Fifty150

From what little I know, tires are kind of a "gray market". Around here, a handful of distributors sell all the same tires, to different tire shops and garages. Different distributors may have access to particular brands and sizes, then trade amongst themselves to control pricing. The shops never know what may be available at what price, as it could change daily, depending on what each distributor wants to do. They could announce sales, rebates, et cetera to push certain brands, styles, sizes......or hold back and price up something popular. Suddenly, there is an artificial lack of availability for snow tires, where they will make you order & wait for delivery, to justify a higher price. When if fact, they have a warehouse full, because the factory produced a large volume right before winter. Shops who move higher volume, get better availability, and lower pricing with incentives. Smaller shops sometimes have to pay a distributor more than what a retail customer may pay from a larger shop. But that is how a free market works. That is how Wal*Mart can buy & sell volume at lower price points. Now comes the online sellers. They have muscle to flex. They can order more from a factory than a regional distributor. They can command a larger shipment, with priority. They can sell at a huge discount because they are getting distributor pricing, and selling directly to the end user. The problem now, for the end user, is how do you get that tire installed. Most people that I know, do not have the equipment to mount & balance tires. Independent tire shops will charge up to triple for installation if you carry in the tire. Wal*Mart charges $13 per tire. Costco wants $15 per tire. But they will only install an OEM size tire onto an OEM wheel. They will not install a different size tire onto an aftermarket wheel. Independent shops and garages have quoted $30 - $40. Chains like Big-O, Firestone, Midas, et cetera all have franchisees who could set their own pricing, quote low, then add on hidden charges later. Same way the $19.95 coupon oil change becomes $50 out the door. Some tire shops refuse to install any tire which they didn't sell. Independent shops will not accept your shipment, knowing that you are not going to stay home from work, accept 4 tires from the delivery person, then drive around with 4 tires in your car, from shop to shop, looking for installation. I remember loading 4 tires into my pickup, driving them over to drop off at a tire shop, then going home to drive my car over to the shop. But I figured that if I am saving $100 per tire, then it's not so bad to pay for the installation. But pricing isn't a fair comparison. Amazon.com has 215/55R16 sized tires around $50. But those are tires from Chinese brands nobody has heard of. As opposed to walking into a tire store and being quoted $150 for a brand that you have heard of like Goodyear, Firestone, BF Goodrich, Toyo, et cetera. I'm taking the chance that here in The U.S.A., unsafe, unrated tires cannot be sold. Or that at least Amazon.com is not selling illegal tires. Supposedly, tires sold in The U.S.A. must meet regulatory standards. https://www.nhtsa.gov/equipment/tires https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/393.75 But the truth is that there is very little oversight and enforcement.

Here is the OEM part, if it helps. But I am pretty sure that you will need something aftermarket.

Just ordered tires on Amazon. On the webpage with the tire, there is an option for installation. I choose Sears Auto. $19.99 per tire for installation. Amazon will deliver to Sears, then I bring my car in. Pretty easy so far. And the tires on Amazon are a lot less expensive.

Thanks Don Ridley! That is more information. Of course, the real problem is me. I need to repair my wheel and reinstall the tire back into position.

The obvious solution is to repair the damage and reinstall the tire into it's original position. Which I intend to do. I am just confused by how the system works.

I have been driving with the spare tire on the passenger side front tire. The original tire and wheel are now tucked in the spare tire carrier. In the course of 2 weeks, the TPMS low tire indicator light came on twice. Last week, after the spare was on for 3 days, the light flashed for a while, then became solid. I thought that I actually had a flat or puncture. I pulled over, checked every tire's air pressure, and proceeded to remove and inspect each tire. All tires had a reasonable PSI, and I could not find a nail or screw. That was a lot of wasted time and effort. Boy, did I feel like a moron, on the side of the road, jacking up and removing all the tires, looking for a nonexistent road hazard. After a few hours, the light turned off. Today, the light flashed, then became solid, and stayed lit for about 10 minutes. This time, I did not take all the tires off on the side of the road. In theory, TPMS should have detected no air pressure the last 2 weeks, since the wheel, tire, & sensor have been in the spare tire carrier. I want to trust in the technology. But it is difficult at best, since I do not understand it. On my F-150, the dash light has only activated when I really did have low tire pressure. Which works great, because that alerted me to check the tires, add air, and then look for a puncture. All things that I should have been doing anyway, but was too lazy, until the dummy light came on. Right now, I have a slow leak on one of the tires, and I cannot find a hole to plug. But with 10 year old tires, it could be leaking from just the tires being old....bead seal, valve stem, et cetera. The F-150 sensors are mounted on the wheel. The Transit Connect is a part of the valve stem. I wonder if there is different technology, and if they work in a different way.

Don't make my mistake. Stay away from the Mustang II if someone tries to hook you up with a vintage collector's classic.

It's just as good as the guy who fishes Florida storm drains from the side of the road with his van illegally double parked.

If they can't figure out how to refund you, tell them that you will accept cash. They have petty cash on hand to buy donuts every day. They can go without. You need to be reimbursed for your loss.

People tend to fall for junk science and fake news.

Didn't we have a similar situation in the 70's when there was talk of 6pack rings being dangerous to the environment? In some societies, there's less "disposable". People often supply their own containers for take away food, or restaurants reclaim the food container for reuse. Kind of like when milk came in a bottle, and the bottle was returned.. Look at all of the meals delivered in metal tiffin boxes in India, and bento boxes in Japan. Now Japan Is the world's leader in using disposable chopsticks. The Hong Kong of British Colonial Rule, people went to a restaurant with an insulated bottle to buy food. Even push cart vendors on the street sold food in regular bowls with utensils, which would be washed and reused like a regular restaurant. I don't even want to think about how many little foil packets of single use prophylactic products are polluting Thailand. Go ahead Mike. Bring the discussion to self driving cars. And if anyone wants to advocate for drinking straws, feel at liberty to state your point.

