you either did not read all the blogs or are confused, I did not buy the tires this year and I did not buy them at Walmart Walmart only put the snow tires with their rims on this season and in another month and a half I will have someone take them off again.
I see you are a mountain biker. In all my internet travels the past few weeks learning about studded tires I saw that they even put them on mountain bikes, how fun. I live 2 miles from a ski slope that is used for mountain biking in the summer. I have sat by the trail and watched them go flying over a mini boulder fieldâŠthose guys are crazy.
Iâm confused. I assumed youâd bought them at WalMart.
I was a hard core mountain biker (and occasional roadie) for many years until my health failed. My son races road with a team in southern California now. He rides 200 miles a week in training year around. You can buy studded mountain bike tires, but most of us including myself used to stud our own tires. My olâ bike, which I built myself, hangs in a sacred spot in my garage now, never to be parted with.
Yeah, weâre crazy. And I wouldnât trade a moment of it. Even that crash where I destroyed my rotator cuff on a huge boulder was worth it.
Anyway, scrubbing is a result of either poor alignment and/or worn components. It may have been exascerbated by having mounted the directional tires backwards, but it might be prudent at this juncture to get the alignment and suspension checked.
One other suggestion Iâll add is to get some spare steel rims for mounting your winter tires on, then just change the wheels over. Not only does this save on having to spend as much time and money at the garage every seasonal change, but it prevents tearing up the beads from repeated mounting and dismounting, preventing one source of slow leaks.
I know, I know. You simply want to find out how to get Michelin to write a letter stating that mounting the tires backwards causes premature tire wear. Youâll then use that to hold WalMart responsible for the tires having worn out prematurely.
It ainât gonna happen. Further, I know of no documentation that suggests that mounting a directionally oriented tire backwards can cause it to wear out in one monthâŠor even prematurely, no matter what a guy on the phone told you.
But the type of wear youâre describing, wearing out in a feathered pattern in less than a month combined with the studs having ripped out, can be and is likely caused by something other than having mounted the tires backward. Iâm trying to suggest that you look deeper into the cause. Youâre at a dead end with this argument.
I didnât necessarily say it was in a feathered pattern, it just definatly was most of the tire and not the edges
I had the car checked out right after Walmart claimed I needed a front end allignment and it is fine and the new tires have been on long enough that if there was a problem it would at least be starting to show (what my mechanic says) and, all studs are in place.
Iâm going to keep checking on some of the ideas I was given
Cindy, give it upâŠMichelin does not offer a tread life guarantee. Some Michelin DEALERS might offer a worthless pro-rated âguaranteeâ of sorts⊠Snow (winter) tires are not known for their long lifeâŠWhen studded, tire life is ALWAYS reduced. When used studded tires are mounted backwards, tire life can be reduced to weeks, as you have discovered.
So FORGET going after Michelin, they are BLAMELESS in this. Your ONLY hope is a settlement from Walmart, which several knowledgeable contributors have posted and you have ignored. You are not looking for help, you are trolling this boardâŠ
This happened to my mom back when she had her XJ12, though it was a local tire place, not Wal-Mart. She mentioned to me that she had just bought a set of new tires. I went out to inspect them to make sure she didnât get some cheap tires of questionable quality (she had gotten some Pirellis) the tires were good, but they were directional, like the OPâs tires and were installed backwards. I called the tire place and told them about what happened, the owner got on the phone apologized for the inconvience, and said to bring it in when it was convenient for either myself or my mom. I asked if I could bring it by today. Even though it was 4:30 at the time, he said sure to bring it on down and he would have his guys remount the tires. So I drove the jag down there, he again apologized, and had his guys remount the tires, by the time they were done it was about 5:30 on Saturday, they close at 5:00. The owner asked if wanted to join him and his employees for a snack at the BW3âs down the road. I told him it wasnât necessary, but he said he felt bad for making such a rookie mistake, so I obligated and we when down the road and got some food, he paid for his meal and his employeeâs food as well⊠You donât get service like that much these days.
I do have some questions though; how did the OP manage to drive around for a month without noticing this? It would seem that even if you check your air pressure once a week it would noticeable.
Also Caddyman is right studs = no warranty. Michelin likely wonât help you. Since the second those studs were installed their obligations to you ended.
