Who else hates TireRack's new website?

Nick_Comstock wrote: The tread ware ratings really bug me. Before I could see a tire that has a 560 rating. Scroll down or up and compare. Now I have to scroll down or up, click, try to remember what it was, hit the back button, scroll up or down to find the tire I want to compare, click, try to remember what the other tire was, hit the back button and so on. First world problems.

Have you heard of tabbed browsing? If you want to compare stuff just open it in a new tab then click back and forth.

In reply to clutchsmoke:

Stop trying to change me, it's the website that's broken

I'll admit to having some 400 tw tires - but on 13" street wheels, you don't get a lot of other options...

How do I see my car with various wheels? I used to be able to do that, but after seeing this thread I went there and spent about 5 minutes on it and never did figure it out. And, why do they only show -1 (16") wheels for my miata. Why no 15" wheels? The wheels on my car right now came from TireRack, so they used to agree that I could fit 15" wheels on the car.

T.J. wrote: How do I see my car with various wheels?

Tell it your car when you log in. Select "wheels". Select "see wheels for my vehicle".

for example: for my 91 Miata, http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/results.jsp?autoMake=Mazda&autoYear=1991&autoModel=Miata&autoModClar=

T.J. wrote: How do I see my car with various wheels? I used to be able to do that, but after seeing this thread I went there and spent about 5 minutes on it and never did figure it out. And, why do they only show -1 (16") wheels for my miata. Why no 15" wheels? The wheels on my car right now came from TireRack, so they used to agree that I could fit 15" wheels on the car.

They've always been a bit sketched out about showing wheels that are smaller than stock. The way around that (with a Miata) is to either select an STR "model" or tell them your car is a 1990-99 model. Then you can go as far down as 14".

Not all 15" will fit on the 2001-05 Sport brakes without some modifications. Miata experts (ahem) know about this stuff, but a website does not.

I still can't get view on vehicle to work on the new site.

Let them know. It's working on every OS/browser combo I've used it on so far.

So lets see Tire Rack and Quick Jack are FM sponsors????

I see a car on my phone when I clicked on your link, but not on my computer earlier when I went there. Who knows. I think I clicked on wheels and tires and not just wheels.

Keith Tanner wrote: Let them know. It's working on every OS/browser combo I've used it on so far.

Chromebook?

I did just discover that not all cars are in their new wheel machine. A 1985 CRX does not offer a car view option, a 1990 Miata does. Could that be it?

oldeskewltoy wrote: So lets see Tire Rack and Quick Jack are FM sponsors????

FM sells the QuickJack and we've been a Tire Rack dealer for a couple of decades. This means I have a lot of exposure to both the QuickJack and the Tire Rack website, more than most. But more germane to this discussion, I've been a web developer (amongst other things) for 20 years and I just launched a new site myself. I also have a tendency to look for solutions instead of just "I don't like it".

BTW, used our QuickJack today to do a quick wheel clearance check. Didn't get a single drop of fluid on the floor.

I've cooled off on TireRack ever since they had tires listed as in stock only to email me the next day saying they're back ordered...
twice.

Bonus points because of how much of a pain in the ass it is to select tires and wheels that 'don't fit' my car

So far I don't care for it. I would say part of it is the knee jerk "I don't like the new look" that happens after most site redesigns. OTOH, it really does feel less user friendly, less useful info, ect.

Just took a gander at the new site.
As I suspected, still no provision to search for wheels by size.
I assume that's to keep idiots from making mistakes but still, would be nice for those of us who have some idea what will or won't fit under our cars.
(Hell, or even borderline idiots who trust what we read on certain automotive forums)

Explain "search wheel by size". You mean, punch in the bolt pattern and offset and see what pops out?

I've asked Tire Rack for access to that database in the past. No dice.

they explain it as a liability issue … most folk really don't know what will work or not work on their vehicle … and if we were able to just pick a rim, they "could" be held liable for the ensuing damage

iadr wrote: What about us looking at it at 1900+ resolution? Let the mobile guys have their own site. That's pretty obvious. It's been 4+ years since I used it on a phone, and I use it twice a day on a desktop. The peanut gallery can say what it wants, that useage pattern is NOT unusual..and the new site realy really sucks on a desktop.

Doesn't matter, got Google rating.

Keith Tanner wrote: I did just discover that not all cars are in their new wheel machine. A 1985 CRX does not offer a car view option, a 1990 Miata does. Could that be it?

oldeskewltoy wrote: So lets see Tire Rack and Quick Jack are FM sponsors????

FM sells the QuickJack and we've been a Tire Rack dealer for a couple of decades. This means I have a lot of exposure to both the QuickJack and the Tire Rack website, more than most. But more germane to this discussion, I've been a web developer (amongst other things) for 20 years and I just launched a new site myself. I also have a tendency to look for solutions instead of just "I don't like it". BTW, used our QuickJack today to do a quick wheel clearance check. Didn't get a single drop of fluid on the floor.

Your new site is pretty.

Keep in mind that if you just email a typical post in this thread -"it sucks, I hate it, it's ugly", you might as well save your time.

If you email things like "I miss the all available tire sizes option", that's good feedback.

As for phone vs desktop - there's no hard line anymore. Tablets, phablets, big ass desktops, phones - all sites have to deal with a wide variety of resolutions that's a lot less consistent than it was 5 years ago. Looks like Tire Rack does indeed have a phone-specific interface, btw.

And I disagree that the new site is unusable on a big screen, I was able to adapt within a few minutes and can find everything just as well as I used to. It just looks different and has some extra features for comparing options. Treadwear ratings are not an obsession of mine, however

I shouldn't have to "adapt" to a website. I should just be able to use it. The interwebs isn't a new thing. But I digress.

I like it. Especially that offset is now part of the filtering system.

Then I see Kosei has a new wheel that's lighter and cheaper than the PF-01s I just put on the car. Crap!

HiTempguy wrote: I shouldn't have to "adapt" to a website. I should just be able to use it. The interwebs isn't a new thing. But I digress.

You're right, you should just be able to use it. And in my experience with the site in question, you can. By "adapt", I mean you'll have to learn the slight changes in how to access the information, just as you'd have to adapt to different traffic patterns in your city if there are changes to the infrastructure like a new bridge or bypass. Roads aren't a new thing either.

The interwebs are definitely changing. The basic architecture isn't new, but the vehicles traveling on the infobahn (to continue the metaphor for an audience of a gear head mindset) are undergoing fairly rapid evolution. And thus websites are as well.

I did just notice that they have tread width listed along with section width. I never noticed that before. I like that.

As far as the mobile page is concerned, I thought that was horrible before the redesign. IIRC, tires only, no wheels or other parts. I would just wait until I got home and look at it on the computer.