Anyone in the Tampa area know of a good tire place?

[DanDombrowski]

So on the interstate yesterday I had a tire blow out. Apparently the used Falkens my dad gave me were total **** for some reason. Jeff, you remember the bulge I found in that one tire that caused the vibration? Got those two tires replaced, and now one of the remaining ones starts vibrating like on the highway and tears to shreds.

So when you're stuck on the highway with cars a few feet from you going 80+, you tend to change tires pretty quickly. You couldn't have paid me enough money to wait for AAA to come where I was stuck.

In any event, I'm now in Tampa riding on my spare. The two new tires I got (Falken Ziex 512s) ride pretty nice and I'd like to match the set up. I hate to sound like a cheap bastard, but last time I found a coupon in the paper that gave me $20 off of two tires at Goodyear and they had the cheapest price on the 512s to begin with. Anyone local see any good deals?

On an unrelated note, when I went to go get my car aligned, the guy at tires plus said he couldn't do it because BMW specified that the car had to be weighted a certain way (150lbs each of the front seats, 150 lbs rear in the middle, and 125 lbs in the trunk) and he didnt have the weights. Has anyone else heard of this? I'm wondering how many "alignments" were done incorrectly on cars like ours because they didnt have the weights and thought we wouldn't notice. Might explain why some people are having trouble getting their car to track straight.

Ok, I'm done for now. Take care all.

[BobHarris]

I had a tyre place tell me they couldn't do my 518 some years ago because it had to be "chained down", I assume this is the same sort of thing.

Cheers

Bob

[ck1995]

So on the interstate yesterday I had a tire blow out. Apparently the used Falkens my dad gave me were total **** for some reason. Jeff, you remember the bulge I found in that one tire that caused the vibration? Got those two tires replaced, and now one of the remaining ones starts vibrating like on the highway and tears to shreds.

So when you're stuck on the highway with cars a few feet from you going 80+, you tend to change tires pretty quickly. You couldn't have paid me enough money to wait for AAA to come where I was stuck.

In any event, I'm now in Tampa riding on my spare. The two new tires I got (Falken Ziex 512s) ride pretty nice and I'd like to match the set up. I hate to sound like a cheap bastard, but last time I found a coupon in the paper that gave me $20 off of two tires at Goodyear and they had the cheapest price on the 512s to begin with. Anyone local see any good deals?

On an unrelated note, when I went to go get my car aligned, the guy at tires plus said he couldn't do it because BMW specified that the car had to be weighted a certain way (150lbs each of the front seats, 150 lbs rear in the middle, and 125 lbs in the trunk) and he didnt have the weights. Has anyone else heard of this? I'm wondering how many "alignments" were done incorrectly on cars like ours because they didnt have the weights and thought we wouldn't notice. Might explain why some people are having trouble getting their car to track straight.

Ok, I'm done for now. Take care all.

I live in Tampa and have bought more tires than I'd like to admit. 2 best pricing/quality combos I have found are as follows. Order from tire rack and have install and alignment done at Reeves,(local dealer), and most recently I had tires put on my E36 @ tire kingdom. I must admit I was worried about the alignment @ tire kingdom but they did a good job. As far as the alignment goes I don't know the technical specifics but, yes there are certain BMW requirements and most places can't do it or can't do it properly. From what I understand the process involves placing various sand-bags @ various weights in different areas of the interior while doing the alignment. Furthermore, wherever you end up going, beat them up on the price. I have yet to find a tire shop who won't come down on price particularly if you do your homework and can give competitor examples............

[MBXB]

Call Frank Eibell at Eibell Performance (727-573-0911). He sent me to a tire place in Largo that does all his MBs, BMWs and Porsches. I don't remember the name of the place though.