After searching EVERY website poosible that sell tires, I found tirerack.com to have the best prices. Of course, there are not a lot of tire companies that build 19" all-season tires, so I decided on the Continental - ContiTouringContact CW95.

Armed with a print out of the tire rack price ... I visited 10 or 11 tire dealers in my area. Not ONE of the dealers would even come close to the Tire Rack's price. And these we MAJOR dealers, too. Not the little mom-n-pop shops.

Then I checked out NTB (Nat'l Tire & Battery) & Tires Plus. BOTH stores would match the tirerack.com price (including shipping). I ended up selecting NTB because they are only 1 mile from my job. They charged $40.00/tire for installation (and that INCLUDES Road Hazard protection).

They got the tires in 5 days . The installation ... well, good news/bad news. First the good news: It took about 2 hours. Now the bad news: while removing the original "summer only" tires (Michelin), they accidently punctured one of the 19" tires.

But more "good news": they replaced it with a new tire.

The moral to this story ... low profile tires are not easy to remove from the wheel. Even for professionals. But DAMN ... they look good !

 

Good story. Tirerack is awesome. I'm surprised that NTB and Tires Plus matched their price, considering it's so low compared to the other major chains. Now you're all ready for the winter.

 

NTB was supposedly going out of business... Isn't it somehow related to Sears? FYI the Conti's are a $140 optional purchase on the Crossfire.

 

Okay this is an important topic that I think people should know about! I'm surprised it hasn't come up at all on the boards.. but yes, low profile tires are DAMN HARD to remove or to put on, and you better make sure your shop has the right tools for the job.

In fact, it takes a special machine to do wheels 17" and larger. Over the past few years, as bigger wheels/lower tires have become popular, a few places have bought the necessary machines, which cost a boatload of money. And trust me, even some very popular shops that have good reputations, you'd think they have the equipment, well, sometimes they don't. It's costly, which is why a lot of shops refuse to buy the damn machine and insist on doing it the hard way.

I can tell you ONE THING. It wouldn't take _2_ hours for a shop with the right machine. It should take about 2 minutes per wheel. Make sure your shop has experience doing low profile tires! You don't want them taking 2 hours and using your expensive wheels and tires as a learning experience. I know its a pain to find a shop with the right machine and the guy who started this post probably didn't know the deal. But to the rest of yall, I'm TELLING you...

Make sure your tire guy has the right machine, and that they don't merely 'attempt' to do the job with something else like a tire iron to pry it in and out, or ghetto rig it somehow!! You can get your rims scratched up bad!, or like the gentleman above said, get your tire popped and have to wait a few days for another.

For several years before I had the crossfire, my car had 18s, so I've been driving on lo pros for years and I have avoided these problems by shopping around for a shop with the right equipment!

So like I said my last car had 18s too.. I needed tires changed.. I searched everywhere. I even went to Chevy dealers because the Corvette comes with 18s. NOT ONE CHEVY DEALER HAD THE PROPER EQUIPMENT. I called BMW dealers because the M3 comes with 18s or 19s. NO LUCK. They all sent their cars elsewhere to have tires changed. Neither did an actual FIRESTONE shop. I finally tracked down the local shop called Crown Tire that apparently does the job for a bunch of local dealers that have cars with 17s,18s,19s, but dont have the machine themselves. I bought my tires from tirerack and had them put them on .

BEWARE.

 

This is interesting. In Canada, at least the Toronto area, the Continentals are standard on any Xfires that I have seen. According to my dealer, at time of purchase, the dealers would normally order the Conti or if you were willing to custom order a car, the optional Michelin Performance tire could be selected (no charge option).

Strange that they charge extra south of the border for the Conti but provide the same tire here as standard equipment. Maybe they have buried the extra cost in the list price of our cars.

 

NJSpeed69 is right.

Usually a decent import shop will have the right equipment since they sell all that bling bling to the import crowd.

 

I'm not sure how other BIG O tire dealerships are, but the one I go to is pretty knowledgeable since they sell AND service 13 inch to 24 inch tires. When it's time to get new tires.....I'm going to BIG 0 tires.

Yes....and SPECIAL tire removal equipment is REQUIRED!!

If you see them pulling out a tire iron......STOP THEM IMMEDIATELY. Go somewhere else.

 

also...look for plastic/teflon coated equipment. a reputable tire company uses these items for a scratch free experience.

 

The tire rack has a designated installer in my town, does that mean that they have the proper equipment?

 

not necessarily... i'd check yourself.