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Buying tires at Costco

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wackymother

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Our ever-reliable chatty mechanics retired last year, and now we are completely at sea about maintaining our cars. After trying a few other mechanics, we have found a new one who seems all right but no real sense of trust or loyalty there yet.

We took our newer, nicer car (a 2016 Toyota Avalon hybrid) to the dealer for a recall, and they came up with several items that seem a bit dubious, plus they said our tires need replacing. So we do think that our tires need replacing. We're not sure, they look fine to us, but okay, we bought the car used and we have 50k miles on it, so that seems reasonable that it would be time.

So. To buy tires at Costco, you go to the Costco tire center site, you enter the info about your car, and they offer you a few types of tires to choose from. These tires all seem very very similar. I looked everything up, and I chose the tires that are on super-sale from Costco right now, because honestly all the tires seem almost identical. So far so good.

Now we make an appointment and we take the car over and they put the tires on the car and...do they balance them? They do everything, right? Do you wait while they work? Or do you shop while they work?

Any guidance appreciated, this is all new territory to us!
 
You pretty much have it right. They will install the tires which requires balancing them. You also get lifetime balance/rotation on them. You can wait for the car, but you may wait a while. You can shop, but you may buy a lot of stuff. Depending on when you go, they could have a long wait or a short one. They have also wanted us to return after 30 miles to have the lugs retorqued.
 
We have been very pleased with Costco's service and guarantee on the tires, too. We have them rotate the tires too, which is free.
 
Costco will do it right. Yes, they balance them. Yes, you can shop while they're being worked on, or you can sit there and wait. Costco will also accept returns on the tires if you don't like them, just as they will with other returns. You have ZERO to worry about. This is Costco, remember. :D

Be sure to pay for them on your Costco Visa, so you get the rebate. That makes the sale price even better.

Dave
 
Thanks!

New question: How often are you supposed to have your tires rotated? When do you need to do that?
 
wackymother said:
Thanks!

New question: How often are you supposed to have your tires rotated? When do you need to do that?
Click to expand...

It depends on the tire, your car, your mileage and so forth. Ask the Costco tire people that question. They'll give you solid information. I believe they will also rotate your tires for you for free, if you buy your tires there. Win-win.

Dave
 
I also am very pleased with Costco tires. They sell / carry all the major manufacturers of tires.
They will also do special orders of tires; that they do not stock or that they do not carry.
 
Last edited:
dioxide45 said:
You pretty much have it right. They will install the tires which requires balancing them. You also get lifetime balance/rotation on them. You can wait for the car, but you may wait a while. You can shop, but you may buy a lot of stuff. Depending on when you go, they could have a long wait or a short one. They have also wanted us to return after 30 miles to have the lugs retorqued.
Click to expand...
They are the only tire installer in our area; to asked you to return your automobile to have the lugs retorqued. IMHO

That is excellent.
 
We’ve bought several sets of tires from Costco. While it can take awhile to get in, they do good work and we’ve never had issues. The nice thing is that you automatically get any manufacturer rebates on tires without having to submit your receipts to the manufacturer and wait.

We don’t rotate our tires per se since we swap off our all-season tires for winter tires every 6 months or so. That seems to keep the tread wear fairly uniform.
 
pedro47 said:
I also am very pleased with Costco tires. They sell / carry all the major manufacturers of tires.
They will also do special orders of tires; that they do not stock or that they do not carry.
Click to expand...
I don't think they sell Goodyear tires though. Not a big loss, we used to always use Goodyear but they fell out of favor for us many years ago.
 
When my bought my truck tires from Costco they gave me a card that said when to bring them in for rotation by mileage.
 
BTW, plan on putting ~$300 of stuff in your basket while waiting.
DW can't seem to get out of there w/o spending at least that.
.
 
