Alan Smith said:
One minor caveat about Tirerack ... their prices may not be the best. I recently, after looking at their tests, recommendations, reviews, etc., decided on a set of Kumho. (Surpassingly inexpensive, but VERY highly rated.) Tirerack's price was $55per, which, after adding in shipping and local mounting fees, would've come to $75-80 per. Still a good deal. Before ordering, tho, I decided to call my local tire dealer - part of a large, local area chain - to ask if he could get the same tires and, if so, how much. He checked his computer, said "sure" and price would be $69 per complete (mounted, balanced, installed and old tires discarded).
Incidentally, am very satisfied with the Kumho's, but, with only a few hundred miles on them thus far it's a bit too early to make any real judgment.
I just got a pair of the Kumho Ecsta HP4 716 tires in 225/60HR16 from tirerack.com put on my 2001 outback wagon and I am VERY IMPRESSED.
They are extremely quiet in contrast to the piece of cr*p Dunlop Sport A2's that they replaced, and more importantly, they are far more round than the Dunlop Sport A2's they replaced. I have all of 3 miles on them right now though, so stay tuned.
I have some things to add to what other posters have said though.
First, on tirerack.com:
If I had it to do again, I'd NOT have purchased from tirerack.com, though their review database is useful and led me to a purchase I'm currently thrilled with. I have bought 2 sets of tires from them previously and they do a good job, but here's the thing--It turns out the Firestone dealer where I got my tires installed locally could've ordered the Kumho's for me and gotten them next day (vs tirerack's 2 days), they could've BEATEN the price tirerack gave me (which was just $53 a tire on these), AND been able to offer me lifetime rotation/balancing service. As it is, I'll have to pay for rotation and balancing over the tires' lifetime which will cost me more than I've already paid otherwise.
So with tirerack.com, you're not necessarily saving money on the front end, and you're paying more in the back end. I'm walking away from this sale happy though because if it weren't for tirerack.com I'd likely have been goaded into a tire costing nearly twice as much if I resigned myself to the whims of the local salesfloor at a tire store like NTB or Just Tires. However, if it weren't for tirerack.com I'd never have gone to a Firestone store to shop for tires since I was under the mistaken impression that they only carried Firestone (and I was no fan of firestone based on a bad experiene with OEM Firestones on a Saturn, though the Wildnerness that came stock on this car were decent).
Second, on tire ratings and recommendations in general:
What tirerack or Consumer reports says is a good tire in one size may not be a good tire in your size. Take the Dunlop D60 A2 which became the Dunlop Sport A2--Very highly rated tires by Consumer Reports and Tirerack customers. I had great experience with them on a Mazda and a Saturn over the years, but these 225/60R16's I just got off of my Outback were UTTER AND COMPLETE CRAP. They were very loud, and all of them went out of round. As another poster here said in the past, "I couldn't wait to get those tires off my car!" I'm not sure if it was a defective batch, or what, but by the time I convinced that local dealer I bought them from that there was a problem, it was like pulling teeth to get them to replace even one of them with a fresh tire. They kept telling me I had alignment problems even though I'd had 2 4-wheel alignments done trying to follow their advice.
Needless to say, I won't be a Dunlop or Just Tires customer again any time soon over that experience.
In summary, take tire reviews with a grain of salt unless they're from owners of your vehicle who are using the same size you plan to use, and drive in similar conditions as you. And tirerack does what they do well and have a useful review database, but if you pick a tire you want, don't be hesitant to ask your local dealers to order such a tire for ya--you won't get shortchanged out of rotation/balancing services down the road.
Best Regards,
