don't ya just love tire rack

I have no real beef with service I've received from TR in the past but they are typically the most expensive internet option these days - and when you have to add the cost of installation on top of the tire price they make very little sense. I can go to the local Jack Williams and be within $20 mounted, balanced and installed on the car for street/snow tires. That and the fact that TR don't carry Toyo/Nitto makes them completely irrelevant to me.

I have had great success with DTD for Nittos and for race tires I don't mind shuffling them from truck to shop and back.

Radial Tire in MD also was very good - haven't used them in a while because I stopped needing to shave things.

None of the local shops carry any performance tires in stock( just rim protectors) so Tire Rack always seems to be the best choice imo. I rarely talk to a real person but am impressed that someone will call me if they for any reason question my decision or order.

I've had the toyo/nitto/falken conversation with my TR rep a couple times. It's not that they son't wqnt them, it's more that toyo/falken/nitto have chosen to not use them for one reason or another.

Personally, I've ordered THOUSANDS of tires from the for work, and about 10 sets over the years for myself. I have yet to have had a bad experience. When we get a bad tire, it's a simple phone call and hey send a call tag and ship us a new one. Get a set for a custromer that doesn't show up? No prob... return them and only pay the freight to ship them back.

Their customer service is above and beyond and, in my professional experience, there is no one out there that does it better. I wish the local chain Tire Barn would learn their customer service. They are the ones that have the Toyo franchise rights here and are worthless. Took 4 phone calls, and a talk with their manager for a PRICE on R1R's. After him telling me why I wanted some all season tire instead of the R1R's and me xplaining the car was an auto-x only car (of which he had no clue what I was talking about) and him telling me some outlandish price I hung up. That's the typical experience I get from everyone EXCEPT Tire Rack.

That sucks that the price jumped that much. I've seen prices vary a bit from the time I started shopping until purchase time, but an extra $100 for the set is a lot.

That said, I've always had great service from TR. In fact, a sales rep there just recently identified and shipped some black lightweight lugnuts that shipped with my order 10 yrs ago. They were apparently not an OTS piece anymore, but the sales rep did some digging and got back to me.

Sure, it'd be nice if they sold Toyos, Falkens, and even Nittos, but I've never seen a seller that had everything. Discount Tire doesn't have the same quality wheel selection and they don't carry every tire under the sun either. Although, if Good-Win-Racing.com can sell 2 out of three of those missing brands, why cant Tire Rack?

10 yrs ago, it seemed like their pricing was better than just about everybody, at least in my area. In fact, they still are compared to most of my local installers. However, I think that the other big resellers have become a lot more competitive since then (obviously). I was just shopping for wheels and tires 6 months ago and Discount Tire was on top of the list until I found a almost-new local deal. It was funny, TR had the wheels I wanted, but Discount Tire had the tires. Figures.

I think that TR is going to have to step up their game in pricing and their search-able online database if they're going to be top-dog again. Although, I will always appreciate their online testing, reviews, and willingness to shave and heat-cycle tires. Does Discount shave and cycle? I've never seen anything online to indicate that they do? Dunno.

edit - After some digging it looks like Discount offers heat-cycling but not shaving. However, I don't see a way to add that to my online order like TR does.

Rudy@tirerack on miata.net gave a good explanation of the pricing changes.

Rudy@Tirerack said: The 205/50R15 Bridgestone RE11 was intoduced in March 09 with a selling price of $120. In early January of this year Bridgestone placed the tire on a 1st quater inventory reduction special (they were overstocked). In mid January we reduced the selling price to $112. The inventory price continued to drop. By March of this year we dropped the price of the $97 based on lower costs from Bridgestone. Because of the aggressive pricing by Bridgestone we sold out of the stock we had on hand at the $97 price point. Bridgestone determined that they had proper inventory levels and removed the Special. This brought the price of the tire back to normal. The price of the tire is currently at $122. This is only $2 more than tire was priced in all of 09.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.php?p=4496931&postcount=54

Matt B wrote: It was funny, TR had the wheels I wanted, but Discount Tire had the tires. Figures.

