Got an oil change and a tire rotation yesterday. With that I said to my mechanic- I sure hope I don't get a flat. These tires are nowhere to be found now. Go home, go to work overnight, leave work and it throws me a TPS. Front passenger side down to 18psi. Fill it up to 27 and it doesn't want to go higher. Get home- 12 miles- as fast as I can before the thing goes flat. It held. I'm exhausted and bleary eyed from working all night, but I take it in at 8am. Some nail shit thing....in the side wall. Need a new tire- sorry. Sorry, shit yeah. I say- these tires are nowhere- haven't been for months. Noooo, I'll get one, he says. I told him even TR is on back order. While he's trying, I'm calling my dealer hoping they have one of the fuckers, or else all my overtime for the week is now going into a full set of something else. As I suspected, he comes out long faced telling me what I just told him. But as luck would have it, my dealer has eight of them. My guy plugs my leak and the air holds, and doesn't take a cent for the trouble. Gotta love your regular mechanic. Make the 30 mile journey...even more bleary eyed, to the dealer. Nicey nice and smiles, the car is taken from me right away. Then I proceed to wait for 2 fuckin hours- two hours for a tire. And then 15 minutes to get checked out once they handed back the keys to the service manager. Some perspective- my recall was done in HALF the time. A tire. Good grief. And you bet your ass, since you're wondering- I bought another one just to have. This won't be my last flat of the season- I can smell it. I made it home in a daze...and couldn't sleep. Now I'm on an 11 hour shift for the trouble, and out the money a dealer wants for this tire- 112 bucks, compared to TR's 90 something bucks and free shipping.

I must have done something to deserve this.....hmmmmmm.

Dan

 

Sorry to hear about that dude. I remember the trouble finding those tires when my Mom tore a hole in the sidewall on her insight. Same damn tires, couldn't find them anywhere and at the time the closest dealer was 45 minutes away. One of our local tire shops actually had ONE, just one of the tires and was able to take care of it for us. But boy are those tires a bisch to find...

 

My Honda dealer advertises at their service greeting bay that they sell tires.

If I ever need one and discover that even the Honda dealer doesn't have them or cannot get me one pronto I will be

Keeping a supply of these in stock should be a priority for a Honda dealer given the reports of trouble finding them.

I'm posting bleary eyed right now... and not I'm not drunk.

 

why do you want the stock dunlops? I was down right ecstatic when I HAD to buy new tires when all four wore out at 20k miles.

 

Dude, I'll second that. The stock tires SUCK, I went through one winter and 20k before replacing them with Continental DWS. Couldn't be happier. Totally worth the 500$ish.

 

He only had one blown. So instead of replacing all 4 tires he just replaced the one for the time being if he did what I did. Once the other three went out on the insight we went to the Continentals. Much better tire even if they were about $20 more

 

Yeah- the duns aren't done yet. I'll make a switch when they're done. They are holding up fine. I'm one who actually thinks they're fine. But if it's gonna be like finding waldo, I'll be happy to switch to something else when the time comes.

Dan

 

Why must Honda make everything in odd sizes/hard to replace? I'm thinking of YOU, 25-dollar air filter.

 

Because they don't care. My 1987 Integra had a starter motor designed specifically for that car, to fit into a tight space. During the model year they figured out a way to redo the car so newer ones had a stock starter.

You don't want to know how much it cost to replace the custom one, let's just say the dealer actually felt guilty enough about the price to sell it to me at cost.

I was thinking about buying one nice tire to keep as a spare (on a rim) but I realized that it could be years before I have to replace the stock tires and by then the 'other' tire might not be available anymore and I'd still be stuck with mismatched tires.

 

i am probably the only person here who actually LIKES the stock Dunlops (well, at least they're miles better than the Bridgestone Turanzas also fitted to the car-I've had both). I also had to buy a new Bridgestone halfway through the life of the original tires for the same reason as the OP.

When I replaced the tires I kept the half worn Bridgestone as insurance that I won't puncture another sidewall.

 

Wow long story, 60 mile round trip drive ($7.00 in gas), waiting almost 3 hours and out what $130 bucks or more total with tax for one tire installed?

My short story would have been this. Go online tirerack.com, order Hankook Ventus 205/50 for ~$88 incl'd shipping. I always get next day delivery via UPS Ground from Tire Rack. Take tire the following day to Walmart and get it installed in ~30 minutes for $5, add $7.50 if you want lifetime balance and rotation. So $100, no long drive or wait and better quality tire in all respects. When your other 3 tires wear out replace with the same.

Or buy a set of 4 now and get $40 rebate from Hankook. Then when your other 3 tires wear out you'll be ready or have spares on hand in case of more road hazard. BTW Hankook gives free replacement road hazard warranty for first 25% of tread wear also.

_

 

I think this is the route I would have gone as well... (except the Wal-Mart part - it is by far the most evil company in existence)

I figured it out in another thread After the Rebate it was $70/tire shipped from DTD and wouldbe about $82 installed after rebate with lifetime rotations.

Sell the dunlops at discount to others who end up with a punctured tire.

~SB

 

DTD was slighty cheaper but then sales tax for me in Texas put them higher than TireRack. Also DTD was backordered and TR had in stock.

Walmart for tire installs and balancing is as good as any other for job quality and by far the cheapest cost. All shops pretty much hire minimum wage unskilled labor and train for this. Walmart does use torque wrenches and requires a double check by the service head before a car can move out of bay. I like the fact that there is better chance a Walmart nearby than any other shop in case you have issues, traveling away from home or move out of state, etc.

Nothing evil about WalMart, America's free market system at its best. You do know they hire 2.1 million people. But no further debate/hijack here just balancing your above comment. Start an off-topic thread to continue.

_

 

You do know that most of those 2.1 million people are under payed and shit on and at the same time, have wiped out any chance of small businesses flourishing in the area, which would generate income and possible wealth for families that would be passed on from generation to generation. That's all but dead. Noooo, the 'Marts' are just wonderful. Yeah, right.

Dan

 

Underpaid people from all companies get to shop at Walmart.

 

I've got the Bridgies and can't say I'm unhappy with them; 18k on the car, tho' I have winter Blizzaks as well.
Of course the TR will shave your replacement tire to the same tread depth as the others if that is an issue (yes, I understand that they can't trim what they don't have....)

In a related matter, I got a survey from Honda. One thing they are considering is doing away with the spare altogether; presumably they will go to run-flats. I'm not a run flat fan; expensive to replace, handling compromises, and still restricted on speed if deflated.

Personally I'd prefer a real spare, but that isn't the way things are going.
Moon

 

What person working in retail is NOT underpaid and shit on?? It was that way back in the 80's when I worked retail, was underpaid and mightily shit on...long before Walmart was as big as they are now.

Crappy business models and stupid visions doomed most of those retailers



but back on topic....wife's Fit has a slow leak that we plugged in one of the Dunnies...40K on the tires and still a little life left in them.

True that if you go to the 205 size you are looking at a mpg drop? For some folks maybe no big deal but when doing a 100 miles a day it does play a factor

 

I haven't installed my Hankooks yet (still squeezing out a few more miles on stock tires w/44k) but I'm expecting to see a very slight drop. Maybe 1 mpg tops. Stock Dunlops or Bridgestones weight 18 lbs each, Hankooks 20 lbs. The higher rated Bridgestone G019 in 185/55 size weigh 22 lbs. so I wouldn't expect any difference in those versus the lighter 205/50 Hankooks. But check specs before buying, some other 205/50 tires weigh up to 24 lbs.

_