Where to find cheap tires in Houston (good tire, truck, buy)

[jimboburnsy]

Looking for a deal on a set of 265/75/R16's. I like all terrains but don't really give a sh*t at this point, just want some tires.

Doing a lot of legwork but would be happy to receive any hot tips.

[Bigg Mann]

You can get pretty good deals at junkyards. Any tire shop has tires that people trade in when buying new. I've done both of these in past.

[caution]

Are you going to drive this vehicle on public roads?

I never could understand looking for a "deal" on just about the most important thing on a car. Buy good tires, IMHO.

[M3 Mitch]

You can actually get some pretty good deals at junkyards, sometimes already mounted and balanced on an extra set of wheels, if you are interested in that. You do need to check them over good, make sure you are not getting a damaged tire, but I have seen plenty of good tire/wheel assemblies come out of junkyards.

As Bigg Mann said, you can shop for new pull-offs and or used tires, both at "regular" tire shops and at used tire dealers. Used tire dealers are usually in the scruffier parts of town, these guys usually offer value for the buck. Understand how to read the "born on" date. I'd be buying tires that are less than 5-6 years old. A tire with 1/2 of it's original tread has more than half it's service life remaining.

Finally, that old stand-by, Tire Rack, get a good new tire at a discount, they will ship to a local installer who can mount/balance for you, it's no more hassle than buying tires straight from a local shop.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by caution

Are you going to drive this vehicle on public roads?

I never could understand looking for a "deal" on just about the most important thing on a car. Buy good tires, IMHO.

The vehicle will be driven on public roads, but maybe you can understand my line of thinking when it is framed this way: 1999 Chevy Tahoe with over 180,000 miles (need I say more?). The whole damned thing is getting ready to violently disassociate. I would really like to see it roll over 200,000 before I offload it, but it may not make it (to be fair to the car, I may not make it. The engine and drive-train are great, just the rest of it is the problem). I have not made a car payment in almost a decade and this paid off Chevy P.O.S. has been a cash register (as well as an excellent learning/experimentation platform) and splurging now makes a mess of my economic high-ground. The trade in value is probably less than $2500 assuming that I would not actually have to pay a dealer to leave it on the lot. So, IMHO, it doesn't make sense to pay over a third of the vehicle's value for tires when I only need/want to go 20,000 more miles. Gimme some cheap stuff to get up and down the block for a while longer. Also, the amount of mark-up I pay at a tire dealer is really sickening. I'm probably getting ripped at Costco which is about $100/tire cheaper, with installation and services included in purchase price, than any chain for the exact same product.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

The vehicle will be driven on public roads, but maybe you can understand my line of thinking when it is framed this way: 1999 Chevy Tahoe with over 180,000 miles (need I say more?). The whole damned thing is getting ready to violently disassociate. I would really like to see it roll over 200,000 before I offload it, but it may not make it (to be fair to the car, I may not make it. The engine and drive-train are great, just the rest of it is the problem). I have not made a car payment in almost a decade and this paid off Chevy P.O.S. has been a cash register (as well as an excellent learning/experimentation platform) and splurging now makes a mess of my economic high-ground. The trade in value is probably less than $2500 assuming that I would not actually have to pay a dealer to leave it on the lot. So, IMHO, it doesn't make sense to pay over a third of the vehicle's value for tires when I only need/want to go 20,000 more miles. Gimme some cheap stuff to get up and down the block for a while longer. Also, the amount of mark-up I pay at a tire dealer is really sickening. I'm probably getting ripped at Costco which is about $100/tire cheaper, with installation and services included in purchase price, than any chain for the exact same product.

You know, if you are in Costco frequently, they have a decent price for most tires.

Given your situation, you could definitely go with a *good* set of used tires.

At the same time, don't get yourself killed trying to save a few hundred bucks.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

You know, if you are in Costco frequently, they have a decent price for most tires.

Given your situation, you could definitely go with a *good* set of used tires.

At the same time, don't get yourself killed trying to save a few hundred bucks.

Please educate me about reading "born on" dates for tires. How intriguing that tires could share attributes with Budweiser.

[M3 Mitch]

Tire Tech Information - Determining the Age of a Tire

I personally think the 6-year expiration date has to be taken with a grain of salt - if a tire was left out in the Arizona sun and never used, it would probably go bad sooner, if stored in a cool basement and never saw the sun, probably would last longer.

But if I'm buying a used tire, I would try to get one that's fairly fresh. For that matter any tire, even if new, I don't much want to pay full price for a tire that may not remain in good shape till I wear it out.

[Deez Nuttz]

Originally Posted by jimboburnsy

The vehicle will be driven on public roads, but maybe you can understand my line of thinking when it is framed this way: 1999 Chevy Tahoe with over 180,000 miles (need I say more?). The whole damned thing is getting ready to violently disassociate. I would really like to see it roll over 200,000 before I offload it, but it may not make it (to be fair to the car, I may not make it. The engine and drive-train are great, just the rest of it is the problem). I have not made a car payment in almost a decade and this paid off Chevy P.O.S. has been a cash register (as well as an excellent learning/experimentation platform) and splurging now makes a mess of my economic high-ground. The trade in value is probably less than $2500 assuming that I would not actually have to pay a dealer to leave it on the lot. So, IMHO, it doesn't make sense to pay over a third of the vehicle's value for tires when I only need/want to go 20,000 more miles. Gimme some cheap stuff to get up and down the block for a while longer. Also, the amount of mark-up I pay at a tire dealer is really sickening. I'm probably getting ripped at Costco which is about $100/tire cheaper, with installation and services included in purchase price, than any chain for the exact same product.

I would browse the local Craigslist ads to see if someone happens to have a set that has decent tread and they're only wanting maybe $150 for all 4.

Do you know how to use a tire machine? If you do and have access to one, you could save yourself $40 on mounting/balancing them.

I just went thru the same thing you are; I wanted to get a set of tires on my old beater truck that's already over 180k but is rough around the edges, yet still runs like a top. I found a set of 4 tires on CL for $120. They were used and were made 4 years ago (checked this before I bought them) but had a good amount of tread left on all of them.

Then I went onto a military installation "auto hobby shop" and used their tire machine to dis mount the old tires and mount the new ones and then balance them. It was my first time so I need a little assistance, but I think I only paid $5 for the 45 minutes I spent there learning how to do it/getting to do it. I actually learned something out of it, and hope to get to do it again soon as to better myself at mounting/dismounting/balancing tires for personal use.

I know you may not have access to this as most folks don't, but if you're military or retired military or even a dependent you might be able to do this.

All in all i spent less than $150 on a set of tires that should last me until the old girl hits 200k, and I learned something too.

[M3 Mitch]

Craigs list is good, as are old-fashioned want ads, either in your local regular print newspaper, the online version of it, and/or want-ad specific newspapers (Thrifty Nickel, etc.)

Doing your own mounting and balancing is great, I do it too, but you have to have some sort of connections or you have to spring for the machines to do it.

The local used tire place will M&B for $6, sometimes if I get tires there I just let them do it.