Experienced auto tire inflation this past week
roadrunner
Posts: 28,303 ✭✭✭✭✭
High prices are driving more motorists to rent tires
What? Renting Tires? This must be April's Fools day or Bizzarro world. That was the headline on the front page of Sunday's Motoring section in the Hartford Courant, Connecticut's largest circulation, daily newspaper. I thought it was a joke. It's not. What's next, renting/leasing cardiac pacemakers? The article states that tire prices on average are up 57% from 2006 to 2012 with some popular sizes having doubled. What I found in further research is that rubber prices are up more than 9X since 2001. What happened to all those recessions since 2001? Source article is linked below. Skip the rest of this post if you aren't interested in saving a few bucks on your next tire purchase. Trying to add a little human interest story to Sunday morning which was great timing as I just finished up my immersion in the retail tire market.
More inflation news - your automobile tires
Rubber price up 9X from 2001 to 2011 - interesting price charts here for leading commodities vs. rubber
One thing the chart in the above link shows, is general commodity inflation over the past 12 years.
I did some tire shopping last week for my 2002 daily driver as the original tires with 52,000 miles were finally spent (bought the car used 3-1/2 years ago with 22,000 miles). When buying tires in the past I had simply driven down to my local Town Fair dealer and made a quick decision based on price ($85-$95 per tire) selecting a decent name brand with a good rating (typically at least 300 AA). This time around I picked 400 as my minimum treadwear target as that's what was on the car already. Last time I bought tires for a car was probably in 2007 so there was some sticker shock when starting my on line search. The Michelins on my car would cost $159 each based on the listed internet price (not counting the approx $20/ea for stems and balancing plus sales tax). No way I was paying $159 when seemingly other "quality" names were price in the $90-$110 range. The first one that caught my eye was the Riken Raptor H/V at $106 with a high rating of 580 AA. I found that the RR is a basic quality tire originally made under Michelin. The Riken company makes the tires out of Singapore. A little more investigation from reading buyer's tire reviews showed numerous blow outs on these tires when still quite new (ie less than 10,000 miles). Ok, scratch those.
Now I realized there was a lot more to a tire than just name, price, and UTQG rating. I ended up reading a few hundred consumer buyer reviews on BFG, Goodyear, Michelin, and some lesser brands. I was sort of shocked that for a lot of quality tires the reviews were generally negative. On one particular quality tire 40 out of 50 reviews said the tire stunk, failed early, and they would never buy the brand again. Interesting. In the end, I settled for the same type of tires that were on my car from the factory, the Michelin Primacy MXV4 H (225-60-R16). They had already worked well for 12 years and 52K miles. Rather than paying $159 each I was able to get them for $135 which matched the lowest "non-delivered" internet pricing I found. The rating on these Michelins is 680 AA and is considered a 60/65K mileage tire. This was the first time I had ever paid more than $95 for any passenger car tire. I could probably have gone with a $90 tire and found myself getting 50,000+ miles on it....but with no peace of mind though. I had read numerous reviews on Goodyears, BFG's and even Michelins that only made it to 25,000-40,000 miles when they were worn out. A lot of that might have to do with more aggressive driving habits. That's not the case with our family who are coasters and slow pokers....lol. I paid an extra $40 per tire over what I had 6 years ago and also got a better quality brand with the potential for more tread life (ie 620 vs 400 rating). This will probably be the last set of tires put on this car as it will probably be close to 20 years old when these tires expire. The car will have 120,000 miles by then and would be a good candidate to ship to Singapore for the next 10 yrs of its life.
When shopping on line for a tire don't forget to factor in at least $15 per tire to ship to your home. Could be more if shipped to your local tire installer. Costco's, BJ's, Sam's, Walmart, and on line discount tire dealers offer some good pricing on tires and/or installation. I just don't know how they stack up in service quality and sophistication of equipment over a Town Fair, Firestone, Sears, Pep Boys, and other tire giants. I used the tight pricing of BJ's to get another 5% discount from Town Fair. So out the door and all in, my tires ran me $636 with 6% sales tax ($159/ea all in). Peace of mind for another 7 to 8 years. I learned a lot from this exercise while spending several hours researching on line/making phone calls. Very few dealers offer anything close to their best deal the first time around...or even the 2nd. And most of them will match (or beat) any other legit offer though who wants to drive back and forth from town to town asking each guy to beat this offer? I got a bit frustrated at Town Fair when they didn't even have 4 tires in stock. I told them that for only a 5% savings I'd just as likely get the tires done at BJ's next time I walked in there.
