Nitto Tires

[MazdaSpeedCX7]

Has anyone tried the Nitto NT420S 255/55/18 yet with the stock wheels? These tires look to be a great deal($467.40 shipped to your front door via Discount Tire Direct)

 

[RiP 8/23/07]

the deals online always seem great but if your not mounting and balanceing them yourself the local shops usually gouge pretty bad to do the labor of tires that aren't theirs... I have had nitto/ dunlop/ michelin they are all very nice tires only tires that I can say really suck are nankangs and kumhos that come with the cheapest 20" performance wheels they are just lop sided

my advice find a local shop and see what they charge for the same tire mounted and balanced... then ask them how much to balance a pair if you buy elsewhere mounting and balanceing can cost40 or more per wheel so thats an extra 160 might not make it such a great deal. also local shops include rotation for the life of the tire and road hazard some times and you never know... stuff happens

 

[Killer]

good advice RIP

 

[astraelraen]

the deals online always seem great but if your not mounting and balanceing them yourself the local shops usually gouge pretty bad to do the labor of tires that aren't theirs... I have had nitto/ dunlop/ michelin they are all very nice tires only tires that I can say really suck are nankangs and kumhos that come with the cheapest 20" performance wheels they are just lop sided

my advice find a local shop and see what they charge for the same tire mounted and balanced... then ask them how much to balance a pair if you buy elsewhere mounting and balanceing can cost40 or more per wheel so thats an extra 160 might not make it such a great deal. also local shops include rotation for the life of the tire and road hazard some times and you never know... stuff happens

This is good advice. I was going to buy my 20's online, but most of the local wheel/tire places charged at least 10-20 bucks a wheel to balance/put them on. If I bought locally though they would do lifetime balancing, rotating etc.

 

[Shaz]

Would local tire shops order rims and tires of your choosing or would they just mount and install whatever is on their lineup/stock?

 

[RiP 8/23/07]

I live in a very populated area that does alot of car modifying, atlantic city NJ, so there is like 5 shops in 3 miles that have books and books of every rim you can imagine at competitive price it usually isn't as cheap as the online specials but they get you a better tire which pays off in the long run.

Usually rims are ordered not stocked unless they really think they can sell them to a certain car cause every car has a diff offset and lug pattern width... too many variables to just have one in stock cept maybe a 4/100/114 universal rim for a honda/ acura they usually have them in stock cause everyone puts rims on them

 

[erhayes]

I have had a bad experience with waraanty service. I purchased a set of 4 tires. Tires mounted locally and balanced and all was great. When the tires were worn to the safety rib long before the tire warranty was out I took the tire in for warranty service. I expected to get something off on a new set. Sears, who handled the same tire (exact model) would not warranty the tire because it was not purchased from a Sears store. Letters & phone calls to Tirerack and Sears did not resolve the issues so I said never again. Tirerack does provide a list of "preferred tire mounting & balancing places" which are OK as members say. However the possible warranty issues must be considered. All that I saved was lost and the aggravation and time lost was terrible for me.

 

[MrPirelliCX7]

most smart places charge about 20-25 bucks mounted and balanced and that includes lifetime rotation and balancing, which if you do every 5,000 miles is easily worth the charge of 80-100 bucks

you can sometimes negotiate a better deal if you buy their road hazard and and or an alignment, because those are the two most profitable tire related sales that a store can make because an alignment doesnt include parts only the labor they pay their tech. and the road hazard plans cost the stores 3-5 dollar per tire.

It is hard to make money on tires it is a cut throat business the average margin these days shops mark up tire is roughly 30-40%

I worked for goodyear retail for 5 years so take my advice to the bank

I would not rec. Nitto, they are very noisy and wear rapidly, I am not going to rec a brand because they keep sending me spam, even though i always rec brands that are not related to my member name
most shops dont stock nitto which is something to consider should you ever have to replace a tire on a trip or on short notice, Nitto pushes their product into primarily wholesalers of which most are closed on the weekend.