Deals are to be had on eBay for slightly used and new tires with free shipping. Mount and balance at your favorite local shop. Just bought a pair of new rears for $125 each.

I've bough exclusively from Tire Rack for years now.  I can pick them up at the local depot to avoid shipping cost.  Its worth seeing where the local depot is for you, because so long as you can transport them you can save $50-$60 on a set of tires by avoiding the shipping cost.  

I would advise avoiding the on site tire mounting and balancing places (the ones that come to you).  I had an extremely bad experience with one, and won't use them again.  I found a local shop I use to mount and balance and have been very happy with their work, turnaround time, and cost has been reasonable.

Another way you can save a bit is if you live near a dump.  You can take the old tires there yourself instead of paying for the disposal fee.  The disposal fee is around $10/tire around here.  I've never been charged more than $3 for disposal of a whole set of tires at the dump.  Not worth making a special trip, but I'm at the dump frequently for work, so not a big deal to just take a worn out set of tires if I'm already going.  

Something to check out … A few weeks ago, we got two tires for our daily driver from Costco.  These were Michelin’s Primacy XM4, P235/60R-18 (same as the original tires).  The cost was about $50 less per tire then other ‘discount’ tire stores in our area for the same service; mounting, balancing, old tire disposal, etc.
 

I used Discount Tire to mount and balance tires for my FJ Cruiser a while back.  I bought the tires on Tire Rack.  IIRC I could have bought the tires there for about the same price as Tire Rack, but wouldn't have had to go through the rigamarole of picking them up.  Also, they were open on a Sunday.  Balancing job seems to have been done well.  The new tires are much better than the old ones, but they were an overly aggressive mud tire the previous owner had installed and were also worn out.  

BobE wrote:

Something to check out … A few weeks ago, we got two tires for our daily driver from Costco.  These were Michelin’s Primacy XM4, P235/60R-18 (same as the original tires).  The cost was about $50 less per tire then other ‘discount’ tire stores in our area for the same service; mounting, balancing, old tire disposal, etc.
 

I've been buying my tires at Costco the last 3 years too.  Hard to beat their prices. 

Ive never had Nitto tires but as far as BFG g-force sport comp 2 tires are concerned they are the ones I  liked best that I’ve had on my car. Unfortunately they stopped making them in my size requirements.
My car is set up for staggered tire sizes, I run 205 section up front and 225 in the back, both on 15” Shelby ten spoke wheels. I don’t think Nitto makes them in those sizes.
Tire selection for 15” rims is getting worse as time marches on. These days BFG radial T/A seems to be my only choice, I’m on my second set.

Even if you don't buy from Tire Rack, the one extremely helpful thing on their website is the reviews.  Without reviews you are taking a shot in the dark unless you have first hand experience or know someone who has it with a tire you are considering buying.  I've used this several times to help make selections.  I don't mind paying $20 more per tire for a set of tires that will last 50%-100% longer on my DDs for example.  On my fun vehicles its more about performance, because they just don't see enough miles to wear out.  

TKOPerformance wrote:

Even if you don't buy from Tire Rack, the one extremely helpful thing on their website is the reviews.  Without reviews you are taking a shot in the dark unless you have first hand experience or know someone who has it with a tire you are considering buying.  I've used this several times to help make selections.  I don't mind paying $20 more per tire for a set of tires that will last 50%-100% longer on my DDs for example.  On my fun vehicles its more about performance, because they just don't see enough miles to wear out.  

yeah Steve will tell ya I bargain hunt and read reviews .
 

 I guess this is posting well after the horse has left the barn, but I had Coopers on mine until a few years ago when I replaced them (wasn't anything really wrong with them - they were just 7 years old).  Unfortunately, Cooper no longer made my size and the selection for the 215-60-15 rims was definitely limited.  For me the choice came down to either Yokahama, Falken or Continental.  Overall, the reviews favored the Yokahama over the other two brands so I chose them.  I got a good deal with the vet discount and I'm pretty happy with the tires too. 

Last edited by John Ha (6/14/2025 1:30 PM)