Ford Dealer offer Tires for Life- worth it?

[brucele]

Dealership offering free Tires for Life offer as long as all scheduled maintanence work is done in their service dept. Any thoughts to this?
thanks

[ThePointblank]

Does that include winter tires?

Replacing your tires isn't a very frequent occurrence; depending on how long you own your car, you may only need to replace your regular tires once, or not at all. It doesn't sound like a good deal to me.

[abstract808]

They wouldn't offer it unless they knew they would make a profit. Do they even tell you what kind of tires they would replace yours with?

[Piro21]

They'll probably put on the cheapest ones they can get. Don't compromise your safety like that, just ask for a cash discount up front instead.

[trixstar]

Dealership will install you gripless tires designed with the stiffest rubber to last along time which compromises the handling of your vehicle.. Also, are they going to install new tires? Or certified used? Tires aren't that expensive to replace if you tread carefully

[deuce]

could be fun for a while if you pick up a mustang and do donuts in their parking lot for a couple of days

[corrupt123]

could be fun for a while if you pick up a mustang and do donuts in their parking lot for a couple of days

Under these circumstances I would say do it.

Or if the fine print allows you to replace your tires under any circumstances. Then you can just sell tires to people as long as they have something that'll fit on your car so you can get it to the dealership for a fresh set

[JohnB]

I dont think they are offering it for free, its built into the price or hidden in some way.

Or has some stupid conditions like one cheap set every 96,000km with the crappiest tires they can get. Or they charge you for removal, installation, balancing, rotations, etc.

Ask how much you can get the car for it they take away the offer.

Like when dealers include a 42" plasma, or a Trip to Mexico its not free

[JAC]

Dealership offering free Tires for Life offer as long as all scheduled maintanence work is done in their service dept.

On whose schedule? The manufacturer's or the dealers? The dealer "recommened maintenance" schedule is often rather absurd.

[thematrix49]

Its basically like any loyalty program. The amount they spend on tires is a drop in the bucket vs all the business they get from your service appointments. I did this with my focus and had the tires replaced last year. They replaced them with the very decent Pirelli P6s that came with the car originally.

As noted, it is according to Dealer/Factory maintenance schedule. If you plan to have all the service done at the specific periods then its a good thing to go for. They will however likely not budge if you miss an appointment. They tried to say that I had missed 1 scheduled maintenance in the 2.5 years, however I had to quickly remind them that it was only delayed because they burned down their own service centre :P. Got my tires shortly thereafter.

[Pete_Coach]

Personally, I would not buy the car just for free tires. Even then, I am picky about my tires, I may not wait till I am down to the wear indicator to replace them, especially if it is coming up to Fall. With this deal, the shop will tell you when you get new tires, not you or your driving style.
Will they change all four at the time of replacement or just the ones that re worn to their (the sealers) limits? This can happen. one drive wheel can wear faster than the other and the back may have longer tread life than the front.
lastly , you don't have the option of going to another dealer for repairs or inspections (not even talking about going to an independent shop).
No, to me, tying myself to one place for the "life" of my car is just asking too much of me. I will buy my own tires. And really, if you have a set of winters as well, how often will you buy tires? Every 5+ years (dependent on you mileage of course)

[kenchau]

Yeah, seriously, it's a lose-lose for you. If you drive a lot and put on a lot of km's, then sure, you might get tires sooner, but it also means you have to get your scheduled maintenance service done sooner too. If you don't put on that many km's then you will go a long time without getting tires, but will still need to get scheduled maintenance service done (if sufficient time has elapsed, regardless of km's). Lose-Lose!

[ES_Revenge]

If they are all-seasons, they aren't really tyres anyway. But aside from that, like the above comments say, you're going to end up paying more than the "tyres" are worth by the time you get to replacing them because stealer prices are so far in the air it's not funny (and probably jacked up further because of this "incentive" at this particular stealer). Like kenchau said, it's a lose-lose.

They replaced them with the very decent Pirelli P6s that came with the car originally.

P6s???? These are incredibly bad. Not only are they no-seasons but they are bad even then. They're crap to begin with like any no-season and then they get loud and stupid once they wear about halfway. These are pretty much universal comments I've seen on them on car forums where owners had/have these come stock on their car. They're one worse than the Continental ContiPro Contact (which itself is the "new Eagle RS-A"--the stock underachiever manufacturers are putting on cars these days). Not sure how you got to calling the P6s "very decent".