A tire check should be part of your pretrip routine because a basic inspection can improve your safety and even help boost your fuel economy. To remind motorists about performing this important review, the tire industry has designated May 28 to June 3 as National Tire Safety Week. [More]
tires
Sears Expanding DieHard Brand With Foray Into The Car Tire Business
By 6.14.16
After hinting that it would be exploring unnamed options for getting more out of some of its signature house brands, Sears has announced that it will be expanding DieHard’s reach in the automotive market by selling passenger-car tires under the brand. [More]
Icahn Reportedly Wins Pep Boys Bidding Battle For $1B; Bridgestone Leaves Race
By 12.30.15
And just like that, it appears the auto parts retailer love triangle has ended: Bridgestone, the one-time preferred suitor of Pep Boy, reportedly bowed out of the months-long bidding war with Icahn Enterprises. [More]
Auto Parts Retailer Love Triangle Reaches $1B With Icahn Once Again Topping Bridgestone In Bid For Pep Boys
By 12.29.15
The auto parts retailer love triangle continues to take new twists and turns as the year comes to an end, with Icahn Enterprises once again upping the ante – to the tune of $1 billion – in its bid to steal Pep Boys away from suitor Bridgestone. [More]
Pep Boys Concedes That Icahn’s Offer May Be “Superior” To Bridgestone, Will Explore The Deal Further
By 12.8.15
When Dollar General entered an unsolicited billion dollar bid for Family Dollar last year, the smaller company said thanks but no thanks. The latest merger-love triangle appears to be taking a different path: auto parts retailer Pep Boys seems to be mulling the idea of ditching its already agreed upon deal with Bridgestone in favor of more money from Auto Plus owner Icahn Enterprises. [More]
Auto Parts Love Triangle: Icahn Offers $837M For Pep Boys, One-Upping Bridgestone’s $835M Bid
By 12.7.15
Love triangles are generally a plot device used in movies and television shows to keep viewers’ eyes glued to the screen, screaming for their preferred suitor to win out. Recently, though, the messy affairs have infiltrated the mergers and acquisitions realm with the months-long dollar store war – Dollar General and Dollar Tree fighting over Family Dollar. Today, that trend continued with the company behind Auto Plus offering to buy the already betrothed Pep Boys retail operations out from under Bridgestone. [More]
System For Recalling Defective Tires Is “Broken,” Says Federal Safety Agency
By 10.27.15
When a manufacturer recalls a vehicle for a safety defect, they’re required to contact owners of the affected models and provide a remedy for the issue free of charge. But federal investigators say this sort of smooth recall just isn’t possible for tires because the current tire recall system is “completely broken.” [More]
Bridgestone Buys Pep Boys Auto Service Retail Operations For $835M
By 10.26.15
Have we seen the last of Moe, Manny, and Jack – you know, the faces of the Pep Boys auto parts brand? It’s possible as the retail chain has agreed to be acquired by tire giant Bridgestone for $835 million. [More]
Know The Possible Problems Before You Opt For Run-Flat Tires
By 7.13.15
If you’ve bought a new car or replacement tires for your old car lately, you may have had the pricey option of run-flat tires. The sales pitch for them is easy: while some people may enjoy changing tires or waiting for roadside assistance, most people don’t. Run-flats aren’t a foolproof way to avoid tire trouble. [More]
NHTSA Investigating Nissan Vehicle Issue That Can Result In Blown Tires, Brake Failure
By 5.19.15
Suffering a tire blowout while driving down the highway is never a welcome experience, but imagine if you found out that the tire blew, not because of debris on the roadway, but as a result of a manufacturing defect with your vehicle? It’s for that reason more than 130,000 Nissan Versa vehicles are now under investigation by federal regulators. [More]
GM Stops Sales Of Some 2015 SUVs After Goodyear Announces Tire Recall
By 1.22.15
If you were planning to purchase a General Motors SUV this weekend you might be out of luck. The automaker instructed dealers to halt sales on thousands of model year 2015 SUVs after Goodyear announced the recall of nearly 49,000 tires. [More]
Really Cheap Tires? Surprise: They Might Be Risky Counterfeits
By 11.17.14
Everyone knows that the “genuine designer handbag” going for $20 from a street vendor is neither genuine nor designer, and indeed may not even hold up as a bag. But when you go to a reputable retailer and spend what it costs to replace the tires on your car, you expect to get what the real goods. Alas, Consumer Reports has found: just because there’s a brand name you know on the outside of a tire, doesn’t mean you’re getting what you should be. [More]
Please Don’t Fling Your Empty E-Cigarette Cartridges Out The Car Window
By 11.26.13
E-cigarettes, even the ones that are plugged into the correct charger and don’t explode, have a problem. Well, their users have a problem. Some former cigarette smokers who are used to flinging butts out the window when they finish a smoke are having trouble letting go of their nasty habit. The trouble is that metal e-cig cartridges are, well, metal, and puncture tires out on the roads. [More]
Rent-To-Own Car Tires Become Popular, Are A Terrible Idea
By 6.10.13
Having to get new tires is annoying. They’re not cheap and you usually have to buy four of ’em at once. If you don’t have a few hundred dollars at hand or available on your credit card, what do you do? A growing number of Americans in that predicament are turning to rent-to-own tire stores, where they pay overinflated prices on consumer-unfriendly terms. [More]
Sears Has The Tires I Ordered In Stock For Anyone But Me
By 11.16.12
Ally is a tireless disgruntled former Sears customer. We don’t mean that she’s tireless in that she’s working without ceasing to take down Sears. We mean that she really needs some new tires, which she ordered from Sears last week. She called them up to make sure that they had her tires in stock, and they did. When the time came for her service appointment, though, she found out that Sears didn’t have the tires in stock for her, and they couldn’t explain why in a clear way. What they could provide her with was a hold on her bank account because she had originally ordered the tires with her debit card. So that was awesome. [More]
Get Your Car Ready For Winter
By 11.18.11
The changing weather means a different set of challenges for your car. In order to do what you can to prevent yourself from getting stranded in the cold in the coming months, it makes sense to give your vehicle a once-over. [More]
Um, Do I Actually Need To Buy Winter Tires?
By 11.15.11
Ah yes, winter tires. That’s what you need right now. You want to buy an expensive set of tires just for one season. Is it even necessary? Can’t you just get all season tires and be done with it? Maybe! But the answer really depends on where you live and what type of surface you’ll be driving on. [More]
Tire Shop Spits On Investigative TV Crew
By 5.5.11
When CBS Sacramento’s Call Kurtis went to investigate consumer complaints that a tire shop was advertising super low prices and then jacking up the price with the final bill, the store didn’t do a very good job of living down their reputation. Especially when they spit on the camera crew twice and gave them the middle finger. I also enjoyed the part where Kurtis asks who owns the store and the guy behind the counter says, “your mom.” [More]
