Depending on context that could be good advice. However tires are especially insanely expensive now so I get not taking that advice even if you can technically afford it.
Are they? I haven’t checked recently, and winter is coming. I need snow tires.
Yeah. I mean I remember buying tires for like $100 each. I think that was closer to $160 last time I bought tires (and these are small car tires, cheaper than many others. I’ve heard truck tires can be like $250 each)
I just bought a set of new tires for $115 each (including installation). But that involved shopping around and not using the manufacturer recommended tires. The dealership wanted around $300 per tire.
I watched a tech bro crash his sports car, come out, laughed, and then walked into his garage to jump into another sports car.
Yikes what a gross human
Plug for Discount Tire. I’ve seen people come in with a flat on a good tire and they offer to patch it for free. Also had them work with me when I couldn’t afford all four tires and was just going to get two in the front, they did some discounting and stuff and for a little more than the two tire cost gave me four. Caveat - it could be just the few stores I’ve been in, management can make or break any place, no matter how good the product or employees are.
I’ve always had good customer service with Discount Tire Company.
Last time I needed multiple tires, they wanted about $150 note fir the tires, and wanted to charge $35 per tire changed.
I went elsewhere with slightly cheaper tires and the change was included in the service.
My only beef with discount tire is their anti-weed policy for their employees.
Why would you want some dude stoned out of his mind changing your tyres?
Okay, but that’s not the policy. The policy is they’re never allowed to smoke, even in the evening after work
That’s not what anti-cannabis policies are. It means that you can get fired for using cannabis when you aren’t at work. It’s normal to get home after work and crack open a beer. Some people want to sit down with a bowl after work instead.
At a tire shop? Am I missing something? That sounds absurd.
at home, dumbass.
I had a bad experience in Phoenix, the tires fell apart after 8 months. Otherwise though, they’ve always been great and very accommodating. I go to Costco now but they’re the same or better imo.
I try to do business with mom and pop shops as much as possible. All the local mom and pop tire shops have been bought out over the years and become trash.
I went back to DT after a 20+ year hiatus and found their service, pricing, and willingness to work with me delightful.
For example my car uses a very specific tire and I got a flat on the side wall. They just happened to keep a set from a previous driver in near new condition to replace that one tire for labor only until the very specific tire could be brought in 3 weeks later!
Then they discounted the original labor off the new tire purchase price.
When it’s time to replace I usually go with Walmart. I buy whatever tire is on rollback online, ship to atore, and they put it on. Their autocenter has the cheapest rate for putting on tires.
Last time I paid $45 a tire and $11 for installation.
Yes it’s Walmart, but I’m broke and this is like $100 cheaper than the next option
I’m not judging you but If you can afford it you should go elsewhere. Walmart tires are absolute shit. I say this having worked in their tire shop and several other places. We had people coming in with defects and broken belts daily where it was a rare occurrence everywhere else I worked. They also didn’t do anything to ensure the people working on cars weren’t dumbasses. I had to fix A LOT of shit they broke.
Been doing this for 11 years only ever had 1 tire that needed a patch. I usually ride further than the stated mileage before the tires are bald.
However, I do drive a sub-compact car and have the whole 11 years. Lot less weight on the tires than a standard car
I bought a set of five Nokian all-weather light truck tires on closeout at Walmart for under $300. A set of more desirable all-terrains would have run me $1k and are probably now around $1500. The tires have been great.
Pay attention to the brand and reviews, not the store.
When I lived in NJ for a couple of years, the nearest Discount was in Ohio. I strongly considered the drive.
All that replacing is a little tiring
For an all time AWD system like what Subaru offers, you will need to do this if the replacement tire is worn, or shave it to match.
Subarus are actually one of the worst-case vehicles for this. I really don’t understand the love for those things.
My partner has one and with the ‘need to replace every tire if you replace one’ thing, ads showing up in the infotainment center, the battery dying if the key fob is stored too close to the car (real stuff, it’s legit written in the manual not to store the key near the car because of this, ask me how we know), she’s so fed up with it.
Edit: To clarify the ‘one of the worst case’, other AWD/4WD vehicles have higher tolerances for size mismatch than Subarus. Like, I think literally every other major manufacturer is better about this.
You just need to replace 2, not all 4.
Depends on the AWD system. If there’s a center diff or a clutch in the center, the speed differences where the front axle and the rear axle meet can cause excessive wear and heat. Subarus are the most common vehicle for this, but some high end German stuff I know can have issues as well. But generally economy cars and midrange cars disconnect the extra axle or have a loose coupling to it, so only two tires replaced are fine.
Every certified Subaru mechanic and mechanics working directly for Subaru have always said I only needed two when one tire needed complete replacement for my Forester.
As long as they are within 1/4" diameter variance this is true, otherwise you FUBAR the viscous coupling over time. Which is why most mechanics default to ‘just replace all of them’.
Yup, having only ever driven Subarus, this is what I have always been told. The ever-so-slightly different diameter of a worn VS new tire can cost you way more money than a three additional tires in the long run.
