Meyer: My ‘fun' experience buying tires

It's no secret that shopping for tires isn't on most people's fun lists. In most cases, it's a "need to" rather than a "want to" purchase.

And when you need to shell out money for a full set of tires for both your own vehicle and your wife's, that's just double the fun.

Well, that's the situation we found ourselves in recently.

Now the last time I bought tires was not long before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. I opted to shop at Costco rather than an independent tire dealer. I bought a set of premier tires for my 2015 Ford Fusion. The price was right and the service at the Costco tire center was top notch.

But I won't lie, I didn't love the tires. I will admit, when pandemic protocols hit, I wasn't rushing out to get tire rotations as soon as advised. Even knowing I hadn't kept up my full part of the bargain, I still wasn't pleased when the tires fell more than 20,000 miles short of what the warranty called for.

So when it came time for this round of tire buying, I followed my wife's lead. She was a return customer at a popular regional tire dealer chain in Northeast Ohio where she was happy with the service and the tires.

For those in this area, they are well known for whispering the name of the dealership at the end of their commercials.

After she purchased a set for her Escape (yes, we've become a Ford family after the demise of Saturn), I went next.

My experience was good, but with some twists I had not experienced previously. This time, when the technician inspected the car, he texted me a video of the brake inspection, a tool I hadn't seen before.

Now, I'm not a mechanic, but I didn't doubt his diagnosis as I hadn't needed to replace brakes in the five-plus years I owned the vehicle.

In the end, we both bought what would be considered "Better" tires on the "Good, better, best" tier. Between two sets of tires and the brakes, the damage was $2,800, close to 60 percent of that for the tires.

The final part of the process was something else I hadn't encountered.

When it came to the tire warranty, they said it was best to handle it through the dealership. The manager said the tire companies make consumers—and them—go through too many hoops before honoring any warranty benefits.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement for their suppliers, but one I'm guessing a good percentage of the tire buying public would have no trouble believing.

Meyer is editor of Rubber News. Connect with him on LinkedIn and contact him at [email protected].