I have a 2003 Targa that needs rear tires at 12K. They are Conti Sport Contact 2's in the stock size. I was told by a tire distributor that Conti has some arrangement with Porsche whereby they won't sell the tires to a tire distributor but only to Porsche dealers. The dealer quoted $850.00 for 2 tires mounted and balanced. Seemed HIGH to me!. Since they price out around $450.00 for 2 in tire distributor advertisements. What gives? Is this collusion? Restraint of trade.......

 

That's a pile of crap. I bought my replacement down at the local Discount Tire and he even made sure that the tire was the N-rated line. Somebody is feeding you a line of crap.

 

TireRack has the tires listed at $243/each, but currently back ordered (if you needed the fronts they are in stock). Call Tirerack and ask for the estimated delivery date.

 

I believe Conti is coming out with a SportContact 3. May be the reason the 2's are backordered. I would call Tire Rack to discuss. But, you should be able to get the tires through other channels.

Your dealership is killing you on the price of the tires. I just had my dealership install 4 Michelin Pilot Sport Ribs last Fri. I had the dealership do it mainly in the interest of time. They gave me a fair price on the tires and mounting/balancing. The main differnece was that I had to pay taxes on the tires, which I wouldn't have done if I had ordered them directly from Tire Rack. (These tires actually came from Tire Rack.)

 

Avoid the contis in the first place; generally they are terrible and the only people who laud them are those that haven't driven other, better tires.

 

My tire guy had to give the distributor of the Pirelli Rosso's I am using my vehicle VIN in order to get the tires released from Porsche. This was last year. Now with a whole 6000 miles on the rears, I am gettting another set tomorrow and my tire guy was able to get these through the Tire Rack and did not have to provide a VIN.

My dealer charged me last year $736 for a set of rears, tax, mounting, balance etc. This year it is costing $707 for the same. Pretty unusual when the price goes down.

I use to think that this was a high price to pay for Pirelli P-zero Rosso's. However, if I figure what Tire Rack wants for them, add shipping, and then add the cost of having someone mount and balance them, the deal sounds reasonable.

Wish I could get 12k miles out of a set of rears. I was to the wear limits at 5300 miles and took them down to nothing by 6000. Oh well, the price of having to much fun.

Tom L
2002 C2

 

I'd stay away from whatever dealer that tried to sell you 2 tires installed for $850...

BTW- How is good ol' naperville nowadays? I lived in Naperville for 3 years some time ago...

 

My dealer charges about $30 per tire over Tire Rack's cost. They offered to let me buy them direct and haul them in to mount and balance, but it's hardly worth the effort...

 

Tire Rack will ship them directly to your dealer if you want. I just had 4 winters and 2 rear summers shipped to my installer with no problems.

 

I like Bridgestones a lot and have become happy with my Pirelli's. I have never like Conti's and seem to hear and read about a lot of unhappiness with them.

 

Did you see the KY dispenser by the door,it make the dealer much easier to ....