Tires: Good Year Reliant or General Altimax RT43

[Slickcraft]

Consumer Reports rates the General Altimax RT43 just one point below the Michelin Defender; high marks all around. The Good Year Reliant was not tested.

Alan

[SailinAway]

Originally Posted by Slickcraft

Consumer Reports rates the General Altimax RT43 just one point below the Michelin Defender; high marks all around. The Good Year Reliant was not tested.

Alan

The Altimax would be my first choice if I could afford it. Town Fair claims the Hankook New Englander is a better tire, especially for snow, without losing anything with summer use.

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

The Altimax would be my first choice if I could afford it. Town Fair claims the Hankook New Englander is a better tire, especially for snow, without losing anything with summer use.

I've worked with Town Fair for just under two years now after having bought new wheels and tires for my 4Runner. The 4Runner is notoriously sensitive to imperfect wheels/tires, and the first set of tires I tried—Coopers—gave me terrible wheel shimmy.

Though it took a few visits, Town Fair never gave up on me or made me feel like I was being a hassle—we ended up getting things right with a couple different tire sets, so I've always felt like they actually care to get things right. Overall, they've got great policies.

If you were closer to Moultonborough, I would have you check with Clifford's. That place is legit.

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[SailinAway]

Think, which Town Fair did you go to?

[loony]

Originally Posted by thinkxingu

I've worked with Town Fair for just under two years now after having bought new wheels and tires for my 4Runner. The 4Runner is notoriously sensitive to imperfect wheels/tires, and the first set of tires I tried—Coopers—gave me terrible wheel shimmy.

Though it took a few visits, Town Fair never gave up on me or made me feel like I was being a hassle—we ended up getting things right with a couple different tire sets, so I've always felt like they actually care to get things right. Overall, they've got great policies.

If you were closer to Moultonborough, I would have you check with Clifford's. That place is legit.

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I've purchased many tires from town fair over the years.
My last experience was not the greatest. I had altimax rt43 tires mounted and balanced on my miata and it resulted in a shake and shimmie at about 60mph. I took the car back 3 times to rebalance the tires without success. They replaced 2 of the tires and also offered to give me a different brand of tires. They never gave up on me either.
After some research I'd discovered that road force balancing was recommended for my car. Town fair did not have such a machine and shops with these machines are hard to find. In the end I took my car to a local tire shop who successfully balanced them. Turns out that town fair ignored the the balance indicators on the rims and tires.
After all that I will probably will still go back to town fair for tires on a more conventional car

[TheProfessor]

Originally Posted by loony

After some research I'd discovered that road force balancing was recommended for my car.

Yes. There are balancing machines and then there are balancing machines.

Tire Warehouse Court Street Laconia has the force or load balancing machine.

When purchasing tires the customer should ask what type of balancing machine is used.

[pondguy]

To bad they don't make recaps any more.

[SailinAway]

After three days of research and phone calls, I ordered the General Altimax RT43 from the Laconia Tire Warehouse. $500 including installation and alignment. I chose Laconia because it's a nice location next to the bike trail and lake so you don't have to wait inside the store or outside in a hot parking lot. I was impressed with how helpful the salesman was. Apparently Town Fair salesmen are on commission, which accounts for the harder sell there. Tire Warehouse are not on commission.

If price is important to you, it really pays to contact numerous stores and call them back with quotes from other stores. The price on the Altimax went down with each call I made. It started at $675 at Northeast Tire in Belmont, $661 Town Fair, etc. and I stopped asking for a better price when it hit $500 because I thought the Laconia Tire Warehouse would be a better overall buying and installation experience, and that's worth a lot to me personally. So I saved 26%.

I would have waited for fall sales but I wanted new tires for my annual fall road trips. Some tire manufacturers are offering big rebates---up to $250 on select tires---but only if you pay with their credit card. That's not something I wanted to do, but maybe you do.

[fatlazyless]

Best to do the tire research before buying tires than make a bad tire buy like me with those very noisy Goodyear Reliant tires, sold only at Walmart, that made a big bad annoying buzzing sound on my Subaru ..... bzzzzz .... bzzzz..... bzzzzz ..... just like John Belushi used to do ...... bzzzzz!

