I'm going to have to do something I hate and finance some tires. Since that is the case The places near me that finance have a limited selection. Mastercraft coursers or Gladiator Q900.

Both are M/T tires, glowing reviews on the Mastercraft tires but the Gladiators seem to have very little positive or negative being said. The mastercrafts are cheaper but the place selling the Gladiators includes 1yr of roadside assistance and road hazard for the life of the tire.

So the question is do any of you guys have any experience with Gladiator tires?
I also cross posted this in the suspension ans tires forum

 

No idea about the tire quality but that's not the way to bet. If you have to borrow money that's one thing but buy a decent tire outright.

 

Are these tires made in China? If so, you might want to re-think your purchase plans..

 

That's what I was thinking. First they rake him over the coals with confiscatory interest rates, but then provide ****ty tires on top of that.

 

^^^^^^ +1; Borrowing money at the tire store is like buying tires at the bank.

 

DON'T finance tires! As the guys above said you will get screwed in the end.

What I do when I can't afford new tires right away is get on craigslist and buy some good USED tires. Check them over real good and buy the ones you're happy with. Now you have good safe tires that will hold you over til you can afford new ones. If your used ones still have life left in them then you can sell them again.

Look at them carefully before you buy. Watch for dry rot and retreads.

 

TIRE SIDEWALL DATE CODE

If you're going to be going the used tire route; be sure you know how to determine the age of the tire. If you can't afford all of the tires at one time just get the rear two, then the front two when you can afford them again.

 

You location is missing from your profile, so I don't know where you are, but if you have a "Discount Tire" or "America's Tire" near you, they have decent financing. No interest options too.

 

The closest Discount tire is 3 hours away. I'd use them if they were closer, they did us right when I put tires on my wife's car in CA. Local place here will do no interest for 3mos.

 

"No interest for 3 months" Well sure.

You asked for advice, and everyone is providing the good kind. Not saying you're arguing but sounds like you are trying to rationalize bad decisions.

Borrow the money if you must but not from a tire store, and especially not from one that installs junk. Sears used to sell and install good tires (for example), and I bet if you had a Sears card this would work, at least at a little bit better rate probably. You get the idea.

 

Mastercraft tires are made by Cooper tires. It is their generic line. Still good tires. I would run them myself. There is nothing wrong with generic tires. Look at BF Goodrich tires. They are Michelen generic tires.

As for financing tires it's a draw. I have done it and pay it off during the interest free peroid. I myself would do used tires as a last minute thing. A tire may look ok. Then once you put it on the rim and air it up, it may show cracks. Plus you may not see a slipped belt until it is aired up. Then will they refund your money?

Just food for thought. Good luck.

 

That doesn't sound like financing though.

 

If you are all bent on financing tires then get the tires you want, not just what's cheap.

 

We all know it's not ideal to finance tires, do this at last choice, but I was at that spot once in my life, maybe again someday. You may not have an extra hundred for a good set of used tires at the moment. Only you know if you can truly pay that debt off in 3 months. Income tax is around the corner, but $500 tires can become 7-800 tires in a hurry. I've never ran gladiators(or heard of them) but I have had two sets of mastercraft. They were a great tire with 0 issues.

 

Agree on dry rot. But, I've been running retreads for years and never suffered any issues. Hell, the ones on the truck are due to be replaced after almost 100k miles. I suppose "unknown" retreads could be a problem, but as for buying fresh retreads I have no problem with them.