Tire recs for aging car?

[friar1610]

The car is a 2011 Buick Regal, 2.4 liter 4. 106K miles. An adequate and serviceable but unspectacular 2nd car that will accumulate maybe 6K miles per year for about 3 more years. My wife primarily drives it around town and it gets some highway miles too. Needs new all-season tires (it came with Continentals and I replaced them with the same tires at about 50K miles.) Don’t know that I need to spend the bucks for a 3rd set. Just want safety and some ability in New England snow* for the remaining life of this car. Any suggestions?

* being retired, we won’t consciously go out in snow with this car but might get caught in it. Have an AWD Volvo if we must go out in snow.

 

[Another Reader]

I'm picky about safety and tires. The cost difference is insignificant compared to a spinout or skid from inferior tires. In your shoes, I would buy the better tires.

 

[tominboise]

I have had good luck buying tires from tirerack.com. They will present many options for your car and you can choose your price point. At this point, I believe I have purchased 20 or more sets from them (I do amateur racing so go through a lot of tires).

 

[pb4uski]

I would check out Costco, BJs or Sam's Club.

 

[bada bing]

I drive quite a bit on icy/snowy roads, probably ~10K of my 20K/year miles are on icy conditions. I swear by Michelin Fire & Ice. I have fairly new sets on both my 2004 Camry (Arizona) and 2010 Subaru (Alaska). Not cheap tires, but I personally don't scrimp on tires even though my cars are currently older and high miles.

 

[Jerry1]

I'm picky about safety and tires. The cost difference is insignificant compared to a spinout or skid from inferior tires. In your shoes, I would buy the better tires.

^^This.

Especially because you want to keep the car for three years. That’s plenty of time to spread the cost over.

To put some numbers to it. If you get tires that are $100 less per tire, that’s just $133 per year difference. Not something to worry about.

 

[Sunset]

I got a set of new tires for our 26 year old car because the tires on it were 15 years old !!

We put about 500 miles a year on that car and keep it in the garage, so the tires didn't look old on the back.

I spent a total of $400 for new tires installed. They are rated for 40K miles which is 80 years for us

This is what I got at Pepboys. For our van that we use on distances longer than 5 miles I spent ~$800 at discount tires for quality tires.

 

[Koolau]

I have had good luck buying tires from tirerack.com. They will present many options for your car and you can choose your price point. At this point, I believe I have purchased 20 or more sets from them (I do amateur racing so go through a lot of tires).

I would check out Costco, BJs or Sam's Club.

All good choices for medium duty tires. I like Costco because of their excellent service. Pull up and they'll check your tires for air - just like back at gas stations in the 50s. Tirerack does the same.

My mainland car is tirerack shod. The tires don't last as long, but considering I don't like to keep tires past about 6 years, it comes out just about right. YMMV

 

[wrigley]

I never skimp on tires for any car that my family members drive and I don't drive on ice and snow.

Mike

 

[frank]

sams has a deal right now for tires it is 180 off for a set of four plus free lifetime mount, balance and rotate, plus road hazard warranty. the las set I bought for my prius were goodyear assurance and with this deal it was 420. all in.

 

[Car-Guy]

I never skimp on tires for any car that my family members drive
Mike

+1... Same with brakes.

 

[wmc1000]

+1... Same with brakes.

AMEN!

 

[LateToFIRE]

I have had good experience with Kumho's. Was recommended by a local mom&pop tire shop. At first I was skeptical - like, say wah, you want me to be to put "cheap" Korean-made tires on my luxury-brand (albeit +150K miles in age) vehicle. But, they ride better and have lasted maybe longer than the fancy European brand I had been using.

I'm all for spending whatever it takes on safety stuff, take my cars to the dealer for maintenance even though know I'm paying a big premium, because I trust they are well-trained, know what they are doing, and perform a thorough check of the vehicle (and have proven that over and over again).

