I'm close to buying new summer tires for my '08 G37 and in my research into alternatives to buying locally in Ontario/Quebec and paying ridiculous prices I am entertaining a few ideas south of border...

One such idea is to buy from either Tirerack.com or Performanceplustire.com and have them ship to a UPS store only 100 km from my home (The UPS Store #2946 - OGDENSBURG, NY) - pay the $20 for them to "receive" the 4 tires and make my way back across the border...

Tireack.com has lots of great choices at much more reasonable prices - although the kicker is they charge about $65 to ship to Ogdensburg, NY and the $70 mail in rebate that is available to American's isn't available to us Canadians on Michelin's for instance...

Performanceplustire.com has an even bigger selection of brands such as Vredestein for instance that tirerack.com doesn't offer and they do not charge a $65 shipping fee when shipped the 48 states - instead they charge a small $19.95 handling/boxing fee and they do not charge any taxes on their tires (it's built into the price listed on their site)...

The only hiccup with Performanceplustire.com is that since my credit card or paypal account are linked to a Canadian address I cannot ship my tires to an American UPS store - I can though wire them money through Western Union to make the sale happen...

Has any Canadian on here purchased from Performanceplustire.com and gone the wire transfer route to an American address and had any positive feedback to share? Does anyone feel like I could get ripped off going the wire transfer route instead of paying with Mastercard and having that protection on my side? Has anyone heard of any issues with wire-transfers or customs hiccups when crossing back into Canada?

 

Call your bank up and add the UPS store as an alternate shipping address to your profile.

As for the rebate, use the address of one of your american friends.

 

Good point - I called mastercard and I can have an alternate address thanks. But they also charge me 2.5% over and above the CDN/US conversion rate + another $3.00 fee when I make US dollar purchases... maybe paypal doesn't charge all these fees...

 

what about discountTireDirect, bought lots of wheel packages from them shipped to Ogdensburg and to Ottawa. And they ship to Ups Store with Canadian card.

At US crossing, just tell them you're going to the UPS store to pick up stuff. At the Canadian side, just declare EVERYTHING you bought and still save money, lol.


Some people bought tires at SamsClub in watertown, free installation. Not sure if they'll have g37 tires in stock but you can order them to that store.

 

^ +1 for discount tire. i would recommend just going down and having them install the new tires for you. this way there is no hassle with shipping etc. just call up the closest location, order the tires and set up an appointment. plus, DT will match Tirerack's price (including shipping to the DT store's zip code). this saved me another $80 on my most recent transaction.

i've done this for 3 cars now, and it works great. DT is very good to deal with and have always delivered as promised. when i replaced the tires on my wife's car, the lowest cost in Canada was $1100. DT's installed price was $540. same tire - Yoko Geolander. plus, DT threw in a free alignment check at a local affiliate shop and a free hand wash at another local affiliate.

no hassle at the border at all this way. now that i have a NEXUS pass i will have to submit a claim, but with the massive savings i have seen it is still a no-brainer if you live within an hour or two of the border.

 

any recommended place in niagara falls/buffalo where i can buy or receive my online order and install there? i am particularly interested in hankook ventus v12 and need to get the tires this april

 

Performanceplustire doesn't have my tires in stock and Tirerack.com doesn't accept payments non-US Paypal accounts... I'm having fun with this purchase I tell ya... Mastercard charges 2.5% + fee when converting to US funds... which is why Paypal was the ideal choice... and the CDN dollar is raging again so it's a good time... but CDNs always get the short end of the stick...

 

I use this place

U.S. Address

 

Tire Products by Vehicle - Discount Tire Direct, they got some Michelins and Hankooks

 

Have you considered having TireRack ship it to a shop in the GTA? I know they do ship to a couple shops in the GTA. That would save you gas & time, though maybe higher shipping fees.

 

you can also have your tires ship to cbiusa in buffalo.

tires23 in mississauga has good pricing on v12. i got mine from them 4 for around $1200 and i think that included install and balance but you can them for new pricing.

 

I purchased a set of Bridgestone from Cleve Hill in Buffalo and saved a few hundred bucks. Had them installed the tires and paid taxes when I came back.

Tires and Auto Repair in Buffalo, Hamburg, and Cheektowaga, NY. Cleve-Hill Tire & Auto Buffalo, NY (716)884-4040

Make sure you have a quotation and they have the tires in stock.

Cheers!

 

Do you have to declare the new tires insalled on the car when coming back through Canada Customs?

 

Technically, you probably should, but unless you have 4 old tires in your trunk, I doubt it will be too noticeable.

 

I've had great success with discounttiredirect.com (including the tires that arrived 2 days ago) but I'm surprised that noone has mentioned 1010tires.com from British Columbia. They are, as far as I'm concerned, the Canadian version of Tirerack.