There are also $40-$80 dealer rebates from the big tire manufacturers running at various times during the year that you can take advantage of to lessen the sticker shock. BFG was offering a $40 rebate this month that I almost went with on a $113 tire. However, I wasn't happy with the reviews on that tire and decided the potential $30 "savings" per tire over the Michelin might not be a savings at all. A week ago I wasn't even considering buying the more expensive Michelins for my car. Funny how things change. I probably could have chiseled more money on the tires but for the hours I allocated I felt satisfied that I didn't get ripped. Baleyville Tire Center probably has the Michelins on sale this month for $115 each.
Even though most commodity prices are down over the past 2-5 years, the finished products that they make up have for the most part gone up in price or is represented by downsized packaging. Lower sugar, cocoa, and grain prices haven't dropped the prices of things you find at the Supermart. The organic almond milk I buy at my local health store just went up from $4 and change to $5.79. My organic granola mix went up from $4.89 to $5.29/lb. Note that 3 years ago it was $3.99/lb. Until today, I hadn't realized that rubber prices had only grown for over a decade. I never considered renting these Michelins and doubling or tripling their eventual cost. Paying $636 was more than enough for me.
What? Renting Tires? This must be April's Fools day or Bizzarro world. That was the headline on the front page of Sunday's Motoring section in the Hartford Courant, Connecticut's largest circulation, daily newspaper. I thought it was a joke. It's not. What's next, renting/leasing cardiac pacemakers? The article states that tire prices on average are up 57% from 2006 to 2012 with some popular sizes having doubled. What I found in further research is that rubber prices are up more than 9X since 2001. What happened to all those recessions since 2001? Source article is linked below. Skip the rest of this post if you aren't interested in saving a few bucks on your next tire purchase. Trying to add a little human interest story to Sunday morning which was great timing as I just finished up my immersion in the retail tire market.
More inflation news - your automobile tires
Rubber price up 9X from 2001 to 2011 - interesting price charts here for leading commodities vs. rubber
One thing the chart in the above link shows, is general commodity inflation over the past 12 years.
I did some tire shopping last week for my 2002 daily driver as the original tires with 52,000 miles were finally spent (bought the car used 3-1/2 years ago with 22,000 miles). When buying tires in the past I had simply driven down to my local Town Fair dealer and made a quick decision based on price ($85-$95 per tire) selecting a decent name brand with a good rating (typically at least 300 AA). This time around I picked 400 as my minimum treadwear target as that's what was on the car already. Last time I bought tires for a car was probably in 2007 so there was some sticker shock when starting my on line search. The Michelins on my car would cost $159 each based on the listed internet price (not counting the approx $20/ea for stems and balancing plus sales tax). No way I was paying $159 when seemingly other "quality" names were price in the $90-$110 range. The first one that caught my eye was the Riken Raptor H/V at $106 with a high rating of 580 AA. I found that the RR is a basic quality tire originally made under Michelin. The Riken company makes the tires out of Singapore. A little more investigation from reading buyer's tire reviews showed numerous blow outs on these tires when still quite new (ie less than 10,000 miles). Ok, scratch those.
Now I realized there was a lot more to a tire than just name, price, and UTQG rating. I ended up reading a few hundred consumer buyer reviews on BFG, Goodyear, Michelin, and some lesser brands. I was sort of shocked that for a lot of quality tires the reviews were generally negative. On one particular quality tire 40 out of 50 reviews said the tire stunk, failed early, and they would never buy the brand again. Interesting. In the end, I settled for the same type of tires that were on my car from the factory, the Michelin Primacy MXV4 H (225-60-R16). They had already worked well for 12 years and 52K miles. Rather than paying $159 each I was able to get them for $135 which matched the lowest "non-delivered" internet pricing I found. The rating on these Michelins is 680 AA and is considered a 60/65K mileage tire. This was the first time I had ever paid more than $95 for any passenger car tire. I could probably have gone with a $90 tire and found myself getting 50,000+ miles on it....but with no peace of mind though. I had read numerous reviews on Goodyears, BFG's and even Michelins that only made it to 25,000-40,000 miles when they were worn out. A lot of that might have to do with more aggressive driving habits. That's not the case with our family who are coasters and slow pokers....lol. I paid an extra $40 per tire over what I had 6 years ago and also got a better quality brand with the potential for more tread life (ie 620 vs 400 rating). This will probably be the last set of tires put on this car as it will probably be close to 20 years old when these tires expire. The car will have 120,000 miles by then and would be a good candidate to ship to Singapore for the next 10 yrs of its life.
