A Labor Day Sale for the Gearheads: Save Up to 34% on New Rubber
Matt Crisara
The Best Labor Day Tire Sales of 2024
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Buying the right set of tires can rapidly become a long and laborious process, even for car enthusiasts. Which brand do you buy? What dimensions fit your vehicle? Do you buy a set with winter conditions in mind? Labor Day presents an opportunity to make the endeavor less taxing, if mostly for your wallet.
Being Popular Mechanics’s resident automotive expert, I made it my mission to find not only the best deals, but also the best tires. For example, I included a set of the Goodyear WinterCommand Ultras (which you’ll see below) that I’ve swapped onto my personal car for the past two winter seasons—logging just under 1,000 miles.
But before we get into the specific deals, know that tire discounts are more three-dimensional than the blanket holiday sales you’re probably used to. Many of these are rebates, often requiring you to validate your purchase before getting money back from the manufacturer or dealer—often delivered digitally or via a Prepaid Visa Card. Here’s a list of common rebates you’ll encounter when tire shopping.
Instant Rebate
You get money back “instantly” at the time of purchase. Instant rebates are great because they don’t require additional steps to become eligible. This is effectively just a discount.
Mail-In Rebate
You get money back after the purchase. As the name implies, you’ll need to fill out some paperwork regarding your purchase and mail it back to the manufacturer.
Online Rebate
You get money back after the purchase. Unlike mail-in rebates, you can fill out these rebate forms online, making them faster and easier to complete.
Another thing to keep in mind: I’ve listed the prices below as per tire in case you don’t need to completely re-shoe your car, but most of these rebates are only good if you’re buying a full set of four tires. (I’d recommend that anyway, since it can eliminate future headaches as tires go bad one by one.) Where I list percentage discounts though, those are good even for a single tire.
And now, five of the best Labor Day tire discounts and promotions, by retailer and brand, that I found.
Goodyear has a pretty stellar promotion through September 30th, offering up to $200 off a set of Goodyear or Dunlop tires. However, you’ll need a Goodyear credit card to unlock the total amount. Without it, you’ll still get $100 back on select sets of tires. This deal is a mail-in rebate, meaning you’ll receive a $100 (or $200) Visa Prepaid Card in the mail following your purchase. We’ve previously tested some of their WinterCommand Ultra tires and were impressed with their performance and longevity.
Most of Tire Rack’s offers include mail-in rebates with the purchase of four tires. As per usual, there’s red tape behind more than a few of the deals, which, for instance, promise $140 off, granting $70 initially and only giving you the other 50 percent of the deal if you use a particular credit card. Most offers expire on August 31st or September 2nd, so act fast.
Tire Rack has thousands of certified installers nationwide and even offers mobile installation, where they can roll up to your home or office and install your new tires on the spot. If you can spare the time to drive to your local installer, I recommend having your tires sent there, as Tire Rack guarantees free shipping in that case. If you’re a proper deal shark, you can save even more by picking up your order from a Tire Rack distribution center near you—an option you’ll have to specify during checkout.
Simple Tire has a couple of great Labor Day promotions available on select Falken and Continental tires. Falken offers a $100 instant rebate with the purchase of four or more select tires, and Continental provides a $110 online rebate with the purchase of four or more eligible tires. These promotions end when August comes to a close. Simple Tire has many more rebates and deals to shop around with, but these are the best.
Tire Buyer will give you Continental’s $110 online rebate (the same one you see above) and a BFGoodrich $60 mail-in rebate with the purchase of four or more select tires. While those are the only Labor Day promotions I spotted on the retailer’s website, they do much more throughout the year. This includes 10 percent discounts for military members, first responders, teachers, healthcare providers, government employees, and college graduates.
Pep Boys is promising up to $400 off on a purchase of four select Kumho tires through September 2nd. However, as always, there’s considerable red tape to rupture before you get there. First, you’ll need to use a Pep Boys credit card to make your purchase. Once you have the card or are an existing member, you’ll pay for three tires and Pep Boys will cover the fourth—a savings of up to $230 already. Free installation is also part of the deal, saving you up to $120. Still with us? Good. Last but not least, Pep Boys will send you a $50 mail-in rebate for any purchase of $499 or more—which this most likely will be.
Other Ways To Save
Discounts and rebates might be the most common ways to save money while tire shopping, but there are many other paths to save a bit more cash.
Refer a friend
I’ll shout out Simple Tire again because they’ll give you $20 for referring a friend, who will in turn get up to 20 percent off their first purchase.
Save on Installation Costs
Getting new tires mounted isn’t exactly expensive, but it’s also not cheap. That’s why you should search for places like PepBoys that offer free installation.
Find Coupons Online
Some good old-fashioned coupon hunting never hurts. Google Chrome Extensions like Honey are invaluable for finding these codes quickly. A 10—or even 15—percent discount can produce big savings on expensive purchases like these.
