buying tires in ct area.

[cedryck]

:thumb-up:I am close to purchasing new shoes for my beloved Cedryck. I am testing the waters here to see if anyone has had any preferances on where to purchase either BFG's, Interco, or cooper radials. I have found so many places online, but being old school would not rule out a smaller vendor for an advantage in price, or service, any info. appreciated, thanks lads. Cheers.

[Kiloengineer]

I recently had a set of 16" wheels sandblasted and powder coated at Amercian Dry Stipping in Milford CT (they did a great job). Gary at ADS recommended Tom Klein at the Firestone Garage on Rt 1 in Milford for tires. Tom does a lot of classic car tires for Gary. I bought a set of BFG All Terrains from Tom and he did a nice job installing the tires which was a little unconventional because the rims I have require tubes, but Tom handled the install personally. I think he gave me a good price. I will admit I had two flats soon after we think due to a problem with the tubes. But Tom quickly repaired them (at no cost of course). I recommend Tom as fair and knowledgable and a good guy to work with, I will go back. And now he knows Land Rovers. I am in Guilford if you want to stop over and chat this weekend.

[cedryck]

thanks for the response. I would love to hear more about your experience with Firestone garage, as I will probably buy online anyway, but will need mounting and balancing. I am curious what size tires did you put on your rover, 15's, 16's and figures. As far as chatting I would love to some time, I will work this weekend, and so that is off, but certainly in the future. thanks.

[rwollschlager]

I could not find any interco's available locally to my dismay. I chose to support a local garage, precision motors in mystic, and ordered 4 new BFG km2's from them last week, when installed the tires they also aligned the rover and the steering is much straighter and the car is controllable on the road now (although that could be from replacing my old interco's). To go through the garage was slightly more expensive than online, but but they help my family with all of our non-rover cars so we were happy to go to them. I opted to go with the 33x10.5x15 size because they were cheaper than the other size i was looking at 255/85/16. I have not had a chance to get in the dirt yet, but on the road they are a huge improvement over my bald tsl radials.

-Rob

[jac04]

I purchase a lot of tires because I own a lot of cars. I live only a few miles from the Tire Rack, but I always try to support my local tire shop. I have found that the local shop gives me basically the same deal as Tire Rack (when comparing apples to apples). The benefit is that if I ever have a tire or balancing issue, I just go back to the local shop to get taken care of. Just know exactly what tire you want when you go in. Stay away from any local shop that tries to talk you into a different brand (like Town Fair Tire, which will almost always try to sell you off-brand tires that are supposedly 'made by' one of the major manufacturers).

Another benefit to buying from a local shop is that when you need tires mounted (like when I bought my Michelin XZLs from RN), they recognize you as a customer and are willing to help you out.

Now, if you are shopping for a mounted & balanced wheel/tire package (for your other cars), it is tough to beat Tire Rack. I've purchased a few sets of BBS wheels & performance tires and several sets of snow tires & wheels from them and I have always been very pleased with price & quality.

[JimCT]

I have run these on our RR and ambulance. Great quality, will match carcasses when you order 4. And the walnut shell and glass works great in the winter. And you are saving a few more tires from the landfill!









I purchase a lot of tires because I own a lot of cars. I live only a few miles from the Tire Rack, but I always try to support my local tire shop. I have found that the local shop gives me basically the same deal as Tire Rack (when comparing apples to apples). The benefit is that if I ever have a tire or balancing issue, I just go back to the local shop to get taken care of. Just know exactly what tire you want when you go in. Stay away from any local shop that tries to talk you into a different brand (like Town Fair Tire, which will almost always try to sell you off-brand tires that are supposedly 'made by' one of the major manufacturers).

Another benefit to buying from a local shop is that when you need tires mounted (like when I bought my Michelin XZLs from RN), they recognize you as a customer and are willing to help you out.

Now, if you are shopping for a mounted & balanced wheel/tire package (for your other cars), it is tough to beat Tire Rack. I've purchased a few sets of BBS wheels & performance tires and several sets of snow tires & wheels from them and I have always been very pleased with price & quality.

