Tirerack experiences?

[yowie]

In my experience, I paid for an order on a thurs and received on the following mon. But I did all the groundwork with communication and emails way before. I believe I initiated contact on the Monday and confirmed my order and got bank details by the we'd and was ready to pay that thurs. u however haven't even worked out whether the tyres u want are even allowed to be sold outside north america

So, I didnt know that tyres had to get a permit to be allowed into the country. what of the US-Mexico-Australia Free Trade Agreement?
And if its about being allowed to be sold in Australia, i am not importing them for that purpose.
I am still waiting by the way, on the fifteenth, they were 'available for clearance at 10AM at Alexandria', and made 'subject to regulatory review' at 3PM same day, and still there.

[walbjj]

So, I didnt know that tyres had to get a permit to be allowed into the country. what of the US-Mexico-Australia Free Trade Agreement?
And if its about being allowed to be sold in Australia, i am not importing them for that purpose.
I am still waiting by the way, on the fifteenth, they were 'available for clearance at 10AM at Alexandria', and made 'subject to regulatory review' at 3PM same day, and still there.

i mean, the local australian distributors of certain brands (i believe dunlop and yokohama) have banned the import of tyres from north america. therefore, you need to confirm whether the tyres u want are allowed to be sold by tirerack outside of north america. continental are fine, but my last communication, one of the reps were saying that goodyear are getting narky so needed to confirm whether their tyres are ok

[gareth_oau]

I suspect that dunlop and yokohama have banned imports from tirerack because its upsetting the financial applecart with regard to local distributorships.

Colunbia/Burton/Oakley/Assics etc etc have been doing this for a few years now.

and I understand the ACCC are now investigating these import bans as anti-competitive and against australian trade practices laws

[walbjj]

I suspect that dunlop and yokohama have banned imports from tirerack because its upsetting the financial applecart with regard to local distributorships.

Colunbia/Burton/Oakley/Assics etc etc have been doing this for a few years now.

and I understand the ACCC are now investigating these import bans as anti-competitive and against australian trade practices laws

and by investigation, we all know that means they wont do anything

[brad]

made 'subject to regulatory review' at 3PM same day, and still there.

man, that's bad.

it means Gerry Harvey & Scroo Turner have chained themselves to the tyres because you are only buying from overseas to avoid GST

[balkanac]

I have never got any tyres from them but i know a few guys who got michelins and yokohamas from them with no problem

[yowie]

I can claim total luck in selecting a brand that should be allowed in
Out to seven days at Alexandria, no communication from Customs, and no sign of a Free Trade Agreement.
I had no idea buying from the US could be such an adventure, my kid buys online and OS all the time...

Further update, a call from Fedex this morning that tyres routinely go in for inspection, but in my case they have only received one pair of tyres into Alexandria and are waiting for the rest of the shipment. So either I cant read a tracker, which I didnt take a screenshot of, or something odd is happening. They will let me know, its possible its there but not logged in. So much excitement.

[HaywireTig]

Ordered mine on 9th. Paid on 10th. He sent me an email to confirm payment on Fri. I confirmed the address and delivery on Mon/Tues (14th/15th). they delivered on Wed (16th). Got it yesterday 21st. On my car today!!! Woohooo!!!

Experience was pretty good but cos of the US timing practically opposite of us, and me being bz w work and only replying slow, I'm pretty pleased w the service and speed.

Continental ExtremeContact DW in 255/40ZR19, 100Y. US$968 + US$390. No customs fees or duties.






Very happy!!!!!

Thanks to all who have given advise and assurance abt Tire Rack, tyre size advise and everything in between!!

[yowie]

As can be seen from Harwire Tig's post, Tire Rack ships tyres in pairs as SOP.
Its now two weeks since date of despatch of my Tire Rack order, as posted above.
The tracker says, and FedEx confirms, that one lot are in Sydney, have been for over a week.
The other pair are no-where to be seen.
The tracker shows them as shipped and as arriving at two places in the US, at the same time as the tyres that are in Sydney.
Then they vanish. I lodged a written request with FedEx for a search party today. So far I have an auto-reply.

Luckily the tyres on the car have enough tread for this to not be an immediate issue. Not that I can afford to be conducting eight hundred dollar international trade experiments.
I will post the outcome for those interested.

[zhifchik]

Some wheel manufacturers are now demanding Tirerack dont sell their wheels to Australia. The latest is Oz Racing. I had a quote in Jan that I didn't proceed with. Went back to do it last month and they now will not sell Oz Racing wheels to Australia.

[gareth_oau]

give ACCC the details of tirerack/Oz.

It cant hurt, and may ending up helping us.

Local distributors are just trying to squeeze out overseas imports and its illegal

[brad]

Some wheel manufacturers are now demanding Tirerack dont sell their wheels to Australia. The latest is Oz Racing. I had a quote in Jan that I didn't proceed with. Went back to do it last month and they now will not sell Oz Racing wheels to Australia.

Let the ACCC know. They would be interested in this restraint of trade.

edit: didn't see gareths post.

[walbjj]

Some wheel manufacturers are now demanding Tirerack dont sell their wheels to Australia. The latest is Oz Racing. I had a quote in Jan that I didn't proceed with. Went back to do it last month and they now will not sell Oz Racing wheels to Australia.

January? Try at least April 2011, cos that's when I got my oz racing ultras from performance alloys in the uk as tirerack already weren't selling bbs and oz outside nth America. I suspect they were restricting sales long before then as I heard about those practices for a while.

[gareth_oau]

if ever you run into roadblocks like that, use a freight forwarder like www.hopshopgo.com

even if tirerack etc wont sell deal with you at all, hopshopgo will buy on your behalf

[yowie]

My tyres arrived. Two during the week sometime and two today.
Tire Rack came through. But I cant say much for FedEx tracker which has been MIA since 15 May. The route of two tyres is a complete mystery as far as tracker is concerned. I got a note today to say they had arrived. Nothing on the tracker between 15 and 24 May, so dont rely on it. I checked with the garage, both here, so all good.
Total time from order to delivery in Bne 15 days for those thinking of using Ture Rack.
Cheers.
Y