Tire availability isn't too great yet

[Stock03]

Not a great way to start the week; ran over a 4-inch nail and it gouged up the sidewall on one of the rears: goobye tire. Have about 12,000 miles on it and there's at least half tread left. I have now spent several hours phoning every friggin' tire shop around to be repeatedly told "Sorry, don't have (and can't get) BFG 245/55-18, 255/55-18, or 255-50-18 KWD or KWDS". FINALLY, I found a shop that located a pair of 245 KDWSs (nothing else to be found), but they are in Montreal and it will a week to ten days before they get here (Vancouver).
Good grief.

I guess the good side, assuming that they actually get here, is that they are the OEM size and type, although I was really wanting the KDW in a 255 size. What I wanted was a really good wet-handling tire. Although, a couple of the places that I talked to advised me that our government insurance agency won't honour an insurance claim any more if you don't have S-rated tires on and you have an accident because of snow on the road. Same comment about replacing OEM with tires that change any of the car's handling characteristics (which is arguably what either a 255 or a KDW would do). :down:

Oh, the cost? Retail at 482 CDN (about 400 USD) per tire plus balancing etc., but the shop is discounting. Still gonna be a pretty good hit, though.
And the rim? Ground up the edge quite a bit, but it's usable. I might be able to sand out the worst of it, but the finish is obviously a goner, unless I send it out for refinishing for about $300.

Boy, the tire costs are a long way from the 89 USD TireRack special of a while back. Plus we have 14% tax on top of that.

It really burns me to lose 2 good tires with so much wear left on them.:mad2:
Well, coulda been worse; at least no accident, nobody hurt, just $$$ (there goes THIS year's cruise--can't wait to tell SWMBO about that!).

And, of course, it will be worse if those tires don't come.

[Todd]

Not a great way to start the week; ran over a 4-inch nail and it gouged up the sidewall on one of the rears: goobye tire. Have about 12,000 miles on it and there's at least half tread left. I have now spent several hours phoning every friggin' tire shop around to be repeatedly told "Sorry, don't have (and can't get) BFG 245/55-18, 255/55-18, or 255-50-18 KWD or KWDS". FINALLY, I found a shop that located a pair of 245 KDWSs (nothing else to be found), but they are in Montreal and it will a week to ten days before they get here (Vancouver).
Good grief.

I guess the good side, assuming that they actually get here, is that they are the OEM size and type, although I was really wanting the KDW in a 255 size. What I wanted was a really good wet-handling tire. Although, a couple of the places that I talked to advised me that our government insurance agency won't honour an insurance claim any more if you don't have S-rated tires on and you have an accident because of snow on the road. Same comment about replacing OEM with tires that change any of the car's handling characteristics (which is arguably what either a 255 or a KDW would do). :down:

Oh, the cost? Retail at 482 CDN (about 400 USD) per tire plus balancing etc., but the shop is discounting. Still gonna be a pretty good hit, though.
And the rim? Ground up the edge quite a bit, but it's usable. I might be able to sand out the worst of it, but the finish is obviously a goner, unless I send it out for refinishing for about $300.

Boy, the tire costs are a long way from the 89 USD TireRack special of a while back. Plus we have 14% tax on top of that.

It really burns me to lose 2 good tires with so much wear left on them.:mad2:
Well, coulda been worse; at least no accident, nobody hurt, just $$$ (there goes THIS year's cruise--can't wait to tell SWMBO about that!).

And, of course, it will be worse if those tires don't come.




I dont have any advice for you but I do feel your pain.

I noticed a nail in my tire a week ago. So I went to the tire store to get it patch and it is to close to the sidewall to patch. So I am screwed on the tire. It is almost brand new with only about 4000 miles on it. They were replaced by the previous owner just before I bought the car.

So now I am hunting down the best price on tire or maybe rims and tire.

I was going to upgrade to drag radials so at least I would get something better out of the deal but they dont make them in the brand I want at the right overall diameter and for the narrow factory rim. So now I need to explore other options.

Good luck man...

