Date:         Sat, 28 Oct 2000 03:36:59 EDT
Reply-To:     FrankGRUN@AOL.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Grunthaner <FrankGRUN@AOL.COM>
Subject:      My Recent Tire Buying Adventure
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

I am close to completing my re-tiring of my Westfalia and felt compelled to
share my adventure in hopes that it would be instructive.

Now I have studied the various 15 inch wheels for a very long time, and I
always put off the purchase for three reasons:

1. Pretty expensive!
2. Extended discussions about clearance and offset. What was the proper
solution?
3. Frankly, the OE Vanagon alloys struck me as ugly, the SA versions as even
more so. Actually, my aftermarket wheel covers looked better than anything
else I had seen VW put on or near the Vanagon.

Ah, but then, junkyard trip after junkyard trip I would keep encountering the
Ronal R8's on the Audi Turbo's. Slowly they grew on me. First I bought
1($10), studied it from several angles and then, with lustful resolve, I
accumulated 5 ($30 x 2, $35 x 2, and $10 x 1) and a free bag of Audi bolts).
After boring out the centers ($15  x 5) I was stunned to find the paint job
on these things was really tacky, and I had to find a way to do the center
caps. The paint was simply not removable by any of my chemical concoctions.
Sand blasting was the only solution ($15 per wheel). Then I saw a fabulous
paint job using a silvermetallic powder coating ($25 per wheel). I designed
and built an Aluminum center cap which covers the large center hole and which
lets me pop in the black Audi Hexagonal center caps. These Al adapters were
set up such that the top surface is plane parallel to the top face of the
Ronal wheel. Looks stock or factory. (IIMSSM). Had the center caps powder
coated along with the rims as part of the price.

Well, I had to  now handle the rear stud problem. As I have indicated before,
I bought two extra rear hubs ($21.60 per the two) pressed out the studs and
inserted a new set. Paid around $1.69 per stud.

But this was to be about tires! Sorry, and back to the story.

As you can see, I am now into this project to the tune of $451.50 and
counting! She-who-must-be-obeyed is caseing the garage looking for what I
have hidden and has begin to demand an accounting of the family checkbook.
Thank God for ATM's. But again I digress!

Anyway I wanted to profit the retail tire trade as little as possible I my
purchase of 4 Yokohama Geolander AT+'s in 215/75-15 C designation. I quickly
priced TireRack assuming that such mail order would be the best price. Well,
I'm happy to say that they aren't quite down to the standard of
e-sucker-bay.com, but they are perilously close. In my case, the quoted price
was $71 per tire plus shipping of $31.12 (from Reno) for a total of $315.12.
Oh yes, there were backordered by three weeks, but I could have them now for
an additional $42 in shipping charges. The installation cost from their
recommended local vendors was another eye-opener. The cheapest local vendor
arrangement was $13.00 for mount and balance, $2.25 for Tire Disposal and
$2.50 per valve or $17.75 per tire plus tax. The TireRack long term solution
was $386.12, or $428.12 for the near term solution.

I then did my call around to price shop the local dealers. Within 4 calls, I
and a tax and installed price locally of $328.28. But the America's Tire Co.
employee I had talked to earlier swore that they would beat any competitor's
price, So I called and concluded the deal for $318.08! Got em today. The
price breaks down as follows:

Tire Price: Yoko Geolander A/T+ LT215/75-15/C 100Q rated OWL, $61.00 each.
Waste tire disposal fee: $2.25 each.
Computer Spin Balance: $9.95 each
Mounting: Included.
Metal valve stem: $2.50 each.

Total: $318.08.

Conclusion. A) TireRack mounted price was no lower than the prices quoted by
even the higher priced dealers locally. B) With just a bit of price shopping,
I saved between 23 and 35%, despite paying CA sales tax.

My story,

Good night.

Frank Grunthaner