..... Here's a heads-up alert for walking or pedaling the Wow Trail. Lakes Region E-Bikes www.lakesregionebikes.com rents out e-bikes, electric motor bicycles, and encourages rental customers to use them on the Wow Trail and these are some fast moving, electric MOTOR bicycles. ..... EEK!

[SailinAway]

Originally Posted by fatlazyless

Best to do the tire research before buying tires than make a bad tire buy like me with those very noisy Goodyear Reliant tires, sold only at Walmart, that made a big bad annoying buzzing sound on my Subaru ..... bzzzzz .... bzzzz..... bzzzzz ..... just like John Belushi used to do ...... bzzzzz! ..... Here's a heads-up alert for walking or pedaling the Wow Trail. Lakes Region E-Bikes www.lakesregionebikes.com rents out e-bikes, electric motor bicycles, and encourages rental customers to use them on the Wow Trail and these are some fast moving, electric MOTOR bicycles. ..... EEK!

You bought those Reliants with no research? Tsk tsk. Well, you're lucky: your Yokohamas have pretty good reviews.

Off topic: I've never tried an e-bike. A report on CBC news this week found a great increase in bike accidents requiring hospitalization in Montreal due to the increasing presence of speeding e-bikes. They can cause quite a bit of damage if they hit a cyclist at 20 mph. The Wow Trail is fine. One of the nicest bike rides in New Hampshire is the Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge and the roads in the surrounding valley:

[thinkxingu]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

You bought those Reliants with no research? Tsk tsk. Well, you're lucky: your Yokohamas have pretty good reviews.

Off topic: I've never tried an e-bike. A report on CBC news this week found a great increase in bike accidents requiring hospitalization in Montreal due to the increasing presence of speeding e-bikes. They can cause quite a bit of damage if they hit a cyclist at 20 mph. The Wow Trail is fine. One of the nicest bike rides in New Hampshire is the Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge and the roads in the surrounding valley:

Attachment 17723

Not sure if I shared this with you, but my son and I rode the Cross NH Adventure Trail with his Boy Scout troop in June. It was pretty awesome.

I believe my second pic is where you took yours.





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[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by SailinAway

You bought those Reliants with no research? Tsk tsk. Well, you're lucky: your Yokohamas have pretty good reviews.
[

The Walmart/Goodyear Reliant, made in Mexico, has replaced the Walmart/Goodyear Viva-3, made in Ohio, and the Walmart installer told me they were the same tire plus they are a lower price. On a previous car, a Scion xB that ran up to 221,000-miles, the Viva-3 was a good quiet tire. On my Subaru Crosstrek, the Reliant made a loud buzzing noise starting at 35-mph and gets louder as speed increases ...... BUZZZZZ! ... ugh-

Is difficult to say whether it is/was an engine noise or a tire noise or something else like a wheel bearing or other bearing because the different Subaru noises get all blended together. A 2014 Subaru Crosstrek with 125-k miles is reported to be a NOISY car ..... with a noisy engine or something ...... is what I hear?

Took it in to a car repair service and they say it is mostlt the wheel bearing making all the noise, plus also something to do with a brake part cover, or something.

[SailinAway]

Originally Posted by fatlazyless

The Walmart/Goodyear Reliant, made in Mexico, has replaced the Walmart/Goodyear Viva-3, made in Ohio, and the Walmart installer told me they were the same tire plus they are a lower price. On a previous car, a Scion xB that ran up to 221,000-miles, the Viva-3 was a good quiet tire. On my Subaru Crosstrek, the Reliant made a loud buzzing noise starting at 35-mph and gets louder as speed increases ...... BUZZZZZ! ... ugh-

Is difficult to say whether it is/was an engine noise or a tire noise or something else like a wheel bearing or other bearing because the different Subaru noises get all blended together. A 2014 Subaru Crosstrek with 125-k miles is reported to be a NOISY car ..... with a noisy engine or something ...... is what I hear?

Well, if your new Yokohamas are quiet, then apparently the noise was caused by the Reliants.

[SailinAway]

Correction: I mistakenly blamed Patriot Nissan in Salem for installing my tires backwards. Upon reviewing my rotation records, I discovered that the error was made by a garage in the Lakes Region. Within one year the tires were ruined, with less than 20,000 miles on them. So check your directional tires after you get them rotated! I have deleted the post blaming Patriot Nissan. Sorry!