When shopping on line for a tire don't forget to factor in at least $15 per tire to ship to your home. Could be more if shipped to your local tire installer. Costco's, BJ's, Sam's, Walmart, and on line discount tire dealers offer some good pricing on tires and/or installation. I just don't know how they stack up in service quality and sophistication of equipment over a Town Fair, Firestone, Sears, Pep Boys, and other tire giants. I used the tight pricing of BJ's to get another 5% discount from Town Fair. So out the door and all in, my tires ran me $636 with 6% sales tax ($159/ea all in). Peace of mind for another 7 to 8 years. I learned a lot from this exercise while spending several hours researching on line/making phone calls. Very few dealers offer anything close to their best deal the first time around...or even the 2nd. And most of them will match (or beat) any other legit offer though who wants to drive back and forth from town to town asking each guy to beat this offer? I got a bit frustrated at Town Fair when they didn't even have 4 tires in stock. I told them that for only a 5% savings I'd just as likely get the tires done at BJ's next time I walked in there.
There are also $40-$80 dealer rebates from the big tire manufacturers running at various times during the year that you can take advantage of to lessen the sticker shock. BFG was offering a $40 rebate this month that I almost went with on a $113 tire. However, I wasn't happy with the reviews on that tire and decided the potential $30 "savings" per tire over the Michelin might not be a savings at all. A week ago I wasn't even considering buying the more expensive Michelins for my car. Funny how things change. I probably could have chiseled more money on the tires but for the hours I allocated I felt satisfied that I didn't get ripped. Baleyville Tire Center probably has the Michelins on sale this month for $115 each.
Even though most commodity prices are down over the past 2-5 years, the finished products that they make up have for the most part gone up in price or is represented by downsized packaging. Lower sugar, cocoa, and grain prices haven't dropped the prices of things you find at the Supermart. The organic almond milk I buy at my local health store just went up from $4 and change to $5.79. My organic granola mix went up from $4.89 to $5.29/lb. Note that 3 years ago it was $3.99/lb. Until today, I hadn't realized that rubber prices had only grown for over a decade. I never considered renting these Michelins and doubling or tripling their eventual cost. Paying $636 was more than enough for me.
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Comments
I had a blow out on my suv, $175 to replace my firestone tire.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
<< <i>My mother was offered a mid 90s mid size car for $350. She described the car to me over the phone talking about low miles and other basic stuff. All I wanted to know was what brand of tires and how much tread left. I told her buy the jack it up take the tires off and leave the car on blocks so that she would have a spare set of tires. Crazy prices.
I had a blow out on my suv, $175 to replace my firestone tire. >>
In reading those hundreds of major brand tire reviews, I was sort of shocked at the number of blown newer tires. Even the spotty mileage life was surprising on high end tires. I've driven on dozens of sets of tires over my life and don't ever recall wearing out a tire at under 50,000 miles...certainly not under 40,000. And this is going back to the 1970's when tires stunk. Never had a blowout, never had a flat. I have to think that driving over curbs parking barriers, generously laying down rubber, running over things on the highway while not paying attention, and taking sharp curves at speeds close to spinning out may seriously shorten your tire life and lead to blowouts. And sometimes though, I think the tires are just defective right from the factory. My dad's 1997 Lincoln developed a large bump/knot within the first 30,000 miles on the 2 front tires. One went within the first 5,000 miles and the other 5 years later. Definitely defective. The follow on 3 sets of tires after that point each lasted over 60,000 miles each.
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
<< <i>It's good info, so sincere thanks. Also, I thought "tire inflation" was a cute play on words
Interesting you picked up on that. I didn't see it all.....mere coincidence on my part. You get full credit for finding it.
The irony of these new tires is that I cannot tell any difference yet between the ride and performance vs. the old ones.
But if anyone knows of a better deal on those tires from a national chain let me know so I can go back for the 30 day price match guarantee....lol.
