Where to get tires changed

The company tells us its stores also offer tires from Falken, Toyo , and Chinese budget brand Primewell, and that it has access to any other brand a customer might want to order. We expected higher prices, but the website showed per-tire prices comparable to the other retailers we checked.

The website advertises mounting for free, but buyers still pay for balancing, environmental and recycling fees, and, for newer cars, tire pressure monitoring system TPMS service—those prices vary by retailer and chain.

A Firestone spokeswoman said installation and other tire-related services may be discounted based on marketing promotions available at the time.

Walmart, Costco, and Sears are some of the large retail chains that sell tires as well as the types of basic automotive services offered by most quick-lube type shops, including oil changes, chassis lubrication, battery installation, light bulb replacements, air and cabin filter changes, and wiper blade replacement. Like most tire retailers, Walmart offers a large variety of brands, nearly all of which come from well-known manufacturers.

Shopping online at Walmart. Walmart offers free shipping or free store pickup for many of its tires. Dealerships may not seem to be the optimum place to go unless you are looking to replace your tires with the exact original equipment OE type found on your car.

However, that is changing. While dealers can generally order any tire the customer wants, many get their tire inventory from bulk distributor Dealertire. But this also means dealers get a sweet deal when buying in bulk, and they can pass those savings along to you. OE tires often sell at a premium price at third-party outlets, so the dealer may not be too much more expensive than other tire retailers that may charge more for the tires but less for the installation.

You should also factor in the convenience and time savings of having the tires changed while the car is already in the shop for other maintenance. One note: Most tires that come on new cars do not come with a warranty. Though large chains now dominate the retail tire landscape, independent single-store shops sell lots of tires. Many have the expertise in selling and servicing tires at least on par to the big retailers.

As with all types of independent businesses, quality can vary widely. They can offer many of the brands that large retail chains have, but keep in mind that they may have to order the exact tire model you want and install the tires later. That's becoming more of a trend, even with big shops, as the number of tire sizes escalates into the hundreds. Having that extra time to research and shop is a better alternative than rushing to get your bald tires replaced with whatever the store might have on hand.

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We cannot service commercial vehicles, trailers, RVs or campers. Your tires must be mounted on rims and be easily accessible to the technician. If you decide to return the tires before you have them installed, you simply need to call Goodyear and cancel the order. In Consumer Report's survey, Goodyear only scored "Good" not "Excellent" ratings in the categories of selection, free perks and installation time, which is why its score is slightly lower than other retailers.

Like Goodyear, Bridgestone and its partner company Firestone offer a blend of brick-and-mortar and online stores to help consumers get the right Bridgestone, Firestone, Primewell or Fuzion tires for their vehicles. Like Goodyear, Bridgestone does not sell any other brand of tires than those the company makes and it does not sell wheel and tire package sets. You can find Bridgestone and Firestone Tires at other tire retailers, both online and in real life.

The company is slightly larger than Goodyear in that it has more than 2, stores across the country. Both Bridgestone and Firestone offer an online tire selector to help you find the right tires for your vehicle.

You can shop by vehicle type, tire size, tire type or brand on both sites. You can also shop via special offers. Once you've chosen your tires, the site directs you to find those tires locally and set up an appointment with the shop you choose.

When you choose this option, you'll notice that places like Costco show up as locations for installation more on that below. While Bridgestone offers mobile installation at no extra charge in only one place in the country Nashville , Firestone does not offer mobile installation through its site. You have to take your vehicle to one of its installers.

Bridgestone and Firestone both offer a variety of warranties for their tires. Both offer a day try and buy guarantee that lets you return tires if you are unsatisfied with them even if they've been on your car for those 90 days.

The only catch is that you have to buy four tires. Firestone offers a warranty that covers any manufacturer defect for up to three years. It calls it its Gold Standard warranty and it comes with the Firestone tires you purchase. Firestone Complete Auto got "Good" scores on selection, free perks and installation time in the Consumer Reports study. Big O Tires is a brick-and-mortar tire retailer and installer with more than locations, mostly in the West and Midwest. The outlet carries a wide variety of tires and wheels including its own Big O brand and you can search for the right fit for your vehicle.

