Purchasing new tires is an inescapable duty of any car owner. Letting your tires wear away until they are bald hurts performance and is dangerous. Anyone looking for new tires has undoubtedly heard of the online retailer Tire Rack. Purchasing tires online could be a unique experience for many. As such, many may wonder, should I buy tires from Tire Rack?
Tire Rack is an excellent place to buy tires. They offer a wide selection of quality branded tires, excellent service, and competitive prices. In addition, Tire Rack offers free tire repair known as “Hazard Protection” on almost all new tire purchases.
Tire Rack has been in business since 1974 and has become one of the largest tire retailers in the country. The retailer has consistently been ranked high in customer satisfaction as well.
How To Buy From Tire Rack?
Finding and buying a tire from Tire Rack is a relatively straightforward process. If the customer knows their tire size, they can fill that in. If not, they can enter the year, make, and model of their car, and Tire Rack will present the correct tire size.
Tire Rack carries a wide selection of tires, fitting most needs. For example, when looking at tires for a 2021 Toyota Camry, Tire Rack presents over 90 tires. The results can further be narrowed down by price, brand, and tire type.
Thanks to its widespread popularity, Tire Rack is able to provide a large number of reviews for most tires, separating individual performance areas such as wet roads and overall comfort. Each tire also comes with thorough descriptions that detail their features and what they’re best suited for. In addition to customer-created reviews, Tire Rack gives more insight into their own testing and assessment.
However, sometimes drivers will still have trouble finding the best tire for their car. For those, Tire Rack features a Tire Decision Guide. After inputting the vehicle and choosing your most important factors, Tire Rack will narrow down the options to only a couple of tires.
Once a decision has been made, just add the tires to your cart and buy.
Is Tire Rack Cheap?
Compared to other popular tire retailers, such as Discount Tire and Walmart, Tire Rack is neither cheaper nor more expensive. Comparing some of the most popular all-season tires from Michelin, Goodyear, and Continental, all three retailers were within one cent of each other. That isn’t to say that price variation doesn’t exist between tire retailers. There can always be an opportunity to get a deal, but it won’t be common.
Tire Rack also offers special financing on certain tire brands. These financing terms typically allow for six months of payments without interest, allowing customers to save money up-front.
How Long Does Tire Rack Shipping Take?
According to Tire Rack, most customers can expect to receive their tires within one to two business days. Typically, the tires will be delivered using UPS Ground shipping, and a tracking number will be given. As long as the total purchase is above $50, the shipping will be free of charge.
Tire Rack maintains a wide range of distribution centers throughout the United States. A center can be found in: Denver, CO; Windsor, CT; New Castle, DE; Atlanta, GA; Midway, GA; South Bend, IN; Shreveport, LA; Minneapolis, MN; Sparks, NV; and Seattle, WA.
If a customer is located near one of the centers, they can pick up their tires directly. Tire Rack states that most tire orders will be ready in as little as an hour.
Where to Install Tires from Tire Rack?
One detriment of buying tires online from other retailers is that immediate tire mounting might not be possible. While you can take your tires to your tire mounting location of choice, Tire Rack offers more streamlined options.
When buying from Tire Rack, customers can ship the tires directly to their local installer. Tire Rack has partnered with over 9,000 independent recommended installers across the country. There is bound to be one close to your home with so many partnered installers.
There is no extra charge to use this option. However, the installation cost is not included in the price and will be set by the individual installer. If you have multiple installers in your area, you can call ahead to see which will give you the best deal on installation.
For even more convenience, there is also a mobile service option. With this option, a Tire Rack-affiliated mobile van will arrive at the address of your choosing. They will bring both the tires and equipment to perform the install. This convenient service is said to cost around $25 per tire.
Tire Rack Return Policy and Warranty
Tire Rack features a relatively standard tire return policy. If the customer is unhappy with the tires they have received, they have 30 days to return them. However, these tires cannot have been driven on or damaged. When received, a return specialist will inspect the returned tires to determine if a refund should be issued.
Those that pick their tires up at a distribution center will have to return them immediately if they want to avoid the scrutiny of the return specialist.
Each tire does come with its own warranty from the manufacturer. These warranties will typically be good for around six years, and Tire Rack will honor any valid manufacturer warranties.
Buying from Tire Rack further enhances the manufacturer warranty with Tire Rack’s own Road Hazard Protection. Tire Road Hazard Protection is a free add-on to almost all tire purchases. The protection kicks in when a tire is punctured, bruised or impacted while driving on a maintained road. The plan will reimburse the repair or replacement of the damaged tire.
However, there is a limit to this reimbursement, with repairs capping out at $40 per tire. Additionally, a tire replacement is covered up to $599. There is also complimentary towing of up to 25 miles for any tire-related incident.
The Tire Road Hazard Protection is active for two years following the purchase of the tires.
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John Cunningham is an Automotive Technician and writer on Rustyautos.com. He’s been a mechanic for over twenty-five years and has worked for GM, Volvo, Volkswagen, Land Rover, and Jaguar dealerships.
John uses his know-how and experience to write fluff-free articles that help fellow gearheads with all aspects of vehicle ownership, including maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting.