Dodgy new tyre

[Mr Cull]

Any help on the following would be most appreciated.

 

If this is posted in the wrong section then please move to the one most appropriate.

 

On Wednesday (5 days a go) a bought a new set of back tyres for my Sup.

 

I got Goodyear F1 GSD3 (and that is what it says on the receipt)

 

Driving home tonight I realised I had a flat. After putting the spare on and inspecting the tyre back at home I’ve found that it’s a remould. It hasn’t got a puncture, its split right down side where the old base has been moulded to the new tread! Basically the tyre was completely not fit for purpose.

 

The other tyre they put on the back is not a remould and seems fine.

 

At the garage they didn’t tell me they had put a remould on and I certainly didn’t ask or pay for a remould. If I had known I would not have let them put one on!

 

Now I don’t have a great deal of knowledge about remoulds. I assume that remoulds have to be up to a certain standard and the one they put one clearly wasn’t as it only lasted 5 days.

 

Does any one know if a garage is allowed to put a remould on without your knowledge?

 

Does anyone know my consumer rights or have any advice?

I wont be able to get to that garage again till the weekend so I think I may get another garage near my work to put a new one on tomorrow and then go to the original garage on the weekend and demand a full refund on what I paid for the set.

 

From now on I will always check the tyres that a garage has put on before handing over any money!

[Ewen]

Does any one know if a garage is allowed to put a remould on without your knowledge?

Absolutely not. Any pics ? I'd take some before you take it back.

How do you know its a re-mould ? Are you sure ? If it is, you should take this further, as it could have been far worse for you and others on the road...trading standards for starters, with your receipt etc. Sounds lethal, you were lucky.

[neil tt]

Thats unbleaviable, they can't just stick what tyres they think on, tading standards seems a good way to go:(

[Mr Cull]

How do you know its a re-mould ?

 

I can tell it's a re-mould because it's clrealy two tyres stuck together! i'll try and get some picks up soon.

 

Thanks for the comments so far

[Havard]

What if you had been on a motorway mate!!

 

I'd go back to the garage.............after contacting a solicitor!!

 

H.

[Mr Cull]

Pics

 

[georigg]

Hi Cull,

 

I used to work for Dunlop, but many years ago and although your photos are not the same as an examination of a tyre, the last photo(lowest) looks very like there is an over-band of tread compound over the sidewall markings.

 

Its difficult to see the tread pattern from your photos, but as far as can be seen, it appears you have what I would describe as a retread, similar to the Bandag process..........this basically is a replacement compound that is moulded on to a casing but only on the tread area, whereas the more "classically" moulded retreads include the sidewall area, to allow the retreader to replace their own markings(name etc) and the appropriate retread information.

 

The other tyre photos suggest that flexing at the tread/sidewall area has contributed to the failure, however, it will be this precise area that would receive a fairly high heat input during this "remould" process and without going into the technicalities of heat input and "cure-units" will have resulted in the apparent weak spot on these tyres.

 

First question I would ask is what did you pay for your tyres?

 

Was it a reasonable price in keeping with the normal dealer price for a new tyre? If you paid a knock-down price(ie very cheap) then you should have been asking yourself why they were "cheap".

 

Under the Sale of Goods Act you are legally entitled to receive what you paid for, so if you paid a "reasonable price" then your first port of call should be back to the dealer who supplied the tyres.

 

He may agree that the "wrong" tyre was inadvertently fitted. Failing this, Trading Standards may help, but frankly do not expect them to do any more than what you might achieve on your own.

 

If these were bought as genuine first line tyres, contact Goodyear tyres (check their telephone number on the web and ask for Customer Relations). They will likely ask you to contact a local Goodyear agent for the tyres to be examined. There may be infringement issues that Goodyear will wish to take up if this dealer is selling these tyres as genuine Goodyears.

 

A general word on retreads. If carried out by a genuine retreader, then they are good for about 110MPH. However the Bandag type process has a few "copiers" and those back-street Companies who use this/similar process will likely have a lesser acceptance standard on the casing stock they use, and this will result in a sub-standard tyre.

 

Bandag started out as a truck process, but gravitated to cars and was "popular" in poorer countries where standards were not as strictly enforced. Being away from this industry for some time, my advice/comments may not be current, but purely as a personal opinion I would hesitate to use retreads on a sports car!

 

I hope the above may be useful to you.

Rgds

Geo

[georigg]

Incidentally, I would ask the Moderators to move this to the main Technical area as it is a subject that should warn all Supra owners to ensure any tyre bought is the genuine article.

 

Given the potential for failure, these tyres are lethal on any car, let alone a sports car.

 

Your Dealer may not in fact be helpful if he is genuinely selling such tyres AND fitting them to high powered sports cars!

 

Worth asking Trading Standards if they consider this a prosecutable offence!

[Mr Cull]

Geo thank you for your post.

 

Today I finally managed to show the tyre to a friend of mine who is generally very knowledgeable with all things car related.

