Best place to buy cheap tires?

[NJ Torque]

Really? EMT's were options on chargers? wow...

[sweetbmxrider]

i just wanted to see if al could beat my price. i mount, balance, and install my own tires. i'm the man. to each his own with their dollar and sense

[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

id recommend staying away from any Sears Auto Center for tires. The best way to buy tires is online. tirerack.com has a shipping port in delaware and delivers to NJ in a day or two. bringing in dead wheels (loose tires) and having them do it like that is the cheapest way to get tires done. most of the time theyll forget the mount charge and just charge you with a balance.
i stay away from large chains when it comes to tires.

you can pay 75 a tire for the HTR T4's or pay 10 bucks more on tirerack.com and get the HTR Z. ive heard lots of awesome things about the HTR Z

The HTRT4's would be for the S10, not for a performance application. the T4's are a T rated tire, and a very good tire at that.

Originally Posted by NJ Torque

They are ****. Sumitomos suck for pretty much anything.


Also, I will always charge a mount/dismount fee when not buying our tires.

Sumi's suck? I have had plenty of great feedback from them. Are they the best? No, but they are great for the price.

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

i have a personal vendetta against Sears Corp


edit:

i also understand all the different aspects of why buying in house can be more cost effective. ive been around in the industry in many different types of shops and realize that to the avg person buying at the store is cheaper in the long run. i dont worry about road hazards for the very reason that i can fix my own rubber and i rarley buy tires brand new. the only tires i buy brand new are usually some type of offroad tires which arent going to see many hazards anyway.

Well, you make up a very small portion of the public. Most people want the ability to buy the tires and have a nation wide warranty as well as a road hazard policy in place.

also one of my biggest reasons for hating SAC.....
ive seen 90 percent of the wheels coming out of SAC's are usually chipped, scratched and Counterbalanced like a mofo.

Our mounters are touchless, and never contact the rim.
As for counterbalancing, Im sure it happens at other shops, if not more, then at Sears. My last two shops, the tech's were very good or had several decades under thier belts.

As for the other brands, Falken are GREAT tires. They are actually owned by Sumi. Falken's old Z-502 or 512's were not that great...but thier new 912's and the FK 452's are very good.
Kuhmo, Han's arent too bad. They have some really good stuff as well.

[BonzoHansen]

Not to defend sears, as I'm sure they'd sell me an idler arm for my intrigue, but how do you make a statement like this?

also one of my biggest reasons for hating SAC.....
ive seen 90 percent of the wheels coming out of SAC's are usually chipped, scratched and Counterbalanced like a mofo.

You sitting outside counting?

[BigAls87Z28]

Ahahahahaha...
I honestly dont think that anyone at Sears would do that. There is WAY WAY WAY too much paperwork to do that now. We have so many legal hoops, audits, both internal and external from the state, and so much other paperwork that we have to fill out to sell a tie rod.
Go get an oil change at Sears, and look at the paperwork we go through just for an oil change.
Most salespeople are too worried about overpricing things, and they tend to cut back on labor a lot. Today, one of the sales guys I work with , who has many years with Sears as well as several other outfits, sold an alt and tensioner, with a belt for a Saturn SL1.
He, for some reason, did not charge to install the tensioner. His reasoning was that "well, the tech is already in there, there should be no labor."
Well, the tech was a little bit upset, and anyone that has worked on any FWD transversely mounted engine trying to do a belt tensioner will understand.
I contacted the customer and told them that it would be additional for the tensioner, but I would not charge him for the belt since we are already in there.

[BonzoHansen]

I love harassing you, sears-man!

[BigAls87Z28]

Thanks Scott.
I wont be a Sears-Man for long....

[NastyEllEssWon]

yeah the way sears techs get paid from their labor i can see why a tech would get mad about not putting the install charge on there. they get a percentage/fixed amount (depending on job) of each job they sign their tech number to in the computer system/paperwork. saturn sl1 would be a crappy front of motor job too.



im not speaking for all SAC's al, just saying the most of the SAC's ive seen have a lot of hoopla going on. i cant speak for your wheel clamp machines but what models are you guys using at your jobs? it wouldnt happen to be a coats 9024 would it?

[redbanditZ28]

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/

Free shipping.