The ever-so-slightly different diameter of a worn VS new tire can cost you way more money than a three additional tires in the long run.
I dunno… With tire prices the way they are these days, servicing the center diff might actually be cheaper than replacing 3 additional tires. Especially if you’re doing it yourself.
This is something I would justify putting on a credit card. If all four tires are badly worn it can become both a safety issue as well as an increasingly more expensive issue later on.
im not sure I would do credit card but I would certainly do this over niceties. like I don’t go out or do a lot of things other people do so I can do things like this.
For many AWD cars you have to replace them all as the new tire is bigger as it has all its tread and screws w/ the transmission.
I hate it as an AWD car operator…
Why wouldn’t you be able to just replace the opposite tire and leave the other pair alone?
You don’t rotate your tires?
Yes. They always move in matched pairs.
So no full sized spare? We do a different rotation than that.
I thought these days you don’t cross because it’s important to keep the same direction of spin for the life of the tire.
Okay my “always” qualifier was overzealous, but …
Since 2020, about 9 percent of the cars tested by Consumer Reports have come with a full-sized spare. Studying our database, we found that 46 percent came with a temporary (aka space-saver) spare tire, and the rest were equipped with a sealant kit (34 percent), a run-flat tire (7 percent), or nothing at all (4 percent).
https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/tires/some-newer-cars-are-missing-a-spare-tire-a9928775934/
And I’m betting that if you could find stats that broke that down by AWD, it’d be even smaller since I expected the correlation of full-size spares is more toward pickups and 4x4s. Further, I’d bet that most people with full-size spares leave it out of the rotation anyway because many (most?) don’t have a cosmetic hub cap and becomes an eye sore.
I never have intentionally rotated them, the only uneven wear I’ve had is sides vs center, not left vs right.
All I do is check that the better two tires go on the rear axle when changing between winter and summer tires, but that’s only when I have four of the exact same tire. When I’ve had two different pairs, I make sure that the better pair goes on the rear axle, at least in the winter.
Why is it all wheel drive and not four wheel drive? Offtopic but I’ve never thought about it before
4 wheel drive is selective meaning you can run in 2wd. AWD is you have no choice its always on.
Or in my case off until needed.
Car’s a hybrid so runs in FWD until it thinks you need the rear electric motors to keep you on the road then it’s AWD.
Iirc, all wheel drive means it’s always all 4 wheels, while 4 wheel drive is when an off-road vehicle has the ability to switch between 4 wheel drive and the normal 2 wheel drive
In addition to the previous answers, AWD and 4WD systems have important technical differences. A 4WD system uses a gearbox to mechanically lock the front and rear driveshafts together, such that they always have to spin at the same speed. AWD systems use a viscous clutch, allowing the driveshafts to turn at different speeds when some tires lose grip, at the cost of some wear on that friction surface.
That’s why replacing the tires evenly is important on AWD, but not necessarily 4WD: different diameter tires spin at different speeds forcing the driveshafts to turn at different speeds all the time, wearing out that clutch prematurely.
AWD and 4WD are also marketing terms rather than regulated in any way. In general you’re right, but to be safe, always check what type of transfer case you’re actually dealing with. Some “4WD” cars these days are AWD with super clever electronical controls for off road usage.
I suppose these days there’s also the case where some cars just have electric motors attached to separate [groups of] wheels with no shafts connecting between them at all and don’t really even fit in either of the two previous categories.
AWD systems use a viscous clutch
In my experience, that’s rare. Most AWD systems that I’ve seen use an open differential with no viscous coupler or locker of any kind. The '94 - '97 Toyota Land Cruiser (w/ ABS) in the US market used a viscous coupler, and Toyota called it “full-time 4wd”. It also locked the transfer case in low range. To my knowledge, this was a really unusual configuration. They discontinued the viscous coupler after that, instead switching to their ATRAC traction management that used individual application of brakes to prevent wheel spin. Most of the Jeep SUVs in the last ~30 years, to my knowledge, used an entirely open center differential in AWD models.
It seems like modern, CUV AWD systems are usually FWD with computer controlled engagement of rear tires.
4 wheel drive is to drive offroad, AWD is to keep you on the road.
Eh, oversimplification. AWD systems can and do get used offroad pretty often. They’re not quite as good as 4WD in some specific situations, but AWD is still better than 2WD in basically every offroad situation, and it’s good enough to get the job done most of the time, for mild offroading. If you’re doing serious rock crawling or going through very deep soft sand, mud, or snow, 4WD will likely be better than AWD. But for tackling your average trail or poorly maintained dirt road, AWD will do fine.
AWD systems can and do get used offroad pretty often. They’re not quite as good as 4WD in some specific situations
The moment that you have one wheel spinning with AWD, you are stuck. One wheel in the air due to a heavily rutted fire road? Stuck. One wheel on wet ice on the road? Stuck.
AWD is great for transient traction conditions, like roads that are partially snowy with patches of exposed asphalt.
