All four of my wheels are bent and tires are not good either. There is definetly vibration so I plan to replace all 4 wheels and tires.
I never used Tirerack before, but do they ship both the tires and wheels already installed and balanced and ready to be mounted? Do they ship to the house? How is the shipping package, any chance of wheels getting bent during shipping?
I have a 2000 Corolla CE, for the OE wheels…what does machined mean?
I’ve used them for exactly that, tires mounted balanced and ready to use (winter tires+wheels, 2 sets) when I lived in Anchorage. I’d use them again, no question. But now there are other options, so you might check your local tire shops once you get the price from Tire Rack.
But make sure you get the price for the same tires. There are cheap tires out there the local shop might try and sell you as ‘just as good’.
Costco can do all this for you as well. A complete set will run about $700 for top rated tires like Michelins.
Tire Rack will ship to your house, or you can have everything shipped to a recommended local Installer. Costco or a local tire shop might have a better deal but check around. The Shipping is most likely fedex or similar and would be packed to minimize the chance of damage in transit. They have a great reputation for customer service
Does Costco carry rims? OP needs 4 rims, too.
We just got some winter wheels for my SO’s Veloster through Tire Rack. They were mounted, balanced, and TPMS sensors were installed for us. They shipped UPS. Wheel/tire packages get shipped chained together with plastic straps. They put foam and then cardboard over the wheels themselves to avoid damage. The tires do a great job of protecting the edges of the rims, so you don’t really need to package them separately. Really, even the foam/cardboard is unnecessary on all but the top wheel, since the other 3 are protected by the wheel/tire above them.
The only annoyance was that UPS charges $25 to change the delivery date (ours got shipped for delivery when we would be out of town, and we didn’t want $1400 in rims and tires sitting on the driveway for 2 days), but that’s a UPS issue. Not much Tire Rack can do about it.
The wheels arrived in perfect condition, although I can’t yet speak to the TPMS sensors operating properly, or the balance being correct, since we haven’t had snow yet and so they have not yet been installed. However, based on past dealings with Tire Rack, if any of those things are a problem, I’m not worried about getting them to fix it.
When tirerack installs the new tire on the new wheel, do they roadforce balance it?
Is there anything additional I need to do once I receive the tire/wheel combo other than mount it? (already had an 4 wheel alignment done 3 weeks ago).
Don’t know if it’s road force, I imagine it’s spin balancing. Why do you need road force?
Do you have TPMS? If so you’ll need to have it recognize the new ones. Other than that, nothing.
Nope, luckily no TPMS.
I like TireRack to find out if the tires they are mounting on the wheel is out of round/defective etc…I believe only a RoadForce can give the most accurate results.
How fast do they ship? I plan to order it tonight…can I receive them before the weekend?
May I ask how you managed to have all four rims damaged?
The rims may not actually be damaged. These days, when a tire seller tells your rims are bent, that might not mean they’re dented. they might just be slightly out of round in some areas, which makes them difficult to balance.
My tire seller told me two of my steel rims are bent. I asked him to show me, and he said it’s not visible, and he explained by showing me how many weights he had to use to balance the wheel.
I went to get my tires road force balanced last week. They said 3 out of 4 tires were bent …it’s drivable but it’s slightly bent. I bought the car used 4 months ago and the vibration was there so I’m guessing whoever used it previosly dented the wheels.
During my drive, the car feels like it’s actually bouncing at slow speeds. At 40-70mph, the vibration completly stops but at 0-40mph, it’s bouncing.
Is there a difference between “machined” wheels and regular wheels? A set of 4 costs about $279 from tirerack, are they any good?
When tirerack installs the new tire on the new wheel, do they roadforce balance it?
They road force balanced hers, and according to the receipt, that’s standard.
How fast do they ship? I plan to order it tonight…can I receive them before the weekend?
You can probably pay for expedited shipping, but really expecting an order to be processed and delivered in 2 business days would require overnighting it. I imagine that would cost you a small fortune for something as heavy and bulky as a set of wheels and tires.
Since you do not have TPMS, you will not have to do anything special. Be sure to follow any centering ring / lug nut replacement instructions (they will give you any hardware required for this, so it won’t cost you extra).
(edit to answer more questions I didn’t see)
“Machined” wheels usually refers to the process of forging a billet of metal into the rough form of the wheel, and then using machine tools to carve out the actual wheel design. Another common way to do it is to cast the wheel, where you pour molten metal into a mold and let it cool.
As for which is better, it really depends on the wheel. I’d rather have a high-quality cast wheel than a crappy forged wheel. And vice versa.
I can’t tell you if your wheels will be any good based on price alone, but might be able to give you an idea if you tell me what make/model wheels you’re looking at. (just link to the tire rack page).
I will say that in all likelihood, unless you’re planning on racing this vehicle, whatever wheels you get will probably be more than good enough from a structural safety standpoint.
I’ve bought a couple dozen sets of tires and tires with wheels over the years from TireRack. They are the best, fastest and cheapest even considering shipping costs. I bought race tires, snow tires and regular tires from them. They beat most every local price I’ve checked, most of my tires come from them.
Costco does offer wheels, the local tire store would be an option if you want them quick (some have online sales as well)
“what does machined mean?”
There are several finishes: painted, chromed, polished, and machined. Machined is usually used on areas that can be turned with a lathe, then clearcoated. The rest of the wheel is usually painted.
I would look into going to America’s Tire (Discount Tire).
Most of their locations consistently rate very high, and they are reasonable. And they are a national brand, so you get the free flat replacements, etc… that you don’t get with tirerack.
My advice would be to step back, take a deep breath, and hold off on ordering anything at this point.
If 3 of the 4 wheel rims are bent (or 2 or 4) then it might be a good idea to have the suspension and alignment checked because bent wheels usually means bent something else.
It would be a shame to install new wheels/tires and discover the new tires are going to have a short lifespan due to a suspension problem.
How fast does Tire Rack ship?
I have literally had my tires the next day. I ordered early in the morning and received them late the next day - BUT - I am only a short hop from one of their warehouses. FedEx can be pretty quick. (Plus I only ordered tires, not tires mounted on wheels. That will likely take longer.)
And - Yes - Tire Rack uses a Hunter GSP9700 for balancing. That’s the machine with RoadForce capability.
While I do my tire research in tirerack, I’ve found the prices at local independent tire shops to be equal or better than tireracks.
If there are local independent tire shops in your area (not chains), I’d recommend giving them a call.