Jesus when did tires get so dang expensive

[Dusten]

What’s sad is they don’t seem to last. I remember when tires seemed to dry rot by the time they needed changing. Now your lucky to get 40k miles out of any tire, suv etc.

You can't have long life and performance. Tires used to last because they were hard as a rock. Also from 1985 to today the average car covers 50% more miles. So ya, it was more likely that a tire would rot.

That said my last f150 went 65000 on tires. My Hyundai sonata went 55000 and my 2015 Tahoe had 45000 when I sold it.

Sponsored

 

[Cobra Jet]

What’s sad is they don’t seem to last. I remember when tires seemed to dry rot by the time they needed changing. Now your lucky to get 40k miles out of any tire, suv etc.

Eh, I don’t know about tires not lasting... on my 2018, the original P-Zeros now have over 34k on them with still enough tread that I *might* get at least another 7k-9k off them... no BS oh and that’s driving them 24/7/365 with 5k tire rotations,

It’s all how the car is being driven which figures into how well or not tires will last. WOTing from every stop, burning rubber here and there, swinging the ass-end out in corners, curves and turns - running under inflated and never rotating them - sure, they’re gonna wear out lots faster and prematurely.


——

I agree with the eBay tire shopping as well as Craigslist... lots of deals to be had.

Also to note, “Brand names” aren’t any better than the same tire that’s been repopped under another Tire Name. You’re paying the exorbitant cost of a tire because lots of folks are name brand whores who gotta have “XYZ”... or because XYZ Forum members have those tires... That $250-$400+ per tire is not only due to materials but more so you’re paying for that Name Brand XYZ advertising.... Research some of those “off brands” and you’ll find they are being popped off by some of the very same tire suppliers and factories as the Name Brand XYZs...

Tire Speed Ratings also play a part of tire cost, the higher the Speed Rating Letter designator, the more the tire will cost as well. Do you always need a tire for the street that is rated for a sustained speed of 200mph??? LMFAO.

Shop around, there’s plenty of deals out there on getting a set of good tires and finding a shop that can and will do a good mount/balance/alignment without going broke... Hell just on this site last week someone posted a set of (4) new take off P-Neros for only $200!!! Yea sure, “Pirellis suck”, but POINT BEING, a set of brand new tires for $200, who gives a flying F***; they’re still round, hold air, brand new rubber and will get you by daily driving for at least another 20-30k miles for less than the cost of ONE new tire!

Stop spending over $1k on just tires and shop wisely, use the savings for other mods...

 

[Shifting_Gears]

What’s sad is they don’t seem to last. I remember when tires seemed to dry rot by the time they needed changing. Now your lucky to get 40k miles out of any tire, suv etc.

Cars also didn’t handle like they do now.. lol. We all want summer tires and high performance.

 

[hlfbkd420]

My Nitto 555R's are on like 4k miles and I'm hoping to get another 2k outta them. Rear only. But they hook

 

[tcman54]

Don't you just hate it when this happens

 

[Norm Peterson]

Hell not to sound old but hell I use to have a 2003 dodge neon and when it needed tires I went to the local tire place and for about 80 bucks had tires slapped on it and drove off and was good for another 3 years. Now...jesus... Even my 1998 cobra I could get tires for about 200 bucks. Now you are talking that plus just for one tire. It is easily 800 to 1000 by time done with mounting, balance, tpms and the tires themselves. It's becoming a major expense like a medical bill or a house payment to have tires on a car. Tires!!! I mean seriously the tech behind tires hasn't changed that much. And have you seen those how its made videos? They make a tire in about 4 mins. Have family here that works at continental tire plant here in Asheville NC and they say same that they have next to nothing into making them. How some of you change tires and wheels like shoes I have no idea. And it's not just mustangs or performance cars My girlfriends Juke they were 180 each for tires and then 180 to mount and all the BS.

'Top-shelf' tires for performance cars have always been a bit more expensive, and in general they really are better in some respects than lower-line tire makes/models in the same sizes. Whether they're enough better to justify the extra expense is clearly up to the individual.

Yep, prices have gone up, but some of that's from increasing demands for all-around performance. Nine years ago Goodyear Asymmetrics in 245/45-18 for my '08 cost $215 each. Replacing them 4 years later with MPSS in 265/40-18 cost about $275 per. The WRX now wears Michelin A/S 3+ ($190-ish?). And my son just spent $175 per on his daughter's Veloster for the same line of Michelin, where alternate choices were still in the $145 neighborhood.