[de minimus]

Not a great way to start the week; ran over a 4-inch nail and it gouged up the sidewall on one of the rears: goobye tire. Have about 12,000 miles on it and there's at least half tread left. I have now spent several hours phoning every friggin' tire shop around to be repeatedly told "Sorry, don't have (and can't get) BFG 245/55-18, 255/55-18, or 255-50-18 KWD or KWDS". FINALLY, I found a shop that located a pair of 245 KDWSs (nothing else to be found), but they are in Montreal and it will a week to ten days before they get here (Vancouver).
Good grief.

I guess the good side, assuming that they actually get here, is that they are the OEM size and type, although I was really wanting the KDW in a 255 size. What I wanted was a really good wet-handling tire. Although, a couple of the places that I talked to advised me that our government insurance agency won't honour an insurance claim any more if you don't have S-rated tires on and you have an accident because of snow on the road. Same comment about replacing OEM with tires that change any of the car's handling characteristics (which is arguably what either a 255 or a KDW would do). :down:

Oh, the cost? Retail at 482 CDN (about 400 USD) per tire plus balancing etc., but the shop is discounting. Still gonna be a pretty good hit, though.
And the rim? Ground up the edge quite a bit, but it's usable. I might be able to sand out the worst of it, but the finish is obviously a goner, unless I send it out for refinishing for about $300.

Boy, the tire costs are a long way from the 89 USD TireRack special of a while back. Plus we have 14% tax on top of that.

It really burns me to lose 2 good tires with so much wear left on them.:mad2:
Well, coulda been worse; at least no accident, nobody hurt, just $$$ (there goes THIS year's cruise--can't wait to tell SWMBO about that!).

And, of course, it will be worse if those tires don't come.
I see you're in Vancouver. Have you tried that tire warehouse on River Road in Delta or Koico on SW Marine Drive (@ Fraser next to the Petro Canada)?
Or this site
http://www.1010tires.com/tires.asp

[Stock03]

de minimus--yeah, tried those folks. National Tire Warehouse (on River Road) don't carry BFG..

Only place I found is TireLand and they have to get them shipped in from Montreal. So, they are ordered and then, assuming they get here, all I will need to worry about is that they don't screw up my other rim when they install/balance.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[mrjones]

www.tirerack.com is showing the rears to be in stock in Indy for $135 each. Long way from what I paid back in the spring. Interesting review that they had from a Magnum owner. He said that they wore fast in the center.

I've already replaced the rears at around 19K. I think next time I'm going up to a 255/55 all the way around. I don't have TC, so it shouldn't be a problem for me.

[Eric91Z]

www.tirerack.com is showing the rears to be in stock in Indy for $135 each. Long way from what I paid back in the spring. Interesting review that they had from a Magnum owner. He said that they wore fast in the center.

I've already replaced the rears at around 19K. I think next time I'm going up to a 255/55 all the way around. I don't have TC, so it shouldn't be a problem for me.

This brings up an interesting point. It seems the 300C and Magnum owners upgrade to our stock rear tire size as an upgrade. Maybe if more of them would do that there would become more options available by other manufacturers. Especially since the Magnum owner had the same kind of problem that the Marauder does.

[bahnstormer]

I dont have any advice for you but I do feel your pain.

I noticed a nail in my tire a week ago. So I went to the tire store to get it patch and it is to close to the sidewall to patch. So I am screwed on the tire. It is almost brand new with only about 4000 miles on it. They were replaced by the previous owner just before I bought the car.

So now I am hunting down the best price on tire or maybe rims and tire.

I was going to upgrade to drag radials so at least I would get something better out of the deal but they dont make them in the brand I want at the right overall diameter and for the narrow factory rim. So now I need to explore other options.

Good luck man...

I'm in the Jacksonville, Florida area. I need new rear tires at 22,500 miles. Shopped everywhere in the area - including internet. Seems as though the ONLY tire available for MM is BFG, 245/55/18 KDWS. OEM replacement. Today I ordered a pair from COSTCO - $144 per - includes everything. The wear is in the center. Tire Techs told me I was running two much psi. I told them too many burnouts at stoplights (I have DR's stage 1). I won't stop - it's too much fun. I do wish we had more choices in tires though. Could be a problem in the future.