whats up with tire prices lately?

[longhaul747]

As a follow up to my 30% tread remaining and should I buy new tires thread I stopped by Les Schwab for a bid on new Toyo Open Country AT's. My brother N law bought new Toyo Open Country AT's for his Jeep last year and it was about $400 but they are a few sizes smaller then the 265's on my 4Runner. I was not expecting to pay only $400 but the price quoted was certifiably insane. Price quoted was $900 out the door including our high 9.5% sales tax. Basically price quoted was $187 per tire and then $14 per tire for install and balance plus another $4 per tire for a valve stem. I seem to remember back in the day if you bought tires from the store they put them on and balanced for you but I guess not anymore.

After dropping my jaw in disbelief I got a price quote for some Les Schwab generic alternatives. About the cheapest we can get the quote down to is about $700. I was hoping to get the Toyo's for about $600...installed!!

I have not shopped around yet. I heard Discount and Big O are offering better deals and actually carry big brand tires. Costco is an alternative as well. However I am thinking they probably follow one another and no deal is a real stand out or within my window.

Thinking it was just something with the 4Runner I got a quote for my wifes Corolla. For $300 I can get some Federal tires on it but these are pretty shady. For a good tire it was $500...for a Corolla?

It appears the main culprit is the tires themselves. They have gone up considerably over the past 12 months. Some of it could be regional pricing and its likely we pay more here in Seattle then some place else.

If its really what I have to pay then so be it but I am not exactly thrilled paying 1/7th what I paid for my 4Runner just for tires. Some of my friends suggest waiting as it could be a winter thing.

Another idea I am considering is buying off tire rack and having the tires shipped to an installer in the area. I can do this between $600 $700 for a pretty good tire. I am open to ideas? Many on the forum seem to score great tires for unbelievable prices but I am usually not that lucky.

 

[MikesToy]

Try Discount Tire or TireRack.

 

[Jeff Kleb]

Tires


Tires have gone up in price recently, but there are still some great values to be found. Costco ( Costco.com: Offering thousands of items you won?t find in your local Costco. ) and Wal-Mart seem to have half-decent prices on tires -- and there are plenty of mail order houses that offer up good deals on wheel/tire combos already mounted.

Since tires are made with petroleum by-products, it stands to reason that their cost of manufacture will rise with any long-term increase in oil prices. EPA, OSHA and other regulatory burdens also must be factored into the equation.

Late model vehicles generally use larger (more 'rubber' on the road & in the sidewall) tires than vehicles made just a few years ago. Even 'economy' cars now often come standard with 16" rims - instead of 13" or 14" donuts of yesteryear. Many SUVs and trucks sport 19- and 20-inch wheels and width/aspect ratios as low as 45 are no longer restricted to exotic race-ready cars.
:violin:


"No nation has ever taxed itself into prosperity." -- Ronald Reagan

 

[JohnsD90]

If you have a friend in a shop, try to get him to write you a quote for the tires you want at cost and then bring that quote to sears and have them price match it for you. Just an idea.

 

[longhaul747]

Yeah its likely the rise in oil prices that are making tires more expensive. I also believe its all the engineering that goes into tires now days. It was not that long ago that tires lasted 40K miles if you are lucky. 20 to 30K miles or even less was more the norm. Now days you can get upwards of 60K miles out of your tires and even your cheapest tires will likely last at least 40K miles now. So they might be more expensive but its likely we are buying tires less often.

Still I think its easy to beat Les Schwab. They have good service and honest warranties. They also have locations all of the place as well. However they are seldom the cheapest game in town. Used to be when the old man was still around but not so much anymore.

I looked at Discount tire online and prices are at least 20 to 30% less for some good brands like Yokahoma Geolanders for example. Sounds like a more reasonable way to go in this economy.

Also Chinese tires are gaining in popularity. I am not really into them and I have heard some interesting stories online. However in reality you are giving up any sort of real warranty and mileage over any safety issues. Tires in theory need to meet some strict DOT requirements. At this time I would not consider a Chinese made tire for my 4Runner but for my wifes Corolla they might work out.

 

[004Gunner]

I looked at Discount tire online and prices are at least 20 to 30% less for some good brands like Yokahoma Geolanders for example. Sounds like a more reasonable way to go in this economy.

A lot of places are getting competitive with online retailers and will price match. John mentioned that Sears will do it and the last time I bought tires they matched an online price. This was a local shop, not a chain. I would guess that most shops would offer a match rather than lose the business.

 

[ncrunner]

Tire inflation: tariffs, demand push up prices

This article was helpful.

This is tough one. Supposedly jobs are being lost because it is cheaper to make tires outside the U.S. As a reaction, B. Hussein Obama jacks up the tariffs.

However, the jobs don't return and prices go up. So for the people who have a lower paying job because the high paying jobs are leaving end up paying more for goods.

Maybe he needs to think about making a more friendly environment for business...

 

[longhaul747]

A lot of places are getting competitive with online retailers and will price match. John mentioned that Sears will do it and the last time I bought tires they matched an online price. This was a local shop, not a chain. I would guess that most shops would offer a match rather than lose the business.