[JimCT]

https://www.treadwright.com/

[Mercedesrover]

I buy a lot of tires (somewhere between 10 and 20 a week) and I'll agree with Jeff on a couple of points. We buy almost 100% from Zeller Tire (http://www.zellertire.com/) in Torrington and they're within a buck or two of Tirerack when you factor in the shipping from them. They are also a local, family-owned business that supports the local community by sponsoring sports teams and such. Tirerack doesn't. When I need tires for my personal cars, my local guys sell them to me at cost. Tirerack doesn't. If I have a problem with a tire, my local guys help me out. Tirerack doesn't. I bought from tirerack for years and years and did the same volume with them before I switched. Didn't matter to them when I stopped. Never got a phone call as to why I left them.

I also have customers drop-ship tires from Tirerack to me and pay me to install them. We do it, but they get charged full-boat and if they have a problem with a tire, there's not much I can do for them.

Shop local. Your neighborhood garage and tireshop will thank you for it. Tirerack is ok to use once in a while or for wheel packages or if the happen to have a special on something you're looking for, but there are no great bargains there and almost no customer service.

[jac04]

Tirerack is ok to use once in a while or for wheel packages or if the happen to have a special on something you're looking for, but there are no great bargains there and almost no customer service.

I found their customer service fairly good, but the only time I needed it was on a set of 18" forged BBS wheels wrapped in Yokohama Advan Neova tires (big $$$). One wheel had a big gouge in it, like someone took a chisel to it. They offered me $100 to accept the defect. When I got through laughing, I declined the offer and another tire/wheel was on my doorstep within a few days. No charge and UPS picked up the defective wheel/tire. Not bad. However, I'm not sure I would want to deal with them on a tire issue, especially after there are some miles on the tires.

[cedryck]

Wow, thanks for all the responses lads. I have decided on either bfg's km2's, I love the michelins our host have just too much$ for my wallet. or Interco if I can find them in CT. I appreciate all the responses and experiences posted here, thanks.

[J!m]

Hey Jeff.

I use Town Fair Tire for all my tires these days. (on the BMW and the Rover)

They will match any price (even on-line) and the guys there are pretty good to me (I typically go to the Enfield location). They can order in any size tire in any brand they carry (they usually have to do this for both of my cars...). You might want to check with them on the Michelin's, although I think those were discontinued and probably NLA new... They can do the alignment for you as well, and they offer a tread wear warranty as well- if they wear out early, they replace them!

I remember they pointed out a problem I had with my Defender front end when I was in for tires so I could repair it. They could have just ignored it, but they pointed it out so I could fix it. I think that is an important detail!

[cedryck]

Thanks Rob, I too like the new BFG, and you are right the 15 inch wheel is cheaper than some 16 inch sizes, and I can still maintain that nice slow crawl factor with the 15's. I might order online, jcwhitney has a small selection of off road tires, and have a local garage here that I have used before mount, and balance, and align them. I like to go locally as well, thanks for all the imput everyone.

[milhouse]

While I like to use local companies as much as possible, for the longest time I had a hard time finding decent, honest local comapnies to deal with, so I ordered my tires through Tire Rack. I never had any issues with them and they worked well for what I needed. Just last week I needed new tires for the daily driver (Subaru) and I tried DiscountTire.com and they were GREAT! Free shipping and the tires were at my door within two days! And yes, they were brand new tires as well... I checked the date code as soon as I received them.

Note, this is NOT DiscountTireS.com - different company and I don't know how they are.

EDIT: Just noticed I gave the store website, not their online store... DiscountTireDirect.com is where you order tires online directly from them.

[jac04]

Hey Jeff.

I use Town Fair Tire for all my tires these days. (on the BMW and the Rover)

They will match any price (even on-line) and the guys there are pretty good to me (I typically go to the Enfield location).

I'll keep that in mind. Enfield is right up the road. Many years ago I used to buy tires from TFT. However, I just don't agree with their sales philosophy, which may have changed in more recent years. It used to be that every time I went there I overheard something like "Oh, you don't want those Michelins. These Remingtons are the same tire, and I can get you into a set for $40 less."

But, if you are an informed consumer, it sounds like they offer a good deal.

[J!m]

Usually people like us go in with a specific item in mind, so that shouldn't be an issue...