ThosL Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) I asked about the best tire options on a 4 wheel drive Subaru and was checking to see how others have made out with the major suppliers, Goodyear, Town Fair, Mavis, Walmart, Sears as well as online order companies like Tire Rack. I checked with Town Fare and they offered free front wheel alignment if I bought two tires, 205 70 R15, $220 for everything including balancing the other two tires. They have 50K life, with 30 free satisfaction and 90 road hazard replacement, etc.. Edited March 21, 2016 by ThosL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 uh - TWO tires? are your tires now all 4 the same size/brand/model and near each other in wear? they should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 That's super expensive for a 50k mile tire depending on the tire brand/ model and it sounds like it's an el- cheepo for an all in one type deal.. Consider this. a 4 wheel allignment is only $60-80 in most places, and a production tire shop is NOT where you get a good allignment. tires your wanting are in the $80 range from there.. Most places offer free mounting but charge $5-20 for balance. $10 for road hazard ( yes, it's not really free. you can usually opt out despite the sales pitch ). Walmart or Sams gets what is called "Priority" tires.. This is a tire made specifically for them. They buy a set amount, and that's what gets made.. They are generally less expensive versions of a tire that's in the regular lineup.. ( Goodyear for Walmart, Michellin for Sams Club ) I would buy 4 new tires from Walmart. Go for the Douglas All Season, Douglas Performance or the Douglas Xtra Trac II ( if there still available, they have been discontinued due to tooling changes ). The Xtra Trac used to retail for $57 IIRC. You would be out the door approx $250+ tax on 4 tires with lifetime rotate and balance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) Just my thoughts and humble opinions.......here in the Midwest, there are no Mavis or Town Fare stores, must be a New England thing, so have no opinions of either. Don't recommend going to a Good Year or Firestone tire stores. My experience with both is that they seem money hungry, with product and service both on the expensive side. Discount Tire stores do good work with competent tecs, but be aware their counter guys are on a commission or an incentive plan, so they are known to aggressively over sell customers to line their own pockets. A good friend of mine, worked several years at a Discount store as a tec, and was uncomfortable that women customers, in particular, were being taken advantage of, and sold new tires, when current tires were still good. All they had to do is tell a woman that her tires are unsafe, and it is an easy sale. Tire Rack must sell a lot of tires on line, and then the buyer goes to an installer. I have priced out tires through them, and then with the installer fee, I don't see where there is much savings. I also thought, if you have a tire go bad under warranty, then shipping it back to Tire Rack, and wait for a replacement tire or credit sounds like more trouble then it is worth. So, I have never dealt with on line tire sales. I live in Indy, and found that a smaller chain tire store (Tire Barn) has good prices, the replacement tires in stock, and a good counter guy to work with. You prolly have smaller tire chain stores in your area. Worth shopping with them. Subarus really need 4 new tires installed at the same time because of the all wheel drive feature. Otherwise, running tires of different tread depth can cause mechanical problems with the all wheel drive. Edited March 21, 2016 by Rooster2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Are you running a FWD Impreza or other FWD Subaru? I'm running 14" stock rims on my Subaru and went with Walmart's Douglas tires. Think it cost a touch under $250 for all 4 mounted and balanced, and I think they offer lifetime rotation but I might be mistaken. They were excellent tires for the snow and actually made it difficult to kick the rear out (not impossible, just more difficult) vs. some Michelin tires I ran prior. Also, I've yet to hear they squeal on turns. I ordered a set of high performance 17" tires for my other car from Tirerack. Think I placed an order on a Thursday morning, and they were here by 5 pm that Friday, which was mind blowing to be honest. They have a major hub in Indianapolis, so that was part of the reason. One of the other things I like about them is they have brutally honest reviews. If the Goodyear tire is getting Porsche drivers P'O'd, they let you know. They also have a rating scale for most tires, and some of the Japanese tire brands score very high with wet, dry, snow traction if looking at all season, and have excellent wear ratings, etc. Was actually surprised how poorly some of the Goodyear and Firestone, Dunlop, etc. scored strong on dry, then horrible on wet roads, etc. Well worth at least researching the tire if you plan to push it a bit. I went with the Douglas as I didn't want to dump a ton into the Subaru, and other than the sidewalls being a bit on the light side (it supposedly offers a better ride, lots of touring-style tires often have softer sidewalls) it's a decent, cheap tire and so far it's wearing evenly, but not excessively, though car had new tie rods and an alignment right before they were installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThosL Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 (edited) I went to another place that had Kumho tires @$191 including everything for two. No Walmarts around here that do tires. And only Town Fair does free front end alignments, other places are at $80 or so for either front or four wheel. So even if you can get tires installed @ $120-140 for two including everything, you still have alignment putting it over $200. Edited March 21, 2016 by ThosL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 A front end only allignment is a waste, 2 tires on a Subaru is stupid if they don't match front/ rear, many shops won't do it due to liability.. If you have one good tire, that is 9+ 32nds, find a retailer that sells that brand/ model and buy 3 of them... If that tire is older than 2011, discard it anyway... The reason you don't mismatch front to rear, or side to side is because different tires have different overall diamater variations.. If you have a good brand A tire with 11/32" and a new brand B tire with 12/32".. Brand A might be 23.75" diamater. and Brand B might be 23.73".. These will change the diamaters indipendently of the tread depth, and why Subaru says don't do it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bushwick Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 A front end only allignment is a waste, 2 tires on a Subaru is stupid if they don't match front/ rear, many shops won't do it due to liability.. It sounds like he has a FWD Subaru, which a front end only alignment and new front tires would be perfectly acceptable, unless it was AWD and someone yanked the driveshaft or is leaving the fuse in 24/7 (assuming he's got an auto). Having 4 matching tires in AWD is mainly to keep the tires all spinning at the same speeds. On FWD, you can mix the rear tires and it won't really matter unless one grips better than the other or has better braking traction, but if you have the money, it behooves you to run all 4 matching. In a really bad accident that kills someone, I suspect a higher-end bull dog attorney could argue if you had correct tires it might have avoided an accident, etc. which might look bad in a jury trial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt167 Posted March 23, 2016 Share Posted March 23, 2016 In another thread, its a 99 legacy. That's an Awd. Fwd does not exist past 1996 iirc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThosL Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 It sounds like he has a FWD Subaru, which a front end only alignment and new front tires would be perfectly acceptable, unless it was AWD and someone yanked the driveshaft or is leaving the fuse in 24/7 (assuming he's got an auto). Having 4 matching tires in AWD is mainly to keep the tires all spinning at the same speeds. On FWD, you can mix the rear tires and it won't really matter unless one grips better than the other or has better braking traction, but if you have the money, it behooves you to run all 4 matching. In a really bad accident that kills someone, I suspect a higher-end bull dog attorney could argue if you had correct tires it might have avoided an accident, etc. which might look bad in a jury trial. That's a far-fetched load of fear-mongering. "The perfect is the enemy of the good". Why not recommend periodically checking to make sure all 4 tires of the same type and manufacture are within 1/4" of one another? All those ideal recommendations are for wealthy people who can afford perfection. I can't, and unless you are going to pay me to get everything perfect, you are wasting my time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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