Costco vs Sam’s Club: Which Is A Better Deal for New Tires

Should you go to Sam’s Club or Costco for your next set of new tires? Which is better, and is there a better option?

For car owners, tires are an inevitable expense. Tires need replacement due to mileage, age, or road hazards. When a set of four new tires can cost over a thousand dollars, it is not unreasonable to seek the best deal when it’s time to replace your tires.

One popular destination people head to when shopping for new rubber is their local warehouse club. Costco and Sam’s Club can offer great bargains and perks for purchasing your next set of tires from them.

Here is how Costco and Sam’s Club stack up against each other.

How Do Tire Prices from Costco and Sam’s Club Compare?

Tire prices vary depending on brand, size, type, materials, and more. LT (Light Truck) tires for example, are designed for heavy-duty trucks that tow and drive off-road. They tend to be beefier with harder rubber and reinforced sidewalls.

To get an accurate price comparison, you need to compare the same tire model and size.

In the table below are prices for three different tires as of May 2025 without accounting for any rebates.

Based on the current prices, Costco and Sam’s Club had similar prices on these selection of tires to other retailers.

Be sure to check for available rebates and promotions. At the time of this article, Sam’s Club was offering $100 off for buying four Pirelli or Goodyear tires, $70 off four Michelin tires, and $80 off four Bridgestone or BFGoodrich tires. Costco had $60 instant savings for purchasing four BFGoodrich tires and $80 off for four Michelin or Bridgestone tires.

Between Costco and Sam’s Club, it is mostly a tie on the price of the three selected tires. You may be able to save more money depending on which warehouse club is offering promotions at the time.

Best Selection of Tires: Sam’s Club

Compared to other retailers, Costco only offers a limited selection of tire brands. Costco only sells tires from 5 companies: BFGoodrich, Bridgestone, Firestone, Michelin, and Pirelli.

Sam’s Club has a wider selection of brands to choose from. Sam’s Club offers tires from BFGoodrich, Bridgestone, Continental, Cooper, Falken, Firestone, Goodyear, Hankook, Michelin, Nexen, Pirelli, and Toyo.

If you are looking for a specific tire from other manufacturers than the ones available, you are out of luck with Costco.

Sam’s Club wins this round for offering more tire brands.

Read more: How to get a discounted membership to Sam’s Club

Cheapest Tire Installation Cost: Costco

Purchase your tires from Costco, and installation is included. Whether you purchase only one tire or four, installation is free. It is hard to beat free installation.

The only other additional fees not included with your installation are:

• Tire disposal fee: $2.25 per tire
• TPMS service pack fee: $2.99 per wheel

In case you were not sure what the TPMS service pack fee is for, it is to replace the seals, valve cores, grommets, and washers on the valve stems of the tire pressure monitoring system.

That comes out to about $5.25 per tire for installation at Costco.

Tire installation at Sam’s Club is $20 per tire with the Premium Tire Installation Package.

Tire disposal and TPMS valve service are included with the installation package.

Sam’s Club Plus members receive a 50% discount on the Premium Tire Installation Package when buying a set of 4 tires. This reduces the tire installation cost to $10 per tire.

Between Sam’s Club and Costco on the cost of tire installation, Costco is the winner in this match-up, with the total charges of $5.24 per tire.

Read more: Latest Costco deals for a discounted membership

Costco vs Sam’s Club on Member Benefits

Besides competitive prices and lower installation fees, the warehouse clubs also offer their members additional benefits for purchasing their next set of tires from them.

Here is how the additional member benefits compare between Costco and Sam’s Club:

Between Costco and Sam’s Club, Sam’s Club has more benefits. You receive free 24/7 emergency roadside assistance automatically with the purchase of tires. These services include towing, flat tire assistance, fuel delivery, lockouts, jump starts, and winching.

Where to Buy Your Next Set of Tires

After going through all the above criteria for which member warehouse to buy your next set of tires, who should you go with – Costco or Sam’s Club?

Between Costco and Sam’s Club, I would go with neither.

I would instead purchase my next set of tires from Discount Tire, also known as America’s Tire in California and Pennsylvania. Here are the reasons:

Price: Discount Tire will price-match any competitor, including Costco and Sam’s Club. Go to your membership warehouse or get an online price quote for the tires that you want. Take the quote to Discount Tire, and they will match or beat the lower installed price.

Tire Selection: Discount Tire offers a huge selection of tires. Costco only offers 5 tire brands in its catalog. This allows Costco to negotiate better prices from the tire maker and pass the savings to its members. Sam’s Club offers a dozen brands. Discount Tire offers over 70 brands, and they can try to special-order your desired tire if unavailable.

Free Tire Pressure and Tread Checks: Similar to Sam’s Club and Costco, Discount Tires offers free tire pressure and tread life checks for everyone, no matter where you purchased the tires. If your tire pressure is low, Discount Tire provides free air for your tires.

Free Flat Repairs: Discount Tire will fix any repairable tire for free, no matter the brand or where the tire was purchased. A tire is considered non-repairable if the damage is 1/4” or larger, the puncture is in the sidewall or shoulder area, the tread depth is less than 2/32”, the tire’s manufactured date is older than 10 years, the new damage is in an area previously repaired, or the tire has three or more existing repairs.

Free Rotation and Balancing: Tires purchased from Discount Tire come with free rotations and rebalancing for the lifetime of the tire.

Road Hazard Warranty: Tires purchased from Discount Tires come with free prorated road hazard coverage. If your tires need to be replaced because of normal road hazards, you will receive credit toward new tires based on the tire’s remaining treadwear. Customers who want additional protection can purchase Discount Tire Certificates for about 20% of the tire’s retail price. You get full coverage for tire failures due to non-repairable road hazards or manufacturer defects as long as the tire has more than 3/32” of tread depth and is within 3 years of the purchase date. You will receive a full refund of the purchase price with no prorating, mileage adjustment or disqualification.

One thing you should consider after getting new tires is getting an alignment to make sure your new tires wear evenly. Neither Costco nor Sam’s Club does alignments. However, Discount Tire has a list of locations that offers tire alignments so you won’t need to go elsewhere for this service.

Closing $ense

You can get a very good deal buying your tires from Sam’s Club or Costco. You get competitive prices, plenty of members-only perks, and you can do your shopping while your tires are being mounted.

A downside of the warehouse club is that it can be hard to get timely service without an appointment. I took a car with a nail in the tire to Sam’s Club and was told they were booked full and would not be able to repair the tire until the next day.

If you are near one of the 1,200+ stores in 39 states where there is a Discount Tire, you can get similar perks to the warehouse clubs without having to keep your membership active long after your tire purchase. With a price match, you can also get competitive prices.

Where do you prefer to purchase your tires? Do you go to Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Warehouse, or an independent tire retailer?