Expect to see much more of this sort of thing as environmental controls, carbon taxes, etc. continue to be enacted and made more restrictive. Having some exposure to the electric generation industry, I can tell you that there seems to be a battle going on with anything related to energy (except for wind and solar). I expected higher and higher energy costs and thus higher and higher prices in everyday life. Most unfortunate, but seems to be what a majority of the people want... or at least those who have the power (political, that is).
Average decent car about 35K now so a $800 set tires reasonable.
I pulled out of the shed and rode across the yard and just before getting to the garage... The mower stopped. The engine was still running, but I was not going forward. When I looked down, the bead on the left rear tire had come off...
I believe this is the tire that had "Fix-a-flat" put in it many years ago so it was time to replace said tire. (The side wall was dry-rotting pretty bad).
Before taking out to find a tire, I did a quick google search for tires and found that they would run about $35-$45 dollars, not to bad I guess.
So I went to Sears (Since that is where the mower was originally purchased) and asked them if they sold tires for the mower... Long story short, they did not. I asked where I might be able to obtain a new tire and they directed me down the street to a tractor farm place.
Thankfully I found a tire but was shocked to find that it would cost me about $61... That's more than what I paid for my vehicle tires last year (Small Toyota).
"Interest rates, the price of money, are the most important market. And, perversely, they’re the market that’s most manipulated by the Fed." - Doug Casey
Then things were ok for most of the time since then.
Now, I have to pay almost a Grand for a new set of tires for the van. The equivalent to one months health insurance payment.
<< <i>Higher tariffs on imported Chinese tires allowed for a rise in domestic prices. Look for similar results as nations move toward protectionism of its own labor force. Penalizing imports seems to be a preferred tool to do so. >>
If it ain't Goodyear, Michelin, or Firestone it wont roll on my ride(Ford or Chevy)
I bought a set of goodyear tires (low resistance, 60k mile manufacture guarantee) about a year and a half ago. I was recently driving out to the river and had a blowout. The tiny town I was in didnt have an america's tire within 100 miles. I called up the guys at the shop I bought it, sent them a pic of the tire (as well as the other 3) and asked what to do. FYI I purchased the tire protection package for roughly $12/tire that should cover any type of blowout should it occur before the manufacturer warranty, good deal imo. Anyways they said something looked funky with the other tires and to replace all 4 at any tire place in the tiny city I was in, bring them the receipt and they will cover the cost of those tires. So I went out got new ones (totaling roughly 400) and when I got back I went to their shop. They gave me cash (minus the tax I had paid) for the entire amount of the tires I got at the remote city AND put 4 brand new tires that I originally had on the car. Everything was free of charge. I did have to purchase the protection plan again for the new set of tires at 12/tire, still a great deal imo.
Point of the story, if you are shopping for new tires, america's tire hooked up me and takes care of their clients. I would buy there and Im never buying tires anywhere else.
BST Transactions (as the seller): Collectall, GRANDAM, epcjimi1, wondercoin, jmski52, wheathoarder, jay1187, jdsueu, grote15, airplanenut, bigole
MILK my boy, and other dairy products
Steve
You Heard it here FIRST
<< <i>Yes tires are outragious, but ya missed the boat, MILK my boy
MILK my boy, and other dairy products
Steve
You Heard it here FIRST >>
What do you mean? Prices are heading upwards? Animal milk and all dairy products are for the most part products that we humans do not need. Plenty of literature out there
suggesting a significant amount of illness is caused or at least affected by excessive dairy consumption (osteoporosis is but one of them). The more milk you drink, the less calcium
you have available for bone health. Not a big concern for me since I made the break from animal milk and dairy products a couple of years ago. Though, I do cheat at times with
an occasional cheese pizza or a cheese burger.
I experience auto tire inflation every time I get an oil change. Auto tire deflation can be risky, just ask Bernanke. I think he would prefer that tires remain flat.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
Just asking because I bought a 2012 Chevy dually last July. That truck now has 84K miles on it and I can probably get another 8-10k miles from the factory Michelin tires. The truck usually has a load--towing a 5th wheel or bumper pull trailer. I am extremely pleased with these tires and never dreamed of getting 100,000 miles on a set of tires.
Knowledge is the enemy of fear
<< <i>What was the average mileage from a tire 10 or 20 years ago vs what should be expected today?
Just asking because I bought a 2012 Chevy dually last July. That truck now has 84K miles on it and I can probably get another 8-10k miles from the factory Michelin tires. The truck usually has a load--towing a 5th wheel or bumper pull trailer. I am extremely pleased with these tires and never dreamed of getting 100,000 miles on a set of tires. >>
In the cars I've owned over the past 20 years I've gotten basically 40K-70K on tires.....50K average? Can't say I've noticed a marked improvement in tire life over those 20 yrs.
Article on tire life and quality over the past several decades
A lot of the price increase has been due to increased cost of oil, other components, and shipping. The overseas tire makers that are often of lower quality than domestic makers now cost so much more to ship that it is hardly worth buying chinese made tires.
The labor that goes into making tires has also dropped dramatically, due to improved manufacturing methods. That helps domestic makers. The biggest reason to go overseas, is lower labor cost. But if with high tech machines you can run on 1/10th the force its worth it stay here.
Blow outs can occur for various reasons, the number one reason is actually improper air pressure in your tires. If you do not have tire pressure monitoring systems on your car you should check your pressure monthly.
Tread life: First of all I have never been a fan of high mileage tires. Many tend to get dried out from environmental exposure before the tread wears out, unless you are a person that puts on tons of miles a year a tread life between 30k-50k should be fine. They will wear out sooner in hotter weather, and under towing conditions. Also they need to be rotated at proper intervals to get the most life out of them.
My dad sells a lot of tires to farmers and truckers, who willing admit going with the higher upfront cost of a good brand name tire pays off in the long run.
<< <i>My dad has been selling tires for the past 25 years.
A lot of the price increase has been due to increased cost of oil, other components, and shipping. The overseas tire makers that are often of lower quality than domestic makers now cost so much more to ship that it is hardly worth buying chinese made tires.
The labor that goes into making tires has also dropped dramatically, due to improved manufacturing methods.
Blow outs can occur for various reasons, the number one reason is actually improper air pressure in your tires. If you do not have tire pressure monitoring systems on your car you should check your pressure monthly.
Tread life: First of all I have never been a fan of high mileage tires. Many tend to get dried out from environmental exposure before the tread wears out, unless you are a person that puts on tons of miles a year a tread life between 30k-50k should be fine. They will wear out sooner in hotter weather, and under towing conditions. Also they need to be rotated at proper intervals to get the most life out of them.
My dad sells a lot of tires to farmers and truckers, who willing admit going with the higher upfront cost of a good brand name tire pays off in the long run. >>
Thanks for the insight.
<< <i>If it ain't Goodyear, Michelin, or Firestone it wont roll on my ride(Ford or Chevy)
Michelin...
Michelin (/ˈmɪʃəlɪn/ or /ˈmɪtʃəlɪn/; French pronunciation: [miʃ'lɛ̃]; full name: SCA Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin) is a tyre manufacturer based in Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne région of France. It is one of the two largest tyre manufacturers in the world along with Bridgestone. In addition to the Michelin brand, it also owns the BFGoodrich, Kleber, Tigar, Riken, Kormoran and Uniroyal (in North America) tyre brands. Per Wikipedia ...
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, a subsidiary of Bridgestone ...
The Bridgestone Corporation (株式会社ブリヂストン Kabushiki-gaisha Burijisuton?) (TYO: 5108, OTC Pink: BRDCY) is a multinational auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (石橋正二郎 Ishibashi Shōjirō?) in the city of Kurume, Japan. Again, per our friends at Wikipedia
Goodyear, AFAIK, is still HQ'd in the good ole USA.
<< <i>I had a front right tire blow out at 70 MPH when I was 17-1978. I learned early in life NEVER skimp on tires & tire safety. Between $180-$225 a tire been norm for me for at least last 8 years. I might drive older cars but my tires are never old or iffy. >>
This. Whatever your "ride" is, the engine power needs to get to the road...why not get good tires(?) The only time I worried about my tires (my family) was in the late 90's when Ford Explorers (mine was a 1997) had issues...
We sure do miss that Roadrunner!
It would be nice if @roadrunner stopped in to let us know he's ok
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
need two sets where I live. Winter tires and tires for the non-winter periods (I hate to use the term "Summer Tires" because it really isn't summer ever. Truck tires, E-Rated, looking at about 300 bucks each, easy.
Yes, roadrunner was one of the best contributors. I hope he's doing okay.
Good tires are cheaper than good Large Cents.
I knew it would happen.
I seem to recall that over on the us coin forum someone mentioned seeing him