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Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

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  • Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive


  • #2
    Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

    Just last week I got a set of tires from Tire Rack for my Lincoln and took them to the local dealer to mount. They told me that by not getting the identical Michelin tire that was on it I was getting a substandard tire. I got the Khumos for about half the cost of the stock tires. Why pay for the brand? If I loose a little in handling, I doubt I'd feel it on a Lincoln Town Car. That car wasn't designed to carve corners anyway! The UTQG numbers are very close for both tires.

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    • #3
      Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

      I just bought a set of trailer tires for the car trailer in preparation for the trip to Beaver Springs for the BS at BS get together. Goodyears were about $450 and the off-brands I bought were $350ish - set of 4, mounted and balanced, out the door. So what was the difference? I almost bought the Goodyears because they were US made and the off-brands were imported. The tire store guy kind of looked at the counter and softly said "They're both imports". Gets us back to the "Buy American?" thread, doesn't it? So I'll be watching my imported trailers closely until I develop some confidence in them.

      Dan

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      • #4
        Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

        Originally posted by Leon
        Why pay for the brand? If I loose a little in handling, I doubt I'd feel it on a Lincoln Town Car. That car wasn't designed to carve corners anyway! The UTQG numbers are very close for both tires.
        Leon, keep in mind that you can't directly compare the treadwear rating numbers between tire brands. There should be some standardized testing for this, but that's not the case. Each tire company picks a control tire in their own lineup to compare to, assigns it a number, and then quicker wearing tires will have a lower number, and longer wearing ones will have a higher number. So a 300 rating tire from Michelin is not the same as a 300 from Kumho. Could be close, could be better, could be worse. ;)


        cheers
        Ed N.
        Ed Nicholson - Caledon Ontario - a bit NW of Toronto
        07 Mustang GT with some stuff
        88 T-Bird Turbo Coupe 5-speed

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        • #5
          Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

          "The sport package is the big mistake that nobody warned me about,"
          that made me chuckle a little

          I haven't bought a new set of tires in a few years because they're so expensive, even for 15 inch rims. My past couple of sets have been used, they work when you can find the right size.

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          • #6
            Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

            I priced out a new set of BFG TA radials for the back of the Chevelle last week. At the local tire store, one of the salesmen printed me up a quote ticket. Two 275/60's mounted, balanced, valve stemmed, are now about $280 with tax.

            I checked out TireRack.com to see their prices; $89 each, that's more like it ... then I saw the shipping cost. The total was within a few dollars of any of the local tire stores.

            It's been about ten years since I bought the last pair for the Chevelle, but I paid $89 each ... installed !!


            [old man voice] ... back in myyy day ... [/old man voice]

            grrr.


            I read the comments for the linked article. The made in China vs made in US argument is going on everywhere.
            While researching the BFG's last week, I saw one site that listed where the tires were made. The 275/60's are made in teh USA. Eventually, I'll ditch the skinny tires up front and put 215/65's on the front on 7" rims. They are shown to be made in the USA, Mexico, and Canada. Whenever I get around to buying the front tires, I'll insist to whoever I buy them from that they find me a matching pair made in the US or I won't buy them.

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            • #7
              Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

              yea I have 4 bfg all terrains on my 2002 s10 , the other day while I was rotating em I noticed 3 are made in the U.S. and one is made in japan....maybe that is the vibration I've been feeling. Maybe the 3 U.S.Tires are rejecting that jap tire like a bad organ transplant.

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              • #8
                Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

                1. "Appliance motorists" have been complaining about the price of tires for years . . . nothing new there.

                2. Tires with an "H' rating or above usually do make a measurable difference in handling because of the extra belts under the tread and better compounds.

                3. Until a particular tire size becomes a "commodity" (i.e. produced in large numbers by multiple companies for low profit margins) it will tend to be expensive. It happened with 16" tires in the '80s, 17" tires in the '90s, and 19" and 20" tires now. And odd-ball sizes (such as the two different sizes of 18s on my Mercury Marauder) never come down as fast in price.

                4. Tires are sensitive to petroleum costs . . . some of the "inflation" over the past two years was caused by the 2007-2008 oil price spike . . . and the tire manufacturers are slow to cut prices when the oil price drops.

                5. Cheaper tires tend to use obsolete tread designs and/or harder compounds -- both of which can compromise handling and wet-weather performance.

                6. UTQG testing is not the "end all and be all" for comparing tires from a performance perspective. Handling can be measurably different between two different tires of similar UTQG grades.

                7. $280 for a pair of name-brand tires mounted, balanced, and guaranteed seems freakin' cheap (at least compared to the cost of keeping tires on a Marauder (18s) , an SVT Focus (17s), an SVT Cobra (17s), an F-250 (16s), a gaggle of late '80s T-Bird Turbo Coupes (16s) . . . . ;D) BTW, the last set of 15" "H" rated BFGs I bought were for my '69 Grand Prix SJ and they cost over $100 each.

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                • #9
                  Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

                  bought four tires for wifees car , got them through the parts dept
                  4 tires from pep boys on a cash ticket for 38 a tire
                  that is only 3 dollars more than the china radials from town fair tire back in 2000
                  the pep boys tires say made in usa

                  mounted and balanced myself

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                  • #10
                    Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

                    One has to be careful of the "SPORT" , "SE", LTZ or whatever the "PACKAGE"
                    is called. Most of the customers at the Chevy dealer I work at, are HORRIFIED
                    at the price of the mirrors on their Tahoes. Some of those packages include an
                    electrically adjustable, heated, power folding self dimming mirror with directional
                    signal and courtesy lamp and can run $700.! YIKES!
                    "They didn't tell me that when I bought it!"
                    It's buyer beware.
                    And their wives should be more careful backing out of the garage.....

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                    • #11
                      Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

                      hit the button , they fold right in

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                      • #12
                        Re: Why Tires Are So Freakin' Expensive

                        Lots of tires are imported. Most of the big sellers are not "made in USA". Which makes the 35% BS tariff on "cheap" imports even more of a "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" misdirection by our brilliant government.

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