 

After inspecting the tyre he says he is quite sure that the tyre is NOT a remould. He explained that the missing logo and writing that can be seen was more then likely caused by heat. This heat would have come from me inadvertently driving for a while on a semi inflated tyre. He says that a very similar thing happened to him some years back.

 

As I have already said my knowledge of remoulds is very limited - and also my knowledge of tyres in general is not great. So I think I am going to have to take my friends word for it as he knows a lot more than me and has inspected the tyre in person.

 

Basically I think I’m going to have to accept that the combination of my lack of knowledge and frustration of only getting 5 days out of a new tyre lead me to jump to a incorrect conclusion. So my pervious comment “it's clrealy two tyres stuck together” may have been a bit rash.

 

I did report this issue to trading standards and have since withdrawn that complaint.

 

The cause of the initial deflation still remains unknown though as no puncture around the tread can be seen.

 

For the tyres I paid £120 each which included vat and fitting. Other quotes I got ranged form £125 - £170 so these did not seem suspiciously cheap.

 

My plan was to storm into the garage on sat (tomorrow) and demand a new tyre and a full refund after claiming it was a remould – I am glad I found out that it isn’t (well I don’t know for sure) because I would have looked like a right tit!

 

I am still a little frustrated at only getting 5 days out of a new £120 tyre, remould or not. But hey I guess these things sometimes happen..

 

Thanks again for peoples comments.

[dangerous brain]

Depends on tyre size but you seem to have paid a tad less than bargain price (my tyres are listing that tyre on a 245 35 18 at 130 quid. I had an issue with a tyre that didn't sit right on my rim and within miles ripped itself apart. It kept deflating at speed. As soon as I replaced it the tyre stayed up and was fine. Call the garage and if its a genuine one they will fix this for you.

[Ewen]

I've had a new tyre deflate over a couple of days (not Supra). Turned out to be an imperfect seal between rim and tyre, on old wheels that had some flaking of the paint and laquer, agravated during the process of removing old and replacing new. Worth checking out before fitting new one again ?

[edge]

Take it back. They can only say no.

[dangerous brain]

I've had a new tyre deflate over a couple of days (not Supra). Turned out to be an imperfect seal between rim and tyre, on old wheels that had some flaking of the paint and laquer, agravated during the process of removing old and replacing new. Worth checking out before fitting new one again ?

 

Thats what caused my deflation issues and then being low profile tyres the sidewall got ripped

[Mr Cull]

Thats what caused my deflation issues and then being low profile tyres the sidewall got ripped

 

I think that this must be my problem.

 

I went back to the garage and paid for a new tyre. They are sending the old one back for inspection. Now I have just noticed that my new tyre is deflating.

 

Thanks for your posts i dont think i would have been able to work this out myself.

 

I guess its back to the garage again.

[Rob Dublin]

Check your wheel for signs of a leak. May be the valve seal or (as happened me) as tiny crack in the alloy. Coat in soapy water, leave for 5 mins, see if there are bubbles formed in one location.

[Mr Cull]

Check your wheel for signs of a leak. May be the valve seal or (as happened me) as tiny crack in the alloy. Coat in soapy water, leave for 5 mins, see if there are bubbles formed in one location.

 

Thanks Rob. I'll give that a go.

[georigg]

Hi Cull,

Running a severely under-inflated tyre will generate a very high amount of heat in a tyre, enough to make the compound "plastic" and effectively "run"...........failure would also occur in the region shown on your photos.

Get your dealer to remove the tyre from the rim and get a wire brush and go over the rim area, cleaning off all of the "crap" that will be sticking to the rim in the bead area.

 

Also check the tyre bead area for small "tears" in the compound that covers the bead area of the tyre. If you look very closely at the tyre in the bead area, you will see an almost "cross-hatch" pattern just under the compound; this is the "Chafer-strip" which is fitted to the tyre when its built, to protect against damage and give a bit of strength to the compound in the area around the bead.

 

Tyre fitters should use a soap-like solution to prevent damage during fitting and removal at the bead area, but if damage occurs here then you will have a "leaker". Any fitting damage will be down to the dealer assuming he is the only person fitting/removing the tyre from the rim & if you get him to stick the tyre/rim in a water trough before fitting to the car, you should be able to check that it does not leak around the rim area.

Rgds

Geo

[Mr Cull]

Thanks Geo,

 

Yesterday I took it to a wheel specialist and they said that they would be able to remove the tyre and grind and re-paint the inside of the rim for about £20.

 

I have just picked it up and they said that they didn’t need to do that and all they think was wrong with it was a loose core in the valve which they tightened for free.

 

So fingers crossed there will be no more deflating. Needless to say I’ll be checking tyre pressure before and after every journey for a while.

[SimonB]

I think that this must be my problem.

 

I went back to the garage and paid for a new tyre. They are sending the old one back for inspection.

 

This happened to me once (with a Continental tyre, not a Goodyear). It wouldn't balance up - the tyre itself had a flaw that made it out of balance. They sent the tyre back and Continental xrayed it and decided it was faulty and gave me a credit note for a replacement.