A Giant Sucking Sound
September 17, 2003
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Posted by Aubrey Turner
I’d been expecting to have to replace the tires on my Avalanche soon, since it is approaching 40,000 miles and the kinds of tires it uses generally have a life of 45,000 or so. However, this morning I noticed that one of the tires had some kind of mass that appeared to be protruding from its shoulder. The local Goodyear dealer found that two others also had this problem once it was put on the rack (although those had it to a lesser degree). He advised me that they could replace them and give me a small discount on the new ones (since the old tires were down to about 20% of their life).
Even with the discount, the price per tire was still $149.75. When you add in mounting/balancing ($39.00) and taxes ($47.51, soon to be higher thanks to DCTA) it came to $699.51. I mention this as a cautionary tale to those of you contemplating the purchase of a truck or SUV with large tires (Goodyear Wrangler AT/S in P265/70R17 in this case). Expect to spend quite a bit for new tires at or before 50,000 miles. I was expecting it to be around $600, which was correct for the tires themselves. As always, I tend to forget the other frictional effects of labor and taxes.
That giant sucking sound was the money being hoovered out of my wallet and into Goodyear’s pockets.
Categories: Miscellaneous
I just went thru the same with my Tundra. We did a fair amount of phone shopping first and got the best deal at Wal-Mart. There was a $200+ swing between the highest and lowest prices. It pays to call around.
It was one of those situations where I didn’t want to drive much further than the tire shop. In any event, I took a look at some other sources to see what these tires usually go for after I got back.. I didn’t really get much of a discount, since Discount Tire lists them for $156 each. Wal-Mart lists them for $137 each on their website.
However, I’m willing to pay the extra $12.00 per tire to avoid having the work done at Wal-Mart. I don’t trust their automotive department. At least I haven’t since they left the oil plug only hand-tight on a truck I used to have. Fortunately I spotted it (I noticed a small drip when I got home) before the plug worked its way loose. Otherwise, I’d have been out an engine. Since then, I’ve avoided them like the plague.
You raise a good point. If you factored in the value of my time I probably didn’t save any money. After I was there an hour and a half I asked how it was comming and they said they were waiting for a forklift driver to get the tires out of the rack!
That’s steep enough, but my father’s car (2000 Vette Hardtop) is at somewhere between 18K and 19K and needs new tires this month. Tires themselves will be over $1000, who knows what labor will cost? They need specialized equipment to remove 18” run-flats.
Kevin,
Yeah, those run flats will be pretty expensive. One of my coworkers has a 1996 Corvette and he’s also going to have to get tires soon. He was expecting it to be around $1000 as well, although we found that Costco has Bridgestone Potenzas for around $800 (with tax) for all four tires. However, his car isn’t using the run flat tires.
One of these days I’d like to get a Z06 (or alternately a Saleen 351 Mustang), but that’s a ways off in the future (like after I get settled into the house and pay off the Avalanche and can afford the maintenance on those cars).
Actually, I believe he’s going to non-run-flat tires. Other than their obvious benefit, they really aren’t great tires—very noisy, not too grippy, kind of rough.
I think the BS S-03 Potenza Pole Positions were one alternative.
The Vette is nice, but wouldn’t be my first choice. It’s got a lot of motor (indeed, I drove it after my 2800 mile trip in a rental Ford Taurus last month and was stunned at its effortless, instant passing ability) and the suspension is extremely controlled without being harsh… but I had a lot more fun in my old RX-7, which felt very light on its feet and agile. The Vette can feel like piloting a tank sometimes—you’re aware of its mass and bulk at all times.
Mass and bulk don’t bother me too much. My first car was a 1966 Buick Wildcat (a 20-ft long 4400 lb. behemoth with a 401 cubic inch V8). After that, even my Avalanche doesn’t seem so big. However, I do have to admit that every now and then I’m tempted by cars like the Subaru Impreza WRX STi (just don’t tell anyone, or I’ll get kicked out of the SUV club…).