Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2017 19:24:52 -0700
Reply-To: David McNeely <davmcneely40@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David McNeely <davmcneely40@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: last tire question (from me)(14x6 VW alu wheel)
In-Reply-To: <CY4PR20MB1303A7DDD649F745D5EDDF74A04B0@CY4PR20MB1303.namprd20.prod.outlook.com>
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I have had to warranty two tires that were not road hazard damage.
1. A Bridgestone tire that threw the tread off at highway speed, despite
giving no advance warning. Firestone dealer replaced it at my expense and
told me to send it to Firestone in Memphis. However, that was at
Firestone's expense. He gave me a form. So I called Firestone and
confirmed that I would be reimbursed shipping regardless of their
decision. I shipped it FedEx next day delivery. Firestone paid the
shipping, replaced the tire, and paid for the damage to my car, but it took
months to get the whole thing resolved. I may have benefited from the bad
press Firestone was getting at the time because of the numerous accidents
with Ford SUVs equipped with Firestone tires, though my vehicle was not a
SUV.
2. ContiPro (Continental) tires with 80K treadwear guarantee that only
lasted 34K miles before the tread was gone. Discount tire handled
everything, and the guarantee was honored at the store. I did not replace
the tires with ContiPros, because I didn't want the same thing to happen
again, but the warranty was honored anyway. The unused amount of the
original purchase price was applied to my new Bridgestones.
I have had multiple road hazard warranty situations, all honored. Most
recently, Discount Tire replaced a Bridgestone tire I had bought from them
because it had a screw in the sidewall. The tire had less than 5K miles,
and it was replaced, no charge, even mounting and balancing, because I had
paid originally for Discount Tire's "lifetime rotating and balancing" add
on when I bought the tires.
mcneely
On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 2:21 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> At 5K miles per year the tires should need replacement based on age long
> before wearing out. Read the warranty information from the manufacturer.
> Wear out warranties are so written one will rarely collect. Same for ride
> disturbance, (belt shift). Tires are really only covered for true defects
> unless you also have a road hazard plan. At the point the tire went off
> road warranties are gone.
>
>
>
> Getting warranty replacements are often difficult for non-dealer purchases
> and installs. Over the years the best tire warranty support I have
> experienced is from Goodyear. Michelin came through once with my motorhome
> tires when they went bad at 30K. But even that took having a factory rep
> come and inspect them on the RV before they would offer an “adjustment”.
>
>
>
> In general the warranty process is for the dealer to get a factory rep to
> inspect the tire and often the vehicle. When a rep is not available or you
> don’t have dealer support then the tire get replaced at your expense and
> the bad tire gets sent to a manufacturers service center again at customer
> expense. There they will evaluate it and decide if warranty is applicable
> or not.
>
>
>
> BTDT!
>
> Dennis
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* David McNeely [mailto:davmcneely40@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 12, 2017 10:54 AM
> *To:* Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
> *Cc:* vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> *Subject:* Re: last tire question (from me)(14x6 VW alu wheel)
>
>
>
> So far I am very pleased with the Vredestein's on my 1991 Volkswagen
> Vanagon GL Campmobile, 2WD, silver-tan. I've had them one year, only a
> couple thousand miles, but drove it some in the very snowy winter last
> year, with no difficulty at all. I did drive it on a really rough (and in
> places muddy with creek crossings) forest service road in Oregon this
> summer, also. Tires were fine.
>
> However, I bought them from Les Schwabb, and they stated up front that
> they will not honor the mileage stated by Vredestein. The store manager
> said something like: "We've never handled Vredestein tires, and we have no
> experience with them." I just figure that if they don't run the 50K miles
> Vredestein claims (if I have the van that long, I only put 4-5K miles on it
> in a good camping year), that I will deal directly with the importer
> shoujld Schwabb continue to balk.
>
> mcneely
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 5:34 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> If you really want to stay with the truck tire approach consider this
> Vredestein. This tire rides well and has all season capability. It should
> also be a 50K mile tire. There are also a few 205/70-14XL (98 load index)
> tires available. These are becoming scarce again. These would be equal to
> the tires supplied by VW on the later Vanagons usually with the alloy
> wheels.
> When getting on line from some suppliers you need to check the production
> date as soon as they arrive. For the last pair of tires I purchased for my
> wife's Jetta the new one were older than the ones that were installed a
> year earlier! Some sellers sell off older stock and you need to be mindful
> with the specialty stuff.
> Dennis
>
>
> https://www.tiresbyweb.com/popup.aspx?src=/images/
> Product/large/Comtrac-All-Season.jpg
>
>
> https://www.tiresbyweb.com/p-12276-vredestein-comtrac-all-
> season-tires.aspx
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Karl Ploessl
> Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 7:54 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: last tire question (from me)(14x6 VW alu wheel)
>
> either a Michelin Agilis 195R14C or a Hankook RA18 185R14
>
> https://simpletire.com/hankook-185-r14-2001939-tires
> https://simpletire.com/michelin-195-r14c-14307-tires
>
> It is for an AC '81 Vanagon Westfalia.
>
> Karl.
>
>
>
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