Costco tires vs Discount Tire?

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BigPete3281
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10:20a, 2/15/26
We've got an executive membership at Costco (humble brag I know) but I've never really thought about using their tire service until now. We bought a nice little crosstrek for our daughter, but I'd say it needs new tires. So...

I've always had a good experience with DTC but just thought I'd ask here if there is any advantages to going thru Costco over DTC or an equivalent.
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Roger350
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11:41a, 2/15/26
AG
If you buy the brand Costco is featuring in their sale on that month (flip flops between Michelin and Bridgestone every 2-4 months) they will be slightly less money at Costco, but DTC will price match.

Costco has very limited selection of those two brands. They will not have the whole range of tires they make, just the best sellers and most popular sizes.

Overall, I buy from DTC or Tire Rack, but if they are for my wife's vehicle I will go Costco if they have the tire I want, because it is easier to convince my wife to have them rotated while she is shopping than to get her to go to DTC for rotation. But I won't settle on a tire that is my 2nd choice to get it from Costco.

DTC has better service that I tend to trust more as well. You should also factor in locations, there are more towns with a DTC and no Costco than the other way around, so if your daughter is off at college, will she have a Costco to do rotations etc?

Editing to add the one clear advantage Costco has - instant rebates. When they are offering a rebate for $100 off a set of 4, it is instant at the register where as DTC you'll have to do the stupid online rebate BS.
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permabull
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12:47p, 2/15/26
AG
Discount will price match Costco's OTD price. I just show them my OTD price in the Costco cart and they make adjustments as needed to beat it by a few bucks.
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rme
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In reply to Roger350 • 12:49p, 2/15/26
AG
Roger350 said:
If you buy the brand Costco is featuring in their sale on that month (flip flops between Michelin and Bridgestone every 2-4 months) they will be slightly less money at Costco, but DTC will price match.

Costco has very limited selection of those two brands. They will not have the whole range of tires they make, just the best sellers and most popular sizes.

Overall, I buy from DTC or Tire Rack, but if they are for my wife's vehicle I will go Costco if they have the tire I want, because it is easier to convince my wife to have them rotated while she is shopping than to get her to go to DTC for rotation. But I won't settle on a tire that is my 2nd choice to get it from Costco.

DTC has better service that I tend to trust more as well. You should also factor in locations, there are more towns with a DTC and no Costco than the other way around, so if your daughter is off at college, will she have a Costco to do rotations etc?

Editing to add the one clear advantage Costco has - instant rebates. When they are offering a rebate for $100 of a set of 4, it is instant at the register where as DTC you'll have to do the stupid online rebate BS.

This is genius!
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Aggie_Boomin 21
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1:17p, 2/15/26
AG
I bought my tires from discount. My wife bought hers from Costco. The service experience is so much better at Discount. I'm out within 30 minutes of my rotation appointment there usually. At Costco it's been hours after the scheduled appointment most of the time.
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1agswitchin4lanes
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1:25p, 2/15/26
AG
I love Costco for everything. Except tires. Mainly because if you don't have an appointment, you're waiting for hours.

Also they won't upsize at all
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aggietony2010
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In reply to 1agswitchin4lanes • 1:31p, 2/15/26
AG
Same. We love costco. Getting tires at Costco is a miserable experience most of the time. They'd have to win on price considerably (which they don't) for me to consider playing the Coscto tire waiting game ever again.
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TSW2012
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3:01p, 2/15/26
AG
If your wife is anything like mine Costco is hands down the most expensive place to buy tires. Takes them an hour and a half to install and all there is to do is walk around the Costco looking at every item.
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Whoop Delecto
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In reply to TSW2012 • 4:30p, 2/15/26
AG
TSW2012 said:
If your wife is anything like mine Costco is hands down the most expensive place to buy tires. Takes them an hour and a half to install and all there is to do is walk around the Costco looking at every item.

