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Old April 2nd 17, 03:24 AM posted to alt.home.repair,rec.autos.tech,ca.driving
Jonas Schneider
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Posts: 20
Default I used to buy tires from TireRack - now SimpleTire (how can they do it?)

On Sat, 1 Apr 2017 20:50:42 -0400, Ed Pawlowski > wrote:

>> I have nothing against good service, but since I mount and balance my own
>> tires, I can't think of why I would need that good service?

>
> Very few of us mount our own tires. I can't justify the investment when
> I buy a set of tires every18 months at best.


I think most of us don't do "hard" things, where we define "hard" any way
we want.

For example, probably none of us roof our own homes.
Probably none of us pump our own septic systems.
Many of us don't even maintain our own pool chemistry.

In the realm of automobile maintenance, most of us don't replace clutches,
nor do most of us blueprint an engine. Probably we do basic repairs, but I
agree with you that most people consider both mounting tires and aligning
the steering and suspension to be jobs we routinely farm out.

Having said that we farm out the "hard" jobs, you'll note that I think your
statement is completely incorrect that we can't "justify the investment".

Mounting and balancing tools are about three hundred bucks, where it's
trivial to justify that investment based on your cycle of 18 months per
vehicle for a set of tires.

At 20 per tire the equipment pays for itself in 15 tires, which for two
cars would be about six years (at 18 months per set) if I did the math
right.

Likewise, alignment equipment is similarly priced at about three to five
hundred bucks, which at a price of alignments at about a hundred bucks out
here (on sale), would pay for itself in just a few years for a two-car
family.

Everyone "says" they can't justify the price - but the real reason we don't
do alignment is that there is a tremendous amount of thinking that has to
do on in order to convert length to angles and vice versa.

Similarly, the reason people don't do their own mounting and balancing is
not the justification of the price - but it's the hard work involved - and
also a bit of learning about technique.

> Let's call it "good value". I don't mind paying a little more at times
> but I certainly don't want to get gouged. I try to check out prices
> before buying anything. Lowest price is not always the cheapest buy.


There are no blanket absolutes, where I agree with you that most people
zoom into price and price alone as the arbiter of quality.

The main problem I see with humans is that they're basically incapable of
handling the detail that is required to get the best price-to-performance
value of complex objects.

For example, how many times have you seen someone shop for car batteries by
warrantee length, for example? That's ridiculous. Yet people do it. You
know why? They can't handle the complexity of amps and amp hours.

Likewise with tires. They buy them by treadwear warrantee claims, as if
that was in the least meaningful. You know why? Because people who can't
handle detail can still handle numbers. To them, a tire with a 45K mile
warrantee is better than a tire with a 35K mile warrantee - simply because
they can process the fact that 45K is a larger number than 35K is.

My theory is that the reason why people think that price is an indication
of quality is only because they don't know how to determine quality - but -
they can figure out price. So, to make their simple minds process the
problem set, they immediately assume a $500 tire is better than a $100
tire.

>> What's the absolute worst thing that can happen to a tire?

> Ask the guy that has a flat spare because he never check it.


I've seen people who get flats park their car on the shoulder, and call for
a ride (or call for AAA). Mostly women, where, I agree, some SUV tires are
extremely heavy, and it's not worth getting run over at night in the rain
while you're changing a spare tire.

But most of us can change our own tires.

Besides, most of us carry a 12-VDC compressor in the trunk along with the
OEM jack, triangle reflectors, chocks, spare tools, a flashlight, etc.

> You'd be right if I was driving my '62 Corvair with 13" wheels. I need
> 245/45R18 and cheap ones ar $92 and go up to $260. I drive enough to
> justify a good tire over one that just has to go 2 miles to the grocery
> store.


How do you define a "good tire"?

Your argument above seems to assume a $92 tire is worse than a $260 tire.
But your argument didn't say a single thing about what you use to determine
what a "good tire" is.

Price has absolutely no bearing on quality.
Price is only an indication of demand.

There are a *lot* of not-so-intelligent people out there who will pay
upwards of tens of thousands of dollars for a diamond-studded watch, but
that doesn't mean you get any better of a time piece than a ten-dollar
Timex.

>> However, you're NOT getting the best priceerformance deal at 600 bucks
>> for a set of four tires. That's fine, if you're flush with money, simply
>> because money isn't important to anyone who has a lot of it.

>
> Questionable. I want a good tire when I hit 100 mph so I;m willing to
> pay for it.


AFAIK, no standard passenger car tire is legal to sell in the USA that
won't go 112 mph. The "S" rating is the slowest tire that is allowed to be
sold in the USA for standard-use passenger on-road tires.

That means you won't be able to find a tire for your car that can't go 100
mph, especially at that size.

Nonetheless, how would you compare these tires at Walmart today?

$73 Milestar MS932 Sport Radial Tire, 245/45R18 100V
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Milestar-...-100V/55190013

$80 245/45ZR18 100W BSW Radar Dimax R8 Tires
https://www.walmart.com/ip/245-45ZR1...Tires/55376322

$81 Rydanz ROADSTER R02 Tire P245/45R18 100W
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Rydanz-RO...-100W/52292477

$105 Nexen N5000 Plus Tire 245/45R18XL 100V
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Nexen-N50...-100V/39511145

$114 Antares Ingens A1 245/45R18 100W Tire
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Antares-I...Tires/49651271

$115 General GMAX AS-03 Tire 245/45ZR18XL 100W
https://www.walmart.com/ip/General-G...R18XL/33092363

$120 Uniroyal Tiger Paw GTZ All Season Tire 245/45ZR18 96W
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Uniroyal-...6W-BW/20531817

$126 Kumho ECSTA 4XII Tire 245/45R18 100W
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Kumho-ECS...-100W/44608099

$141 General Altimax RT43 Tire 245/45R18 100V Tire
https://www.walmart.com/ip/General-A...-100V/42955397

$151 245/45-18 HANKOOK VENTUS S1 Noble 2 H452 100W BSW Tires
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ventus-S1...R18XL/43079164

$151 Goodyear Eagle RS-A Tire P245/45R18
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Goodyear-...-45R18/5172553

$154 BF Goodrich g-Force COMP 2 A/S Tire 245/45ZR18 96W
https://www.walmart.com/ip/BF-Goodri...8-96W/44658605

$157 Cooper CS5 Ultra Touring 100V Tire 245/45R18
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Cooper-CS...45R18/47406871

$157 Yokohama Advan Sport A/S 100W Tire 245/45R18
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Yokohama-...45R18/47407491

$171 Continental Extreme Contact DWS06 Tire 245/45ZR18XL 100Y
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Continent...-100Y/44786691

$175 Pirelli PZero All Season Plus 245/45R18XL 100Y
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pirelli-P...-100Y/50554992

$216 Michelin Pilot MXM4 Tire P245/45R18 96V
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Pilot-HXMXM4/12177683

$232 Vogue Custom Built Radial VIII 245/45R18 100 V Tires
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vogue-Cus...Tires/50753784

HINT: I know how to pick the best tire in that bunch - and it's not by
price alone.
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