As winter approaches, lots of folks are wondering whether they should get some new tread for their wheels. They'll be surprised to find that the cost of tires has risen -- in some cases, a lot.
One reason for the increase is that tire tariff I told you about last month.
The Wall Street Journal explains that the new tax on low cost Chinese-made tires only partly explains the increased price.
"The average price of tires for passenger vehicles rose 9 percent in 2008 compared with a year earlier, and 24 percent compared with 2005, according to Modern Tire Dealer, a trade publication.
"One reason for the price surge is tire makers' push to equip new cars with higher-profit specialty tires that can run at higher speeds and feature such high-performance traits as short, stiff sidewalls, which provide firmer handling. As a result, more vehicles like the commuter sedan and the family minivan are arriving from the factory with tires once seen primarily on sports cars like the Porsche Carrera or Chevrolet Corvette.
"The new Camaro and dozens of other cars on the market share another trait that makes their tires costlier: large-diameter wheels, a trend that has recently spread to ordinary cars. The Camaro has 20-inch wheels, which were nearly unheard of on mass-market cars a few years ago. Other vehicles like the Nissan Murano and some Jeep models that can hardly be called high-performance come with similarly huge wheels and high-speed tires, usually as part of a "sport" or 'premium' option package."
The Journal reports that many drivers don't want to take a chance on cheaper tires, so they buy tires that are rated for much higher speed and performance than they will ever need. But this may be unnecessary, since the government requires all tires sold in the U.S. to meet the same safety standards.
