Buying Tires From Walmart

[vancealot29]

All,

 

I am looking to get new tires for my truck (Leveled '19 HC).  I think I have narrowed down my selection to Nitto Recon Grapplers 285/55R22 (considering the Toyo AT3's as well).  Everywhere I can find online, sells them for ~$500 a tire.  Walmart is selling them for ~$400 a tire, with free shipping.  My question is, has anyone purchased tires from Walmart, and had a reputable shop put them on?  I try to avoid Walmart at all costs, but $400 is $400.  I assume these are the same tires (quality wise) that I would get from anywhere else, with the same warranty, correct?  Just trying to understand if all tires are the same, no matter the place of purchase.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

[CamGTP]

The tire will have a warranty but you no longer have a place to go through if you have another shop install them. You'd be the one trying to contact Nitto Tire to deal with a warranty claim, where as if you bought from Walmart and had Walmart install the tires they are going to do the warranty work.

 

Not factory sized tires sure get spendy quick don't they and those will be LT's in that size, so a lot heavier which doesn't help.

[vancealot29]

8 minutes ago, CamGTP said:

The tire will have a warranty but you no longer have a place to go through if you have another shop install them. You'd be the one trying to contact Nitto Tire to deal with a warranty claim, where as if you bought from Walmart and had Walmart install the tires they are going to do the warranty work.

 

Not factory sized tires sure get spendy quick don't they and those will be LT's in that size, so a lot heavier which doesn't help.

 

Fair point on the warranty, but not sure I want the Walmart tire techs doing the work.  There's probably a 98% chance it would be fine, but still a small risk, imo. 

[KARNUT]

I buy at discount tire. As far as buying and getting tires installed at Walmart. One of the largest retailers in the country. I think they’ll back it. You could always stand outside and watch to see if they use a TQ wrench. I watch though the glass at discount tire.

[richard wysong]

I bought tires from Wally world, No problems and you are right ,you can't beat the price. I don't see any problem having a tire store mount them as most stores, WM included sell multiple brands of tires. Even if WM mounts them you would still have to go thru the manufacturer for the warrantee I think. But I don't think you would be able to get road hazard or any optional coverage unless purchased with the tires

[GN2018]

Why not try taking your Walmart price to a place you like and see if they’ll match, or at least come close to matching their price?  I bet Discount Tire would match it.

[richard wysong]

I tried that a few years back at Town Fair tire where they advertise to beat any ones price and the guy just shrugged his shoulders and told me to buy them from the other place. I haven't been back there since. We don't have Discount Tire around here but it's worth a try

[Enough]

I've bought 2 sets of cheap tires from Wal Mart. 

 

First was a set of Uniroyal Liberators I put on a 1995 F150. They balanced with very little weight and stayed true until I got rid of the truck a couple of years later. I was honestly pretty impressed with them.

 

Second set now 4 years old on my back up 1995 Nissan Hardbody. 14" Hancook Optimo H/T. The glazed donut you ate for breakfast is probably larger in diameter than these tires but they are just as well balanced as the tires on my 2020 Silverado. They were $210.00 for the set of 4 mounted and balanced 4 years ago. This truck also gets it's oil changes at Walmart so I am really rolling the dice with them.

[richard wysong]

I bought Firestone load range Es on line from WM and Good Years for the Caddy from the store with no issues, I was on a trip with the car and developed a vibration so I went to WM to get a rebalance knowing  1 tire had a shifted belt, I ended up with 2 new front tires for around $160 mounted and balanced but their balancer wasn't calibrated so it still had some vibration

[The Zip]

20 hours ago, vancealot29 said:

All,

 

I am looking to get new tires for my truck (Leveled '19 HC).  I think I have narrowed down my selection to Nitto Recon Grapplers 285/55R22 (considering the Toyo AT3's as well).  Everywhere I can find online, sells them for ~$500 a tire.  Walmart is selling them for ~$400 a tire, with free shipping.  My question is, has anyone purchased tires from Walmart, and had a reputable shop put them on?  I try to avoid Walmart at all costs, but $400 is $400.  I assume these are the same tires (quality wise) that I would get from anywhere else, with the same warranty, correct?  Just trying to understand if all tires are the same, no matter the place of purchase.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I've bought a lot of tires online and taken them to my local tire shop for installation.  I pay to mount, lifetime rotate and balance, and a lil extra to warranty the tire.  The cost should be less than the 400 extra saved by buying at Walmart.  Call your local shop and ask what they charge for the items listed above, around 200 is not unreasonable.  That being said, I wouldn't have a problem with letting Walmart do the work.  These are fulltime techs, not like the rotating Walmart cashiers.  Also, there are so many Walmart stores around the country with the auto shop that warranty would be covered at way more locations than your local shop.  

[vancealot29]

6 hours ago, GN2018 said:

Why not try taking your Walmart price to a place you like and see if they’ll match, or at least come close to matching their price?  I bet Discount Tire would match it.

 

I did some running around today, tried three places (Tire Kingdom, Tire Choice, Pep Boys) and none would price match. They all said that price is $50 less than they even get it for. Discount Tire claimed they would match it, but I needed a physical quote, which I don't have, and the nearest location is about 90 minutes away.

 

Tire Choice and Pep Boys said they would install them for like $150, so that is still an option. 

 

The Tire Kingdom guy claimed tires from Walmart, Sam's Club and Costco are all quality rejects that they buy for pennies on the dollar.  Hard to believe there is some massive conspiracy, but

 

I am going to swing by a Walmart SuperCenter tomorrow and see if I get a good feel about it. Might order them if it doesn't seem the place is run by idiots. 

[richard wysong]

I didn't see any signs of the tires being rejects, the Firestones had the factory stickers on them. Even if they were it would just be cosmetic not structural so that's BS You can buy tires with cosmetic defects but they are branded blems to avoid warrantee issues

[CamGTP]

The lower quality tires thing is completely false. I work for one of the biggest tire manufactures in the world and the tires we get from the mother ship go straight from the semi trailer to the warehouse and straight back out to our customers. Discount tire and Costco are our biggest buyers and they get the same tires but just at different pricing structures because of volume.

[diyer2]

I think tires have a good markup for retail. They are making good money per tire.

[CamGTP]

That's a yes and no for mark up and profit but it's that way with many things in retail.

 

There are many tires that are sold for only $5-10 over cost to the customer, then they add the $10 on top of that. Where places make their money is in the install and disposal fee's they charge you. They will charge you $80-100 for install when it only costs $20 to pay the employee and $2 in wheel weights. They will charge you $4 a tire for disposal but they are only paying $2 per tire for recycling company to come pick them up.

 

From what I always see, the larger the tire the higher the profit margin will be. The 205/60/16 tire they will only make $40 on the set of tires but on the 35/12.50/20's they are making $50-80 per tire when they sell them to you. Again these are just example but it's kinda the way it goes.

 

And remember that some places could lose all profit if they have to replace a tire through the road hazard coverage they offer.