I run into that combination between the two somewhat often.

moxnix wrote: Rudy@tirerack on miata.net gave a good explanation of the pricing changes.

Rudy@Tirerack said: The 205/50R15 Bridgestone RE11 was intoduced in March 09 with a selling price of $120. In early January of this year Bridgestone placed the tire on a 1st quater inventory reduction special (they were overstocked). In mid January we reduced the selling price to $112. The inventory price continued to drop. By March of this year we dropped the price of the $97 based on lower costs from Bridgestone. Because of the aggressive pricing by Bridgestone we sold out of the stock we had on hand at the $97 price point. Bridgestone determined that they had proper inventory levels and removed the Special. This brought the price of the tire back to normal. The price of the tire is currently at $122. This is only $2 more than tire was priced in all of 09.

http://forum.miata.net/vb/showpost.php?p=4496931&postcount=54

I understand their explanation (I still think they shouldn't advertise a price they don't expect to be able to sustain)... with one small exception ... Onlinetires.com has them for $105 ... same shipping charges ... so while I've had superb service from them in the past and expect to in the future they didn't get this sale

I've never had a bad experience with TR. I will continue to send my business there way as often as i can. Last time i ordered, i even drove up to pick up my tires, and their showroom is WILD. So many awesome wheels, and everyone in the showroom/lobby was happy to talk to me about anything and everything, explaining suspensions that they had on display even after i told them that i didn't have the budget for anything like that.

The only other company that's treated me as well as TR was that smaller company that went out of business about a year ago. For the life of me, i can't remember their name. They used to carry all the weird size RS2/RT615s.

Vulcan is who you're thinking of. They were awesome.

Ah yes... Vulcan. I miss them.

93celicaGT2 wrote: The only other company that's treated me as well as TR was that smaller company that went out of business about a year ago. For the life of me, i can't remember their name. They used to carry all the weird size RS2/RT615s.

Edge Racing?

Vulcan Tire's web site is still up and running ... if that means anything.... edge racing has been gone for a couple of yrs... I really miss them, they were the only place I have ever been able to find Flik rims

I don't know why TR carries Sumitomo but not Falken, it's the same company!

I know that if Tire Rack sold Panasports, I would have bought several sets by now.

wbjones wrote:

maroon92 wrote: we get yelled at all the time at work because we cannot honor a price from a five year old catalog... I am sure there are plenty of disclaimers out there that say "prices are subject to change without notice"

the only disclaimer in the GRM placed add is that the prices "effective May 1 through May 31" .... then even smaller print that says prices subject to change... I'm in no way expecting price honoring from "5 yrs" ago... just the current mag quotes... so in a way I consider it to be "bait and switch" or at least deceptive advertising ... if you quote prices that you know are going to change you really shouldn't print them rant over (besides I ordered them from Onlinetires.com ... thanks Keith)

Consider Phil's Tire Service (http://www.philstireservice.com/) for Toyo, Hankook, Hoosier and Goodyear.

Compare prices of R888 255/70 17 to Onlinetires.com.

http://www.philstireservice.com/pages/tires/tires_toyo_2.htm

http://www.onlinetires.com/products/vehicle/tires_staggered/toyo/toyo+tire+proxes+r888/8077/8082.html

It's been hit or miss with TR for me. Last time I used them, turned into a huge waste of time. Need a set of Goodyear FS-G3's, after waiting 2 weeks, I had to call them. Was told they were on back order and couldn't give me a date. Waited 3 more months, then gave up. It's interesting that they charged me for a set without telling me about the wait time... though it only took 1 phone call to get them to issue me a credit... 3 1/2 months later.

It's funny, when I talked with Discount Tire, they readily informed me that Goodyear had been on strike, hence, the lack of availability for my tire. Plus, they informed me that Goodyear would no longer be making my size tire.