Look at you with the 1.5 hr fast lane service. Took Costco that long to patch my flat, even with a 10 am appointment. Oh, they won't let you in the store at 9:50 unless you have an upgraded membership. My 2 vehicles each had 2 hr plus tire installs. Never again.
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LeftyAg89
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7:23p, 2/15/26
AG
Discount Tire it is!!!
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91AggieLawyer
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8:57p, 2/15/26
AG
Just be aware that the quality of DT stores vary. Find one that has good people and you will be good. Others, including the one closest to me, isn't all that great.
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agracer
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In reply to aggietony2010 • 9:11p, 2/15/26
AG
aggietony2010 said:
Same. We love costco. Getting tires at Costco is a miserable experience most of the time. They'd have to win on price considerably (which they don't) for me to consider playing the Coscto tire waiting game ever again.

Make an appointment....take like 30m for them to get it done. Same with a rotation.

What waiting game is everyone talking about?
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TSW2012
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In reply to agracer • 7:25a, 2/16/26
AG
agracer said:
aggietony2010 said:
Same. We love costco. Getting tires at Costco is a miserable experience most of the time. They'd have to win on price considerably (which they don't) for me to consider playing the Coscto tire waiting game ever again.

Make an appointment....take like 30m for them to get it done. Same with a rotation.

What waiting game is everyone talking about?


Depends heavily on the store. Never been faster than hour and a half even with appointment.
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Charismatic Megafauna
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7:52a, 2/16/26
AG
Also, don't get fooled into getting DT's "equivalent" that has almost the same name as the one at Costco but is cheaper and says "DT exclusive" My last goodyears were "DT exclusive" wrangler at duratracs and were the roughest riding tires I've ever had
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StockHorseAg
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12:11p, 2/16/26
AG
Don't forget about your local stores. I found a small town Napa up here in the panhandle that hands down has the cheapest tires I can find. I got my set of 10ply 275/70 R17 Toyo open country AT3's for $1300 installed. The next cheapest option was discount and they wanted $1600 for them installed. When I tried to get them to price match they said they couldn't because they thought the invoice I showed them from the Napa was fake.

I get the lifetime balance and rotation from Walmart by my house for $10 a tire and I'm set. Plus since I'm a Walmart plus member, flat fixes are free.

The last few times I've been to discount, the service has sucked and I hate that they try to upsell me on crap now.
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1agswitchin4lanes
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In reply to 91AggieLawyer • 1:41p, 2/16/26
AG
91AggieLawyer said:
Just be aware that the quality of DT stores vary. Find one that has good people and you will be good. Others, including the one closest to me, isn't all that great.


This.

I currently have connections at a Cinco Ranch store, as well as West houston if you guys need them.
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El_duderino
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In reply to 1agswitchin4lanes • 1:55p, 2/16/26
They take over an hour even with an appointment. Purchased tires there, but after slow ass balance/rotations it's back to DT
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.”
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1939
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2:18p, 2/16/26
AG
We recently got tires at Costco for my wife's Grand Cherokee. Had an appointment, it was fast and easy. I didn't know DT would price match out the door, but Costco had free installation so it was like $200 less than DT.
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AgCPA95
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2:30p, 2/16/26
AG
I do all my tires at the Cinco Ranch DT. Maybe its is because I always do the 1st appointment of the day and they get backed up later in the afternoon, but they have always been very fast.
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aTm2004
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4:22p, 2/16/26
AG
I looked at Costco the last 2 tire purchases, but the price difference just isn't there for me to justify limiting the number of places I can go to if there's a problem. There are 3 DTs that are close by and form a triangle around me where there's only 1 Costco.

I've ordered from Tire Rack and had it shipped to the DT I prefer and then set an appointment to have the tires installed. In and out in ~45 minutes.
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Psycho Bunny
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4:57p, 2/16/26
Since we are talking tire shops and DT or NTB are my go to places, has anyone purchase the MICHELIN CROSSCLIMATE2 and if so have you been pleased with the purchase. Thinking of getting these tires for the wife's car.
Whether I get life's question right or wrong free will is an illusion.
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Roger350
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In reply to 91AggieLawyer • 7:00p, 2/16/26
AG
91AggieLawyer said:
Just be aware that the quality of DT stores vary. Find one that has good people and you will be good. Others, including the one closest to me, isn't all that great.


