Tires - difference in “club tire” at Costco vs. tire store (1 Viewer)

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I’m shopping for new tires. I stopped in an independent tire shop in the neighborhood and asked if they can match a Costco price on BFG ATs. They told me that the tires sold at Sams and Costco are lesser quality, for what appears to be the same tire. After some google research I can find multiple discussions on this topic but nothing definitive.

Anyone on here have the real answer?
 
It's BS. House Brand ( Chai Ling, Sailung, etc) are definitely hit or miss depending on where you buy them, but a place like Costco is not going to be selling lower quality versions of the same product, that would essentially be counterfitting.

The truth is that local tire shops are being priced out of the market by Costco, WalMart, and Discount Tire. I worked in many independent shops, and our cost for tires was usually pretty close to what Discount Tire was retailng the tire for. The big boxes just have so much more buying power, and the prices at the local tire shops reflect that.
 
About 10 or so years ago I bought tires at Sam's Club for my 2000 LX. The stock 100 series tires were the commonly known Michelin M/S LTX. The tires I bought at Sam's were 285 75 16 LTX Michelin M/S...written on the side of the tire. Same exact tread and same name except that the name and letters were in a different order. I figured they were specially made for Sam's Club. I will also say, those were amazingly good tires. I think I got like 100K miles on them. Just FYI...
 
The problems with Costco that I have is ...
  1. That they wont let you size up and only let you have the OEM tire size.
  2. The wait for simple things like a rotation and inspection are almost 2-3 hours at my Costco.
  3. The wait for an install can take almost 2-3 hours at my Costco.
  4. The service is terrible at my local Costco.
But these are just my opinions. I opted to go with the local tire shop out of convenience.
 
You had me at 1....and done.
 
The problems with Costco that I have is ...
  1. That they wont let you size up and only let you have the OEM tire size.
  2. The wait for simple things like a rotation and inspection are almost 2-3 hours at my Costco.
  3. The wait for an install can take almost 2-3 hours at my Costco.
  4. The service is terrible at my local Costco.
But these are just my opinions. I opted to go with the local tire shop out of convenience.

thats an honest personal review, costco prices dont beat discount tire sales with free ship and no tax, the warranty is even cheaper at online discount tire..so my vote is discount tire
 
I’ll try to find some time to pop back in Costco and confirm part numbers, be sure there isn’t anything going on there. They were beating the local shops by about $300.
I agree, it seems like dealing with them for repairs/rotation should would be a pain.
I’ll look into Discount.
Thanks for all of the advice.
 
I’m shopping for new tires. I stopped in an independent tire shop in the neighborhood and asked if they can match a Costco price on BFG ATs. They told me that the tires sold at Sams and Costco are lesser quality, for what appears to be the same tire. After some google research I can find multiple discussions on this topic but nothing definitive.

Anyone on here have the real answer?

That’s BS, same tire. But when you buy directly from the manufacture and not a wholesaler you get better pricing. That’s why Costco only sells like three brands of tires.
 
About 10 or so years ago I bought tires at Sam's Club for my 2000 LX. The stock 100 series tires were the commonly known Michelin M/S LTX. The tires I bought at Sam's were 285 75 16 LTX Michelin M/S...written on the side of the tire. Same exact tread and same name except that the name and letters were in a different order. I figured they were specially made for Sam's Club. I will also say, those were amazingly good tires. I think I got like 100K miles on them. Just FYI...

Different model tire warrants name change. Same tire, different version, either from a rubber compound change or slight tread pattern change. Usually from rubber compound change.
 
The problems with Costco that I have is ...
  1. That they wont let you size up and only let you have the OEM tire size.
  2. The wait for simple things like a rotation and inspection are almost 2-3 hours at my Costco.
  3. The wait for an install can take almost 2-3 hours at my Costco.
  4. The service is terrible at my local Costco.
But these are just my opinions. I opted to go with the local tire shop out of convenience.

This must depend on your location. My Costco:

1. Let's me size up
2. I rotate my own.
2/3. Costco lets you make appointments, I have waited close to an hour in line at discount tire and discount almost always says drop off in am and pick up at the end of the day for things like rotations.
4. My local costco's service is better than the discount tire stores around me.

5. DT charges for the tire replacement "certificate", while it is built in at costco. They have replaced tires for me with no question.

Like I said, probably store dependent
 
I used to work in retail analytics. This is a very simple reason that big-box stores a) have cheaper tires and, b) take a long time to install. Tires are what they call a destination category- it's a low-margin class of product that is designed to get you into the store to buy higher-margin products. Tires are great, because they can essentially force you to walk around the store waiting for the install.
 
I stopped in Costco today. Manufacturer part numbers are the same. Went by the local tire shop. He showed me their cost. Less than Costco sale price. He agreed that the other guy was wrong on the "club tire" idea, at least on this particular tire.
 
Is walmart Sony 65" same as one sold at Best Buy...NOOOOOO.... the model #'s be definitely different, cheaper version and is why they are cheap.

I am sure it might/could be the same with Tires as well.
 
I went ahead and ordered through tire rack. They have a Black Friday weekend BFG $100 mail in rebate that expires today and the local shop will do the install. After the rebate I'm in for under $1000. If I buy the road hazard I'll be a few bucks more than Costco but the shop is 2 minutes from my house. I went for the K02 DT model, hopefully they work out.
 
Is walmart Sony 65" same as one sold at Best Buy...NOOOOOO.... the model #'s be definitely different, cheaper version and is why they are cheap.

I am sure it might/could be the same with Tires as well.
Not quite a great comparison. Well known that manufacturers ship similar TVs with lower "quality" or mass produced for certain consumer holidays such as today, but under different model numbers. You can see this even at the same big box store (65D0060 vs 65C0060). BFG K02 is K02. Of course you can verify by looking at model numbers and/or just contact BFG.
 
I've done oversize at COSTCO without too much issue.

In 2012, On my 2002 Tacoma 4X4 went from stock 265-70-16 to 265-75-16 tires online they made me sign a waiver in store.
 
I bought KO2's on Amazon for way less than Costco was selling them for.

As others have said, a KO2 is a KO2.....there isn't a Costco grade B variant. Having said that, if I show up at my local independent tire shop when they open, they will have me in and out in 20 minutes. While I cheap out on the 80, I give them all our business on our company vehicles.
 

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