If you have an AWD system with fully open differentials all the way around, yes. But many of them (most of the modern ones?) are more advanced than that, with a limited slip differential, at least for the center diff. And pretty much all the modern ones, as far as I know of, can do tricks like automatically applying brakes on the slipping wheel to direct more torque to the other three.
A decent AWD system definitely will get you through more stuff than simple 2WD. Not as good as true 4WD in some situations, but AWD can still be very useful offroad.
I’ve read that you can often buy a single replacement and they’ll “shave” it down to match the tread of the existing tires.
Never heard about that but it makes total sense. If I cut a single tire I will go that route, thank you!
With the unfortunate result being that your new tire is now just as worn as your other three tires. Not an issue if the flat is relatively new, but it get worse the older your other three tires are.
I don’t have awd, so I usually just replace two tires and get em rotated as needed instead. It feels like the best middle ground available to me.
Yes, but contrast that with replacing three tires with usable life left in them.
You can sell them though, someone might want at least the two and potentially even the third one.
Hot take, if you can’t afford an immediate replacement (or in this case, a set) of an essential part for your vehicle.
You shouldn’t own a vehicle. You should own a transit monthly pass.
Why yes, of course ! 100% of low income people are fully served by public transit everywhere. Why didn’t I think of that?
Over a quarter (by some accounts almost 60%) of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, spending 90-95% of their money on necessities with no margin for emergency expenses.
It’s a country with very limited access to public transport, as evidenced by the fact that >80% commute to work by driving their own car, and <5% commute by public transit, bike or by walking. That’s not by choice, it’s a consequence of the infrastructure which offers very little in terms of options.
Given these facts, I’d categorize your take as cold.
Man, that ain’t a hot take, that’s a shit take. Don’t be classist
It’s not classist, it’s stupid. Only an idiot would replace all four tires because of one flat.
The only times it would make sense is if the three other tires are already due for a change (very worn/old) or that the other tires are nearly new and a tire shop is offering to buy them off you (big discount from new set), which is unlikely.
It can be both :)
I mean if it’s really bad it’s better to cough up $500 now than replace your transmission in a couple months. Non drive tires, who cares, just don’t rotted it to the drive tires.
I’m looking at $1,200 :(. That’s what I get for getting a limited car with “upgraded” wheels. Gave me a weird tire size
Sometimes you can get a steel rim and tire combo for cheaper than just those rubber on the super low profiles.
Common thing in Canada for the winter tires as the rims are easily damaged from a skid on ice against a curb.
I had a friend who drove a little fiat panda. He once bought the cheapest weirdly branded tires for it and it cost him 16 dollars per tire. Ge was a mechanic so he probably got them cheaper. Still funny that by bicycle tires are way more expensive
I sold tires as my job in college and geo metro I’m size 13 were like $20 each. The benefits of a small car
Meanwhile, at my house:
Juuuunk yard tires are the best. Someone out there totaled their car and the tires that survived are sitting there waiting for you to find. The guy who has em doesnt want em. He wants the shelf for more valuable stuff.
Happy hunting.
Or used tire shop
Yep, if you find a good one, these are great bang for the buck.
My stepfather is buddies with a guy who owns a used tire shop. I get hella friends and family discounts lol
Junk yards in general are great. Just pick up spares of literally anything you need
I really wish junkyards would be more of a thing here.
Where is “here”?
If it’s anywhere in Europe, you can get shit delivered from ovoko/rrr. Have used them to get parts from Latvia and Lithuania that I couldn’t find in Estonia (specific color doors so I wouldn’t have to paint). It’s like Amazon for used car parts, minus the whole taking over the world thing.
Yep. My local junkyard sells tires at $5 each, most of them perfectly good.
Can be hit or miss whether they have the size you need, though.
Once I was discussing with a friend, and he was telling me when he visited some local sight in Indonesia (where he was working at that time) he couldn’t find his way back because there we no bus after a certain time of day, so he had to call a taxi to get back to his appartment and was annoyed that no information was easily available
I kept thinking that I could NEVER get into this kind of situation, I’m not rich enough to afford this kind of lightheaded mistake ‘oh oh guess I gotta pay a taxi’, if I’m traveling you bet your ass I’m going to plan every single commute
Maybe taxis in Indonesia aren’t that expensive?
Near me, one used tire is like $35 and will last me the better part of a year, so decent trade off.
Motherfucker my checking account wears unevenly
Mine has more holes than OOPs tires.
And who are these billionaire friends of yours that didn’t offer to replace all your tires for you?
Japan has a class of light car (you can get them to go 140 kph/85 mph but the engine doesn’t appreciate it) and everything about them is cheap. A set of 4 tires (not the rims) is ~¥18000 (currently about $110 USD or $150 before the yen started tanking).
Fortunately we made this illegal in the US and we’re working on banning E-bikes under the guise of protecting kids.
under the guise of protecting kids.
Looks through the White House window, confusingly
They don’t need e-bikes on a small island
