Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 6 hours ago
When Jeff went hunting for a fresh set of tires for the '64 Falcon — 225/50-16 Falken ZE950s to replace the 225/45s he can't get anymore — the online price looked like a steal. Then he finished the checkout. What started around $380 for the set crept past $450 by the time it landed on his porch, and that's before finding somebody local to mount, balance, and install four bare rubber rings.
In this one, Jeff walks through the real math of online versus local: the backend "handling" fees that appear only after you've typed in your address, the extras that quietly aren't included (road hazard, lifetime balancing, rotation, flat repair), and the one move that actually saved him money — taking the online quote to a national chain and having them match it, road hazard thrown in. All in, he drove out at $527, less than the online route would've cost him fully installed.
He also gets into when buying online genuinely makes sense — like the oddball 16" sizes local shops don't stock for a classic — and the comparison mistake almost everybody makes. Bottom line: caveat emptor, and always weigh four tires out-the-door and ready to drive, not the number in red letters on the landing page.
Got a local installer who does it cheap, or your own online-checkout horror story? Drop it in the comments.
☕ Want to support the show? Grab a t-shirt or jump on Patreon at the $10/month level for monthly Zoom hangouts and Trivia Night, where we give away custom shirts featuring YOUR car. Every shirt and pledge goes straight to Joseph and the editor who make these videos happen — not to Jeff.
T-shirts help pay Joseph, our teenage production assistant who's putting every dollar into his XJ Jeep. Grab one and you're funding a kid's first build.
Patreon at the $10 level gets you monthly Zoom meetings with Jeff plus Trivia Night, where the prize is a one-off t-shirt with YOUR car on it.
It's not a problem, it's a project.
—
▶ Autorestomod is proudly sponsored by National Parts Depot — [https://www.npdlink.com]
SUPPORT THE SHOW
▶ Patreon — $10/month gets you monthly Zoom meetings with me: [patreon.com/c/gasolinemedia]
▶ Merch — "Needs More Classic Cars" shirts, hats & mugs at Fourth Wall: [autorestomod-shop.fourthwall.com/]
Autorestomod Episode: 755
autorestomod-shop.fourthwall.com
Sponsors:
nationalpartsdepot.com
eatondetroitspring.com
Contact: Jford@autorestomod.com
Insta: @autorestomod
patreon.com/gasolinemedia.
#ClassicCars #buyingtires #cheaptiresonlione #AutoRestoMod #NPD
When Jeff went hunting for a fresh set of tires for the '64 Falcon — 225/50-16 Falken ZE950s to replace the 225/45s he can't get anymore — the online price looked like a steal. Then he finished the checkout. What started around $380 for the set crept past $450 by the time it landed on his porch, and that's before finding somebody local to mount, balance, and install four bare rubber rings.
In this one, Jeff walks through the real math of online versus local: the backend "handling" fees that appear only after you've typed in your address, the extras that quietly aren't included (road hazard, lifetime balancing, rotation, flat repair), and the one move that actually saved him money — taking the online quote to a national chain and having them match it, road hazard thrown in. All in, he drove out at $527, less than the online route would've cost him fully installed.
He also gets into when buying online genuinely makes sense — like the oddball 16" sizes local shops don't stock for a classic — and the comparison mistake almost everybody makes. Bottom line: caveat emptor, and always weigh four tires out-the-door and ready to drive, not the number in red letters on the landing page.
Got a local installer who does it cheap, or your own online-checkout horror story? Drop it in the comments.
☕ Want to support the show? Grab a t-shirt or jump on Patreon at the $10/month level for monthly Zoom hangouts and Trivia Night, where we give away custom shirts featuring YOUR car. Every shirt and pledge goes straight to Joseph and the editor who make these videos happen — not to Jeff.
T-shirts help pay Joseph, our teenage production assistant who's putting every dollar into his XJ Jeep. Grab one and you're funding a kid's first build.
Patreon at the $10 level gets you monthly Zoom meetings with Jeff plus Trivia Night, where the prize is a one-off t-shirt with YOUR car on it.
It's not a problem, it's a project.
—
▶ Autorestomod is proudly sponsored by National Parts Depot — [https://www.npdlink.com]
SUPPORT THE SHOW
▶ Patreon — $10/month gets you monthly Zoom meetings with me: [patreon.com/c/gasolinemedia]
▶ Merch — "Needs More Classic Cars" shirts, hats & mugs at Fourth Wall: [autorestomod-shop.fourthwall.com/]
Autorestomod Episode: 755
autorestomod-shop.fourthwall.com
Sponsors:
nationalpartsdepot.com
eatondetroitspring.com
Contact: Jford@autorestomod.com
Insta: @autorestomod
patreon.com/gasolinemedia.
#ClassicCars #buyingtires #cheaptiresonlione #AutoRestoMod #NPD
