[westb87]

Originally Posted by California98Civic

You could sell the wheels with the tires. The newer the better. Then get new wheels/tires. But I did what you are apparently doing... I kept my existing (non-LRR) tires to the bitter end and then switched. That's the real money saver.

It's really the only "smart" choice, all things considered. My sister in law put on some TERRIBLE "Primewell PS380" tires shortly before I bought the car. Frankly, I wish she'd have sold the car to me with bald tires so I'd actually have a reason to replace them with something quality. These tires are what I'd imagine Fred Flintstone's car with solid rock wheels sounds and feels exactly like. They've got a maximum pressure of 34psi! What is that!? I'm a tire snob and REALLY enjoy the difference a quality tire makes. I'm partial to Continental and Pirelli tires. I like the ride of Michelins a lot, but I've had two sets of tires whose sidewalls dry-rotted on me in less than 2 years. Whichever tire I choose, I always choose an LRR tire. However, if the tire isn't end of life or damaged, I'm not going to replace it because tires are friggin' expensive.

My Ram had the 20" rims on it and replacing those tires with the cheapest decent tire I could find online (Falken Ziex-STZ05) was $150 PER TIRE. If I wanted my Pirelli's, I'd have eaten close to $350 per tire. When it came time to buy our Atlas, my wife wanted the black 20" wheels to go with her black SUV. Once I reminded her how much those 20" tires cost, she was perfectly content with the factory 18" wheels. I told her that if it meant that much to her a year from now, I'd buy her whatever 18" black wheels she wanted...as long as they were lightweight.