But, tires are too much of a dealer rip-off, so I go to the local mom&pop (also to support local small business). They know their tires, so trusted them. Have not regretted.

P.S. The guys at the dealership sniff at my Korean tires like they smell sumptin real nasty. Ask me if I care.

P.S. I drive frequently over both dirt/gravel roads, snow, ice, as well as poorly-maintained city roads and potholes.

 

[Ian S]

I've always liked Discount Tire and the nearest one is 30 miles closer than Costco. I have Continentals on my 2011 Genesis Coupe and we are going to replace DH's Camry's tires this month with Continentals. As luck would have it, Discount Tire has a $110 rebate on a set of four Continental tires (select models) ending November 30 so we will make use of that deal.

 

[Montecfo]

The car is a 2011 Buick Regal, 2.4 liter 4. 106K miles. An adequate and serviceable but unspectacular 2nd car that will accumulate maybe 6K miles per year for about 3 more years. My wife primarily drives it around town and it gets some highway miles too. Needs new all-season tires (it came with Continentals and I replaced them with the same tires at about 50K miles.) Don’t know that I need to spend the bucks for a 3rd set. Just want safety and some ability in New England snow* for the remaining life of this car. Any suggestions?

* being retired, we won’t consciously go out in snow with this car but might get caught in it. Have an AWD Volvo if we must go out in snow.

Go out on tirerack.com. They will have recommendations for most cars including reviews from actual owners.

Buy the tires from wherever you can find them, not necessarily tirerack.com

 

[Ian S]

P.S. We will go with the Continental Pure Contact LS performance all-season tire.

 

[GravitySucks]

Go out on tirerack.com. They will have recommendations for most cars including reviews from actual owners.

Buy the tires from wherever you can find them, not necessarily tirerack.com

+1. Checked Tire Rack for a set last month. Same tires were at Costco for $150 less. Tire RCk reviews have been spot on over the years.

 

[Breedlove]

Y’all realize Discount Tire owns Tire Rack.

 

[mountainsoft]

I bought my current 2000 Jetta about seven years ago when I was only driving about 2500 miles a year. (I worked from home and took my wife's car on trips). So I bought a set of inexpensive Cooper tires about five years ago and figured they would last the rest of my life at that rate.

Of course, life changed and I ended up driving a lot more miles per year than I expected. Those cheap Cooper tires wore out quickly after only 30K miles or so. And yes, I maintain the suspension and get alignments regularly. They also tended to wander a bit more than I like.

Anyway, I just bought a new set of Michelin Defender tires.

https://www.discounttire.com/buy-tires/michelin-defender-t-+-h

The total cost for tires, mounting, balancing, disposal fees, taxes, etc. was about $790. That's about $300 more than the Coopers from five years ago. Everything is more expensive now, but that's not a huge price difference for much better tires.

We have had really good experience with the Michelin Defender tires on our other cars, so it was a no-brainer selecting them for my car this time around. They have an 80K mile warranty, so hopefully they'll last a long time.

Side note. We used to buy our tires at Sears until our local store closed a few years ago. It was nice to buy the tires and get an alignment at the same time. Since then we started buying tires at Discount Tire and getting a separate alignment at Les Schwab. I've never understood why most tire places don't do alignments, as that's critical to tire wear.

 

[Breedlove]

This can go on for ever ….if you want to have fun recommend an oil for your car .

 

[bloom2708]

Toyo Celsius tires and bulk Havoline full synthetic oil.

 

[Breedlove]

Always use Amsoil synthetic . A little pricey .

 

[rk911]

I never skimp on tires. Get the best tire you can find.

 

[MC Rider]

I will run tires until they look like racing slicks.

 

[Aerides]

My wife primarily drives it around town and it gets some highway miles too.

Get decent tires. Since you don't need them today, you can shop around. I'd go to Costco if getting 4 new ones, comes with alignment and you know you're getting the fair price.