I bought four new tires 2 years and 4 months ago (yes I’m counting because it was quite a chunk of change to spend)and now I am told that I need 4 new tires again. I have driven less than 30,000 miles on these previous 4 tires and they were 60,000 mile tires. The mechanic said it was because I did not faithfully rotate balance and align the tires every 6 to 8 thousand miles. The tires read as follows: left front: outer 4 inner 3; right front: outer 4 inner 3; right rear: outer 4 inner 5; left rear: outer 4 inner 5. He prorated me 4 new tires at 50% discount saying that the tires didn’t meet their warranty but made a big deal about doing so saying that he shouldn’t have because of my lack of proper rotation. These tires seemed to wear evenly which I thought was the whole point of rotating tires. Should I have had to pay for these new tires or is this a manufactures defect of the tires not meeting their warranty? This on a 2007 Ford Focus.
Somewhere in the fine print of your tire bill was a requirement to rotate. You need to do that. 5-7K miles seems to be the range tire manufacturers use. I would also consider getting an alignment check, to make sure out of alignment specs aren’t aggravating the issue.
30,000 / 60,000 = 50%. 50 Percent Off 4 New Tires Is Very Fair. I Don’t Rotate My Tires, But Some Cars And Some Drivers Have Unusual Tire Wear Problems.
Different cars, different driving conditions, and different drivers are just a few things that can make for different wear results on a given set of tires.
You should have to pay half the cost of the tires because you used half of the tires.
CSA
Unfortunately, Jayhawk is right. The warranty is contingent upon getting the tires rotated and alignment checked. He was fair in giving you the prorating, as that’s what the warranty provides. He actually did honor the warranty by doing so.
If the tires had a manufacturing defect you would not have gotten 30,000 miles of smooth wear out of them.
Every tire warranty I’ve seen is dependent on getting them rotated at the recommended interval. So having failing to have done that, you probably aren’t eligible for any treadwear warranty. You were given a far better deal than you were entitled to. I’d wouldn’t be complaining too loudly if I were you.
For what it’s worth the tires for my car last about 22,000-30,000 miles a set, even with rotation. And they cost around $800-$850 a set.
Thank you to all of you who responded to my question. I am reassured that the wonderful mechanics that have taken care of my car for the past four years are still trustworthy mechanics. I needed to hear these second opinions to help me realize that and will begin to faithfully rotate my tires. Again thank you so much for all of your comments I am truly appreciative. And if my mechanic is subscribed to this site thank you for looking after my car. I’ll be by soon to tell you thank you in person.
“they were 60,000 mile tires”
Those mileage claims are always highly optimistic. Maybe if you drove in a straight line without braking, accelerating or turning.
The tires read as follows: left front: outer 4 inner 3; right front: outer 4 inner 3; right rear: outer 4 inner 5; left rear: outer 4 inner 5.
Are those numers tread depth, in n/32nds"?
Then those tires should still be legal until 2/32". Was the tread worn even to the “wear bar?”
You can, of course, replace early at your discretion, but don’t expect to acheive the rated milage if replacing “early.”
Point of rotation is to even out the wear. Your front tires(driving wheels) will more than rear.
Lastly driving style influences it along with how many sharp turns you do.
Tires last much longer going relatively straight than for example in a town/city doing 90 degree turns over the same period.
There are a couple of other things:
First is that technically, the tires are worn out at 2/32nds of an inch - and your tires are at - on the average 4. That means you would have gotten 40K out of them - and that’s within the range of normally driving differences.
Because you had so much tread left on your tires, the dealer could have told you to come back 10K later and THEN claim the mileage warranty! He was generous to you and you should recognize it.
Can’t you guys read? the lady said “thanks I understand”,about 4 posts up. Why do we have to keep banging away on these things when they have been solved? now exploding expansion valves,we have to stay on top of that kind of stuff, or at least until our OP comes back and explains.
You can always list the shop on the Car Talk Mechanics files, home page bottom. That helps spread the recognition of a trustworthy operation.
Oldschool, as you are well aware these threads often turn into people talking to each other. You are the last guy on here that should be acting as the “policeman” of board activity. The expansion valve thing was a case in point - another instance where you are off in left field with mostly orneriness to offer.
Simply letting you make my case for me.It would not have had the same effect if I had said “you guys are simply talking to yourselves now” but now that you say it, well it kind of puts things in perspective.That perspective is that everyone has a bit of “thread extension” in them.But really these oil and tire posts can go on way to long. I think it has something to do with “good now finally something I know about” as the drivability posts,well they are pretty short.
That is once you get past people saying to change the plugs and wires.
OldSchool,
I think you also need to consider that other people also read these threads for information. Yes, sometimes the thread get extended with bickering, but sometimes there is additional, very helpful, information that otherwise would not be picked up.
Put another way, not only do we answer the OP’s question, but we place information for others to read - and if necessary we discuss (argue?) the completeness and correctness of some of the responses.