[fatlazyless]

Holy Quacamole ....... much to my surprise ...... I actually got an email from Walmart wanting to help with regard to my problem with their Walmart/Goodyear Reliant tires and the loud tire noises. Does Walmart monitor this forum or what ..... ????

So, in fairness to their Walmart/Goodyear Reliant tire, there is another problem with my 2014 Crosstrek that was test driven by a local repair garage after the tires issue and it needs a new front wheel bearing, about $450, plus some issue with the rear brake that also makes unwanted noise as well. Believe the wheel bearing is what is causing the grinding/buzzing noise, and the brake noise is a lesser secondary noise ...... but you understand that all these noises basically blend together like a classic rock band of old Subaru sounds.

[SailinAway]

What I learned from this experience: buying tires is an on-going saga and there's no such thing as a "final price" until the money leaves your hands. I ended up with an upgraded tire---General Altimax RT45, the new version of the RT43---at a lower price than the RT43, with an additional service tacked on. Final price: $460 installed, including alignment and road hazard warranty. In today's market that's a very low price for a very good tire. Unfortunately it took/will take 3 trips to finish the deal as the Laconia Tire Warehouse does not have a working alignment machine at the moment. In fact, the first time I showed up for my appointment, they didn't even have a working tire machine! Beware---that particular TW appears neglected.

Town Fair's price for the same tire, installed and alignment, is $704---more than 50% more. So the slogan "We will beat anyone else's price" is baloney.

Northeast Tire and Clifford's were way out of my price range. So: if you want to save money go to Tire Warehouse, but be prepared to spend some time ironing out the wrinkles.

[BroadHopper]

Had bad experiences with Tire Warehouse and VIP. Both don't pay attention to directional/asymmetrical tires. Both I had to return because the tires don't hold air and both give lousy alignment!

Never been to Walmart but I heard about bad experiences with them. Let the buyer beware.

Neil's Laconia Garage has the latest tire alignment machine and does a great job aligning the car. He even makes sure the steering wheel is straight! The only other place I trust was a frame alignment shop in Belmont but he retired.

As for tires, I shop online. Most online retailers have designated tire shops to mount your tires, like Tire Warehouse. I bought Nokians WRg4 online. A little pricey but all weather with a 60,000 tread life and great warranty sold me. I showed the tires to TW to see if they will indeed mount them. They will and did one better! They match the price! They were asymmetrical and were mounted correctly. Big thumbs up for TW Laconia!

[SailinAway]

I've driven a few hundred miles on these tires and am liking them quite a lot. I'm not a tire expert, but they feel good to me, solid. Quiet in my opinion. I chose them for the 70K mile warranty and because they're supposed to be better in snow than many all-season tires. Also rated high in the rain.

[SailinAway]

FLL, getting back to your Goodyear Reliant tires, what did you decide to do about them and what was the outcome?

[SailinAway]

OK FLL, that was funny.

I might be forced to get the Reliants. I've been reading an awful lot of disgruntled 1-start reviews by Town Fair customers. Most common complaints are extremely long wait times (like a full day), bad alignments, not being able to get an appointment for rotation, shady business practices, etc. Same complaints at all Town Fair stores. Sounds like a pretty stressful experience.

I called a number of small garages, which would be a more pleasant experience, but they don't have tires I can afford.

[fatlazyless]

Maybe take a look at VIP-Laconia for lower priced tires. Last May I got my 2014 Subaru air conditioner recharged there for about $150, and it has been working VERY cold ever since.

Another place for low price tires is Tire Warehouse in Laconia.

[ishoot308]

I have done business at Northeast Tire in Belmont on route 3 right next to Shooters Tavern. They were knowledgeable, fair priced and service was great!

Dan

[SailinAway]

Originally Posted by fatlazyless

Maybe take a look at VIP-Laconia for lower priced tires.

Heh heh. Here's how VIP's price matching works: They refund 200% of the difference between their price and the lowest price you can find, BUT:

(1) You have to get the tires installed by VIP for $144 (Walmart is $60) and

(2) It's not really a refund. It's a credit toward future VIP purchases.

Double win for VIP. I'll pass on that.