Who else hates TireRack's new website?

In reply to neon4891:

You know, I have never used it on a mobile device. I still like TR and it will still be my first stop for new tires and other things. But, 90% of the time that I go there it's to just kill some time and run some cost to build scenarios for some random car I found on Craigslist. It was easier for me to do these fantasy builds with the old site. Like most everyone else when I go there to actually buy something I already know what I want, and I'm sure the new site is just as easy to use in that respect. But for 90% of my use of the site it's simply more complicated.

As an interface guy, I'm curious. This is not a diss, I want to know what's giving you trouble. Other than a different way of comparing treadwear, how is it more complicated now?

The spec charts for the tires have always been full of really good info like tread width. You can usually find them on the manufacturer websites as well, but it's nice to have it all in one place. I'm pretty sure Tire Rack weighs all the wheels themselves and doesn't believe published numbers as well.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Basically, they have added steps to get the same information that used to be right there. It's not like there isn't room, look at all the blank white empty space in each tires info box.

The screen size thing is really annoying. If I click on fullscreen, when looking at wheels on a car, not only am I unable to scroll through the wheels but I also have to hit escape to get out of fullscreen. If they have a button to exit, it's off my screen to the right and it won't scroll over.

I don't like the new wheel screen. Nothing in particular about it, I just liked the old one much better.

Is it me just being extremely pedantic? Probably, but, to me, it's more cumbersome to use.

I have never liked the way their wheel thing has worked. Not easy enough to pick what size you want, if you don't want OEM. Granted, going 2 inches smaller might be a bit unusual, but it should be as easy to upsize the wheel as it is to downsize it. It is just fine for comparing tires, you can just pick what size you seek.

WOW the new site sucks. The old one was better because it let you search for tires based on different factors. Now, the only way to search for a tire is if you know exactly what you want.

Also, you have to be VERY VERY CAREFUL where you put your mouse, or all sorts of popup crap comes up.

Looks like the site was wrecked in order to pander to people using point-and-grunt devices (touchscreens) who just want to be told what to get.

Summit's website is still okay, and they sell a lot of the things Tire Rack did. The search feature isn't as robust as TR's old one, but it beats the hell out of the new (nonexistent) one.

Keith Tanner wrote: As an interface guy, I'm curious. This is not a diss, I want to know what's giving you trouble. Other than a different way of comparing treadwear, how is it more complicated now?

Too much unused whitespace leading to less information per screen.

Everything is drop down and popup menus. This hurts readibility. Yes, it's futuristic in a Demolition Man kind of way. Which is great if you want to emulate a computer interface that was deliberately designed to be slow and ponderous as a metaphor for how slow-witted and simple people were becoming.

Scroll down, a bar on top of the screen disappears. Scroll up, it blocks a quarter of the window again.

Charts are put in windows with separate scrollbars instead of just printing the whole damn chart. Why must information be rendered difficult to obtain?

Did I mention whitespace? I shouldn't need a 30" tall monitor to view an entire page without having to rescale down to a size that requires a microscope to read the text.

Knurled wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: As an interface guy, I'm curious. This is not a diss, I want to know what's giving you trouble. Other than a different way of comparing treadwear, how is it more complicated now?

Too much unused whitespace leading to less information per screen. Everything is drop down and popup menus. This hurts readibility. Yes, it's futuristic in a Demolition Man kind of way. Which is great if you want to emulate a computer interface that was deliberately designed to be slow and ponderous as a metaphor for how slow-witted and simple people were becoming. Scroll down, a bar on top of the screen disappears. Scroll up, it blocks a quarter of the window again. Charts are put in windows with separate scrollbars instead of just printing the whole damn chart. Why must information be rendered difficult to obtain? Did I mention whitespace? I shouldn't need a 30" tall monitor to view an entire page without having to rescale down to a size that requires a microscope to read the text.

All of this.

Nick_Comstock wrote: I did just notice that they have tread width listed along with section width. I never noticed that before. I like that.

They've always had that. So do pretty much every manufacturer's websites. ("Pretty much" because while I haven't yet encountered one that didn't, there might be one that doesn't)

Knurled wrote:

Nick_Comstock wrote: I did just notice that they have tread width listed along with section width. I never noticed that before. I like that.

They've always had that. So do pretty much every manufacturer's websites. ("Pretty much" because while I haven't yet encountered one that didn't, there might be one that doesn't)

I never noticed it before, I went looking for treadwidths one time and came up empty.

So after i defended this site, i have now realized today that the site does not work at all on any of my non-windows devices.

Which... is actually all of my devices.

This means i can only view the website at work.

Awesome. Bang up job.

Ok tirerack, you are right - there's no such thing as a 1978 Mercury Marquis.

I'm Bigbird and Honey is Mr. Snuffleupagus, a figment of my imagination.

You can't see ALL tire sizes at once, but you can still see all sizes available for a specific wheel diameter.

Tires > Find > By Wheel Diameter > Select diameter from the drop down menu.

I don't hate it … I just don't like it … but then I usually don't like things when they're changed … takes me a while

I gave up using their site to search for wheels a long long time ago .. as for tires it doesn't seem THAT much worse

and I'm able to access it from my Mac (this for Swank Force One) … so don't know what is causing you problems

In reply to wbjones:

I don't understand Apple devices at all, i dont have any. Mine are all Android.

The point is that the site designed for mobile devices doesn't work on my mobile devices, even if we consider a 12.2" tablet a mobile device.

In reply to Swank Force One:

Well, if you have an Apple device, you've proven yourself to be ready, willing, and able to vastly overspend for hype, so it is only natural to want to cater to Apple users.

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