Okay, the Gaia-humpin' Ram 'o' doom is gonna need new tires soon. It's got ~ 42K on the odometer, and the tires are getting towards the end of their useful life. They've still got tread, certainly enough to pass inspection, but I am going to need to pick up new rubber before the end of the year. Here's where it gets tricky: It's got the stupid 20" rims. The cheapest tire I've found for it is $180 a piece.
So my dilemma, then, is whether I put four new 20" tires on it for ~ $750, or do I invest in four 17" rims with snow tires (~ $800) and have dedicated snows for it? It only postpones the inevitable - I'll have to get four new 20" tires eventually - but it would give four brand new snow tires for pretty much the remainder of the time I own it... I could eke another year or so out of the existing rims, and replace those in pairs, as they'd only see ~ 5K miles a year.
In any case, I need to find a source of tires. We've had good luck at BJ's Warehouse, as they usually have deals for $50 - $70 off a set of four tires from time to time and will also mount and balance the tires for you. However, the last time I checked, they didn't stock 20" wheels. A quick check online yields many options - if I want $300+ rims with 22" rubber. Does anyone even carry steel rims any more?
Where's a good place to go for new tires?
That is all.
Where's a good place to go for new tires?
That is all.
19 comments:
www.tirerack.com
Since I have the exact same tires and rims as you do (and 10k more miles!) I'm following this thread closely. I'll need new ones before vacation in June. Last time I looked a few months ago, I was able to find tires for like $125 or so online.
But....... there's always a but....
One lesson I learned last time I put new shoes on my bike:
When you bring them tires you bought somewhere else (ie online) all those "free mounting, balancing and tire disposal" deals fly right out the window, and you get charged full labor rate. In the case of my bike, the added labor ($45/tire for the bike, I think) completely ate up the savings, and on top of that I had the added work of storing the new tires until my appointment and then making 2 trips to the shop, first to drop off the tires, then to bring the bike back. Totally wasn't worth it.
yer actually better off buying 16" rims. I have a ram 2500 and there are no deals on 17" tires either....but 16" tires are cheap.
Seriously, check it out.
Keep in mind that changing overall tire size on a newer vehicle is a much bigger deal then in the old days. Changing the tire diameter changes the overall gearing. In the old days, the worst that happened was your speedometer was off. Now damn near everything uses input from your speed, from the antilock brakes to the transmission, even the windshield wipers on your particular truck.
So, if you do go 16 or 17 inch rims, you'll need to pick a tire size that has the same overall diameter as the tires on the 20s. When you do that, it means you will have to have a few more inches of tire sidewall to make up that difference. That extra sidewall is gonna make your not exactly sportscar handling even worse.
Just food for thought.
I'd personally just bite the bullet and get new rubber. Snow tires are only a good idea if your vehicle doesn't handle well in the ice and snow. I'd only imagine your big heavy Ram works the white crap better than my Ranger which is the ruler of the frozen waste-land in the snow.
The new Rims idea is more expensive, and only adds a small amount of life to tires on their way out, so you'd still be looking at the $750 bill for new summer rubber soon. Also unless you're thinking of pushing this truck to the complete inevitable service life (including tranny rebuild and dropping in a crate motor, and fixing every damn part until the frame rots out) that extended life the snow rims will give your summer tires, I don't see how that would net you savings.
Adding in Mopar's statement about how smaller rims will confuse the computer, it becomes a no-brainier. Painful as it may be.
Well to be fair, the computer can be reprogrammed for the new tire size, but that either means getting the dealer to do it, or buying the setup to do it yourself for a few hundred bucks. (pros: you can tweak everything for a little better mpg or performance. Cons: voids your warranty)
TireRack has never worked out to be THAT good a deal for me, after shipping/handling and mounting/balancing eats up all the savings.
I bought my tires for the tonkatruck from a local small chain when they had a "buy two get two" sale. Yeah, I was paying full retail list on the two I bought, but their "normal" price was about 65% of list - so I DID save some money.
I've been VERY happy with the General GrabberAT2s that are on my truck; 30k on them now and still chugging along fine. Great in the snow, great in the rain, great in the mud and across the cornfields. When these die I'll be buying another set of the same.
If they're available in the right size, might want to check into 'em.
I actually saved money with the TireRack route, when my Tahoe needed new rubber. I wanted specific tires -- Bridgestone Dueler AT Revo 2s -- and after shopping locally, Tirerack had the best price, even factoring in shipping.
