miles). Car #1 had some kind of rattle (loose screw(s) inside the door or something), #2 had a weird air pressure sensation at speeds over 60 mph (like when a window is open at highway speeds but none were).

Did the same thing in 2015 when buying the folks' accord (6cyl exl). The first one failed immediately. The underside of the trans was covered in oil. FAIL.

The 2nd one didn't exhibit leaks, but the underside of the engine/trans had some kind of corrosion on it. This is to be expected from a vehicle of some age, but not new. Passed on that one too. In fact, left the dealership empty handed. Ended up buying the 4 cyl model few weeks later from another place. Went through the same inspection process.

In my lifetime, I've bought 3 new cars starting in 1998, and finally in 2016, a used one that cost more than $1,000. So I didn't really do my due diligence. Figured it's a new car dealer, I need to act because this used car is the best specimen I can find and it's from Florida.

Why I say lucky. Got it home the next day, zero coolant in the reservoir and in the radiator that could be seen. I said ok. There goes $14k, blown head gaskets. BUT sold in NYS it has a 1 mo/1k warranty by law.

turns out? toyotas with pink coolant, their first interval for replacement is 10 years / 100k. The car was 10 years old, with 80,100 miles (if 79,999 it would have had a 3 mo/3k warranty). It had never been checked despite being dealer serviced its entire life! The reservoir is obstructed by the air intake and faces backwards. It actually was low due to evaporation over 10 years.

Then, front brakes vibrated and door actuator broken on driver side so the entire smart key system didn't work.

Dealer repaired all of the above using Lexus parts, even though they were GMC/Buick for free. I got lucky. How do I know they did the work? All the old parts returned in Lexus boxes and they said Lexus Mt. Kisco.

Anyway, tool kit missing. Someone on the forum said all cars like mine have the tool kits gone and on eBay. I found one for $40 never used, which is a good price. Put it back in this slot that it slides into and locks. the one I got even has batteries never opened for the flashlight! I also was able to get a never used valet key fob on eBay for $14. I cannot program it myself, but I took the door of it to use with my broken one.

Here is the price of the tool kit (list):

Box $341.58
screwdriver $25.17
wrench $23.13
wrench $12.96
Pliers $25.17
Flashlight $51.41

Total $479.42

So you can see what it is

https://www.ebay.com/itm/185395016257?hash=item2b2a677241:g:...

imho nobody is gonna want to get brand new on a car 16+ years old, but to understand theft and human nature, people in the industry are in the habit of grabbing things that are small, and of value. Period. Things that are even more valuable, like my aluminum factory rim, are simply too big to grab and to store.

But as mentioned at the beginning of the thread, the dealer took it out, armor all'd the tire, mounted on the rear left, and took pics for the web ad. You can even see the yellow and red dots on the sidewall. They made it look like the car had mint rims and new tires.

p.s. long story short, next time I will do what you did. I do have German and Japanese indies who will do a pre-purchase, and I could do the Exxon station for an American car. The factor that works against this is emotion. Oh, it's the best specimen and from Florida, I better get it. I didn't drive 300 miles round trip for no reason lol That ate 300/1000 miles of the warranty and would leave only 400 miles to drive if I truly had to have used it.

Wow this thread reminded how long ago I changed my tires. Many bad things happened with COVID, but a single nice thing is that I've been using my car less often enough where my tires are barely worn.

Interesting to learn about Costco on Groupon indeed…

leaving my son's karate, and behind a nice Mercedes mid-sized SUV.

The tires were huge--that's what I like about German mfgs, they have optional tires where the rears are wider than the fronts (staggered).

Well at home I couldn't resist but to look them up--325's on the rear, and 285's on the front. Also, over $600 each hahahahahahahahahahaha

I can't help but feel that's inflation, it wasn't always that price? Just like I said even though I got tires for $204, some were well over $300 for my Toyota product.

That kind of defeats the whole rotate the tires idea, being the same two tires will always be steering tires and wear down quicker.

tire mfgs usually halve the treadwear warranty for staggered setups.

If the tires are directional (I don't think most are these days?), then each tire is specific to the position--RF, RR, LF, LR.

The reason for the staggered setup is to introduce understeer which makes the cars safer at the limit, and to provide grip to the rear drive axle.

My experience with RWD has been contrary to what you say, my rear tires wore faster than the fronts, despite not being able to rotate them.

My G had a staggered setup (225/50/18 F, 245/45/18 R). I ran michelin pilot super sport (high perf summer only time). They were not directional, so did rotate them side to side. Wear wise it'd be ~2 rear sets for one front.

On the stinger I have a square 245/40/18 michelin AS 4 tire. Tire is more than capable and likely exceeds my limits and/or the car's limit on the street.

Did a recent trip to KY (KY/WV/OH area). Hitting some familiar backroads out there, the stinger did surprisingly well for #3900 pig. In the tighter stuff the the car was great. The high speed sweepers (80mph+) was a different matter. The weight became more apparent. Better sway bars would help. I had eibach's on the G, but otherwise stock suspension. Sways are a $500-600 accessory. Installation is easy in the front, pita in the rear. One bracket is nearly impossible to get at the bolts. Still debating it.

Any of you familiar with KY22 in bracken county? That road is heaven.

Funny I have the Pilot Super Sports on the garage queen, 255/35-18 rear, and 225/40-18 on the fronts. I looked and they were mfg 2013--I bought them in 2013 but did not have them put on until 2016. I can't toss them, no way, they have like 4k on them.

Then of course the Pilot Sport AS4 that I just got.

My wife's, the Premier LTX, has been discontinued (in her size, and odd 19"). WTH??!! This one gen 1 was 8.5/32, gen 2 10/32 new. I guess it was popular but didn't pan out for Michelin. Other than wear which warranty covered, I felt they have great traction and quietness for a non sporting SUV.

Unfortunately, I have never had a tire wider than 255. That's why I look at those 325's (22") with such envy...that car if 21" gets 315's. Prolly makes sense the price drops a bit with the 21's....