So if you've seen my other thread, I'm going to hopefully be getting a new car soon - which means I'll be trading in my tC. In the next couple months.

Problem is, my current tires are SHOT. Like down to wear bars and below... no cords yet, but I think I'm pretty close (two seasons of autox will do that to a tire).

My current options:
- Trade in as is. I doubt I'd get all of my $$ back on the trade if I buy new tires. So there's no use putting a good set of tires on now. Problem is that I don't know when I'm going to be trading it yet. So I might have to drive on these for 2 more months. Safety (especially in the wet) becomes a concern.
- Put other wheels with snow tires on. I have a spare set of wheels with snows on them. Was going to give these to my g/f for her xD after I trade my tC in, but they are available and do have tread. But then we would need to buy snows for her later on and I'd be riding around on snows in hot weather and have to trade in a car on snows. Not idea.
- Buy tires for my tC now. I've checked Craigslist, hoping to score a set of used tires cheap but have found nothing. I haven't yet started calling around local shops but figured I'd buy a cheap set online and be done with it.

And when I say cheap, I'm not kidding. I can get a set of Nankang NS-1 from Discount Tire for $69/each with free shipping. Total comes to $276 for tires but then add about $60 for mount/balance and I'm looking at around $330 or so...

Another thing to consider is that I'll end up buying a set of snows for the new car not too long after I get it... so that's even more reason to TRY not to spend money on tires right now.

So what would SL do? Does all of this make sense? Does anyone have a cheaper option for OEM size tires? I've checked TireRack, Discount Tire, Vulcan Tire, Tread Depot (OMG, outrageous shipping), Walmart, and Sears... so far.

 

Not sure how you feel about it but maybe check out a used tire shop? You can usually find some tires with a pretty decent amount of tread on them for dirt cheap.

 

x2 on trying the used tire shop... much more economical in your situation...

 

It's a hard choice, but I would just put 4 fresh tires on it.

 

used tires as a first option or try onlinetires.com.

 

I don't think we have any used tire places around here - unless I were to try a junk yard or something. Not that I can think of anyway... tried searching yellowpages.com and that was absolutely useless (what a mess that site is).

I just called Firestone and they have a cheap tire for $60... all said and done would be $332 for all four installed. So, basically the same as DTD - but local. Tires are Primewell P900.

 

That's kind of a bummer..oh well. Gotta do what you gotta do right?

 

Also search the tire size on ebay.

 

well at least with those suckers on it no one would ever think it had been autocrossed routinely! lol

 

wow 2 seasons of autox on one set of tires mine didnt make it though 1
lol as for tire shops dude have to have a used tire shop! im telling ya drive around till u see a YELLOW building with a tire upfront lol they have to have one some where! here we have them EVERYWHERE! all yellow dont ask why but yellow seems to be a mexican tire shops favorite color...

 

We don't really have Mexicans here... I don't live in a real city.

 

I would say the Nankang tires are your best bet. I thought Discount Tire did free mount, balance, and rotations when you buy tires from them. Maybe not, I think they do around where I live. Might be worth checking out. I was going to suggest Diamondback tires but I cant seem to find them. My Diamondback 225/40/18's were $70 a piece so I'm sure the stock size would be even cheaper.

 

mind i ask where you live?

 

We don't have a DTD around here, so that's just the price for the tires shipped. If we had one, I'd probably go to it.

I'm in "upstate" NY. Near Watkins Glen if you're familiar with the track at all.

 

I have been very happy with Federal Tires, they are cheap too.

 

You could put the snow tires on and then drive the g/f's car as much as possible when your together to minimize your driving in hot weather with snow tires. Then, the morning before you go to trade it in, pull the snows off and put your current ones back on. Just a thought, and it would be cheap.

 

I know this is "Not a WTB" but If you were closer I have a set of stock 17'' Bridgestone potenzas in my basement still, haha...They had a few thousand miles put on them before they were removed for summers back in 2006. Had a second set from my sisters tC but we sold them to a local person for $150 bucks.

 

there is some federals for i think $50 something a piece on onlinetires.com, the only thing is wet traction might be sketchy with them.

 

I got "westlake" brand tires on my stockies. they were like $60 something each from ken towery, and wal-mart only charges $5.00 a tire to mount them. (free if you buy them there) I'd never heard of westlake before, but I got a good deal on em, and they do awesome in the rain.

 

if your going to trade in the car soon, get the cheapest you can get to save up some money. usually the used tires are great deals if you have some local shops that sell them., or maybe u can travel a little to find a store that has used tires