New Tire Issues

[KenCal]

Ralph I just bought 35" General Grabber AT2's at Town Fair Tire here in Enfield, Ct and they installed them on my Ultra alloy wheels with Synergy 1&1/2" wheel adapters spacers no problem. Paid $170 for the Synergy's at Valley Truck in Ellington. Only issue I had with Town Fair Tire was they tried to use clip on weights when balancing the alloy wheels and I had them do it over using stick on weights. By the way the tires I took off are 265/70R/17s General Grabber AT2's if your interested. The tires still have half their tread left. Cell # 860-930-6030. Leave a message if I don't answer I might be driving. I'll call back. Ken

[del_TJ]

Something else to consider is that you're not too far from the Crown Automotive Outlet in Canton, MA. I have bought good quality, cheap parts there before and they may have spacers and/or wheels. They're customer service is awesome and if you call them, they can fill you in on their inventory and prices. I've bought stuff cheaper there than can be found on the interweb...

https://sites.google.com/site/crownautooutlet/

[RalphTomaccio]

Well, after spending all morning at online tire shops and crunching numbers, I came up with somewhat surprising results. I thought for sure one of the online places would have the best price, but not so. Here are the prices comparing apples to apples, I.e. Tire cost, balancing, installation, etc. the list starts with the highest total to the lowest:

Landon Tires
Direct Tire
Offroad Elements
Town Fair
Tire Buyer

I tried Elias but they are closed on Fridays.

Also tried Tire Rack, but they don't handle Nitto.

Tire Buyer beat Town Fair by only $19.00. But, I am leaning towards Town Fair anyway because it is local and, if I have any issues, warranty or otherwise, I think it will be much less frustrating dealing local than through the Internet and possibly having to ship tires back.

By the way, the spread between highest and lowest was roughly $300.00!

Those are my thoughts at this moment in time. That could change any second from now!

[pirahnah3]

Ralph, I have always had good luck at town fair tire with great treatment and good handing of any problems.

[RalphTomaccio]

Ralph, I have always had good luck at town fair tire with great treatment and good handing of any problems.

Good to hear. If anyone else has any experiences, good or bad, with any of the places mentioned, let's hear them. There may be others tire shopping that could benefit from this thread as well.

[DDewar53]

Ralph

Take the wheels off the jeep, load them into another vehicle, take them to Town Faire, NTB or whatever, buy the tires and have them mounted. If they ask what it's going on, tell them none of their business, you just want to buy the tires. Don't mention spacers, if they're not mounting them on the vehicle it's none of their business...

[RalphTomaccio]

Ralph

Take the wheels off the jeep, load them into another vehicle, take them to Town Faire, NTB or whatever, buy the tires and have them mounted. If they ask what it's going on, tell them none of their business, you just want to buy the tires. Don't mention spacers, if they're not mounting them on the vehicle it's none of their business...

Hi Don,

That's one way to do it if I had jack stands, floor jack and a second vehicle that I could load four wheels and tires into. Not to mention that I live in a condo that doesn't allow working on vehicles.

What I think I'm going to try is to bring the spacers with me when I get the tires installed, show them what I have, and ask them one last time if they would please do this favor for me. All they can say is no. I'll then have the tires installed and I'll just either request a wrenchfest or find a shop or gas station to install the spacers.

[pirahnah3]

Ralph, I would be happy to help you out with transportation to a tire shop if you can either find a place to put the jeep for a bit or drive up here and leave it here for a while. There is a town fair not far from me (prob 15min) if you wanted to do that route. Up to you.

[rborelli]

Try another Town Fair Tire. I have spacers with studs and got my Duratracs at a Town Fair in CT. I asked before i purchased them and they had no problem.

[Frank]

Our TFT in Enfield is really good to us. They didnt use to carry larger than stock tires for years and had an issue putting tires of a larger diameter than came stock (per vehicle ). Thats gone now as they carry big tires for trucks and Jeeps. They seam to remember your name , no matter how long its been or they will at least try to remember. Thats the best when they make you feel like your somebody . Their alignment guy needs to go back to SKOOL ! FjR68

[RalphTomaccio]

Thanks for all your suggestions and offers of help. I think Tuesday I'll check out a couple other Town Fair Tires and see what their policies are regarding spacers. Probably the one in Auburn and N. Providence are the next two closest to me.

[KenCal]

Ralph just a thought, but instead of calling them spacers try wheel adapters. The guy's at TFT might be thinking your referring to actual spacers which use the original studs. The adapters are not the same as you know but maybe they don't. And the adapters are legal every where or so I'm told.

[RalphTomaccio]

Ralph just a thought, but instead of calling them spacers try wheel adapters. The guy's at TFT might be thinking your referring to actual spacers which use the original studs. The adapters are not the same as you know but maybe they don't. And the adapters are legal every where or so I'm told.

When I spoke with the guy at TFT, he said they WOULD install the studless spacers but not the type with studs, with the requirement of being able to tighten the nuts at least 6.5 turns. Their thinking is that using the factory studs is safer than using the studs attached to spacers.

[RalphTomaccio]

I know I have to replace two TPMS sensors anyway and was wondering if it makes sense to get a whole new set of 5 being that my JKU is 4.5 years old and all the tires will be off the wheels anyway.

Is there anything I need to know or consider with sensors when changing tire size? I noticed they range in price greatly, anywhere from $25 to as much as $90 just for one. How much difference can there be between them for such a small item?

Heard from Lou at Elias today and he was pretty much tied Landon Tire with the most expensive quote. He admitted he couldn't compete with the higher volume dealers.

[schwalby]

I bought these for the JK. The guy that mounted the tires said they were good quality and they have been working flawlessly for about 9 months now.