Originally Posted by
Mark
If you look up Discount Tires 175/65r14 tires, it's at the top of their list of best sellers.
It doesn't say "out of stock" either. "Product has been discontinued" seems more permanent.
Who knows what happened?
Tires like the Barums & Federals need to priced lower to be appealing. Last time I saw a Federal SS657 tire listed, it was priced as high as the Nexen & Kumho tires. Then it just seemed to disappear. Walmart, simpletire.com, & tires-easy.com had been selling them for years. Now, I'm not seeing them any more. When they were $40-45/tire, the Federal tires were a good option to consider. If they are $70+, I would buy the Nexen or Kumho tires instead.
Maybe the Barum tires also took a big jump in price, & Discount Tire decided to drop them?
Currently, the Westlake RP18 ($51/tire) is Discount Tires lowest priced 175/65r14 tire. There was a forum member who has expressed good comments on this tire. I also seen negative reviews of Westlake tires. After that you are jumping to $70-80 for 175/65r14 tires (Hankook,Toyo, Cooper, Falken, & Kumho) @ DT. In my mind, those are more recognized tire brands.
Overall, tire prices have gone up just like a lot of things. Increased shipping costs are impacting things, too. The days of finding decent $40-50 tires in 165/65r14 or 175/65r14 tire sizes may be gone?
$62.80 will buy you a Kumho Solus TA31 (500AA/60,000 mile) tire (@ walmart.com) today. Walmart does free mounting of tires bought through them. They charge $14 for lifetime balancing of tires ($12 one time balance). Disposal of tires is $1.50 for my area at least. I was charged $31 to have two tires mounted, lifetime balanced, and disposal of old tires this summer. Nothing extra was added. They will do tires from elsewhere, but the charge is $25/tire (you lose the free mounting part).
The push to consider 175/65r14 tires was because more affordable options were available, or in some cases members just want to try a larger tire on their Mirage. A 175/65r14 will still give you more choices, but not necessarily cheaper ones these days. Somewhat proven brands like Hankook, Nexen, Kumho, Mastercraft (made by Cooper), Yokohama, Uniroyal, & General are going to be in that $60-85 price range @ Walmart for 175/65r14 tires.
Compared to $160+ Dunlop Enasave tires, those prices still don't look bad.