Gold Certified from a dealer - found out 1 tire is out of round

[Hal993]

ok - submitted for advice.

I bought the truck 1 month ago - about 2k miles.

In short - I didn't think the tires were balanced well. Dealership was going to take hours, so I paid Discount Tire to do it.

Discount Tire said that my left rear (had been right front) tire was out of round and could not be balanced. They road-forced it and got it better than it was, but it is not a tire that can be balanced.

I have not done an burn-outs, no locked-up braking, really just normal daily driving. I'm past mid-life, so... hahaha... I don't think I qualify as someone who drives a car hard.

What is the best approach getting the dealer to address this? I don't need 4 new tires - 1 tire to replace it - shaved to match the others would work.

thoughts?

 

[brianh87]

If you have the documentation from discount tire that states the tire cannot be balanced, share it with the sales / service manager at the dealership. They should be able to take care of you.

 

[Badboy4fun_wa]

When the truck was bought new it included the tire Mfg warranty. The attached file I believe is how it works for the Raptor. Like other warranty items most are based on the original purchase date. My guess on certification it doesn’t add anything to the tire warranty. There might be some 1 year 12 month additional coverage but I doubt it.

 

[Hal993]

Dealer has been great so far. They are looking into what they can do - waiting on a call-back and they want to come pick it up and deliver it back - leaving me with a loaner.

My only concern with 1 tire... is that the tires are all around 7/32 to 8/32... and a new K02 will be 15/32. With the 4wd/AWD system in this truck - does the transfer case and do the differentials care? I know in the Bimmer, I was only allowed a 1% variance in circumference- which meant that after a few thousand miles, 1 bum tire = 4 bum tires.

I told them that I didn't expect or need 4 new tires - unless Ford spec says that 1 new tire will hurt the drivetrain.

 

[thatJeepguy]

 

[John813]

K02 was the only tire I've had in 8 years ever do that.

 

[Hal993]

Truck is at the dealer. They met me where I was, gave me an F150 to drive and took my truck. They've been great so far, and we'll see what comes of it. They were talking of putting only 1 or 2 tires on it. I did some reading, and with the current set at 7/32 it seems like the 4A drive setting is not likely to accommodate a single tire at 15/32... 2 tires works if you never use 4A or 4H...

I'm interested to see what comes of it.

 

[MurderedOutSVT]

Good luck, sounds good so far

 

[Hal993]

Thursday Afternoon Update:
1) Most important for fellow Gen 2/3 owners... from page 45 in the Gen 2 Owner's Supplement:
"Note: Uneven tread depth between the front and rear tires may lead to degradation in 4WD engagement and disengagement and all-wheel drive (AWD) performance, additional noise from the 4WD system or possible damage."

2) Despite the SA originally saying it might take them a half a day or so... and he'd rather them pick it up than me bring it in and wait, they hadn't touched the truck for the first 27 hours they had it... The dealership only went to pull it to the shop when I finally got ahold of a service advisor on the phone this afternoon - after 30min (no joke) of trying to reach a human on the phone. Mind you, this is not a mystery... not a module to diagnose... it was a specific tire that was "known" to be out of round.

3) The tech confirmed that tire was indeed not able to be balanced. The first solution offered me was for them to put (1) new tire on (15/32), move the spare to the other side, and leave (2) 7/32 tires on the front. I referred them to page 45 of the owner supplement... to which they replied, "We don't know what to do." The Service Dept's first suggestion was to literally do something that Ford clearly states can cause damage to the vehicle. sigh.

4) I offered - as a gesture that I wasn't farming for 4 new tires - that Tire Rack would shave a new tire to the purchaser's spec... so it was ok with me if they ordered a tire at 8/32 or 7/32 and mounted that in place of the bad one. They didn't want to do that, which is fine, but they didn't bring any other solutions to the table - so the told me that I would have to wait for the General Manager or Used Sales Manager to call me back.

After that dissapointing call, I immediately called Ford Customer Service and left a record of my dissatisfaction. Post haste, a Service advisor called me back and offered to put (3) new tires on the truck and rotate the spare (unused) to the 4th spot - as long as it balances out. Then they would put one of the "good" used tires in the spare slot.

I agreed that this solution was reasonable, and even though the (1) tire will technically time-out at 5 years, that puts the truck in a tire-life range that it was represented to be in when I bought it. Fair.

We'll see if they get it wrapped up tomorrow or Monday. I had originally asked them to balance these tires before I drove it off the lot - which they supposedly did, but they did not catch... or did not care, that one tire could not be balanced. For such a great truck, the customer service side of this transaction has been ... unsatisfactory.

I am 1.5 months away from buying 2 more brand new cars. This dealership may well be out of the race. hahahaa...

 

[2slo4u]

Make sure they put a TPMS unit in the spare