phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

My fiance had to slam on her brakes at 70 yesterday. She locked them up, and the car slid. When we statred moving again, it sounded like we were on "rumble strips." A spot on each tire appears slightly flattened, especially the front. The tires have 400 miles on them, and are performance tires.

Given the fact that the tires are designed to be DRIVEN ON, shouldn't the warranty cover this? They are 400 miles old and need to be replaced. The tire place said it is her fault. Anybody have any thoughts on this?

2DMax

iTrader: (2)

Doubt it....

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

If they are NOT covered under the "uniformity of tire wear" portion of the warranty, what is the purpose of the warranty in the first place? Again, I stress the point that tires were designed to be driven on, and that sudden stops are a reasonably forseeable aspect of driving.

Anyone here work at a tire place and have any thoughts?

NickStam

iTrader: (3)

I've never heard anyone getting a new set of tires because of some hard use. Can't you flat spot tires by peeling out also? If so, many people would come into dealerships complaining about their tires being messed up after doing peel outs all day. If I had to guess, i would say no, because it's a wear item. But maybe it's worth a try.

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

Burnouts would, by their nature, wear the tire all the way around. This is a flat spot across the contact patch in one particular spot on each tire. What really gets me here is that it was ONE HARD STOP, not someone autocrossing or doing burnouts all afternoon. It was a single stop from 70, just like a 70-0 braking test that a car magazine or television show would conduct.

I am not trying to argue with anyone here, because I want your opinions on this, but I want to make it clear that this was not "abusive" driving that led to this condition.

NickStam

iTrader: (3)

i wonder if a shop can tell the difference.

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

I don't know. I looked on the tirerack website (not where she got the tires), andf they listed the following warranty info:

Sumitomo HTR+
Treadlife Warranty: None
Uniformity Warranty: First 2/32 of wear
Replacement Program: Free replacement down to 5/32 of tread, then prorated to 2/32.
Time Period Covered: 6 Years

I then called the manufacturer to elaborate, and the rep told me that if the tires were out of round for any reason, you have 2/32" to figure that out and return them for a replacement. The warranty does not cover driver error or driver fault or MISuse, but aren't tires SUPPOSED to stop the car, with the assistance of the brakes? I mean, she was using the product as it was designed to be used, and the product was damaged as a result. Am I making ANY sense here?

Str8ridin

To my knowledge, tire companies will not cover flat spots, so it is going to be tough fight. If you can't get replacements, I did this to my Accord when I had flat spots. Get in an open parking lot, rev the engine, drop the clutch and do a nice burnout. That should even the entire tire out.

Scruit

They won't cover the flatspots under the warranty because it is not a failure of "Materials or Workmanship". Stopping from 70-0 with all tires locked is more abuse than I have ever given any car I've driven over the last 10 years... They would consider it to be accident damage which is not covered by the basic warranty.

You have two options;

1) Claim on your car insurace if you have Comprehensive coverage. If you incurrent damage trying to avoid an accident then it should be covered, but it would be an at-fault claim for you so this may actually wind up being more than buying a new set of tires in deducatble/rate hikes.

2) Did you get the road hazard warranty? Mayn vendors will sell an additional road hazard/accidental damaged warranty where they will give you a discount on new tires prorated upon tire wear. If you have used up 10% of the available legal tread (ie from New to 1.6mm) then you would only pay 10% the cost of a replacement tire. Only works if you purchased this option. Available from Goodyear and Firestone, I believe.

I was ****ed off last year when my one of my band new Firestone Firehawk SH30 tires hit a 3" high 1" wide pipe that was cemented into a parking lot on the white line of a parking space. (It was used to latch a gate door open) I went over this and of course the tire was destroyed. Cost me $150 for the new tire - old one had 100 miles on it. I didn't get the road hazard warranty. If I had purchased the RH warranty the replacement tire would have only cost me $5 + mount/balance

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

That sucks...well, for the cost of new tires, I am willing to fight it out, especially since the manufacturer sounded like they would cover it, but they leave it up to the descretion of the retailer...
No go there, it is an auto...any other options to even things out?

