So I got new tires in April, bought them at the dealer because they had a good sale going on. 1 tire was defective and had to be replaced, it had a flat spot and could not be balanced. I noticed the flat spot after a few days but did not have time to bring it in b/c of heavy workload and traveling over 2 weekends. Eventually got it replaced after 2 weeks, had only put 90 miles on them. They covered it, but now I get a phone call (almost 5 months later) that says I owe $38 dollars because of a price difference with the warranty company? Has anyone dealt with a bad tire before, I always assumed they just replaced it with a new one and that was it, how could the price of a tire have changed $38 in 2 weeks? I bought my tires when they were on sale, but legally should that matter? This is like a reverse price adjustment. I mean, I could see there being a deductible if I had driven them for a few months and they pro-rated it based on remaining tread, but that tire was shot out of the box. Any insights, any dealer people here know how this works? I am going to call them back later but want to say something besides "go pound sand".

 

It all depends on your warranty when you buy them.

If you buy them with the road hazard warranty or any kind of guarantee you aren't legally liable to pay for anything. Did your tires come with a manufacturer's warranty of any sort? (30 days test drive, prorated?)

If you bought the tires as is without any type of warranty then yes, this makes sense. What brand of tires are they? If they're Michelin's or Bridgestones, then it should be covered free of charge. I'm not sure with other tire brands.

 

I know they had some sort of warranty but I don't recall the specifics. It seems absurd to me however considering the tire did not go bad early, but was not round right out of the box, I would have thought there were some consumer protection laws against charging people extra after you sell them bad stuff. Maybe I will call the warranty company.

 

2 years of road hazard protection, but it does not cover mounting and balancing. I would fight the warranty co, but for 38 bucks I would rather enjoy the long weekend than deal with some half baked robot answering system that will shuffle me around for half an hour before connecting me to a person or hanging up on me. I don't want to leave the dealer on the hook since they got me a free TPM last month so I guess I'll just pay them.

 

I say screw it, if they didn't take care of it back then its all done and sealed.

 

Also the tires were Goodyear Eagle GT, which are not covered by the 30 day no hassle plan they have according to their website, and once you get below a certain tread depth the replacement cost is pro-rated. Overall a decent tire, about the same as the Venus V4es in the dry and in terms of not hydroplaning, but the Goodyears have way less tire spin from a stop when it is wet or cold out. I have yet to test them in snow, but they have way beefier treads so I think they will be better(shouldn't bet to hard). Only down side they sometimes vibrate at 70 mph for a few minutes until l they shed any pebbles that seems to get stuck in the big grooves a little too easily.

 

Personally I buy tires from Costco... they can order anything and has lifetime balance and rotation free.. and they don't hassell u like the dealer

 

I had the Eagle GT's...great tires, but definitely wouldn't last 50k miles like it should under treadlife warranty. Plus, the edges wore out quicker than the middle. I've kept my pressure at 38 psi and the sides still wore out....

They're pretty good, but also a very loud tire. I changed my tires to the Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus and haven't looked back. The Turanzas are much smoother tires and a more comfortable ride.

 

Sides wearing out are usually signs of a bad alignment... or under inflates tires....

 

Exactly, but my alignment was in spec from lifetime warranty at Firestone and that particular tire had more PSI than other tires when I go inflate once every two weeks. It was an odd scenario.