Interesting. You both have the same car.

This is why people "lawyer up".

Almost like the argument that you can't simply go after someone for drinking and driving, or having a beer behind the wheel. He's not going too slow, going too fast, or weaving. He is in full control, and he is not driving drunk - because he isn't drunk....yet. I have to admit that I've gotten behind the wheel after a few. Probably more times than I should have. And luckily, nobody got hurt. But in that respect, with a lot of states setting the blood alcohol level at .08, a lot of people could probably have a beer on a hot day, or glass of wine with dinner, and be perfectly fine to drive. In some societies outside of The USA, there is zero tolerance for driving with any amount of alcohol. Don't even drive after a slice of fruit cake at the Christmas Party. I get it. Some states have drive through liquor stores. Other states have helmet laws for motorcycles. Adult entertainment venues are operated to within the prurient standards of the community. In California, it is against the law for people to mount their GPS or cell phone on the windshield, with the exception of the the lower and upper corners of the windshield. In Las Vegas, liquor is 24 hours, you can gamble, and prostitution is legal. In other states, there are "dry counties" and even "dry Sunday". The law here is for distracted driving. The officer is required to specify how you were distracted. The distracted driving law allows the officer to cite you for any distraction: singing, dancing, eating, using hair spray with a cigarette dangling from your lips,......not limited to just talking and texting. You can protest the ticket by going to traffic court, to explain to the judge how you were in fact not distracted and in full control of your vehicle. Most people just pay the ticket, because they can't win the argument, then proceed to do it again without learning a lesson from paying the fine. Distracted driving has a high rate of recidivism. The real issue is how much are we willing to be governed as a society? Some think that there ought to be a law for everything in the interest of a safer society. Others feel that there are too many laws already, and that we don't need more laws. What next? Ban entertainment systems in motor vehicles? Perhaps require an enclosed cockpit, like in a limo, taxi, or police car, so that the driver is not distracted by conversations or interactions with the passengers. Maybe a special compartment built into the dashboard, which requires you to lock away your cell phone, before the car will start. Or raise the fine to $1,000, and people will have more to lose.

There you go. Most of the time, it is a problem at the dealership level. Not corporate. Just one or two employees who think they know what they are doing, but are actually doing it wrong. Reminds me of how Sears employees come up with their own creative interpretation of the Craftsman Warranty. Often denying the warranty and refusing to replace a tool, even though they should have simply replaced the tool. I just had a Wal*Mart clerk tell me that installation of a tire was $13, PLUS mounting, balancing, valve stems, TPMS service, and rotation.....which made it $40 per tire. Obviously, that was not correct. I had to get a store manager from inside to come out to the tire shop. But things like that happen. Not the clerk's fault. Mistakes like that are always from top to bottom. Somebody is derelict when it comes to training, managing, and supervision of employees, whom with the correct instructions, would be doing the job right. Wars are won with soldiers, but lost by generals.

I like those youtube videos of the guys fishing from the Florida sewer system.

Most of us who have 2 cents to throw in, have already done it........now someone will see this months, or years from now, and resurrect the topic. You're right Mike. EVERYBODY thus far has been cordial and civil. That is to be admired. This may be the first civil conversation about a current event topic, involving individuals from different walks of life. Now let's all throw rocks at the people fixing their make-up while driving. I've seen people behind the wheel reading newspapers, brushing teeth, having sex, dancing, singing, eating, drinking,........One guy had a small screen affixed to his headliner which was playing a movie, in his left hand he had a bowl, chopsticks in his right hand, a dish of food on the dashboard, and he was wearing headphones.......race doesn't matter, but he was not Asian! Just someone who was co-opting Asian culture with the chopsticks. And what is up with people who claim that someone else is co-opting their culture? Why is "cultural appropriation" now an issue? If you are proud of whatever your culture is, you should be happy that others have such admiration to share in it. You never hear about Chinese people getting upset when other people are eating Chinese food. Irish people don't flip out when someone else orders a beer. What if the JDM community got upset that Paul Walker took the lead in Fast & Furious? I should be mad every time I see a teenager wearing a Ramones t-shirt. After all, that kid wasn't even born yet, when I had long hair on my head, and partying at underground punk rock shows.

As a safety feature, those reflectors are useful. Reminds me of how some kids put reflectors on their bikes, while kids like me took all the reflectors off the bike. I installed an LED light onto my plastic trim piece. It is wired to turn on with my off-road lights, and strobe as an emergency beacon. But not everyone will want to have a flashing red light on their car.

The 60/40 split 3 seater pulls out of the floor, anchors, then the seat backs flip up to vertical. The anchor positions will be different on a model with 2 seats in the middle row.

Varying circumstances will allow for shooting a fleeing suspect in the back. It happens. Just a few weeks ago, a cop shot a guy in the back, as the suspect was running away. At a community meeting after the shooting, where citizens are allowed an audience with the police chief, there were just as many supporters as there were protestors. All had an opinion based on emotions and biased by what they learned from watching TV. But the important thing is that no officer involved shootings are swept under the rug. There's transparency.

Saw that in Japan. Warehouse workers, ambulance drivers, nurses..... It is amazing technology.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/honda-odyssey-touring-elite-vs-tartan-prancer-le.html