Price matching at Sears works for more products then just tires so this is an option. Only problem is my local Sears has cut back so much they never seem to have someone working in automotive.

Nice thing about tirerack is they have designated installers around the country. Discount can set up install at its retail locations. Some online retailers have even cheaper prices but no installer network. I never tried but most tire shops have policies saying they will only install tires sold by them.

 

[CJ3Flyr]

:iagree: , tires have gone way up for all the reasons everyone has mentioned.

What I don't understand is some of the 'disconnects'. Certain tires that should cost significantly more don't. It seems to be somewhat size related: 265/70/17's seem to be less than the 65 profile. The 255/75/17 size seems to have some very good, ridiculously cheap options; the GYSA comes to mind.

Tirerack is good and via cknsls@adelphia there's tires online @ tires-easy.com: cheap passenger, summer, winter tires and tire dealer too.
:cheers:

 

[Scoobs]

Can't blame it on oil. The price of oil is down, not up.

 

[riceandpho]

Tire Rack has the best tire prices, discount tires have a total out the door price quote which is Kool. I just bought my 22's from tirerack and with rims and tires I paid about 1500 shipped to my door.

 

[PredBlue]

Nobody should be surprised. All the big manufacturers have recently announced 5-15% increases citing increased raw materials, energy, labor, and tariffs (especially for those manufactured in China). This is on top of other increases the last couple of years makes it worse if you haven't shopped for tires recently. Added to this, we are now in winter when demand is higher (same thing in spring/summer). To make demand even higher, think about how many people have been putting off big purchases like this the last year plus. It all equals a great time for the tire companies to increase prices based on both legitimate reasons and profit motivated reasons.

Bottom line: If you think prices are high now, don't wait until January 1st when the new price increases take effect. But if you can wait, I'm told that there should be some pretty good sales late winter according to sales plans.

 

[tfry1]

I purchased new lt265/75r16's thru tir rack and they only cost me 570 shipped to my APO in Germany, so would recommend them or you could try treaddepot.com would have bought from the but they wouldn't ship to an APO.

 

[TC4Rnr]

you pay $15 per tire for installation at Discount Tires. for that $15, you got life time rotation and more importantly, lifetime balance.

heavier D, E load rate tires are very hard to balance, and they don't stay balanced on the rims for long. plus, if you take them off road, running 12-15psi low pressure, you are getting sand/mud in the bead to cause slow leak. I have had my tires re-mounted, re-balanced twice in the same month at my local DT shop, no questions asked. discounttiredirect.com has free shipping and no tax. and they do match the "to your door" price from anybody.

 

[manhunter]

From what I have seen, just about everything has increased in price, which would include tires. At least they didn't do like toilet paper where instead of a price increase, they just shaved about an inch off the width of each roll, still the same amount of rolls, same length of rolls, just not as wide. Shaving an inch off the width of tires and keeping the same price probably was not an option.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

I got my GY Duratracs for under $800 out the door but yes,prices have gone up a bit since I had bought my Nittos which were right at $700 total price and I got my GY for the current price of the Nittos.

 

[Jeff Kleb]

This article was helpful.

This is tough one. Supposedly jobs are being lost because it is cheaper to make tires outside the U.S. As a reaction, B. Hussein Obama jacks up the tariffs.


However, the jobs don't return and prices go up. So for the people who have a lower paying job because the high paying jobs are leaving end up paying more for goods.

Another example of how so many politicians (in BOTH parties) fail to undestand basic economic principles.

Maybe he needs to think about making a more friendly environment for business...

Well, we can dream.....right?:infidel:

"The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." -- Margaret Thatcher

 

[MikesToy]

Tire Economics 101. lol Winter, tires prices go up. Summer, tires prices go down. :lookout:

 

[longhaul747]

I went to the Seattle Motorcycle Show last night to check out the new models and talk with vendors. I use Pirelli tires exclusively on my bikes and I talked with them about it. They are raising the prices of motorcycle tires 10 to 15% starting in Jan of next year. Its not the price of oil or manufacturing that is doing it or even demand. In fact sales are way off over the past couple of years and inventory is high. Its basically the unstable market that is doing it and concerns for their own future existence.

So instead of the traditional supply and demand at work. They are trying to push higher prices on to those that are still buying. Talk about ass backwards but likely a trend to be seen in a lot of products next year. Lets face it we have 2 groups now. The haves and the have nots. The haves have no problem paying regardless of the price and the nots can't pay even if the price is almost nothing.

Now motorcycles are about 90% discretionary so this new way of doing things does not exactly apply to real world products but it still can a little bit. We see the same trend with gasoline prices. Its not always simple supply and demand anymore.

 

[MrTom]

My brother N law bought new Toyo Open Country AT's for his Jeep last year and it was about $400 but they are a few sizes smaller then the 265's on my 4Runner.

The best way to see just how much the tires have increased in price is to is to get a price quote of the
exact same purchase(tire and size) at the exact same store.