Just for a laugh

[CivicCanuck]

Went to the only Michelin dealer in town for a quote on tires.... shop local? Not on your life... I can buy from a retailer about 3 hours away and save several hundred bucks, basically enough to buy a basic set of aftermarket wheels.

Ah, the beauty of being isolated up north....

 

[CivicCanuck]

$ 13.80 + tax for rubber stems.... wow... got any lube with that? I bought them by the hundred box before from a tire products dealer for $ 28/100 count, so 28 cents each. By my math, that's a whopping 1200+ percent mark up.

$ 96 for balancing>? I could buy a few BOXES of wheel weights for that. Again... OUCH. I know what it takes, once the machine is set and the appropriate cone / hub adapter is installed, 10-12 minutes to balance a set of 4.

 

[Dar-Dar]

That tax is high.

 

[Dar-Dar]

Mounting and balancing rates are about average in my area. So I would say that $24/tire is a normal price, but still very pricey.

 

[Nix]

Yikes! $200 a tire and then more for all that? I know I don't buy super high end tires and I go to Sears cause it's easy but there for $150/tire you get lifetime mount, balance, stems, rotation, and road hazard warranty. Man I could curb a wheel so bad I get a flat and they give me a new tire within 6 months.

 

[KennyGS]

How do they stay in business?

 

[CivicCanuck]

I don't know how they stay in business.... hordes of people order from Tire Rack and Discount Tire and have tires and or tire / wheel packages shipped to the border.

I know where I am going.

 

[the insider]

I don't know how they stay in business.... hordes of people order from Tire Rack and Discount Tire and have tires and or tire / wheel packages shipped to the border.

I know where I am going.

Can't speak for your local retailer but in general we get bent over badly buying tires in Canada - we sell a lot of tires - yes they are expensive; and there is very little profit in it for us - maybe $10 per tire on average. The $96 for balancing... well read between the lines - that's for mounting and balancing and is in line. The stems are a ripoff period. 1010 Tires used to be competitive but not so much in recent years - prior to the implementation of the HST the tax savings used to cover shipping. I often make purchases and have them shipped to the boarder.

 

[CivicCanuck]

Tire Rack = $ 510 with a $70 prepaid credit card if I was a U.S. citizen.... however it would be $ 580+ shipping to the border. With shipping $ 646.72.

Total with me picking them up and bringing them into Canada would be $762.80 with all taxes paid.

 

[Monk]

For Canada, I think you did pretty well.
I don't see where the valve stems are high(although I like metal ones), and metal ones came with mine stock(surprised). It's always the balancing that I think(in line or not) is a rip off, 'course most of my life, if the tyres were bought at the same place mounting and balancing were free, just hate seeing where things were given to loyal customers, are now itemized.

But talk about money on tyres, motorcycle tyres each, go for about 140 to 200 dollars and balance is 25 each(that's with me bringing in the wheels off the bike), but the kicker is, the tyres only go for 3,000 to 10,000 miles, so I go though at least 2 sets a year.