SAP_MAN

Today, I took the car in for some break work and later on today, my SA called to tell me that all has been taken care (under warranty) which is great. However, in this conversaiton, stated that the tech recommends new front tires soon at a tone of ~$950 (tires, balancing, & alignment)! Ouch! I know that there are folks out there that have found great deals on the RFT's (245/40 R18). I did a quick search in the forum, and found many references to great deals on tirerack.com, etc. which was a lot less than that.

The question that I have not found the answer to is if I purchase only the tires from tirerack.com, where does one go to get it mounted and balanced (the dealer (would they even do it w/o purchasing the Potenzas at their shop)? another tire shop?). Definately looks like tirerack is the place to go when you want to get both tires and wheels, but not sure about tires only.

Any suggestions would be great!

Brit_in_NJ

There is a installer finder http://www.tirerack.com/installer/index.jsp on the web site

SAP_MAN

Great! Thanks for the tip! I've personally never used tirerack.com before, but definately plan to for all my vehicles!

kchan

or just go to discount tire and get a new set of non-RFT. you can use tirerack and have discount tire price match them if you see it less at tirerack. all the tire chains are fairly competitive so for the same tires i don't think tirerack would have it much cheaper. i have it done both ways (tirerack and discount tire), and recently just go through discount tire (they have pretty good service). tirerack is a useful site to choose the tires, use that to get price and rating info. it's useful to know what brand and model you want instead of letting the discount tire people tells you what they think it's good. if they don't have them in stock they can order it and get them in a few days.

you can have tirerack drop ship them to discount tire or any tire shop, i wouldn't go through the dealer for sure. i am suprise your front ones are gone before the rear, or were the rears changed out before you got your car? btw, i don't think you need alignment for new tires, balancing is part of new tires installation. i think i would ditch the RFT and get the non-RFT. how much tread is left on the rears? if it's not too far away, mind as well buy a whole set of non-RFT.

luigi524td

Tell your dealer SA to sharpen his pencil not the knife he's using to cut your throat. The Bridgestone RFT's in that size are ~ $360 ea. My dealer charges $30 to mount / balance. Unless the alignment is almost $200 ...

Always ask for a BMWCCA discount for parts and labor - or check your dealer's website; many BMW dealers regularly advertise service and parts discounts or specials.

BTW, last time I checked TireRack's prices for the same RFT's the price was the same and then you had to add shipping. BTW, a few weeks ago I saw a Bridgestone promo/rebate ad in the Roundel.

SAP_MAN

Thanks kchan and luigi for the feedback... great thoughts.

kchan:
In terms of needing front tires, i bought this car about 4 months ago as a CPO. During the CPO process, the did replace the rear tires, so they are fine. The fronts, at that time, were right at 3mm, therefore 'passed'. Looking back, should have pushed them for fronts as well... oh well. Currently, there is about 1mm on the fronts remaining. As for the RFT's, can i have RFT's on the rear (the new one's) and same Potenza's, but non-RFT -- or will that cause issues?


luigi:
Great idea to push back on the dealer for discounts (BMWCCCA) as the $950 seems steep. I'm not sure how much the alignment runs... but something to find out for sure as part of the 'package'.

thanks guys!

kchan

i think it should be ok to mix and match, as long as it's the same tire on the same axle. but try to do a search and see if people have done this. i don't have actual experience so can't speak for this...
about the price, i won't pay any premium to have the dealer do this, plus i don't see why you need an alignment. i think alignment is for if you have the car lowered (which change the suspension geometry). at a fairly low miles i don't think you will see any benefits from alignment unless you see abnormal wear on your tires.