Tirerack actually shipped the tires to an NTB near my house -- there were other options -- and I swung by to have them mounted and balanced, for a rate that was already negotiated through Tirerack.
I don't lifetime rotation -- but I live in a state where they pull two tires each year as part of inspection, and my mechanic charges me half of the regular rotation rate to pull the remaining two and swap 'em around. Six months later I pay full price for the second swap -- $30 annually for tire rotation. It's doable...
The 17" rims were a choice because they're a factory offering - I would assume (and before I bought anything I'd check into this) that getting the same 17" set-up as OEM Dodge wouldn't require any re-tooling on the part of the computer.
As it stands, I'll most likely bite the bullet and just put four new Wrangler HP's on the Ram (what it's wearing now). They've performed well over the past four years, and if I replace them towards the end of the summer (i.e. before the winter madness takes hold) I might be able to find some deals.
Jay,
I've had very good luck at Town Fair Tire. Fast, honest, etc. Even if they're a bit of a drive from Casa del G, make the trip. And be sure to select a NH location so you can 'stick it to the man' on Beacon Hill. Did I say that I really like Town Fair Tire?
Jay, the 265/70R17s are not only 1.5 shorter then the 275/60R20s, yet they have almost an inch more sidewall, as well as narrower tread width. So all in all a poorer handling tire. You're looking at about a 4.25% decrease in diameter, so you probably should have the computer reprogrammed (it's set at the factory for the tire size). It would also mean your motor turned 18 more revolution per mile then with the 20s, so there would some loss in mpg I would think. I like the idea of saving $50-60 in tax though, I might have to consider getting my tires done in NH as well :)
Town Fair near me wants $204/tire for the Wranglers, that includes mounting but not balancing it seems.
Inasmuch as I believe that a vehicle should get me from A to B and back again for a minimal cost I buy rims at the auto recycling center (junkyard).
Frequently,they also have great pairs of tires, as well.
I sure don't like Goodyear tires -- and the last time I priced them they were more than the Michelins. I just put 4 Michelin Latitude X-Ice on the Jeep, and I can't say enough about them. Did you price Michelins for the truck?
I think the Michelin Latitudes run about $25 more a tire then the Goodyear Wranglers. I will say my Wranglers have about 53k on them and still have enough tread to probably make it to 60k+. However, I am starting to notice they are no longer perfectly balanced, and I figure if I'm gonna go through all the trouble to get them rebalanced it's probably time to think about replacing the rubber too. Tires are about 4.5yrs old since date of manufacture, 5yrs is pushing what I consider the safe limit no matter what the tread. I tend to rack up the miles (like 450-500 mile trips to have dinner with friends!) and push it hard (yes a hemi Ram can double the double nickle, uhm so I've heard). Don't like to take chances with tires.
On my last trip to MA I perused craigslist to see if anyone was offering usable snow tires to fit my soft-roader.
I found several people selling full sets of good-condition snow tires -- already on rims sized to fit my ride -- and generally for quite reasonable money. Some had traded in their vehicle, some had wrecked it, and some were just trying to convert any of their "stuff they could do without" back into liquid cash.
There are also an awful lot of people looking to go up in rim size because that looks cool. Some of them have the old small rims to sell, others would give good money for your old larger rims.
So I second the scrapyard/secondhand suggestion. If done right you can find good rims with currently safe rubber and try out whether you like the handling characteristics befure you spend real money on new quality tires.
Use some caution when getting new wheels. A guy I work with just tried that for his 2006 Ram (that came with 20s) and 17s would not fit over his front brake calipers.
OK, update on *my* Gaia-humpin' Ram.
The slight imbalance I had mentioned the other day suddenly got much worse. Turns out to be a broken steel belt in one tire, probably cause by one of the bajillion potholes we have this winter. Dunno if this was the original vibration getting worse, or a new problem, but it needed attention ASAP. Not only did the tire have a "bubble" in the tread, the broken belt was working it's way out of the rubber. Ended up getting Goodyear Wranglers again, though these are sporter white outline letters on the sidewall. I no longer had the luxury of shopping around, and ended up paying a grand total of $1025.66 for the 4 tires, mounted, balanced, new valves, disposal, tax, yada yada yada. Ouch.
Did they at least include lube with that?
Didn't even buy me dinner first. Hell, the free coffee was even empty.
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