We purchased the extra lifetime warranty/mount/balance option from Sears, the one that you pay about $50 (over the normal mount/balance costs) for. I need to read the policy, but I think that that is what you are talking about.

Str8ridin

Use your handbrake and give it some gas. Careful though, you don't want to drag your back tires and get more flat spots.

Eric L.

It is highly unlikely any tire manufacturer would cover the damage to your tires due to wear.

It's like saying you hit another car and the bumpers were cracked. Do you expect nissan to give you free bumpers, since that was the bumpers job, to prevent damage to other parts of the car?

When they do the stopping tests in magazines, on non ABS vehicles the professional drivers use threshold braking, that is, brake hard until lockup, then modulate pressure to prevent lockup. Definitely not as effective as ABS, but it helps prevent flatspotting the tire.

AS for your tires, I guess you could file a claim with your insurance company, but unless you have a low deductible, it is not worth it.

ericdwong

I did this to my mom's car by doin ebrake drifts. I tried the burnout method to smoothen them out by putting the rear tires of a speed bump and nailing it. It didnt work too well.

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

I see your point, but that is not exactly accurate. The purpose of bumpers is to protect the OCCUPANTS, not the car. Actually, most bumpers are made to collapse to absorb and dispurse the energy of a crash, thus preventing harm. When items such as THOSE do not function as specified, it results in a product liability action. While my situation is NOT of that nature, I just wanted to clear that up.

My point is this:
If a SINGLE stop from the legal speed limit is enough to render the tires useless, wouldn't you think that there was SOMETHING wrong there? It would be different if it were constant abuse, but this was a single emergency maneuver that falls within the reasonably forseeable and expected uses of the product. That would be like having a set of brakes that warped or failed after a single, sustained trip down a long, steep mountain. The manufacturers KNOW that they will be used that way, and make a product that cannot withstand what can be expected of that product on an OCCASIONAL basis.

Am I making ANY sense here? I know that noone will want to GIVE us a new set of tires, but am I crazy for expecting a pro-rated replacement when we only "used" the tires in that manner one time?

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

Honestly I don't think you have a prayer of getting this covered under warranty. It is the fault of the driver that they were locked up, not the manufacturer. If the manufacturer seems to be willing to consider covering this under warranty, take what you can get and run, because you will be getting very lucky.

I don't know if you told them that they were locked up, or if you just said they seem to be out of round, but I'm SURE tire manufacturers have enough experience that they can tell the difference between the two. I certainly can, and I'm not a tire company. Again, take what you can get, but I wouldn't expect too much, its a bummer your fiancee had to lock them up (glad she's ok) but its not the tiremaker's fault.

Turbo95Max

iTrader: (25)

i understand what your saying but its not gonna be covered under manufacter defect waranty. cause the flatspot is caused by the driver. as far as prorate or replacement, i guess it would be up to the manager of the store you bought it from. I work at Firestone part time and we get similar probs at the shop and sometimes my manager will take care of them juss to satisfy the customer. Yes we can tell between an out of round tire and a flatspotted tire. You can tell when someone does burnouts also but its different from a flatspotted tire.

sx7r

iTrader: (15)

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

So do all tires have a tendency to flatspot after a single stop of this nature, or is it just the particular rubber composition in these tires?

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

My fiance just came from sears. The first problem was a thrown wheel weight, which led to the vibes and noise (most of it). There ARE flatspots on the tirs, but not nearly as bad as I feared. They rotated the fronts to the rear, and said that this will allow things to even out over time without annoying us by being installed on the front. Also, the salesman who sold them to us, who has sold me a LOT of tires when I was into Jeeps, said that if it does not get better in the next few weeks, he will replace the 2 worst ones, as soon as they get that size in. That way, his manager does not know (he would notice if the salesman special ordered them).

I still cannot believe they got flatspotted from ONE stop from 70...

blizz20oma

iTrader: (1)

Do you have ABS in the GLE?

Stomping on the brakes at 70mph isn't exactly an everyday thing. But I'm glad to hear it worked out well.

phenryiv1

iTrader: (19)

No ABS on my GLE, no. Sux. I really thought that is did, though...