Possumblog

The Exciting World of High Performance Tires!

The Flower of Vidalia, Janis Gore, sent me an e-mail last night, which Chet the E-Mail Boy was so kind as to leave upon my desk this morning:

Subject: Infiniti G35 - sport model

Hon,

That's what your mother has, isn't it?

I just got off the phone with my brother. He had a blowout on Hwy 28 between Jonesville and Alexandria Friday on his way to see a friend in Shreveport.

He couldn't find a tire at any outlet in Alexandria. He had to wait until Monday for service at the Infiniti dealership in Shreveport. They only had three tires on hand. They order from Dallas.

Replacement cost was $310 for the tire (not the rim, hon, the tire) plus the $30 an hour for mounting, etc.

Just to let you know.

Janis

First of all, what a MEMORY! I can barely remember from day to day what my mom's got, and I was WITH HER when she bought the derned thing! So kudos to Miss Janis for remembering. And also, thanks to her for the red flag, although as I noted in my reply to her, my mom is somewhat hardened to high tire prices since the Caddy she had before the Infiniti wore some pricey Goodyear shoes.

Her Infiniti has the base tire package with P215/55VR-17 tires, but Janis' brother's car might have the optional 235/45WR18 that would be a bit harder to come by. For those shopping Infinitis, it's worth remembering that they can be ordered with a full-size spare on an alloy wheel to match the others--if you DO have a flat, it's nice to be able to have a usable spare like that in order to allow you time to shop around for a better deal.

Local tire shops are usually always a better deal than buying through the dealership, although you do have to be careful and find someone reputable. At the Infiniti store, they've got a vested interest in making sure you're happy, but you do tend to pay more for that happiness. Thirty bucks an hour for tire mounting is a bit steep.

Another thing to consider is buying online, if you have a couple of days to wait. I pointed Miss Janis to Tire Rack's website (and there are other online stores, this isn't an endorsement of one over the other) and they have a range of tires priced from around $175 to $280 per tire, plus shipping. The nice thing about them in Brother of Janis' case is that they have a warehouse right there in Shreveport. You still have to pay for mounting and balancing and stuff, so it would still be a hefty tab no matter what, but it's still worth shopping around if you have the time to do it.

Which leads into the second part of the post, tire sticker shock. A lot of folks like the appearance of the big, wide, low-profile tires, but those tires are more expensive than something a bit more plain or smaller, and for the vast majority of people, you would never drive hard enough or fast enough to ever feel the difference. It's a lot like people who buy SUVs, but would never think of driving them off-road. You're paying an awful lot for capability you would never use. And when it comes right down to it, there's much more to enjoyable handling than go-kart-like transitions--cars like the older BMW 320i, the original Mazda Miata, and even the original Mini, that looked like it rolled on shopping cart wheels--all provide fun, safe, predictable, and good handling characteristics, even on what appear to today's drivers as tiny tires. An added benefit is those smaller tires are much less expensive than the outsized 17, 18, or bigger sizes common today.

Buy what you like, but just remember you might be paying for something you really can't use.

(And by way of full disclosure, when my mom bought her car, I pressed her hard to get the sport suspension package with the bigger wheel/tire combo, because, you know, it looks WAY cool. It also has a limited slip differential, which is a nice way to get an even set of burnout marks as you turn your expensive tires to dust. But in the end, I was overruled.)

Posted by Terry Oglesby at July 18, 2006 08:33 AM