Hey fellow Canadians, well it's that time of year... Get the winters off annnnnd find out your summer's are totally pooched. Bye bye tax refund!

Anyway I did some research and I decided to go with Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3 summer tires (245/40-18s cuz they don't come in stock size). So I went on Tire Rack to check prices. $200 a piece... Not bad, about what I expected. They ship to Canada (I'm in London, Ontario) and even automatically calculate duty and add Canadian PST/GST (nice feature). When all is said and done I'm looking at about spending $200 in shipping/duty/brokerage fees to buy from Tire Rack. Plus taxes but I'd have to pay those anyway so $200 is the "buying online from the States" surcharge.

Pretty steep eh? (note intentional use of "eh"). So next I check locally. My Uncle worked for Goodyear so he has some retired employee coupons. And his wife works for a Goodyear shop in Mississauga. She checks with her boss and they're on sale! I figure done deal. Then I get the price... get this, $1700!!!

That's basically $700 more than Tire Rack's US price!! Which is still $500 more EVEN WITH the $200 in shipping/duty (a good chunk of which you wouldn't have to pay if you were in the US). What a ripoff...

Now I have to wonder, is this one of those cases of Canadians getting royally ripped off in the exchange? Like where a car costs $10,000 more here even AFTER conversion (or even with our dollar being worth more)... Or is the shop my Aunt works at just horribly overpriced?

To make a long story short, where do you guys buy your tires? Still from the dealer? Or can you recommend a good place in London or the GTA (or any place in between). Or do you guys use Tire Rack and if so, how did that work out for ya?

Thanks for your input!

Justarius

p.s. If the Goodyear discount turn out to be worthless, any recommendations for summer tires on stock rims? I'm not married to the Goodyears and Tire Rack has some Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Position's on sale (I guess because they're being discontinued)...

 

Try Tiretrends.com. Shippping will cost though as they are BC based.

 

I'm in the same situation and need to get new summer tires in the next month or so. I have been looking at the Yokohama S.drive tires. I got a quote from the dealership and they were just over $1200 taxes in to install.

Also - Mazda has a $50 coupon of a set of tires if you buy through the dealership, AND Yokohama has a $80 rebate for a set of 18" tires which would bring the total cost down to $1100.

You can buy them from Tire Rack and have them shipped here for $900 CDN (taxes/duty/shipping included) so the dealership price isn't too bad.

I have also been debating the Bridgestone Potenza S-03 Pole Positions from Tire Rack - a set would be $700 CDN (taxes/duty/shipping included as well).

Good luck with your search.
I'm leaning towards the Yokohamas from my dealership because they also have a reward program for every dollar spent on service/parts.

 

nho where in canada will ever be able to beat tirerack......tires are stupidly expensive here......I just bought some sumitomo htr z 2 tires for 590 total to my door......the same tires were on " sale " here at kal tire for 257 a piece.

 

wow gecko thats a great deal, what measuremnts? And yes tires are retarded, but not as retarded as RIMS!!!!

 

yeah it was a great deal....they were 94 a piece. I really wanted the htr z 3 tires...heard they got really good reviews and beat out the pole positions on every front, but they are back ordered until the end of may....and you have seen my tires and know I didn't have that much time....so hopefully they wont dissapoint.....I figure anything will be better than what i have now. The size is 245/40/18.

 

Go to www.1010tires.com

They're also BC based, which means no PST to ship to Ontario. Very reasonable shipping... I just priced out a set of GS-D3, 245/40ZR18, for $1328 shipped.

I've bought thrice from them already, they're the best price in Canada usually.

 

We have T1R's on both our 8 and the IS. I love them. $1,154.41 shipped from 1010.

Kumho SPT's are also a forum favorite. $972.36 CDN shipped (no i don't take commission for 1010)

 

Try Billy at www.tires23.com

Based in Toronto somewhere, he just quoted me $900 shipped to Halifax for tires for the MazdaSpeed Protege (Goodyear F1 GS D3 215/45/17) which actually $22.12 cheaper than Tire Rack after all of the costs ($600 for tires, plus shipping, taxes, duty etc which total $922.12)
Got a tip about them on RX7club. I was pleasantly surprised. He emailed me back in about 24 hours.

 

tires23 FTW!!!

 

I buy from http://www.edgeracing.com/ and have them shipped to a place just across the border, then go down and pick-up and bring across the border myself.
Never had to pay duty yet...just PST and GST. I use http://www.bettasservices.com/ ....but I'm sure there is a couple of places in Niagra.

 

I just had a set of Potenza SO-3 PP's mounted on Tuesday in the states. There is a guy named mike at 24-hour tire and auto that you can have your tires shipped to directly from Tirerack and he will mount and balance them for around $80 US. About 30% of the business he does is Canadians driving over. His place is about 10 mins over the Niagara Falls border and albeit he has a small shop... he does great work and has good equipment. I highly recommend going this route. The best part is they wont have evidence of the purchase when you drive back over the border. This is the second time I have gone this route for tires. I saved over $600 last time when I bought some Kuhmo MX's and this time I probably saved much more than that (the SO-3's were $115 each on closeout down from $230+ USD).

