Costco

[Motegi]

My S-03s are wearing thin so I've been shopping around for tires myself. On a whim I decided to stop by Costco to see what they had to offer (especially with the upcoming coupon deal). I walked in with the tire sizes (17"F and 18"R) and all they had to offer were the BFG CompTA. Now I know that they are not the greatest tires but I've had them on one of my other vehicles for the last 7 years and have been very happy with them overall.

The salesman then said that he wanted to confirm whether they could work on the NSX so we walked out to the car in the parking lot to have a look. He immediately apologized and said that my non-lowered NSX w/ aftermarket wheels would not fit onto their lift and that the only other option would be to take the wheels off myself and bring more dollars off.

The dilemma is that for about the same amount of money I can get S03s from the TireRack but I would have to find a shop willing to get them onto the existing wheels. Most of the decent tire places around here are chain stores (Tire Kingdom, Tires Plus) and I'm not sure they will put on "outside" bought tires. Many of the private shops don't seem very reputable. What to do!?!

 

[NSXSOON]

The dilemma is that for about the same amount of money I can get S03s from the TireRack but I would have to find a shop willing to get them onto the existing wheels. Most of the decent tire places around here are chain stores (Tire Kingdom, Tires Plus) and I'm not sure they will put on "outside" bought tires. Many of the private shops don't seem very reputable. What to do!?!

The Tire Rack has an extensive network of "recommended" installers all over the US. If you go to there web site and punch in your zip code it will bring up a list within about a 30 mile radius. I found a local installer that way that had the highest rating from Tire Rack and proved to be a great find. The funny thing is, I've lived here for 9 years and never even knew they existed or had such a great reputation. The web is a wonderful tool!

 

[TyraNSX]

For what it's worth, I haven't bought a tire from a tire shop in close to 20 yrs. Everything has been phone or more recently internet orders. The savings on cost more than offsets the shipping and paying for mount & balance. When I had my 2 new fronts put on, I jacked up 1 corner of the NSX, took rim (with old tire on) & new tire to tire shop. They dismounted/remounted and balanced. I went home, put it on, and repeated for other side. I don't trust people to be careful on this car.

They have this new $25K Italian tire (sorry, can't remember make) machine that is almost a robot and other than setting the rim on the platform, all the operator does is flip levers and push buttons. A big arm and "finger" on machine do all the work without touching rim. You might want to ask some shops if they have a machine like this. It ended up costing about $70 for 2 tires dismount/mount/balance, but they didn't screw up the rim.
The guy also asked if the rims were backward or negative or something like that, meaning they should sit face up vs face down on the machine. I have no idea what NSX rims are & can't remember which way mine were facing, but it worked out. I have never heard of this classification of rims, but I'm no expert. Maybe one of the techs on here knows.

If you can find someone with a good machine & skills, it's no biggy to jack it up yourself. If I had 2 jacks I would have done both at once, but I don't. Check the pressures once back on car too, they never get it right.

 

[chumch]

My S-03s are wearing thin so I've been shopping around for tires myself. On a whim I decided to stop by Costco to see what they had to offer (especially with the upcoming coupon deal). I walked in with the tire sizes (17"F and 18"R) and all they had to offer were the BFG CompTA. Now I know that they are not the greatest tires but I've had them on one of my other vehicles for the last 7 years and have been very happy with them overall.

The salesman then said that he wanted to confirm whether they could work on the NSX so we walked out to the car in the parking lot to have a look. He immediately apologized and said that my non-lowered NSX w/ aftermarket wheels would not fit onto their lift and that the only other option would be to take the wheels off myself and bring more dollars off.

The dilemma is that for about the same amount of money I can get S03s from the TireRack but I would have to find a shop willing to get them onto the existing wheels. Most of the decent tire places around here are chain stores (Tire Kingdom, Tires Plus) and I'm not sure they will put on "outside" bought tires. Many of the private shops don't seem very reputable. What to do!?!

Perhaps I'm missing something, but with respect to tire selection, costco can order most tire models/sizes (e.g. SO-3's)

 

[ncdogdoc]

Costco is just like any other national chain. It all depends on who is in the bay when you need the work done.

I used to have ALL my tire mounting done by Costco, as they had one guy with almost 40 years experience and the manager used to be a regional manager for BF Goodrich before he retired and went back to school to get another degree, and worked Costco in his off hours to pay for his new wife and two new kids

They were extremely professional, had two different people torque the lugnuts to make sure they were spec, would mount any tire/wheel combo I brought to them, including a +3 package for my Lexus. They had all plastic edged mounting machines so as not to scratch rims, asked if I wanted rim edge tire weights or stick ons, and would allow me to hang around and watch while they were doing my tires. All this, and only charging $12 to mount and balance Unfortunately, they were 45 minutes from my house. A local tire shop changed hands and started trying to get new business and even though they are not "quite" as careful, are still very good and less than 1 mile from my house.

Plus Costco usea Nitrogen now instead of compressed air. Just get to know the workers. If they are a bunch of high school kids discussing plans to join the local Dale Jr pit crew school, or the guys girl friend is greasy haired and sleeping in his rusted out Cavalier with a buzz bomb pipe out in the parking lot, then steer clear. JMHO.

