Buying Online Tires

Sure you should! In today’s safe and secure internet world, there are many benefits to buying online tires.

Firstly, you can find a great selection of discount tire centers online, which not only offer a huge selection of tires, but usually contain vast quantities of information to go with them. Often providing you with more detailed information on specific tire models, than a traditional local tire store could provide.

If you buy tires online, chances are your tires will be cheaper than more traditional stores, as they generally have fewer costs themselves. They don’t need to employ so many spotty teenagers, or grumpy old women to work the check-out. They also take advantage of bulk buying, stocking large volumes of tires. This further drops the end retail price for you.

Sites offering discount tires direct are really easy to use! If you’re not sure which tire you need, you can simply enter the make and model of your car, and if by magic… up pops a list of tires perfect for the job!

You can also take advantage of reading what other customers have to say about tire models, as online tire sites usually contain customer feedback comments. You can’t do this at your local independent store! All you get is a mechanic or salesman, trying his best to sell you the most expensive model.

If you’re at all unsure, and want to speak to someone ‘in the know’ many online tire stores provide a direct phone number for assistance.

On top of all that, if you’re not completely happy with your tires on arrival, you can always send them back for a full refund.

With all these benefits to buy tires online, it confuses me why statistically people are still reluctant to go for it. A recent JD Power study proves the point: “although more than 60 percent of tire buyers have access to the internet, only 16 percent choose to buy tires online.”

I believe this is mainly down to people worrying about choosing the wrong tire, or perhaps not being able to fit the tire correctly. But don’t worry! It can take just minutes to fit a tire, plus there are great online guides out there for achieving this.

Buy online now from the Tire Rack, and see all the potential benefits for yourself.

The Eagle F1AS uses the latest carbon-fiber technology. Goodyear’s Eagle ResponseEdge (the company’s first tire to feature carbon fiber) utilized a single carbon-fiber-reinforced sidewall, while the Eagle F1AS has both inner and outer sidewalls reinforced with carbon-fiber materials. The carbon fiber gives crisp response by reducing sidewall flex. The Eagle F1AS also features Tredlock(TM) technology, which is a series of cups and domes built in between the tread blocks. These cups and domes fit together and lock the smaller tread blocks into one larger tread block during cornering to stiffen the tread and keep more rubber on the road.

The Goodyear Eagle F1AS has two different tread zones: the all-season zone and the ultra-high-performance zone. The ultra-high-performance zone consists of aggressive shoulder blocks and a continuous center rib that provides precise handling and steering precision. The all-season zone is the remaining two ribs of tread blocks between the center rib and the shoulder blocks. This zone features Aquachutes(TM) to enhance traction in rain and light-snow conditions. The Eagle F1AS also features a silica tread compound with a DuPont Kevlar layer, directional tread pattern, built-in rim-protector tire edge, and Goodyear’s PermaBlack(TM) compound to keep the sidewall looking new throughout the life of the tire.

Read the full article here.

I saw this on YouTube the other day, amazing!

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sdgix2gJtDE" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

I like the quote at the end… “You couldn’t do it if you tried”

It seems like it’s got a mind of its own, and just wants to return to its friends in the wall!

Let me share an hilarious story with you, it’s about my good friend Josh, and how he really benefited from buying online tires. He needed a front left for his beautiful new 1988 Cadillac Allante, but really didn’t want to buy from a particular local store…

Now, I remember him going on about the Allante for a while before buying it. He certainly had his heart set on it. I think he assumed by owning it, he would instantly have more success with the ladies.

Sure. There’s no denying that this is indeed a beautiful car, but it’d need more than that to help Josh get lucky! (sorry Josh, you know it’s true).

So picture the scene… he pulls straight out the garage $6000 poorer, with an overwhelming sense of excitement. He spots a hot chick crossing the road and in an effort to get her attention (feeling irresistible in his new Allante) proceeds to whistle at her. Then BANG! the chick smiles at him as he goes crunching into a nearby post.

Not cool my friend! Too ashamed to get out, He sat waiting until the chick was long gone. Unfortunately (for him) he sat there peeping over the dashboard, only to find the chick walking into the local tire store to start work! When he finally surfaced, the damage to the car wasn’t half as bad as the damage to his ego! but he needed a new tire for sure.

He now had a dilemma on his hands!

1. Go into the tire store and face the music, holding his head in shame.

2. Call his friend (me!) to pick him up ASAP and remain in hiding from this hot check-out girl.

Of course being the coward that he is, my phone rang 10 minutes later…

He explained what had happened, and felt ashamed of himself. He didn’t want to go into that local tire store feeling like a complete retard. I asked why he didn’t purchase tires online, and gave him some of the benefits.