You can't go wrong with Costco Tires. Their prices are the lowest I have found when shopping for new tires. They carry name brand and sizes and even special orders. New tires are inflated with nitrogen and anytime you need to add a few pounds due to the weather just stop by and they will inflate them to the proper level with no waiting. Flats are fixed for free and balancing is for life. Tire rotation is free at 7K-10K miles. I had a set of that was warranted from the manufacture for 60k miles at 49K miles to my surprise I was informed that I needed new tires. Since the warranty was for 60K miles they prorated a new set. I had paid around $1,100 for the set 2 years earlier after prorating the new set cost me $560 for everything. Thats customer service!!!
 
A couple of weeks ago we bought Michelin tires at Costco for our 2019 Toyota Camry. They scheduled an appointment and DH said it was 60-70 minutes from the time he handed them the keys until he was out the door. He said pick up a few things and maybe get a hot dog, slice of pizza or a strawberry sundae while you wait.
 
We've been purchasing tires at Costco for 25 years or so and have been 100% satisfied.

Simple advice; Go into your Costco and be sure they have all four tires in stock prior to installation. We have found on several occasions they are a tire (or two) short, and they have to make arrangements to get all four tires for us.

Sometimes they do run promotions. Watch for them, or ask the Costco tire folks if they know of a promotion that is about to begin. It may be worthwhile to wait a few days if you are able to save $100 or so......

Enjoy the $1.50 Hotdog while you wait during the installation process. Best bargain out there! May not be healthy but it is certainly tasty!




.
 
Talent312 said:
BTW, plan on putting ~$300 of stuff in your basket while waiting.
DW can't seem to get out of there w/o spending at least that.
.
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. But that would happen whether we were getting tires or not! :D
 
TheTimeTraveler said:
We've been purchasing tires at Costco for 25 years or so and have been 100% satisfied.

Simple advice; Go into your Costco and be sure they have all four tires in stock prior to installation. We have found on several occasions they are a tire (or two) short, and they have to make arrangements to get all four tires for us.

Sometimes they do run promotions. Watch for them, or ask the Costco tire folks if they know of a promotion that is about to begin. It may be worthwhile to wait a few days if you are able to save $100 or so......

Enjoy the $1.50 Hotdog while you wait during the installation process. Best bargain out there! May not be healthy but it is certainly tasty!
.
Click to expand...

We live in a super-crowded part of the country and our Costco is always a mob scene. (For example, my husband needed a test for hearing aids and he waited four months to get an appointment with the Costco hearing department.) (DaveNV suggested going to another Costco, but they're ALL like that around here.) So I'm definitely going to be better off buying the tires online and scheduling an appointment.

It's weird, but I don't like the $1.50 hot dogs! They're steamed instead of grilled! We live just a few blocks away from a very famous hot dog stand--it's always on lists about the greatest hot dogs in our state and the greatest hot dogs in the country. And we never go hot dogs there bc they use these soft, sweet pork hot dogs rather than the good all-beef kind that they serve (steamed, unfortunately) at Costco. If you feel guilty about the Costco hot dogs--this hot dog stand DEEP-FRIES their hot dogs!
 
We get Costco tires, but don’t bother to go back to get them rotated. Just do that when you get oil changed or every other oil change. A lot of places like Midas jiffy lube etc include rotating tires for nominal charge. It’s easier and a time saver to just do it then.
 
Thanks for all the advice! Sounds like Costco is definitely the way forward for us. Will let you know how it goes!
 
Superchief said:
They told me to get them rotated at 7500 miles. Does anyone actually go back after 30 mile to get the retorqued? I didn't.
Click to expand...

If by some chance the lug nuts are not tight and work their way loose causing a wheel to come off while you are driving, you personally will be held at fault, not the tire installer. There have been many cases, especially in areas where folks get summer/winter tires changed twice a year, of tires coming off and killing people. You wouldn't believe how fast and how far a car tire can go when it comes off a car travelling at 60mph on a highway. Big truck tires go even further!


~Diane
 
wackymother said:
Thanks!

New question: How often are you supposed to have your tires rotated? When do you need to do that?
Click to expand...

They will put a sticker on the upper left corner of your windshield with the miles needed for rotation. It does take about an hour so bring your shopping list.

Bill
 
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