The way I look at it, it only takes once for a top-performing tire to save your butt for the extra expense to have been worth the cost. And when you can see that the poo is about to hit the fan, it's too late to wish you'd chosen differently. That's been my tire-buying philosophy since the mid-1970's, so you can call me old and it won't bother me.

The following was with MPSS tires. While it was on the track it is still indicative of having extra margin against having a bad day at normal wet street driving speeds.

I wouldn't even dream of driving that hard in those conditions on, say, NT555's. Not sure I'd want to be driving on them at half that speed.​

Norm

 

[Bikeman315]

The answer is about the same time everything else did. I find it amusing that this is something that would concern a group of car owners who spend thousands modding them. We can justify spending $1k for an exhaust, suspension or engine parts but then cheap out on the most important part of our cars. On top of that we do burnouts in our 400+ HP cars and complain about tire wear. IMHO if you have to buy used tires, go buy a nice used Honda Civic.

 

[Bikeman315]

The way I look at it, it only takes once for a top-performing tire to save your butt for the extra expense to have been worth the cost. And when you can see that the poo is about to hit the fan, it's too late to wish you'd chosen differently. That's been my tire-buying philosophy since the mid-1970's, so you can call me old and it won't bother me.

Norm, you are spot on. Why anyone scrimps on tires blows me away. The difference in the cost for your tires was $240.00. Folks on here spend more on that for a piece of trim.

 

[13GetThere]

I don't see skimping on tires or brakes. Next to the driver, they're the biggest influence in preventing that "OH SH!T" moment from becoming a "oh phuck" incident. The tire is where all of your car's performance is transmitted to the pavement. Why would you want to skimp on tires?

 

[Bikeman315]

Exactly. Here is what I do not get. The difference between the top rated Michelin and the bottom rated Hankook is $61.00 or $244.00 for a set of four. The Conti's are even less. Now I'm not saying the Hankook is not a decent tire but for $244.00. Come on.

Now just to clarify, If you can get a great deal on a used top rated tire, maybe a take off or something like that, by all means. I’m not against saving a few bucks. But saving a few bucks to get less than the best really doesn't make sense. At least to this old man.

 

[Danacblack]

You get what you pay for, there are plenty of places that have done the comparison, here is Tire Racks https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/chartDisplay.jsp?ttid=248

We drop a few hundred on stupid mods all the time, so spending an extra hundred or 2 on tires should not be that big of a deal, especially considering the impact on braking distance they have can save your ass. Unless you plan on smoking them off every few thousand miles.

 

[lacanteen]

As others have said, tire life depends on driving habits as well as tire maintenance (rotation and pressure). The 19" P-Zeros that came with my EB just passed 10K miles and show little wear.

At 192,000 miles, my F-150 is barely 1/3 of the way into the 3rd set of 18" Firestone Destination tires. Most large tires have been priced in the $200 range for many years now.

 

[edco]

"They make a tire in about 4 mins." I don't build tires but I supply machinery to the tool & die shops at Continental Tire Mt. Vernon, ILL. The 660 volt current heated tread forming blow molds cycle about ten minutes. The tire build starts on a slow rotating mandrel with human hands feeding the steel bead, sidewall, and tread layers. The tread layer extrusion presses output at about 15" per minute. Don't think it is fair to say "They make a tire in about 4 mins." At Mt. Vernon there is a billion invested in machinery to make tires. You don't want to drive on a tire made in four minutes. Tire technology has evolved upward with everything. Nobody is ripping you off. You get what you pay for. You can find cheap tires, do you want them on your car? What kind of driving do you do. Tires are the most important part of performance. Think tires are overpriced? Try making one.

 

[accel]

With mustangs you step into a big tire size. They are expensive. Plus you most likely want sticky ones...

 

[Grintch]

Now imagine you track or autocross your car and have 1 or 2 sets of extra wheels and tires, that come at a premium price and wear out extra fast. And yeah, the name brand/model matters when you are looking for every tenth.

Checked the price on some 245/40R17 that my STi ran and the price difference is a lot less than going to a 285/35R19 for this Mustang. But I got my current set of NT-01 track tires for $250, and they are currently $370. And I noticed a similar trend with MPSS, they were 350+, came down to under 300, now back up to 350. So the pricing seems less stable than I remember.

Sponsored