Need new tires for my car....
- Thread starter luckyhonu
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AndyRosse
Ideal_Rock
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- Jul 25, 2004
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AChiOAlumna
Brilliant_Rock
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We use Costco too for tires...hands down!
They now also inflate the tires with a nitrogen/air mix so your tires wear better and you only have to inflate them once every 6 months. When you go back every 6 months for rebalancing/rotating (included in the price of the tires), they reinflate the tires with the nitrogen...
If you can get a rebate, even better!
They now also inflate the tires with a nitrogen/air mix so your tires wear better and you only have to inflate them once every 6 months. When you go back every 6 months for rebalancing/rotating (included in the price of the tires), they reinflate the tires with the nitrogen...
If you can get a rebate, even better!
rfath
Shiny_Rock
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- Jul 27, 2004
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- 406
I''ll second the tirerack.com advice. Terrific group of people who really REALLY test their tires...
To see if your tires are bald, all you need is a penny. If you can see the top of Lincoln''s head if you insert it (head-first) into the tread, you need to replace your tires. The top of his head is approximately the legal minimum tread depth. If the wear isn''t even across your tires, you should probably invest in an all-wheel alignment that also checks toe and camber to get the most life from your tires.
(long LONG explanation of nitrogen in tires follows)
As someone who does a lot of high-performance driving events at the track, I''ll tell you that use of _pure_ nitrogen to fill tires is quite common, as the nitrogen will not contain any moisture and thus will not expand much at higher temperatures. Thus, the hot pressure and cold pressure will be approximately the same. This is important at the track, where tire temperatures easily exceed 150F and a cold pressure of 26PSI on my Mini will result in a hot pressure somewhere in the mid-30s, if using regular air.
Thus, using nitrogen means that you won''t have a significant pressure difference between a zero degree day and an 80 degree day, which means that when you have temperature swings like we''re having in Boston right now, you don''t have to keep adjusting your tire pressure (if you''re a fussy sort like me).
However, no matter what you fill your tires with, checking pressure or adding air every 6 months is not nearly enough. Nitrogen will leak out of a tire at the same rate as air; if you lose pressure over time (as opposed to when the temperature drops) then you must add nitrogen/air back in, regardless of which you''re using. Let me say that again - nitrogen will help with pressure changes due to temperature, but will not prevent slow pressure loss.
One final note - if you use nitrogen rather than air, you should inflate to a cold pressure that''s higher than you normally would with air, because it won''t gain pressure when it heats up and thus it won''t otherwise end up at the proper pressure for optimal grip and fuel economy (overinflated tires will ''cup'' and grip poorly; underinflated tires will wear at the edges and give horrible fuel economy)
The nitrogen-filling is becoming more common, but I think that a lot of people pushing the change (and charging people for it!) don''t necessarily understand what the reasoning is... I hope this didn''t come out wrong, but I thought that some out there might like to hear a bit more about the technology. It''s a lot the same as buying diamonds: knowledge is power!
To see if your tires are bald, all you need is a penny. If you can see the top of Lincoln''s head if you insert it (head-first) into the tread, you need to replace your tires. The top of his head is approximately the legal minimum tread depth. If the wear isn''t even across your tires, you should probably invest in an all-wheel alignment that also checks toe and camber to get the most life from your tires.
(long LONG explanation of nitrogen in tires follows)
As someone who does a lot of high-performance driving events at the track, I''ll tell you that use of _pure_ nitrogen to fill tires is quite common, as the nitrogen will not contain any moisture and thus will not expand much at higher temperatures. Thus, the hot pressure and cold pressure will be approximately the same. This is important at the track, where tire temperatures easily exceed 150F and a cold pressure of 26PSI on my Mini will result in a hot pressure somewhere in the mid-30s, if using regular air.
Thus, using nitrogen means that you won''t have a significant pressure difference between a zero degree day and an 80 degree day, which means that when you have temperature swings like we''re having in Boston right now, you don''t have to keep adjusting your tire pressure (if you''re a fussy sort like me).
However, no matter what you fill your tires with, checking pressure or adding air every 6 months is not nearly enough. Nitrogen will leak out of a tire at the same rate as air; if you lose pressure over time (as opposed to when the temperature drops) then you must add nitrogen/air back in, regardless of which you''re using. Let me say that again - nitrogen will help with pressure changes due to temperature, but will not prevent slow pressure loss.
One final note - if you use nitrogen rather than air, you should inflate to a cold pressure that''s higher than you normally would with air, because it won''t gain pressure when it heats up and thus it won''t otherwise end up at the proper pressure for optimal grip and fuel economy (overinflated tires will ''cup'' and grip poorly; underinflated tires will wear at the edges and give horrible fuel economy)
The nitrogen-filling is becoming more common, but I think that a lot of people pushing the change (and charging people for it!) don''t necessarily understand what the reasoning is... I hope this didn''t come out wrong, but I thought that some out there might like to hear a bit more about the technology. It''s a lot the same as buying diamonds: knowledge is power!
- Joined
- Apr 3, 2004
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yes,they also have a $60 off coupon 2x a yr for a set of four. you also get free lifetime balance and flat repairs.
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2003
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I finally got my tires last week. I went to a place that specialized in tires and had the Goodyear Comfort Treads and they changed them out in 30 minutes, whereas at Costco they told me to drop it off and come back 4.5 hours later, and their competitive tire to the Goodyears were more expensive.
movie zombie
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2005
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- 11,879
thanks for following back up with a post of your experience! and you''re one heck of a shopper!
peace, movie zombie
peace, movie zombie
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