Excellent Selection, Prices and Delivery
Written: Aug 05 '03 (Updated Nov 08 '05)
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I have several cars (well, okay... four) and they always need something. One of my cars (a 1993 Porsche 968) was being quite demanding for a couple of weeks, with one problem after another. The icing on the cake was when I noticed that the rear tires were bald in the middle. (And I don't want to hear any jokes about how the car resembled its owner!)
The Porsche 968 is a fairly rare car and it uses different size tires on the front and rear. Other sports cars do this today but it's not the most common situation when it comes to tires.
I checked for tires at Costco but the selection was very limited and the prices started at around $175 for the big rear tires. I decided to turn to The Tire Rack, from which I had bought tires several years before. Instead of dialing the toll-free phone number, I decided to look at the company's Web site (www.tirerack.com) first.
This is a terrific Web site! First of all, finding tires to fit my car was a breeze. On The Tire Rack's home page, there are boxes to select the make and year of your car. Once you click on the "Go" button, there is a box to select the model of car. It was no problem for me to select a 1993 Porsche 968.
The Tire Rack's system already knew that my 968 came standard with 16-inch wheels. However, I have the optional 17-inch wheels and, sure enough, there was a link to click on for 17-inch wheels. I want to point out that The Tire Rack's Web site did not make me find the wheel size for my car... it put only the correct size wheels on this screen.
Once I clicked on the 17-inch wheel link, the next page gave me several categories for tires, such as "ultra high-performance" and "all-weather." I chose the "ultra high-performance" box and it gave me a list of 13 different brands and models of tires that fit my car. I wasn't on the Web site for more than 40 seconds when I found this large selection of tires that fit my car.
The prices were excellent, too, with a couple models of tires selling for less than $100. Each model of tire had links to click on for full specs (including treadwear, traction, temperature and speed ratings) and warranty information.
There was also a link to click on for reviews, and I read many reviews of different tires. The Tire Rack is to be especially commended for allowing unedited customer reviews on its Web site. Not all the tire reviews were positive and many reviews gave very good information. I think you can even sort the reviews by car make/model, so you can restrict tire reviews to only people who have the same car as you.
It was no problem selecting the tire brand and model that I wanted and the Web site knew the correct sizes for front and rear. (I selected Continental ContiExtreme Contact tires, which cost $103 for the front and $113 for the rear.) From this point, it was a simple matter of clicking on the "check out" button and proceeding to buy the tires from Web site. The entire transaction was handled over the Web site and I never picked up the phone.
I ordered the tires with standard UPS ground shipping. The total price of the tires was $432 and the shipping was a reasonable $30. I received the tires the very next day, and they were placed in my carport by the UPS driver.
I subsequently took the tires to Costco to have them installed and I'm very satisfied with my new tires. They perform very well and -- more to the point of this review -- they were exactly the tire I wanted, at an excellent price and with fast delivery.
Using my 1995 Subaru Legacy wagon, I did a quick check and The Tire Rack listed the correct tire size and many brands/models that fit this car. The Tire Rack is not only for performance tires... your average sedans and hatchbacks will also benefit from this company's good prices and fast service.
Earlier this year, I bought four tires for my Subaru at Costco. I had to wait three days for the store to get the tire. Then when I went to get the tires installed, the guy behind the counter could find only two tires. I had to wait another five days to get the other two tires! Next time, I'll use The Tire Rack.
November 8, 2005 Update:
Two weeks ago, I ordered a set of Hawk brake pads for my 1995 Subaru Legacy from The Tire Rack. Hawk is an expensive brand and it cost $67 plus around $8 shipping. The pads arrived in three days and fit the car with no trouble. I was a little surprised to see the brake pads take so much longer to be delivered but it caused no problem for me... I was going to wait for the weekend to install the brake pads anyway. In any event, this purchase did not change my high opinion of The Tire Rack in any way.
I highly recommend The Tire Rack if you are shopping for tires.
Recommended:
Yes
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