True, I hear some of the worst locations even set your parking brake after install...
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The Wonderer
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11:46a, 2/18/26
AG
I buy my tires off Amazon and have them mounted at the local Mexican tire shop. Always cheaper than DT (a ton less hassle and waiting) with free shipping and they mount them for me for $15/tire. My 2500 Suburban was in and out in 40 minutes for four new tires.
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Chewy
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12:36p, 2/18/26
AG
Does Discount offer the free road hazard on a price match or just the tire price?

I went with Costco last time because they were $10 cheaper than anyone else online and offered free road hazard. Never get road hazard but if it's offered for free then it's a nice bonus.

I rotate my tires myself so that's not an issue.

Scheduling was a bit of a pain but not bad.

Like someone else mentioned, I usually find the cheapest online seller and get a local tire shop with limited English to install.
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drumboy
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3:13p, 2/18/26
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I'm about to get some Arroyo tires from WalMart & having them install them on the Tesla. Way cheaper than anything at DT or CostCo and I won't feel bad about mashing the pedal on the right.
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BigPete3281
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In reply to drumboy • 10:32a, 2/21/26
drumboy said:
I'm about to get some Arroyo tires from WalMart & having them install them on the Tesla. Way cheaper than anything at DT or CostCo and I won't feel bad about mashing the pedal on the right.


Username. Haha I saw Tesla and read it as dumboy.


I kid. I kid.
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BigPete3281
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10:37a, 2/21/26
Appreciate all the feedback but I went ahead with Costco and bought some Michelin Defender 2 tires. Ordered them and made my appointment a week out, just to be safe. They came in 2 days later and they called me to move my appointment up. I was in and out in around an hour and a half.

Price was the same. I went with Costco (new 1 in Allen) because it'll be a lot easier to get my daughter to go into a Costco for the rotations plus I don't have to worry about them upselling her a million different other things.
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The Pilot
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1:50p, 2/21/26
AG
I would go DT just bc you can also do alignments there.
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Roger350
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In reply to The Pilot • 2:02p, 2/21/26
AG
Never seen a DT that performed alignments or any service not related to tire replacement, repair, or rotations?
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idAg09
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3:23p, 2/21/26
Some do alignments now

The rest try to sell you wipers, new lug nuts, and new tires halfway through their life due to 'uneven wear'

I used to really like discount tire but the past several years have been a constant upsell
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Roger350
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In reply to idAg09 • 5:20p, 2/21/26
AG
Interesting, had not seen that. The upsell BS ticks me off too, and the fact that we all have to arm our wives, kids, and parents not to pay for anything except what we explicitly are sending them for. It used to be what separated DTC from NTB and Firestone. I guess they all are the same now.
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ChoppinDs40
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9:08p, 2/21/26
AG
We were on a ski road trip about 5 years ago and had a flat just south of walsenburg, CO on I25.

Our spare was very difficult to access since we were loaded down with 5 people, 2 dogs and ski gear.

We pulled into a random tire shop and bought a tire and wheel for $150. Just something to make it to civilization.

Called discount tire in Pueblo around 130pm on a Saturday afternoon. They had 4 LTX defenders waiting on us. Full replacement and remount in about 1 hour and we were back on our way.
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The Pilot
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In reply to Roger350 • 9:13p, 2/21/26
AG
I just got new tires for my wife's suv and ours (metro Denver) does alignments.
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P.H. Dexippus
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In reply to idAg09 • 9:49p, 2/21/26
AG
idAg09 said:
Some do alignments now

The rest try to sell you wipers, new lug nuts, and new tires halfway through their life due to 'uneven wear'

I used to really like discount tire but the past several years have been a constant upsell

Yet there are a holes out there that will sue these places after a blowout for allegedly not recommending that wheel alignment and tire replacement in dire enough or high pressure enough terms, I kid you not. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
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TRD-Ferguson
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7:14a, 2/22/26
AG
Purchased a new dually van last year. MyTPS showed both inside dually tires as low. Needed an oil change anyway so went to Ford Fast Lane. Mentioned the low tire pressure. Service advisor said they'd take care of that.

When my van was ready TPS still showed inside dually tires low. Service advisor said "we don't have the tools here to add air to those tires". Wow!

Drove to DT. 30 minutes later I have new valve stems and correct pressures in all tires. No charge! These are my original tires no tires I bought at DT. All I asked for was air.
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