Need new tires FAST
 

Please help me out. I will be on a cross-country trip this weekend and need a set of new tires as my 09 stocks are nearing the end of their life cycle.

1) what tires do you guys recommend? something w/ a good quality but also decent price. They should be all-season/everyday driving tire.

2) where to buy the tires - I have no time to buy them online. need it by tomorrow. would appreciate the recommendation of a reputable chain that won't trick me into paying an arm and leg.

3) thank you very much in advance!

I always get my tires from Discount Tire. You may be limited to what they have on-hand, if you need tires by tomorrow. For all-season/commuter tires, I've always liked Michelin. Long lasting, balances well, and performs great. Bit more money up front, but given some go 90k miles, it turns out to be cheaper in the long run.

I have always had good luck with Discount Tire- looks like they have locations in Georgia. they fix flats- if they can't fix will give you a new tire. Great customer service (at least in the Colorado locations). Just got tires last month-I was going to get Kumho- but ended up with Yokahamas- a bit more $, but they are supposed to last 75K. They may still have their $60 rebate going on

I had such a terrible time with discount tire that I will shout their awfulness from the treetops.

They installed the tires backwards, and to dismount and remount. (I watched as they did this.)

They damaged the valve stem (pulled it too hard splitting it). This was a new one they were installing.

They over torqued the wheel nuts stripping 2 of five nuts on each wheel.

I discovered the above when the tire was flat the next day (damaged valve stem) and I couldn't change the tire (threads stripped).

They don't have a mechanic, sent me to some grease monkey that replaced the two studs but stripped another (I checked after I got it home). That's when I checked the other three wheels and found stripped nuts on all of them.

They claimed it was a design fault of Honda and Toyota for having too soft studs, and that they couldn't over-torque as they used amazing rubber torque thingies.

While dealing with them multiple times, I noticed their employee ratings table prominently on the wall in the back; they had to do a set of tires in less than 20 minutes on average or get a demerit.

Pay more. save money. Don't go to discount tire.

ESPECIALLY THE ONE ON BUSBEE PARKWAY IN KENNESAW, JUST UP THE ROAD FROM MARIETTA GA!!!!!

sorry for shouting. I feel better. This happened 6 years ago and I still hold a grudge.

Costco and NTB on Barrett Parkway both do a fine job mounting tires. NTB is fastidious about using a real torque wrench (I watch them). They do full mechanical work. Research tires on tirerack and see what's in stock at Costco or NTB.

I heard Kaufman also damages cars trying to mount tires in too little time.

as long as your local discount tire has touchless mounters and roadforce balancers, they should be capable of helping you out.

GL with the new tires. you might want to try 205/50/16 if you have the sport wheels. they are a readily available size (usually..).

gah! phooey. they can't do an alignment. And even if they have the best mounting machines and balancers (I doubt it), if they don't allow their employees the time to do the job right, it will be done wrong.

oh my god thank you guys so much! Great tips and I really appreciated.

Steve i am 10 minutes from Town Center mall area so i am glad to find a local Fitter like you! :) I will avoid Discount Tire this time because i have to get on the road for a long distance trip this Friday morning and i really can't afford to get screwed up when something bad happens in the middle of nowhere.

In terms of tire quality, i think i will go w/ something a bit middle of the line if available. My Fit is already over 5 years old and i am itchy to get a new one within a year or two at most.

Check Goodyear/Firestone too if they carry the brand you like. Costco has good prices, but they don't have a full mechanic shop or do alignments (my response above might have been confusing).

I always get an alignment with new tires. There's not much to adjust on the Fit (just toe-in) but having this done at NTB when they installed my current set of tires helped. Unfortunately they charge the same, $70 I think, as cars with four wheel adjustment in multiple dimensions.

OK i spent all day going to many different tire places, and none of them carry my tires in stock. all of them require at least 2-3 days to special order, and I just can't wait that long because i need to leave on Friday morning. so i tried my last resort - Discount Tires. they will have them tomorrow. 4 Yokohama plus installation comes to 600 bucks tax included. also included is the replacement of those tire center knob thingy (not the sensor themselves). i don't think they are necessary but they kept on "recommending" it. do you think i got ripped off? i put down the down payment already. I will just have to cross my fingers and hope I don't get stranded in the middle of no where on my way to New York. Once I get to NYC I will need to get my annual maintenance done, and I guess I can do alignment there?

BTW, I will avoid Ed Voyles Honda in Atlanta to service any car. Last year I had my Fit's routine maintenance done there, and in this passing winter I drove to New York City for about a month. The temperature in NY was mostly below freezing during this time, and I discovered shockingly that the windshield wiper fluid was completely frozen!!!! I couldn't clean up the dirty snow residue on my windshield and it was really dangerous to drive like that. i have never bought my own windshield wiper fluid and my car had always been serviced at Ed Voyles Honda since the day I bought it there. those scums charged me an arm and leg for basically plain blue water instead of genuine windshield wiper fluid made w/ anti-freeze. perhaps they think Georgia winters wouldn't get cold enough for people to discover their money-saving tactics, but I happened to venture into the north in one of the coldest winters in record history. I was so pissed. I will never go back again for ANY service. If they cheapen on something as cheap as wind shielf fluid, god knows what else they've cut corners. did they sell me the fake radiator fluid as well? luckily my Fit still runs. i will always buy my own fluids from now on.

