Tire Rack sold to Discount Tire

Toyman! said:

boulder_dweeb said:

Walmart is the best value supplier near me for street tires.

Rog

Walmart does sell cheap tires. However, they are big enough that manufacturers frequently make retailer-specific tires for them to sell at low prices. They may or may not be equal to what you would buy at the tire shop down the street. 

This.  WalMart has enough buying power that they can dictate the pricing enough that manufacturers have to skimp on the compound or the construction.  Same goes for Home Depot and Lowes and things like faucets.  You might find the same Moen faucet by appearance at your plumber's supply house and at Lowes, but the one at Lowes is stuffed with plastic guts while the one at the Pro Plumber place is all brass and stainless.  The "Windsor" faucet at Home Depot might look just like the "Estate" faucet at the pro place, but they ain't the same faucet.

The Falken Azenis you buy from Tire Rack is not cheaper at WalMart because WalMart offers a better price, it's because if Falken wants to sell tires at WalMart they have had to cheapen the tire to fit WalMart's buying power.  It's not the same tire.

I wish that this buyout had gone in the opposite direction. 

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

I wish that this buyout had gone in the opposite direction. 

Big time. A privately-owned, enthusiast oriented company bought by a soulless retailer who only cares about the bottom line. I don't see any way that this is a good thing.

I've done business with both, but found that DTD had better deals a lot of the time. Never had an issue with either one, and I buy most tires online and have a good local shop install them.

That said, I wonder how this will all shake out. Less competition is typically bad for consumers. 

This makes my stomach churn. Not in a good way. 

Being both private companies they don't have to disclose purchase price but I found this info quickly.

According to Forbes, for 2021, DTD is the 83rd largest privately held company in the US with 5.2B in revenue and more than 23,000 employees.  

TR doesn't make the list which seems to end with companies that have at least 2B in revenue.  The press release does say that TR has less than 1000 employees

In more curiosity, TR's Wiki page says:

In 1979, automotive parts and service business owner Peter "Pete" Veldman came up with his business idea for the Tire Rack after his son-in-law Mike Joines was frustrated when he couldn't find tires for his Opel Manta sports coupe. Mike recommended that they start a mail-order tire company that stocked a few of every tire.

Opel Manta...Now we know why they are GRM through and through!

Woody from Tire Rack just called Tim--apologized for not calling sooner, but he's had a crazy week (ya think)? He said Tire Rack's top management structure remains unchanged, as well as their commitment to the enthusiast market--including advertising pages and relationship with GRM (yay!).

So it does not seem that Tire Rack is going to forget our segment. If anything, sounds like DT wanted TR because they recognize TR's reach and understanding of the enthusiast market.

Also, Woody taking the time on a Saturday morning to reassure us of this should be evidence on its own that you guys are important to them.

Margie

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

Unfortunately, I remember when Daimler/Chrysler Was a merger of equals.

Personally, I'll just have to wait and see

I have been doing business with DT on a local level for over 20 years.  Their online site is pretty clunky compared to TRs, but their customer service has been very good for me.  Once, they even ordered a set of tires for me from TR (who had them exclusively) and sold them to me at TR's price.  Twice over the years, they damaged a wheel during mounting, and both times owned up and took care of it immediately.  I've also done a fair bit of business with TR over the years, and have never had any complaints, but DT usually ended up being the better deal for me.

My cousin works for DT on the corporate side, and has never had anything but good to say about the company, and the way they treat their employees.

These days consolidation always seems to hurt the consumer, but I hope that won't be the case here.  I'm optimistic that the best of both companies will end up being more widely available to the consumer, especially the enthusiast market.

John Welsh said:

The onsite skid pad at TR is a world class facility for a very specific activity:  

Some years ago, Tire Rack hosted a 5erFest gathering for owners of e28 5 series BMWs.  They pulled out all the stops for us, with an autocross event, tours of the facility (I've never seen so many tires in my life!), food and drink, use of conference rooms and auditoriums, all kinds of door prizes, and on and on.  On top of the convenience and pricing for ordering tires from them, all the hospitality really won me over.

Grumman F9F Cougar said:

In reply to Marjorie Suddard :

Unfortunately, I remember when Daimler/Chrysler Was a merger of equals.

Personally, I'll just have to wait and see

Every time a merger says "Things won't change" things change, usually for the worse.

NickD said:

Every time a merger says "Things won't change" things change, usually for the worse.

All it really means is "things won't change when our employees show up tomorrow"

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Time will tell.  Maybe it's time for a Costco membership.

I've bought a bunch of tires from Costco over the last few years because I don't yet have a favourite tire shop here. For daily driver type tires, it makes a lot of sense to shop there if you want the "known" brands, and especially if you keep an eye out for the various promotions they tend to run.

One thing they seem to not be very good at is supplying the kind of tires that most of us want. Like 200TW type stuff doesn't often seem to be listed, and when to you talk to the people in store, they can't get them.

rslifkin said:

NickD said:

Every time a merger says "Things won't change" things change, usually for the worse.

All it really means is "things won't change when our employees show up tomorrow"

Cynical me is waiting for public announcements about "synergies".

OTOH, at least TR wasn't sold to some PE outfit or other.

I just hope TR will stay on as a title sponsor for the BMW CCA Club Racing series.

This makes me sad.  I've had great service from both, but I like that they both existed independent of one another.