Man is a hunter. Man in Boquete Panama may be a hunter at a fair distance from the cave. After forty thousand kilometers my Rexton required a new pair of shoes, four of them. I needed to go hunting for tires, elusive, evasive and most of all confusing. Unlike rabbits tires do not run until after affixed to a car and some run better on some types of cars. They all look like black donuts with codes printed all over them transmitting information to the hunter. They are also scattered in random places waiting to be flushed out.
Some might say a SUV should be able to get more than twenty four thousand miles on tires, those people have never driven to my house. The roads on Jaramillo vary from new and good, to new and sliding off the mountain, to stones arranged for traction, to just oozing when ever it rains. Regardless of my selection of road to travel my tires are well eaten.
As if by instinct I first drove to David and to Price Smart, Costco always had the best deals on tires back in Arizona. Price Smart had Pirelli Scorpion Tires for about $124.00 each. I have learned to use the power of the Internet to research so I went to Tirerack.com and checked on the tires. I should mention there is FREE open Wifi in the Chiriqui Mall next to Price Smart. Checking was good, the codes were bad, the Pirelli’s might be good on highways but I am driving a truck on roads of questionable status.
Another stop near the turn to the David Airport to check our Hankooks, another bit of research this time on another site. The Hankooks were about $80 each. The online comments were that they were not worth that much to the raters. The hunt continued to AutoCentro on the Interamerican directly across from the Renegado Restaurant.
I spotted the Toyo Open Country AT tires. Aggressive tires that are for a light truck, mud and snow. They sat quietly on the rack waiting for my move. The codes reflected good omens for the capture.
The hunt was over, the testosterone leveled off. At prices competitive to the US I made my kill shot with MasterCard and twenty minutes later I drove off with new shoes on my Rexton. I wonder if they will survive 40,000 Km? Only time and road conditions will tell whether the choice was right.
I have purchased tires at Tambor and have found them to be a reputable dealer.
the best place to buy tires is at the frontera. the savings is usually much more than the fuel consumed
fwiw, most people in Panama who drive a lot consider the Bridgestone tire to be the best value for the money. Higher initial cost, but if you’re going to keep them, the rubber lasts a lot longer and they are a rugged, high-performance tire. I run a set of 265/70R16′s on my Hilux 4WD and expect to get close to 60K out of them. But they cost over $500 a set…two years ago!
Editor: My original tires were Bridgestone and I would have considered them again if anyone I shopped had them.
Editors Note: Although I wrote this tongue in cheek the advice from Don Ray and Bob is excellent. The key lessons are to find a tire that:
1. Fits your car or truck
2. Fits the driving needs you ahve, some people drive on roads, some do not, some like me drive on both roads and course sandpaper looking like roads.
3. Fits your budget and then shopping vendors.
Remember 1 and 2 come before 3. As important as the vendors are buying the wrong tire from the right vendor can be a big mistake.
I agree with Rob Boyd, or has the Paso Canoas tire business changed since I sold my van? You could always pit dealers against each other, but this is a different world, I suppose
I also have the Hilux with the same tire, when it came time to replace them 40,00km I went to Tambor (Ricardo Perez). They told me the original 265 which came on the truck was not available in Panama and all they sold were “take off” tires from other Hilux trucks that people wanted to up-grade to a larger wheel. I could live with that, but when I measured them with my trusty tire tread gauge they only had 8/32nd tread where a new one has at least 11/32nd. Another problem I had was finding one with a good tire wear rating, most had nothing stamped on them and the ones that did 380 was the best I could find. One other thing the age of the tire is stamped on the tire somewhere, the youngest I could find was 6 yrs old! Coded like (41-7) would be mfgd. the 41st week of 1997. (41-07) would be mfgd. would be 41st week of 2007. Etc
Appreciate the write-up and the advice! Any idea on the general availability of tires at the border with Costa Rica? I’m having a heck of a time finding the size tire I need, and if I drive to Panama, it will likely be the last trip I make before new tires are an absolute must. SO, if they don’t have my tire at the border, I’m in a bit of a jam. However, I’m willing to make the trip if there are tons of tire shops at the border. Any advice you can offer is appreciated. Sincerely,
Chris
Should also add that specifically, I’m looking for a Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo 285/70R17, or just 285/70R17 will do!