Josh went on to buy his replacement tire online, he found the process simple and quick. He got lots of information on the tire, and it arrived within a few days. Since the little accident, he has also been much more careful when driving his Allante!

Oh.. and he still doesn’t have a girlfriend.

On a serious note now, the importance of replacing worn tires cannot be emphasised enough. If you continue to drive with worn tires, your vehicle cannot grip the road effectively. This can drastically decrease the handling performance of your vehicle, and increase stopping distances in emergencies. These two factors can potentially cause accidents.

Tire Rack recently carried out tests to prove the point. Stopping distances were measured for a BMW travelling at 70mph. The tests were repeated 3 times with different tires: full-tread depth, 2/32-inch and 4/32-inch tread depths.

The results were dramatic:

“The BMW on new tires stopped from 70-0 mph in 195.2 feet in 3.7 seconds. When the testers ran the BMW on tires with tread shaved down to 2/32-inch, it failed to stop at the marker where the new tires stopped and continued at a speed of 55 mph. The BMW finally came to a stop after 378.8 feet, almost double the distance.

With tires shaved to a tread depth of 4/32-inch, the stopping distance of the BMW was 290 feet in 4.7 seconds, about midway between the runs with new tires and those with 2/32-inch tread depth.

The results show how crucial tire tread depth is to a faster stop, which could be the difference between being in an accident and avoiding it.”

Read the full article here.

So… How to we know when to replace tires? Good question! Since 1968, the government has mandated that tires should be replaced when the original tread has worn to a depth of 2/32-inch.

The good news is that you don’t need expensive equipment to measure this! simply push a penny into the tread. If Lincoln’s head is not covered by the tread (as the picture illustrates), go get yourself some new online tires, as the tire is illegal and dangerous.

Remember that 2/32-inch tread depth is just the legal requirement. Obviously the more tread the better, as the Tire Rack experiments have shown. This is especially the case when driving in rain or snow.

Michelin had this concept in development since 1995, and claim that it’s the future of tire technology with the potential to be in use on our roads by the mid 2010’s.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/T7MJ5QqnFUc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

It certainly simplifies the tire solution, but looks terrible! It’d be great to know what you think. Read a full article on the tweel here.

Replacing worn tires can be expensive, so it’s important to get as much life out of your tires as possible. Here are three top tips for extending the life of your tires:

1. Keep the tires inflated. Under-inflated tires can reduce the tire life by 15% and will slightly decrease your gas mileage, perhaps by 10%. Inflating tires is perhaps the easiest of all activities, and many stores sell tire gauges for a very small cost. Checking your tire pressure every other time you get gas will reduce tire wear and prevent these issues.

2. Rotate the tires. Changing tire position reduces uneven wear and tear on the tread, thus extending the life of the tires. The recommended rotation cycle is twice a year or every 6,000 miles. Rotate them diagonally - front right to rear left and front left to rear right. However, this pattern can change depending on the drivetrain of the vehicle, and the type of tire. Your vehicle manual will contain detailed rotation information. Keep in mind some tires (especially on sports cars) are directional and are meant to spin only one way. They will have a large arrow on the sidewall to indicate this.

3. Keep the front end aligned. If you notice your car shaking while driving at high speeds (not while braking - shuddering while braking indicates warped rotors), or if your tread is wearing unevenly, then you may need an alignment. This is also key to extending the life of your tires and will keep the tread even for increased safety.

For more information on how to extend the life of your car, take a look at this guide.

So, perhaps you have decided to buy tires online, but remember to act responsibly when disposing of your old tires. Increasingly, people are incorrectly disposing of old tires. This can be harmful to the environment and costly for the government to clean up. Berrien County officials have decided to do something about it, creating a recycling scheme for local residents.

“We get car tires in we get truck tires in, we get oversize tires as well. And they have come from all over the place, residents sometimes farmers will have some in their back field” said Berrien County environmental specialist Jill Adams.

After years and thousands of miles of use, these tires have found the end of the road…or have they?

“All of these tires even the dirty ones they’re able to recycle those they pull out the metal and they can recycle the metal. There are more and more products being made from recycled tires every day” Adams said.

Read the full article here.

so remember… save the environment, recycle!

It’s always important to check you tire pressure, but especially so during hot weather. The combination of low tire pressures and hot roads can potentially lead to tire blowouts, according to experts.

“As the tire pressure drops, the rubber actually bends more, and as it bends more, all of the steel inside the tire is breaking more and builds up more heat, so you have a very much greater likelihood of a blowout,” said Don Lindsey, spokesman for AAA.

Read the full article here.

The AAA (American Automobile Association) recommends checking tire pressures at least once per month, and especially before long journeys.