Oldsguy

The front tires on my d.d. have started to wear excessively for the last four months and I decided to replace them. The car is an '08 Camry and the tires are Michelin Pilot Exalto 215/60R16 95v. They are 60,000 mile tires and they have 26,000 miles on them. I decided to go to Sam's Club and see what they could do for me, you know maybe an adjustment or something. The tech said they don't warranty tires for mileage, especially for even wear mileage (which mine has, they were rotated in Jan.). What???? I couldn't believe my ears, I told him if they had uneven wear, then you would say the front end was out of alignment and the warranty was void. I asked him what does a mileage warranty on a tire mean then? He said for flats or holes in the sidewall or stuff like that. I said that is what I paid $15 each for the lifetime service for. He said no, that is for balancing only. What the heck? This guy got me so steamed I just left. Fortunately it wasn't the same store I bought the tires from so I am going there today to work it out but this guy is bonkers. My wife suggested we go get some dinner and forget about it. We went to Cheddars and I ordered a beer and they came back after five minutes and said they don't have that brand in stock, so I ordered another and it took an additional ten minutes. Man, when a guy is on a roll it doesn't stop until he hits the bottom of the hill.....

rjohnson442

Take a 22 to all four tires in the sidewalls. Crazy kids.... but hey thats what you got the insurance for in the first place

redoldsman

Sometimes the boogie man wins. I never buy tires anywhere but Discount Tire. It is a great company and I have never had a problem with them. Their prices are very good too.

oldcutlass

Abnormal wear is usually something else, alignment, air pressure, etc. There is no warranty for that. I don't think any supplier can help you there.

Too bad about the medicinal beer taking so long.

chip-powell

I usually get my tires from Sears. They will prorate for abnormal wear.

I do feel your pain though. I once went through 7 tires for my Durango in a year and a half. They all suffered from the same problem, "impact" bubbles on the side walls. Sears would prorate and give me new tires, and then it would happen again, and again, and again.

I finally said the heck with it and switched from goodyear to michelin. I've never had that problem since. Nicer ride too.

Oldsguy

I called the store that I purchased them from and started from scratch, didn't even mention the story to them. They said bring them in and we will fix you up. So glad about that. Eric, that medicinal beer was pretty good with the cheeseburger now that I think about it, just too bad it took so long....

'69CutlassVert'

Next time if the beer don't work fast enough go straight to tequila. If you walk back into the store in a sombrero, boots and BVDs......you get plenty of attention.

HonestDave

I think the rubber is getting worse as well. My neighbour had three years on his back tires. He wanted something beefier, stronger sidewalls for his truck. By the end of "1" year !!...he was half way through the new tread. They didn't last two years and he had to replace them. I'm still running the ones he took off and gave me. They're at about 10% now and need replacing, but I've had them on for about 2 1/2 full years...and on the front of my big E250 to boot. I do a lot of driving. His original fronts that came on his truck were still on the front two years after he replaced the rears, and after they were worn out.
I guess some tires are sticky for wet weather, and wear out quickly. Maybe some tires are just "cheap".

HonestDave

.....and carrying a guitar case like Antonio Banderas in Desperado?

'69CutlassVert'

They didn't say anything about me carrying any guitar case but I met some real nice people

Oldsguy

You guys are nuts.....

One thing I did notice. I wanted to go to the Michelin Defender tire that was T rated and they said their store policy would be to not disregard manufacturer's guidelines concerning speed ratings. For the Camry it is V or better, what is that all about? I don't think that car could ever even get up to 100mph. I imagine there are retailers that do not do this but I bet many of them do. So I will end up getting something that I really didn't want because I want to cooperate with the store and get the mileage pro-rated on the new ones. The Defender was warrantied for 90,000 miles and I wanted to get the most bang for my buck where mileage was concerned. I am in Dallas area and we really don't need a tire that is superior in wet traction like many all season radials are. I think the Defender was a little lower in that category but higher in the mileage category. Meh....

rjohnson442

Go back up with 4 rims and no car to put them on and they will put whatever you want on there.

Sampson

I could deal with the tires wearing out but 15 minutes for a beer? Geez what is the world coming to?

Lady72nRob71

Glad you getting it worked out (hopefully).
I just changed the crappy michelins out on the 97 caddy with some low end Falkens.
The michies all looked like a dry desert lake bed after 2 years. After 7 years, the sidewall was all flaking off. Hope you have better luck.
Funny you mentioned speed rated tires on a regular car like that. I suspect it is to sell costlier tires to newer car owners? I can see the reasoning when on sports cars and such though. They did that to me when i changed tires on the Caddy STS back 11 years ago - 'had' to get Z rated (150mph) as the original tires were. However, seven years ago, and now, when i replaced them, they did not care. I got only 98mph rating. Maybe they do not keep track of original rating for more than a set time? Does the car get slower with time? Not that I am going to ever go over 98...

66luvr

I ran into the same thing at Sam's Club. I had to speak with the dpt. manager to get the whole story. They said they could only install the tires recommended by Michelin, because Michelin would not back the warranty if you install tires which Michelin does not recommend. I get that, I understand that, but don't like that much.

ThePackRat

The one & only time I ever tried to deal with Sam's for tires was my last.

Year ago when I had my 72 Toro ...

I special ordered a set of 255/70/15 Dunlop GT Qualifiers.

They came in & I made my appointment for the install.

The first tire they tried to remove from the wheel - was a total disaster.

They had to mangle & destroy it to get it off the wheel.

At this point I was like game over - we won't be going any further here.
(the morons were not stopping - had to go out in the shop & practically scream at people)

I can't recall if I had paid for the tires before I ordered them or not.

At this point I asked to speak with the store manager.
(not just the auto manager - as he was a schmuck)

Whatever the case was I didn't end up having to go thru with anything & it cost me nothing other than the aggravation.

It actually ended up costing THEM money - & way more than it needed to at that.

The tire they destroyed was actually the spare (which I was gonna save).

I told the store manager I wanted the spare that they destroyed REPLACED.

The manager (who was admittedly was very apologetic & nice) said that wouldn't be a problem.

At that point I said - well I guess I don't need to tell you that I'll be needing that "to go".

Oh no she said ...

You'll need to go buy a replacement elsewhere - come back here with a receipt & then we will then reimburse you.

!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Me : "Why don't you just GIVE me (1) of the tires you ordered for me - it's even the SAME SIZE as the one you destroyed".

Her : "Sorry - it has to be done the way I said".

So the next couple of days were busy for me.

Instead of shopping online for the BEST PRICE like one would normally do - I shopped for the HIGHEST prices I could find.

Thankfully at the time I had the money - to be able to do it.

I made it a point when I got reimbursed to say :

"This has got to be at least DOUBLE what (1) of those Dunlops would have cost you".

By rights I should have made them pay for a used wheel in addition to the tire.

The edge was all marred up from them mangling the tire to get it off.

Hidden by the wheel cover when it was on - but that's really NOT the point as that was NOT the way it was when I brought it in there.

Ended up getting BFG Radial TA's (more expensive) from an actual tire place.