The case of the defective tyre

[drspock]

Last week on returning to my car after visiting a friend I noticed that my rear nearside tyre was under inflated.
As I was only about 1 mile from home and had a streaming cold I drove home and left the car in the drive overnight.
The next day I decided to change the wheel, by this time completely deflated, and take the tyre to be repaired.
On arriving at the garage, a national chain, I was told that it would be an hour before they could attend to it. The fitter looked at the tyre and said that it looked like a nail had punctured the tyre but fortunately had worked its way loose which was good.
The guy said if you want, leave it with us and call back later.
Wasn't to happy about this but as I still had a streaming cold and didn't fancy hanging round in a cold waiting room, I agreed to leave the wheel.
On my return to garage met by guy who I saw initially and said he had some bad news for me. Tyre unrepairable and I needed a new one
He took me over to the tyre and said , this has been repaired before hasn't it, and the recent puncture has happened in the same place as the previous puncture.
I told that it had never been repaired, whereupon he showed me the inside of the tyre which had a patch of some kind on it.
I repeated that the tyre had never been repaired whilst I had the car and he said that maybe a previous owner had had it repaired.
I said that not likely as I have had the car from new and its mileage when I got it was 12 miles.
His response was that it must have been like that when I bought the vehicle, and I agreed that it was the only possible explanation.
However he couldn't explain why the patch inside the tyre had not been perforated by the nail which he previously intimated was the cause of the puncture.
I then took the tyre to the main agents of the car, unfortunately the dealership had changed hands from when I bought the car.
I explained the circumstances re the tyre and said that either I had been sold a duff tyre or it had been switched at the tyre repair outfit.
They checked the numbers to see if the tyre I now had married with the rest of tyres on the car and they did.
They could not accept responsibility as they did not sell me the vehicle but said they would try and see if it could be repaired.
Final upshot was it could not be repaired and I had to fork out for a new tyre through no fault of mine.
I am pretty sure that the tyre firm switched the tyre but I am not sure how to prove it, has anybody else had a similar experience and if so what did you do.

 

[mlb3c]

it sounds harsh....but live and learn.
it doesnt take long to fix a tire, so in the future, if someone wants to put you off for an hour..go somewhere else to have it repaired...and stay there while they fix it. It wasnt a tire....but I got done for new brake pads...seems they put old used ones on...showed them to me...yup they're shot alright....bought new ones.
I got reimbursed as it turned out though....someone else caught them doing the same thing and sued their as sets.

 

[securespark]

A certain "non-slow" outfit tried to screw me for shocks on my old Monty.

"Look" said the guy, wiping his finger on the shock body, "It's leaking".


He gave me a price, and I went to have a quiet word with the manager. I explained his colleague had told me my shocks were leaking & asked him to explain to me what kind of liquid it was that could be seeping from a pair of gas shocks....

The car had been used heavily for towing, so had had HD gas shocks fitted at the rear.

 

[libby lou lou]

Used to mark my oil filter up with a slight screwdriver scratch, some would wipe it clean with a rag ! and charge for a changed one.

 

[Softus]

Used to mark my oil filter up with a slight screwdriver scratch, some would wipe it clean with a rag ! and charge for a changed one.

Was that on a car that was insured, or uninsured?

 

[empip]

Wait in the comfort of your home !!
http://www.etyres.co.uk/tyre-manufacturers-info/tyre-manufacturers-info/car-tyre-manufacturers?

They offer a downloadable tyre repair guage - The figures are paged anyway... http://www.etyres.co.uk/etyres-press-media/repairable-area-gauge.htm

Worth a punt..

 

[masona]

I am not sure how to prove it, has anybody else had a similar experience and if so what did you do.

8 months ago my car was due for the 3 yrs service by the main dealer, they rang me and says your front brake pads need changing because the pads is now 2mm thickness. I've told them the pads was 7mm thickness this morning when I have checked them which I always do before service, they just didn't know what to say next. The other one was when my car went in for the 1st yearly service and says they recommended the brake fluid need changing, but I quoted it's not in the manufacture handbook service guide. They said "Oh, you don't have to though but we do"

 

[oilman]

1) PITA of getting dishonest traders.
2) There are good ones about
3) Cheap way to learn really, I'm guessing your new tyre might have been £50 to £70 inclusive. That's very cheap for industrial training, AND you have a new tyre to stick you to the road. I don't think the saving on a repaired tyre is worth the problems of a deflation at 70mph.
4) None of the big chains are trustworthy, they are driven by accountants.
5) NEVER search out cheap tyres. These are the things that hopefully stop you hitting things when otherwise you might. An expensive tyre is much less than a replacement bumper, and if any metal needs straightening, you could buy a set of tyres for less.
6) If you have incorrectly rated tyres on your vehicle, you may find insurance problems, but libby lou lou knows ways round insurance premiums.
7) Some tyres are un-repairable anyway, run-flats for example.
8) Find an honest trader, they may appear to be a little dearer, but it'll be much cheaper when you don't have to pay for things you don't need.