I paid $577 for Yokahama Avid Ascends last month--I will be getting a $60 rebate. so that's pretty close to your cost.
I was going to go with the 205-50-16 size, but the tires they had in that size did not seem as good a deal as the Yokahama in the OEM size & the premium ones would have cost much more.

uh, you can't buy windshield washer fluid with antifreeze in it within the 13 county metro atlanta area. Ed Voyles can't dispense it either. It's due to Atlanta's special EPA designation. link

Pro-tip: visit any store in Rome GA (Floyd county) for your WW antifreeze needs.

On the tires, Discount Tire is competitive if nothing else. I'd want to have it aligned before driving to New York. Pull in to NTB or some other place and have it done.

The valve thingies they sold you are unnecessary. I know they want to do a rebuild kit each time. Shouldn't need it. The valve cores are about $2 for four ($0.10/each if you buy in bulk) and they have to take them out to let the air out. I hope that's not what they sold you for too much money.

I just had some 205/50x16 Cooper CS5 Ultra touring installed today. All I can say is wow! The car rides so much better and just feels like it is planted and almost no road noise! I almost got some Pirelli P7's instead. May try them next time.

note to self - stay the f- away from georgia.. per steve244 a town with no talent.

oh, i didn't know that. thanx for telling me. i also didn't know that antifreeze is bad for the environment. they use the same chemical in cosmetics and lotions all the time so i didn't think they were harmful. Anyway, i will buy windshield fluid in NY before I come back. Will also visit NTB for alignment if I have time tomorrow.

yup, form a demographic bias based on one national tire chain's practices. smart!

I bought a set of Yokahama Avid Ascends last month from Discount Tire also. The $60 rebate expired April-30 so I wanted to take advantage of that. They priced matched TireRack.com plus a little better for a $400 even delivered price. I will go back to Discount Tire when I need to install them later this summer, cost is $16 a tire which includes lifetime balance and rotation. I want to use them for install for warranty pro-rating later, don't think I will get 75K miles from these tires especially with all the towing I do. My final cost including installation and after deducting rebate will be $409 for the set.

These are LRR tires and going back to stock size from 205/50's I am confident that I will recover ~2-3 mpg.

_

I don't think it's called antifreeze since that's what people call the fluid that cools the engine in the radiator. I once told my mechanic I put antifreeze in my windshield washer fluid and he jumped back and said "why on earth would you do that"?!

In the winter, I buy only RainX brand washer fluid with de-icer. I don't think it's that bad for the environment, Canada has some pretty strict laws about that. Even windshield washer fluid rated "all season" and -40 celcius will freeze at sub 20 degrees. There's nothing worse than spraying fluid on your windshield and having it freeze up on it. As for you windshield washer fluid freezing in its container, I've never even heard of that and I live in Canada. Maybe certain fluids that do freeze are available in the states that we don't get in Canada because of the climate.

All in all, 600$ is not a great price. I buy my tires from tirerack but you needed them right away so... I wouldn't put too much weight on the installation and balancing since most places that sell tires include this service in the price of their tires. Perhaps you purchased a model tire that was more expensive.

The ingredient in WW fluid that keeps it from freezing is methyl alcohol. Spraying this on your windshield, it evaporates immediately and contributes to air pollution (it's a precursor to ozone development). It's not a problem in most places but Atlanta has especially bad air. Phoenix is another city where you can't buy the good stuff.

Most of the time it's not a problem, but it's annoying as hell when we get a good freeze (or you drive to the great white north) and the washer fluid container becomes a block of ice.

here is Atlanta's rule.

thank you for letting me know about the windshield fluid story. i owe Ed Voyles Honda a big apology. they've been quite good otherwise and I had been sticking w/ them when it comes to servicing my car. imagine all of this good will are completely destroyed by a simple misunderstanding. i am glad i came here on this forum.

I realized that they ripped me off on the tire pressure thingy. they charged me 40 bucks for them. the tires themselves including tax and everything was only 560. i had my tire pressure light went on and off frequently before so i allowed them to do it. besides i was really in a hurry. i can't possibly go to somewhere else to buy these things myself.

i am all packed and ready to go. thanks again to all of you who gave helped me out. I love this forum and all of you guys!

Wow. that's good news. My Velox PG-5's took some damage this winter and I have to go back to my OEM rims, but was really happy with the Hankook Ventus V2 concepts I had on the Velox's. I got 25K miles and had good tread left on the tires that didn't get destroyed. If they're matching, plus the rebate and free shipping, I can get into those for $240 shipped.