When is the Best Time to Buy Tires?

For starters, we can tell you when it’s not the best time to buy tires: when your tires are completely bald or when you’re forced to because of a blow-out.

Not only are those situations extremely dangerous. They’re expensive. Shopping for anything out of necessity means you’re likely going to pay too much and not research properly what you want. As a result, you’ll have a shiny new set of tires that cost more than they should, and might not be up to your expectations or demands.

So when is the actual best time? Well, there are several, but primarily your best times are in April and October, right at the peak season change.

Google search results for the phrase “best time to buy tires” spike in late July or August every year and people begin to think about the changing of the leaves and falling snow. People use this as a good time to buy tires although you really shouldn’t. There’s no sense in buying new all-seasons when you’re about to need winter tires in a few months (assuming you live somewhere colder). Instead, wait two months or hold off until the Spring.

Generally tire brands and online retailers like Tire Rack offer significant discounts during October and April with huge promotional deals on most tires. Many top-tier brands participate and it’s a great time of year to purchase some of the very best tires at a more reasonable price point. Retailers are also well-stocked during these times so getting the exact tires you want isn’t an issue – although sometimes getting them mounted can be.

If you miss the October window, there’s always Black Friday and Cyber Monday and deals can be had then as well.

And finally, many tire brands offer deals around long weekends in the summer driving months, such as Memorial Day and the 4th of July.

April can be a great time not just for all-season or summer tires, but also to find steep discounts on winter tires for the next year. It’s worth having a look, but do anticipate that finding the right size can be difficult.

When is it Time to Replace Tires?

You should seriously look at changing your tires once the tread depth is worn down to 4/32-inch. Once you’ve reached 2/32-inch of tread wear your tires are performing sub-optimally and you need to act quick.