PM me if you're interested and want more details.

 

I bought Axis wheels from 1010 Tires and all was good. I'd get tires or wheels from them again.

 

FYI BFGoodrich KDW 225/45ZR18 Canadian price $212.00 plus taxes only. If your interested pm me

 

Its funny, because i use to buy everything from the net, but recently i have been trying to be more loyal to the brick and mortar stores. Even though they are a few bucks more here and there, i can understand they got overhead. Plus if i have any issues they are right here to help.

I do buy some stuff off the net, but i cant deal with the shipping / taxes issues all the time.

 

I like the idea of buying more stuff locally too when I can find it. Some of the guys around here with shops are having a tough time and I like to help them out when I can afford it.

 

Tire 23 in Mississauga. Ask for Billy.
Purchased the 245/40/18's.
Railton


Sumitomo tires SPECIAL
Dear Members:

We are having a special on Sumitomo tires.
Only the size listed below are on special and they are limited stock.
All pricing below are tax included, mounted & balanced.
New valves and Disposal as well.
Any questions regarding them, free feel to contact us.
We accept Debit or Cash.
Billy

http://www.sumitomotire.com/theline/...asp?c=per&id=1
Sumitomo HTR Z II
205/40/17 $400/set
205/45/16 $390/set
205/50/17 $450/set
215/40/17 $490/set
215/45/17 $490/set
235/40/17 $510/set
235/40/18 $580/set
235/45/17 $520/set
245/35/20 $860/set
245/40/17 $540/set
245/40/18 $620/set
245/45/17 $560/set
255/35/20 $880/set
255/40/17 $560/set
255/45/17 $580/set
265/35/18 $890/set
275/35/18 $880/set
275/40/17 $550/set
275/40/18 $680/set
285/30/18 $900/set
285/35/18 $900/set

Tirerack comparo.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/survey...y.jsp?type=UHP

__________________
Tires 23

 

railton how do you like the sumis.....justy got mine today and having them installed tomorrow......for the price they cant be beat!

 

So far so good. They seem quite comfortable, more that the old Dunlop's anyway. Possibly this is due to the Dunlop’s being down to the wear bars almost and the Sumi's brand new with max rubber. They seem quiet as well and no depreciable loss in turn in. Have not had any rain to speak of since I installed them. Overall though I'm happy with them so far.
Railton

 

thanks.....I wasn't quite sure about them when I ordered....was trying to wait for the htr z3's but i can't wait that long. I took a good look at them when they came in today and they look like they have a very stiff side wall design and the pictures really dont due the tread justice....they look really well designed. We will see tomorrow anyways...the niagra cruise will give me a good amount of distance to break them in before I track them.

 

I make a compromise. I'll have the tires shipped from wherever I find the best price, then return as a loyal customer to a local place that I trust to have them mounted and balanced.

tires23 does have some good prices, I emailed Billy:

Goodyear F1 GSD3 $1140/set
Kumho SPT $820/set
Toyo T1R $1080/set
Taxes in, shipped.

 

I ended up getting the Goodyear Eagle GS-D3's from Bramalea Tire in Brampton (http://www.bramaleatire.com/). They were $274/tire -$25/tire instant rebate -$20/tire since I wasn't having them installed.

Works out to $1035 taxes in (or $1125 installed) which comes in under Billy's quote to me of $1200 installed (or Eug's quote from Billy of $1140, no install but with shipping). I had relatives coming to London who picked them up on the way, saved me driving 370km round trip or paying shipping. Plus because Bramalea Tire is a Goodyear dealer I was able to use my Uncle's retired employee rebate which works out to another $120 off. Ended up being $915 plus install. Local Mazda dealer charges $60+tax for install/balance so $983 finito.

That's about $200 more than the discontinued Potenza S-03s but the Goodyear's have better tread life, ride comfort and slightly better performance (especially in the wet). I figured it was worth it and easier to replace a tire if something happens than with a discontinued model.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll keep tires23 in mind for next time. Their price was close to Tire Rack's (after duty and shipping charges added to Tire Rack) on both the Goodyear's and the discontinued Potenza's (most local places didn't discount the S-03s at all, but Billy's price was within $65 of Tire Rack) and they're Canadian which is a nice bonus. But if you're looking for Goodyear's and you're near the GTA, Bramalea Tire had sweet pricing. They carry Dunlop and Falken as well but I didn't price anything but the Goodyears.

Cheers!

 

OK...check this out. I got some quotes for some tires:

4 B/Stone Potenza S-03


Calgary Quotes:

OK Tire - $16995 installed including GST

Blaskin and Lane - $1,452.44 installed including GST



Now online @ Tiretrends

$820.99 including GST but not installation.


WOW...what a difference!

I ended up ordering them @ Tiretrends and I even got a call within 2 hours from them confirming my order and the specs. They will take about a week to get here.