Tires from Costco? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

slogans7 · 10-12-2005, 03:04 PM

Has anyone purchased their tires from Costco? I was wondering if their prices are competitive, if their selection offers good choices for a Boxster S, and if they do a good job of installing/balancing, etc.

10-12-2005, 03:14 PM

I go to Costco for 2 things; canned chicken and bulk packed candy! I don't think you should go there for tires. The size of the shopping carts alone are reason enough to never bring your Boxster there. Imagine if one of those hit your car in the parking lot...could knock it over! I take the SUV to Costco, and it's a company car at that!

xavier405 · 10-12-2005, 04:24 PM

I noticed that the costco website lets you seach for tires by the car model. It has our Pilots available, but I don't recall the price. I'm sure you can just price compare the website against other tire websites and see what you get!

97Boxsterian · 10-12-2005, 04:34 PM

Costco's price is good, but I know their installing job is bad. One of my friend's rim was scratched while they install the tires. Discount Tires or America Tires do a way better job and their price are great too.

Tool Pants · 10-12-2005, 04:42 PM

There is nothing wrong with this. We have local owners who had their tires purchased and mounted at Costco. I can usually tell from the green valve stem caps.

I think they get their tires from TireRack, just like my local dealer.

My local Costco has the Hunter machine that does not scratch your rims.

dennizxxx · 10-12-2005, 05:10 PM

I had PilotSports installed at Costco last year...aside from a small order mix-up, I think they did a fine job, at the time I searched around and at costco, I saved about 250 or so.

No damage whatsoever...

Mark986 · 10-12-2005, 06:56 PM

Hey Toolpants

What's up with the green valve caps?

I got my tires at Costco and got the greenies too. I had my tires filled with nitrogen and thought maybe that's the way they tell that they're filled with nitro. Anyway, I went straight to Pep boys and grabbed some black caps; kept the greenies to swap out when I get them balanced,rotated and aired up.

dennizxxx · 10-12-2005, 07:06 PM

i thought it was notrogen too.....

thoughts...

Tool Pants · 10-13-2005, 04:10 AM

The green caps are for Nitrogen. My local dealer has also started to do this.

TerryB · 10-13-2005, 05:06 AM

Why nitrogen? I'm not familiar with this. Advantage?

dennizxxx · 10-13-2005, 05:34 AM

I belive the answer to this is : nitrogen maintains the tire pressure for longer periods of time....

Carl AMG · 10-13-2005, 07:28 AM

Apparently, nitrogen does not affect the tire pressure with changes in temperatures as much as good, old fashioned air.

slogans7 · 10-13-2005, 11:47 AM

Nitrogen's the Bomb!

Sorry, couldn't help it. :dance:

MNBoxster · 10-13-2005, 01:57 PM

From the other Nitrogen thread

Hi,

There are some advantages for running Nitrogen (N) in your tires, but for certain circumstances.

The Aircraft I flew in the Navy had their tires filled with N but for safety. There was less potential for the tires to start a fire if they blew on impact during recovery (a very bad thing). Also, because of the low (Read none) humidity potential, the tires stayed supple after high altitude flying with it's sub-zero temperatures.

Racers use N in tires to again reduce the fire potential and run cooler. Many Museums and people who store a car long-term will use N to prevent Dry-Rotting the Tires. Also, running with pure N also decreases the running temp of the tire.

Some other advantages include slightly decreased potential to corrode the wheels, and slightly less loss of inflation due to seepage.

But, there are really no measurable benefits to running a street car with Nitrogen filled tires. You rarely run the tires long enough or Fast enough to approach the maximum allowable heat of the tire. You need to check your tire pressures regularly anyway, so using a gas which seeps less, doesn't eliminate the need to check this, and any delayed dry-rot is minimal on a regularly driven tire because you're gonna wear it out well before dry-rot takes over. And, you reduce the number of potential fill-up spots which can actually lead you to drive on underinflated tires until you can get to your favorite supply of Nitrogen.

All this said, I do fill several of my cars' tires with Nitrogen. My Formula Vee (for fire safety and cooler running), my Esprit and 240Z because I usually put less than 2k mi. on each annually. I use a Nitrogen bottle I get from a welding supply for about $25 + the initial cost of the regulator. But, our Daily Drivers and my Boxster I run on good ol' air because they're run so regularly, there's little benefit to be had from switching to Nitrogen.

Filling tires with Nitrogen isn't at all a new idea, it's just now that the general public is becoming aware of it and so it's the new Fad. Hope this helps...

Happy Motoring!...Jim'99