Hi,

My 1998 V70 T5M is in need of a new set of tires pretty soon.

I am looking for recommendation on good tire shops in the San Francisco Bay Area, also if you have information on whether the shop would let me order tires on the web and have them mount the tires (hope that I would save some $$$ that way).

I have Michelin 205/55-16 XGT V4's from the factory; I will probably stay with these, if the shop can get them.

Thanks in advance!

Chie

The first time I bought tires, I got them from www.tirerack.com. It cost me $16 per tire for mounting and balancing.

The next time, I went to America's Tire Co. They will match the website price if you point it out and ask them to match it. When I did it, I used the price I got from www.tires.com. They also have a website at www.americastire.com. Both sites say "Discount Tire Co." on them, but I don't know if the prices are the same at both sites.

One thing to consider is the equipment they have for balancing.

The local Firestone dealer where I purchased my Bridgestone

Potenza RE730s has great service (Been going there for 8 years).

But, they just don't have the equipment to really balance the

tires well.

I found a place in Morgan Hill with a Hunter GSP 9700 tire

balancing system. They did a much better job on the balance

(the tire dealer tried twice). Turns out, this shop also

will have Tirerack drop-ship to them (I think this is the

case with a lot of shops). Hunter's web page allows you

to get a list of all dealers with a GSP 9700 in your area:

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/features/index.htm

Click on "locate a GSP 9700". I'm sure there is other

sophistaicated tire balancing equipment (but this is the only

one I know of).

If you are in the south bay you might want to try Pacific Tire in Milpitas. Phil does a great job on our three Volvos. Their address is 100 South Main.