[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

yeah the way sears techs get paid from their labor i can see why a tech would get mad about not putting the install charge on there. they get a percentage/fixed amount (depending on job) of each job they sign their tech number to in the computer system/paperwork. saturn sl1 would be a crappy front of motor job too.

im not speaking for all SAC's al, just saying the most of the SAC's ive seen have a lot of hoopla going on. i cant speak for your wheel clamp machines but what models are you guys using at your jobs? it wouldnt happen to be a coats 9024 would it?

Not sure of the model. This is the closest I have found to it.



The "duck" goes around the rim, only slipping the bead of the tire under the flange of the rim. 5 years and have never had a scratched rim.

[NastyEllEssWon]

yeah those are standard rim clamps. still good for not scratching wheels as long as you keep the plastic duckhead on it. ive seen places use metal ducks because the plastic ones wear out from time to time and theyre trying to save money. metal ducks are the worst. as far as tire machines....this is the model i prefer using ....





its the coats 9024e. they use hydraulic arms on the side to push down or lift up the tire on the wheel. its great for low profile and custom wheels. also opens up to 24'' stock. not many shops use them cause of their expensive cost, but its a great machine.

[sweetbmxrider]

how is a metal duck bad? if you know how to use your equipment, you won't **** **** up. operator variable. all that you have said can be applied to anyone, anywhere, in any field.

[Featherburner]

I paid $50 for this exact machine from an NTB going out of business.

[NastyEllEssWon]

Originally Posted by sweetbmxrider

how is a metal duck bad? if you know how to use your equipment, you won't **** **** up. operator variable. all that you have said can be applied to anyone, anywhere, in any field.

ive seen improperly set arms on tire machines jump the lip of the wheel and run across the face of wheels. plastic ducks are just the way to go. i agree there are a lot of operator variables, its just that ive seen SAC's so called 'training courses' and feel that they have a lot of 'green' techs in their bays. poorly trained operators create a larger chance for more variables.

[sweetbmxrider]

well i don't see how it could shoot across the face of the rim, but i will take your word. it physically doesn't seem possible, in terms of physics. too each his own.

[BigAls87Z28]

Plastic ducks break at least once a month. It happends, you just swap a new one in as we have boxes of them.

[NastyEllEssWon]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

Plastic ducks break at least once a month. It happends, you just swap a new one in as we have boxes of them.

yeah im pretty sure they bolt in with just a 14mm bolt.
as for the duck jumping across the face ill explain it.


Tech Breaks Bead On Both Sides
Clamps Wheel
Pulls Down Arm and Sets Lever
Neglects to Set Turn Dial Stop On top of Machine (by air gauge)
leaving the arm free to swing over the face of the rim without a
safeguard. Doing Low Profile wheels, the tension in the spring load lever
to hold the duck springs back, unlevers and duck pops up and drags
ass across the face of the wheel. SCRATCH


just saying ive seen lots of crazy things happen in those types of shop which is why plastic ducks are preffered.

[BigAls87Z28]

Originally Posted by NastyEllEssWon

yeah im pretty sure they bolt in with just a 14mm bolt.
as for the duck jumping across the face ill explain it.


Tech Breaks Bead On Both Sides
Clamps Wheel
Pulls Down Arm and Sets Lever
Neglects to Set Turn Dial Stop On top of Machine (by air gauge)
leaving the arm free to swing over the face of the rim without a
safeguard. Doing Low Profile wheels, the tension in the spring load lever
to hold the duck springs back, unlevers and duck pops up and drags
ass across the face of the wheel. SCRATCH


just saying ive seen lots of crazy things happen in those types of shop which is why plastic ducks are preffered.

yes, the adjustable screw that stops the arm from flying across the wheel is a BIG help.
As for Low-pro's, we have a hydraulic arm that comes down and presses down on the tire and gives you some more leverage and getting the bead under the lip of the duck/rim.
The machine I posted looks like a stripped down version of what we have.

[NastyEllEssWon]

yeah i know what you have, its a helper bar that pushes it down past the bead well. those are helpful. if you know what your doing you can do low profile wheels without the hydraulic arm if your good using two tire flatbars by placing one under the well to hold it down while using the other to push the bead under.


ah i miss working. i should actually go and try to find another job sometime soon. its almost been a year