 

[Vega$ NSX]

I just went to my local Costco yesterday and the guy at the counter said he doesn't sell the S-03's. In fact, he said as of just recently, he won't be selling any bridgestones at all anymore. I'm not sure if it's a Vegas thing or what.

 

[chumch]

I just went to my local Costco yesterday and the guy at the counter said he doesn't sell the S-03's. In fact, he said as of just recently, he won't be selling any bridgestones at all anymore. I'm not sure if it's a Vegas thing or what.

I just checked their website and it appears the only tires they now offer are bfgoodrich and michelin--that sucks!

The wierd thing is that I just bought a set of Bridgestones for my fiance's lexus a month ago as a special order with no indication that the end was near for them

 

[NsSeX]

I have found what I believe to be a good deal on Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position tiers at Costco. The price includes mounting, lifetime balancing, tire disposal and lifetime filling with nitrogen. About the same cost as the Tire Rack without the hassle of shipping and finding a good installer. The best part is that (at least at my local Costco) every October they have a sale that is $80.00 off on a set of 4. So if you need a full set this is a good saving in my opinion. Has any one on Prime bought tires from Costco? What was your experience?

If your looking for a good deal, go to a discount tire store and ask them if they can beat costco's price mount& balanced. They will definetly give you a lower price than costco(if that is what you are looking for).

For example, my brother just purchased a set of 4PS2's for $1260 mount/balance/tax which is much cheaper than purchasing through costco or tire rack from discount tire in Lynnwood

just my .02:wink:

 

[john@johnhudakracing]

To purchase- I would recommend just ordering the tires online. My personal experience is that Tire Rack, Online Tire, etc.. Typically have pretty competitive prices/cheap shipping and a good deal of stock on hand anyway. In many instances I've found that given the types of specialized tires we request, Tire Rack's own warehouse often times has more stock on hand then even the Manufacturers own US distribution hubs resulting in less waiting then having the guy behind the counter calling his sales rep. Depending on the tire, a few other sites come to mind as well.

In practice my overall walk-in experience is that most tire retail places (Les Schwab, Discount Tire, etc..) live to play sales games since they know you have some money to spend, have zero idea what they are technically talking about (hell they will be asking you if you want your S03's sipped and their special thrust alignment that compensates for highway grading), never have anything you would want in stock anyway, and inevitably charge you shipping and sales tax negating any potential savings. Tire disposal fees are inflated and warranties are almost never honored when you come back anyway. Frankly, I just don't see any sales advantage at all.


For installation- I say once they arrive take them to a race shop, or the qualified installer of your choice to have them professionally mounted and balanced; assuming you don't have a machine of your own. I've had shops charge me as little as $60 for a professional dismount/mount, balance, race tape, and good nitrogen purge or bleed through (assuming you have dual stems to take advantage of it of course). That's half the price of a walk-in at most other places and I trust their work a lot more- particularly with bigger diameters/lower profile tires.

Yeah sometimes I have to wait a few days to get it in, but it is always worth it. Even if someone gave me a 'great sales deal' at one of those other places mentioned there is no way in hell they would ever get near a set of my expensive wheels let alone vehicle. If that sounds biased or elitist sorry, but just the same my bias goes up exponentially with their other services (e.g. gravitating from me just staring at the ground nodding my head to OH $#@% NO!!!) including, but not limited to, brakes and alignments.

Frankly, IMHO most of these chain stores should be turning down more of the work on the higher end stuff. They are over confident, often have employees that act first and think later, often don't take responsibility when issues do arrise, and all in all its just way too much of a risk and way too much hassle for both parties in the event of an incident. Oh, and incidents they do happen often if you browse around.

For one, I know have had my share- several sets of rather expensive wheels damaged at Sears and Costco's over the earlier years before I finally learned my lesson and knew to "just not do it again". More than one I told you-u's- peeled rings, nicked finishes, etc... For two, you never know who will be doing the work- and you just may well have to put your life on the employee’s work which is a huge IF. I've seen leaky mounts, crazy tire pressures, mis-mounted direction tires, loose lugs, etc... all more than once. I just thank god I wasn't running the silverstate classic that day.

While there are always exceptions- usually the bottom line is that these facilities and their business model/employee structure are designed to be just "good enough" for the average unknowing consumer / bread and butter cheap-o car work in and out of the door and just aren't really equipped to deal with any of the upscale performance enthusiasts. The trend seems to be that most of these chain retail places now won't even mount/balance a customer supplied tire anymore anyway.. best bet I would consider that no loss...

 

[schuey1010]

In practice my overall walk-in experience is that most tire retail places (Les Schwab, Discount Tire, etc..) live to play sales games since they know you have some money to spend, have zero idea what they are technically talking about (hell they will be asking you if you want your S03's sipped and their special thrust alignment that compensates for highway grading), never have anything you would want in stock anyway, and inevitably charge you shipping and sales tax negating any potential savings. Tire disposal fees are inflated and warranties are almost never honored when you come back anyway. Frankly, I just don't see any sales advantage at all.

This is the reason I buy online as well and take them to my own shop to get mounted. I go wanting one tire and they never have it in stock, and I would always end up getting some garbage I did not want just so I would not have to go back.

The tires suck and the price ends up being even worse.

I think someone said it in the above posts, Costco will only mount a stock size tire, nothing else (at the ones around my area anyway). Probably wouldn't trust them anyway.