You can search by year, make and model, by tire size or, like Goodyear, by your plate number. Once you build your estimate you set up an appointment at your local Big O and have the tires installed. It offers a variety of discounts and rebates, as well as a credit card , with rebates and coupons, too. It also offers an upgraded Tire Protection Package for a cost based on the type of tires you buy. This covers your road hazards and replacement issues, the same way that NTB does.

Big O also does not offer mobile installation. Big O does not offer any kind of initial return grace period like the other brick-and-mortar retailers listed here. In Consumer Reports' survey, Big O scored 84 out of a possible max of It scored "Good" on selection, installation time and the quality of the waiting area.

It did score "Excellent" on free perks, though. For each retailer, we looked at the following important factors that affect both your bottom line and the amount of hassle you have to go through to get new tires.

We considered warranty, installation convenience and cost, and used Consumer Reports' most recent tire retailer satisfaction survey to help determine how happy people were with their purchases from these national retailers, as well as each company's rating on the BBB. The Consumer Reports survey looked at nine different sectors across 29 national retailers.

We used CR's estimated cost per tire as a reference point for our comparison, too. We also spoke to Gene Petersen, tire program leader at Consumer Reports, about the testing. And we connected with Matt Edmonds, executive vice president at noted online tire retailer Tire Rack , for general tips on finding the right tires for you and saving money in the process. According to Petersen, there are more than 33, independent tire retailers in the US.

That means there's a lot to sort through when you're shopping for them. Tire shops can range widely in size and how they sell tires. Everyone from big-box stores like Costco and Sam's Club to small, local, independent tire shops offer tires for sale. These days, online retailers are also making it incredibly easy to buy tires online and have them drop-shipped to a location of your choice when you're ready to have them installed. Petersen advises that the best way to make the most of your tire shopping is to take the entire cost of both purchasing the tires and getting them installed into consideration.

The first thing to do when shopping for new tires is to figure out the right size for your vehicle and the features that you want for your specific needs. To find the right size, look at the outside rim of the rubber tire also known as the sidewall and find the number and letter combination that is divided by a slash. You can also find your tire size by looking at the inside frame of the driver's side door. You should take into consideration things like the environment you'll be driving in snowy, icy, wet , the conditions of the roads you'll be driving on sandy, dirt, paved, concrete, asphalt , the kind of driving you'll be doing sporty and aggressive or cruising on the highway and how much you want to spend on new tires, among other considerations.

Depending on those factors, you could be selecting between all-season tires, summer tires and winter tires. You want tires that offer good traction and won't be prone to uneven wear. One thing to note, according to Edmonds, is that tire pricing is largely determined by a couple of things: the compounds that the tires themselves are made of, and how much research and development a tire company puts into creating those tires.

All those things make them perform properly. He also notes that the minimum advertised price, or MAP, is the lowest price that any resellers are permitted to sell tires at. If you find a discounted tire on sale, it's likely because those tires are older and being replaced by a newer model. He notes that proper storage means that the tires have been stored in a temperature-controlled space inside, out of the weather and sun.

Most tire manufacturers not the resellers offer treadwear warranties, but as Edmonds notes, they tend to be really difficult to take advantage of because there are often a lot of caveats. You also have to take advantage of the warranty directly through the manufacturer, rather than the tire dealer you purchase it through.

Read more: Best car vacuums for Most installers will offer additional road hazard warranties that cover things like a flat tire as a result of a pothole or nail in the road. These vary from company to company -- some offer them for free, while others charge a premium for them.

Be sure you read about the warranties and how to take advantage of them before purchasing tires. Read more: Best car air fresheners in One other thing to consider, as Petersen points out: The big difference between purchasing tires at a brick-and-mortar store and an online store is the variety of selection.

Brick-and-mortar retailers aren't going to have every model you might want to consider and if they did, all chances are they wouldn't necessarily have them in the size you need," he says. If you don't want to venture online for tires, NTB carries an impressive array of options for a brick-and-mortar shop. Ultimately, getting tires has become easier in the days of online shopping and delivery.

With plenty of places to choose from, buying tires online can be an equally good choice as getting them at a tire shop as long as the tires you want and need are in stock. While prices can vary slightly, Petersen says, it pays more to haggle on prices for installation, warranties and other things.

Tire prices are largely set in stone by the manufacturer, and installers rarely have any wiggle room to negotiate.