Damn Tires
Published by Elana October 26th, 2005 in Random Ramblings.I went to Sears Auto Center yesterday evening after work to get my tire fixed. Of course, because the hole was in the sidewall, it needed to be replaced. Of course, because my car came with high-end performance tires, there was a choice. I could spend $180 on the same brand I currently have or $145 on a Continental brand tire, since I couldn’t use a lower rating and keep the other 3 tires I have. If I had been able to replace with a lower rated tire, I could have spent $90 per. Since math indicated it was cheaper to pay $145 for one tire rather than $360 for 4 new tires, I got the Continental. They grumbled about me buying one of a different brand from my other tires, but I’m pretty sure it was a sales tactic. It might make a slight difference in the way the car runs, but not by much, and certainly nothing I’ll notice. When it’s time to replace the other tires due to tread wear, I’ll get the $90 ones. I did spend the $14 on the “insurance” which will give me a free replacement on the tire if I pop it again. Total cost? $184 and change. Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled. I had finally gotten myself into a position where I could spend some money and get a few new pairs of pants and now I’m going to have to put it off another month. The last time I tried to get new pants was back in March so it would have been nice to get some new clothing and start to wean out some of the older pairs, which are a bit worn. This time, I had even planned to buy a tape measurer so I could get my proper measurements and order them online through LL Bean. Now, it’ll have to wait. Probably another month. Damn.
Usually, replacing the two matching tires would be enough. Unless it’s an AWD vehicle, I don’t know why, other than sales, they’d be pushing you to buy all four tires.
They weren’t. I only replaced ONE tire and I refused to match it so they gave me a hard time. They were pushing the much more expensive matched tire on me.
Actually, they didn’t even give me the option to do a 2 tire match.
A 2-tire match is normal because an uneven wear on one side and not the other can pull the car. Usually you buy 2 tires and then rotate them so the older tires are in front (or opposite your driving tires for front or rear wheel). If the other side isn’t so worn, then it’s not a huge deal. A 4-tire sale over one blown tire is them just trying to get more money out of you. If they were all that worried about it, then they wouldn’t have sold you the insurance on the tire.