Larry99

Some time ago, there was a thread about tires, prices, etc.

There was a site that had the best price by far, but I can't seem to find the thread or link.

Anyone?

NeverSatisfied

www.tirerack.com?

Larry99

Thanks, but that was not it. It was some supplier, maybe west of Texas that had prices better than Costco.

jpappas123

Costco is generally the best. They are running a sale $60 off 4 Michelins. When I bought my Cross Terrians Tire Rack was having an unusually low sale on certain sizes. But generally Costco is the way to go.

mikey00

I also found that Costco had the best deal. Tire Rack and some others have a good price on 235 Cross Terrains, but they do not have the same tread wear rating as the 225 Cross Terrains. If you do the math, the less enpensive to purchase 235s end up costing more.

Lexmexico

I know what you mean about the 235 CTXs having a different tread rating than the 225. For the environment, I needed the 235. Here in Mexico, they sell tires with 5 ply instead of the U.S. standard 3 ply. My 235s still look like new even after 30K. However, the price was nearly $200 a tire, but I could not get the same standard in the U.S.

zhenka

I just bought 4 Cross Terrain tires through onlinetires.com. Paid 107 dollars per tire(blackwall), plus 57 dollars for shipping from California to Boston. Total cost $485. In comparison, Costco $560-$60 plus tax and yes installation is included, but they refuse to put 235s on.

mikey00

Looks like Costco is a little cheaper once you consider installation. If you then take into consideration that Costco offers free rotation, balancing, and flat repair for the life of the tire they start to look even better. But wait , there's more: A 235CT in the US only has a treadwear rating of 420, but a 225 CT has a treadwear rating of 700. Which means a 225 will last 1.7 times as long as a 235. Not to mention that your speedometer is now off and if you didn't buy a 5th tire for the spare you now have an oddball size spare.

LexRX

With the slight increase in sidewall height going to a 235/70 vs. a 225/70 your speedometer will actually me more accurate. Most speedometers come with some positive error built in - for example in the RX if your speedometer reads 55 mph you are actually traveling closer to 53~53. The higher the speed, the larger the error. This is done on purpose and the degree of error differs depending on the manufacturer. GM vehicles are the most accurate.

So, I would guess the inaccuracy of the RX's speedo to be off my a maximum of 5%. I get this by setting my cruise at 70mph on the highway and then resetting my average MPH on the trip computer and see that it actually reads about 4mph slower. Changing the RX to a 235 will change the speedo's accuracy by 1.9% meaning it will now be 1.9% more accurate or roughly only 3% inaccurate overall.

I no longer have my RX, but if I were to change the tires on it I was going to go with Michelin 235's because (1) I like the larger look better and (2) they have a better load rating than the 225's. I could deal with the decreased tread wear rating for the otherwise better performance.

Either way, though, going with the Cross Terrains seems to be an excellent choice.

mikey00

I know the speedo isn't off much, just 1.9%, as you said. The results below are from an online tire size calculator.
Your test proves the onboard computer does not match the speedo but how do you know it's not the computer that is off. Whenever I check my odometer against the mileposts on the side of a major highway it comes out right on the nose.

"Stock tire: 225 70 16 New tire: 235 70 16

Stock Tire
Sidewall: 6.2 in
Radius: 14.2 in
Diameter: 28.4 in
Circumf: 89.2 in
Revs/mi:710.0

New Tire
Sidewall: 6.5 in
Radius: 14.5 in
Diameter: 29.0 in
Circumf: 91.0 in
Revs/mi:697.0

Speedometer reading with non-stock tire is 1.9% too slow.
When your speedo reads 60mph, you are actually traveling 61.2 mph."

LexRX

While the speedo is off, and purposely so, the odometer is not - the speedo and odometer are not directly correlated. The odometer will keep an accurate count of your mileage. I believe the same computer used for calculating the mileage for the odometer is used for your digital readout on the average mph.

I've checked my speedometer against digital radar speed signs where I live. They tell you the posted speed limit and below, using radar, display you have fast you are going.

On a somewhat related note - with my 350Z, I have a analog speedometer and a real-time digital speedometer readout. The analog speedometer is just like the RX (and most all other Japanese vehicles) in their error for displaying speed, i.e. it reads faster than I am going. However, the digital speedo reads the exact speed I am going verified by the same radar digital-readout speed limit sign that I seem to love to drive by

One of these goofy things, they're actually kinda fun: