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I need 4 P225 55 R17's. I ve been looking everywhere for great tires for $450 installed. No such luck. My family is willing to put Les Schwab tires on and I don't want to pass on that. The choices they have are not encouraging. Nothing I read said anything good about them except their service (which IS great). Can I get good tires at Les Schwab for around that price?

Why don't you get the factory size?

235/55/17 is the factory size. The el cheapo Les Schwab tires will be round and certainly better than any worn tire. But that's about it.

The Cooper RS3-A or General GMAX AS-03 would be infinitely better choices, and I'm seeing them available to you for between $424-444 shipped to your door from Discount Tire Direct. Add the nominal amount ($60-80 out the door - depends on your area) for mounting and balancing and you will come out way ahead. If your local place carries them, see if they'll price match.

Delete the valve stems (your tire shop should have them and include new ones with mounting). And Delete the road hazard warranty if you wish.

Cooper, $424 shipped: http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direc ... =17&cs=235
General, $444 shipped: http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direc ... =17&cs=235

Tirerack.com is your friend.

The above are good options.

Two more I would like to add;

General Altimax RT43 (t-speed rated): $432. And of course one of my favs... Continental Extreme Contact DWS's. Yes, these are more than what they're willing to spend, but can't you throw a few $$$ in too. $564.

I guess I don't understand why people cheapen out when buying tires. I get money being tight and all (it's tight for me too), but tires are one of the most important safety features of your car as they're what actually keep in contact with the road. SO you're gonna be spending ~$500 roughly, why not just get the best. The best performing, best ride quality, best warrantied, tire instead of "settling" because you want to save.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.jsp ... &tab=Sizes

I got these at the end of September. Luckily I got them mounted and balanced at work for free, but still.

They're some of the most amazing tires I've ever had. Never seen an all season perform this well in the snow. They're also completely silent at all speeds.

CMNTMXR57 wrote:Tirerack.com is your friend.

The above are good options.

Two more I would like to add;

General Altimax RT43 (t-speed rated): $432. And of course one of my favs... Continental Extreme Contact DWS's. Yes, these are more than what they're willing to spend, but can't you throw a few $$$ in too. $564.

I guess I don't understand why people cheapen out when buying tires. I get money being tight and all (it's tight for me too), but tires are one of the most important safety features of your car as they're what actually keep in contact with the road. SO you're gonna be spending ~$500 roughly, why not just get the best. The best performing, best ride quality, best warrantied, tire instead of "settling" because you want to save.

^^^ this.

I did check Tire Rack too, it looks like in this case Discount Tire Direct is the cheaper option due to Tire Rack's lack of free shipping.

The RT43 is $504 to the Northwest (I punched in a random Portland zip code) at DTD, $20 less than TR. It certainly would be the better option if you're looking for a little more comfort and treadwear. The GMAX AS-03 is a little more aggressive and personally my pick for an SSEi. For an SE/SLE, RT43 all the way. Conti DWS is $672 shipped from Tire Rack. Fair price if you can swing it.

The Pirelli P7 that Carl has look like a good choice too. Seems like a more comfy / less aggressive alternative to the Conti DWS. Both are priced similarly.

Yea, anything in DTdirect or at a store is more expensive, but the shipping costs are added.

BTW, my Tirerack is your best friend was directed at the OP. Re-reading it, I just wanted to make sure you didn't think I was responding to you.

Yeah, I knew it was for Mr. OP

Does DTD in-store price include mount/balance? If so, then that makes up a big chunk of the difference of free shipping + paying to mount. We don't have DTD up here in Canuckistan and my local favourite shop has good enough prices to negate the drive across the border (and currently, the *shoot*-tastic dollar exchange rate).

I got quotes from DT and TR and they are similar. We're going to figure out where we're gonna go tomorrow. I'd never be happy with the Les Schwab choices. Too many choices to know better. Well probably just choose a store and take what they got. Ill bring the a list of the tires recommended above.

I can personally vouch for the Generals that Lane recommended, minus mine are 215 vs 235, but they've been a great riding tire, decent amount of grip, they've done great in snow/ice/wet conditions, and have had excellent wear. At the rate they've been going, I fully expect to get the 70,000 miles as advertised.

I have Pirelli P7's on both of my vehicles. They wear well and go through snow better than anything I've had except for dedicated snow tires. If you belong to Sams Club they periodically run some good specials or free mounting and lifetime balance/rotation.

Well I spent the afternoon at LesSchwabs and ended up with the Wan Li's. They are quiet and they dont look bad. They are the same size as was on Betty before. Les Schwab has great custumer service. It took about an hr but our car didn't get on a rack for half of that. They seem fine. My steering even tightened some too. They said my brakes were good. I d just replaced fronts. They also said my tie rods needed replacing. They quote 209. Id have to check but I think the parts would be way less than that and its less than a dayz job, I replaced my tr ends on Bonny no sweat. Some time this weekend I want to get out and push the tires to get an idea of what I got. Everybody suggested great tire choices.thx for all that. Just turned out it had to be LS. I am pitching in 100. So I am very happy to be sitting on solid rubber.

Can I ask how much you paid? I'm not going to mince words here:

repinS wrote:The el cheapo Les Schwab tires will be round and certainly better than any worn tire. But that's about it.

You went and bought those tires. Worst possible outcome.

They don't seem too bad. They certainly are quieter than the worn out Assurances I had. I don't feel any walk out or unnatural tendencies. The total was $456, I paid $100 of it. The speed rating is 130 + and the tread is deep and wide, good for winter. Worst possible out come would have been me looking down stuffing 20's in my piggy bank and the GYs worn out don't stop the car in time and somebody gets hurt. No they're not pretty and they're not racing tires, but they have a full on 30K mi guarantee. and there's four them and they're paid for.

have had no problems. There weren't a lot of choices to go on. Better tires would be better and I dont think Ill need better ones any time soon.

I understand budgets and everything, but sometimes you get what you pay for in the long run. Since we don't have Les Schwab's here in Chicago, I can't comment firsthand. But going out to their site and looking at their choices, and the fact that you called them Wan Li's above, nothing they have is name brand. This means it's cheap Chinese knock-off's, of which have "questionable" quality and/or safety issues.

Just keep that in mind as they start to wear.

My two cents here:

The Wanli Tires are indeed cheap China tires - and like I said before, they will obviously be better than the worn sets you had before. It's pretty easy to improve on the Goodyear Assurance. But at $456, I would say you overpaid for tires that will not stop, accelerate, or handle as well as our recommendations made above. Honestly, the cheaper recommendation I made to you, was $424 shipped in the CORRECT size for your car (235, not 225). Add in your nominal mounting and balancing and you would have paid slightly more than the Wanli, for a tire that performs infinitely better - and I would argue lasts longer, so the cost difference is moot. I've been there with the cheap Chinese all seasons. I regret that they're even a choice in the market because you can spend the same or slightly more and get infinitely better quality.

I can understand that Les Schwab may have given you "good" customer service. But to me it's more like them being nice to you as they pull the wool over your eyes and make you pay more for a tire that should have cost less.

They do a good impression of honesty if not the real thing. I don't think Ill be experiencing the low to start with and the declining performance. I got a tivket for 18 over in a 30 and that happened shortly after I was doing 108 and it sank home. I have have to think of the consequences including on my family. My tires had to be bought at this tire store because that is where the acct was. And Linda and I were not getting much closer to having the $600 we needed to go our own way. The tires will hold 2 or three years and I can upgrade then/