need new tires for my island car

[lilybeach]

Good morning! Anyone buy new tires for their vehicle lately? My 2002 Elantra's steel belts are wearing down. Any suggestions on best prices/service? Thanks!

[LastTangoInPuna]

We have been happy with Firestone in Hilo. Not happy with Lex Brodie in Pahoa. YMMV.

[beejee]

I'll share my latest tire purchase experience with you all. I started by calling around to different tire shops to get prices and reviewing as best I could tire shops online to see customer reviews. I was pretty discouraged with what I found both in terms of service and prices.

I then talked with my co-workers and found that most people go to Costco for tires where I'm at. People also told me to order tires online from online stores such as TireRack http://www.tirerack.com/. There are other online sites one can order from too.

The high tire costs on island and online derive partly from the high cost to ship tires here to Hawaii. Then it occurred to me...what about Amazon...do they sale tires? EUREKA!!

I was able to order 4 brand new Jeep/Truck tires at mainland costs with 0 (that's zero!) shipping. I got "free super saver" shipping. And believe it or not, I had my tires on my doorstep 2 days later!

Call around and find a tire shop that will give you the best deal to install your new tires and dispose of your old. Pretty sweet deal. I think the potential cost savings will increase for bigger truck tires vs. small car tires due to weight and size etc.

Hope this helps and that I haven't given away my secret and Amazon shuts us down...best of luck.

[DoryGray]

I dunno, Amazon tires for my 04 Tacoma are $117. Costco Bridgestone $105 & Michelin are $123. Good idea to shop around though. The 80K miles road maintenance guarantee by Costco is nice too.

[beejee]

Another thing worthwhile mentioning regarding Costco tires - they have little to no selection when it comes to Jeep/light truck tires for some vehicles. Costco would only install original equipment on my Jeep. Factory tires on my Jeep are off road mud tires. Not such great tires when you spend 80% of your time on the pavement. It was embarrassing how loud my tires were going down the highway, not to mention the discomfort in my ears.

Costco may be the best choice for you, but for me it just didn't work out based on lack of selection for my particular vehicle.

Cheers!

[TomK]

One other thing to look for - if you're a member of an auto club (e.g., Allstate or AAA) they often have deals and vouchers on their sites. Two years ago I was a member of the Allstate motor club and got roughly $150 off four new tires and installation at Firestone - plus another $50 or so off for arranging everything online via the Firestone website.

I'm not sure if AAA have similar deals and it took a bit of searching on the Allstate website, but in the end it saved a lot of money!

Tom
http://apacificview.blogspot.com/

[DanielP]

We all need to watch how we spend. Keep in mind that the $ you spend in your local economy has a tendency to stay in the local economy. If it is a small savings, try to shop local. End of sermon.

Dan

[taropatch]

In the spirit of keeping it local, you might get a quote from K&J Tires across the street from the Computer Store on Kekuanaoa St. in Hilo. Got my 4X4 truck done by them last fall. They had a good write-up in the paper in 2010.