The OP shouldâve noticed this well before a month?s time had elapsed and Wal-Mart shouldâve been competent enough to mount the tires correctly.
All the OP (and I put all references to gender, marital status, number of children, economic status out of the equation as they are not revelant to solving a car problem) had to do was TELL Walmart that her tires are directional and to pay attention when mounting either the tires to the rim( not important in this case as I bekieve the tires were already mounted to rims) or the tire/whell assembley to the car.
Sure you can say âI donât need to go the extra mile and make SURE they know my tires are directional, if they make a mistake it will be easy for me to get them to pay up and make me âwholeâ againâ. Now comes the part of being PROACTIVE and both telling Wallmart before they mount the tire/wheel assembley that your tires are directional AND checking when you get your car back by saying, can you PROVE to me my expesive directional tires are mounted correctly BEFORE I drive off? This is taking responsibility for your own property.
I did say you can look for the arrow on the tire that shows direction of forward rotation.
The tires had been fixed by this time silly, do you really think I would go buy new tires at another place,
have them tell me that Walmart had mounted last years backwards and I would
tell them to put them on backwards again???
You know, this would make a really good study on why women often say âyou never listen to what Iâm sayingâ
No offense, Cindy, but itâs free advice. Please just take it or leave it. Weâre just mechanics, engineers, car enthusiasts, shade tree mechanics, etc. We do this for free in our spare time.
This still doesnât explain how the knowledge (of how to determine if directional tires are mounted properly) is supposed to pop into her head.
Karl, directional tires usually have easy-to-read arrows on the sidewall to make it easy to check to make sure they are mounted in the proper orientation.
My personal take on this issue is:
-Take your car to a place known for service, not a place known for being cheap. You get what you pay for.
-Always check for yourself after you have your car serviced to make sure it was done properly.
-Walmart has admitted its mistake but has asked the OP to prove this mistake led to premature wear. That sounds reasonable to me. Premature tire wear can be caused by so many different things, proving this was the cause is going to be an uphill battle; one that might not be worth fighting in the grand scheme of things. âTilting at windmillsâ is a phrase that comes to mind.
cindyskisail, you arenât the first person to come here with a question like this and be disappointed by some of the answers. I suggest you calculate your hourly wage, examine the value of time you spend with your loved ones, and ask yourself if this crusade is really worth the toll. If it is, there are better ways to fight your battle than arguing with this bunch.
If you arenât happy with your previous results in small claims court, it might have been based on the merit of the case. If this case has merit, why not seek justice? If you win, you can ask the judge to award you the amount of the court costs.
This is the first time it had been made clear what gender you were.
I will add that taking your car to a mechanic and asking for an alignment check and the mechanic comming back and saying ânot one thing is needed to be replaced and NOTHING even needs adjustmentââŠwell I guess it could happen, I put a figure of 90% on the cars I have checked under 4 wheel alignment guidelines (not 4wd) that needed at least one little adjustment somewhere.
You must have had a recent alignment? what was the time span between the report that âall is wellâ and your most recent alignment?
I myself could have easily made the same mistake Wallmart did, the boss says"there are 4 mounted studded snow tires in that (what kind of car are we working on?) remove the customers summer tires and install the snow tires" the term âstudded snow tiresâ would not have set off my âcheck if they are directionalâ alarm. Now if these were some high-performance tires going on a BMW it probably would be very high on my list to check.
You never do answer the question,did you tell Wallmart that your tires were directional at the time you had them install the tire/wheel assembley on your car?
You know, this would make a really good study on why women often say
âyou never listen to what Iâm sayingâ
Thatâs funny. After reading all the replies in this thread, I concluded that it was you who wasnât listening to any of the valuable input you received. And yes, one of the people who replied to you has been designing tires for one of the major companies for many years.
I agree with MBâs reply, when he said âYouâre at a dead end with this argument.â
Karl, you may not have noticed but most adults on this forum do not post rude or mean spirited comments. Please keep you comments civil. Just because oldschool called your idea lame (getting a newspaper involved) is no reason to get defensive. He does not agree the idea will work and since this is still a semi free country he is entitled to his opinion. I have seen it work but itâs no big deal if a person disagrees. Donât be so thin skinned.