Why couldn't TR have informed me of that instead of making me wait? Blah!

Too much competition out there for me to put up with mediocre customer service.

Mark

Contrary to the experience Keith has had with TR mine has been quite a bit different. Just try to order rims for an S2000, they'll sell you what they have in stock that fits as good as anything they carry, not what actually fits the S2000. Maybe a Miata is so standard that's not an issue, but I've heard the same complaint on Evos and Subies.

I had one set they tried to make it work 3 times before they finally said "well we don't actually have a rim that fits the recommended offsets, we thought these might work" Do you realize how much time your car is out of commission when you are shipping tires back and forth 3 times?

But that pales in significance in comparison to some Racing Hart CPO35 rims I ordered that the manufacturer just packed them in single layer cardboard boxes and UPS managed to flat spot all sets before I gave up and got my money back. I had rims pushed totally out the side of the box 2 of the 3 times. I have video of the rims so far out of round the guys doing the checking couldn't believe it. They said they've seen tires in wrecks that we truer.

Josh wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote: The only other company that's treated me as well as TR was that smaller company that went out of business about a year ago. For the life of me, i can't remember their name. They used to carry all the weird size RS2/RT615s.

Edge Racing?

Oh. Wait.

Yes, it WAS Edge Racing, not Vulcan. I like Vulcan, too, but i haven't ordered from them since i stopped running Falkens.

The main reason I use TR as much as I can is that their support for obscure motorsports is unmatched. National autocross, GRM challenge and Teen street survival are the first things that come to mind. Plus the information on their website is incredible.

Entropyman wrote: The main reason I use TR as much as I can is that their support for obscure motorsports is unmatched. National autocross, GRM challenge and Teen street survival are the first things that come to mind. Plus the information on their website is incredible.

Really? Just how do they support National autocross? What exactly do they give the SCCA to be the title sponsor?

modernbeat wrote:

Entropyman wrote: The main reason I use TR as much as I can is that their support for obscure motorsports is unmatched. National autocross, GRM challenge and Teen street survival are the first things that come to mind. Plus the information on their website is incredible.

Really? Just how do they support National autocross? What exactly do they give the SCCA to be the title sponsor?

No idea what they do for National. I assume the details aren't public. I know that they stepped up for the SEDIV championship last week though. $1000 in prizes.

modernbeat wrote:

Entropyman wrote: The main reason I use TR as much as I can is that their support for obscure motorsports is unmatched. National autocross, GRM challenge and Teen street survival are the first things that come to mind. Plus the information on their website is incredible.

Really? Just how do they support National autocross? What exactly do they give the SCCA to be the title sponsor?

They give out free windshield banners

Vilven Tire Co 101 W Main St Royal, IL 61871 217-583-3277

And they ship the tires like I like my women, shaven.

well now a follow up.. TR still wants $122 / for the RE-11's ... tried several other places.. thought I had them bought at Onlinetires.com but it turns out that won't sell to anyone with a different billing address from their shipping address (credit card) will only take paypal... and I refuse to use paypal ... several other places had the same policy.. must be new since I've never had a problem in the past

then tried for some XS's same situation ... either billing/shipping problem or lack of inventory..

finally went to my local supplier, and when you consider shipping cost vs. taxes he beat TR by $40... they should be here Fri

wbjones wrote: several other places had the same policy.. must be new since I've never had a problem in the

Call your credit card company. You can get them to add additional "billing" addresses (that aren't actually billing addresses) for just such an occasion.

I get it all the time. The past three towns I've lived in have had no mail delivery (in town, so no rural route, town too small for a letter carrier). So my billing address is a PO Box. But UPS/FedEx/etc don't deliver to PO Boxes. That means I can't have stuff shipped to my billing address.

Obviously, you don't need to do this for this particular case anymore. More and more companies are requiring them to match though, and it can be sidestepped.