legionofdoom

1. Has anyone that purchased tires from The Tire Rack gotten the optional Road Hazard warranty? Is it worth it? Have you had to use it and, if so, how was the experience?

2. Is there a real benefit to having the car aligned on a Hunter Roadforce system as opposed to whatever else they use?

I've decided I'm getting the Pirelli PZero Nero M&S tires and now just trying to figure out where to buy them from and where to have them installed. Thanks in advance for any information!

-LOD

93SHOcar

I took Tire Rack's cost for the PZero's + shipping to a local tire dealer I had been doing business with for years and they came within $5 or $10/tire. To me, it was worth paying a little more to have the whole transaction local. Without the leverage of TireRack's price, I am sure the cost would have been higher. Might be worth a try. If you don't have history with a local dealer, you might take a look at TireRack's Recommended Installer program.

I have been extremely please overall with the PZero's. Only issue is some tramlining on grooved highways. If grooved highways are part of your daily commute, you might want to consider a different tire.

legionofdoom

Thanks 93. I'm actually debating these two options:

a. getting the tires delivered to my dealership where they're supposedly going to mount, balance and 4-wheel align (on a Hunter Roadforce) for $100 (still need to get this in writing because it sounds low); or

b. going to a local place (Town Fair Tire) where they said they'll match the lowest price I can find and add $60 for mounting and balancing. A free front-wheel alignment is included as is a free lifetime road hazard warranty.

chill_dog

Don't you mean balance on a Hunter Roadforce? I know Hunter makes an alignment machine, but I thought the Roadforce was their balancer. Either way, balancing on a RF is good...if you search here, there's a link to their page that explains why it's good...or you can just go to the FAQ page on their site.

Not sure if (or how) their alignment machine is better than any other one.

Of your two deals, I'd take B (maybe see if they can do a 4-wheel alignment for a few bucks more). If for some reason you think the tires aren't balanced right, go to Discount Tire and have them balance them (RF, about $40)...at this point, you'd have spent the same as at the dealer, but have the road hazard coverage.

7Davie7

Dude - I would be very careful going to Town Fair tire. I went to one here in CT and dont think i'll ever go back. They do not ,and will not torque your lug nuts. I watched them use the air-gun on every car in there and asked that they do not for mine. As soon as i walked away i could hear them doing it. They of course denied it. Turns out they stripped 2 lugs nuts, which i saw and they replaced, but the worst part was, that about 3mos later i had warped rotors from those clowns using the air gun instead of torqueing the lugs. When i had the rotors fixed, the guy asked who put on my tires...when I said TownFair he laughed and said those fools keep him in business......WATCH THEM LIKE A HAWK!

legionofdoom

Yeah, my bad. Was trying to do too many things at once and mistyped. It's a mounting and balancing on the RF for $100 at the dealer and a 4-wheel alignment would be another $100. TFT will mount/balance/front-wheel align for $60 plus the free road hazard and a few other free services.

Great. So they're the equivalent of Jiffy Lube then? No wonder they're willing to match the price...

chill_dog

If you have a Discount Tire where you live, I would recommend them...they have the Hunter, will match internet prices on tires (and can get almost any brand/size, even if it's not in stock), have road hazard (free, too, I think), and are cheaper than the dealer. Around here, they are the best as far as caring about your wheels and car, and they do a great job.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/home.do

EDIT: just saw you were in Boston and checked the store locator...none in the NE...nevermind what I said before.

7Davie7

Exactly - you will prolly get a good price on tires there, but the clowns dono't know how to put them on correctly.
Just like jiffy Lube will do the oil change for less then the Acura dealer but the jackasses can't put the Acura oil filter on right....

legionofdoom

Thanks for all the feedback.

It looks like I'll have to re-think this. There are a few Tire Rack recommended installers near my house so I'll probably end up going to one of them even though none of them (except DirectTire) has the RF. I guess I can always go to a place with the RF and have them re-balanced if the original shop doesn't do a good enough job. Then again, maybe I'll just pay the extra costs per tire at DirectTire and be done with it...

Adobeman

Confirmed. They are typically gorilla installers. I stopped going there over a decade ago after they stripped lugs on my wife's car. To their credit, they paid for the repair. Plus they are wicked expensive. My father in law is blissfully ignorant and still brings his car there. He knows better than to ask my thoughts about them any more.

BTW- I have personally noticed that the Costco in Enfield, CT does hand torque lugs. I've seen them doing it a few times as I walk into the store. Unfortunately I don't think they have Hunter machines and will only install what they sell. Perhaps you have a local Costco you could talk to.

richrath

You guys might not belive this or may sneer when reading it -- but I just had Sears replace my tires (there's a longish story but nutshell they beat TireRack's price on Kumho Ecsta ASX) and was concerned about the balancing 'cause I knew all they'd do was a regular spin balance at the equivalent of like 30 or 35 mph. And my worn-out P-Zero Neros had been balance nightmares for quite some time, always having an issue somewhere between 75 and 85 mph.

BUT much to my surprise, the new shoes balanced perfectly with that minimal spin balance. I was ready to take it to Butler Tire (a local Atlanta shop that does 130 mph balancing with a dyno-like contaption) but I haven't needed to!! I was stunned. Still am, actually. And happy! Upshot, you may not have to have RF balancing if you can get an attractive deal without it.

Also, I always firmly tell whatever clerk I'm dealing with if they're gonna have my wheels off they'd better hand-torque to 80 ft-lbs, and that I'm gonna check it at home and bring it back if they don't. I watched the guy at Sears do my car and he hand torqued each wheel. The manager even checked the torque wrench setting while he was doing it.

qqyy

I dont think regular spin balance machine would having problem for our tl tires, it has been used many years, in my opinion, they are just a marketing thing.

as for the alignment machine, the easy way to check if the machine's accuracy is simply drive your car off the rack after an alignment, then drive on again, mount the sensor , and then check if both data are the same.