Tyre advice needed please.

[Doddso99]

I'm searching for some advice for my dad who has a BMW 135i. Around about 7000km ago, he got 4 new Bridgestone potenza re050a run flats installed, I walked past his car a day ago and noticed that both the rear tyres are completely balled, no tread on them what so ever.

He called up Jaxquickfit where he got the tyres from and they said to bring the car in for them and a bridgestone rep to have a look at. So he dropped the car down this afternoon and the first thing the Bridgestone man did was chuck it up and checked the wheel alignment.

Jaxs and Bridgestone then both claimed that because the wheel alignment was out on the rear tyres it isn't covered by warranty and that he would have to get two new tyres which Jaxs will give him a 25% discount because they are so "lovely". His first set of these tyres he got 45000km out of no problems so 7000km is just appalling.

Any recommendations on what to/who to talk to about this? Sounds like an absolute sham to me.

Cheers in advance

[walbjj]

My brother scrubbed out his fronts of his car in 8k km due to poor alignment from factory. It happens I guess
I think the first thing to do is piss off the runflats. One of the worst ideas ever, ****ty ride, plus u need to replace the set if one breaks

[nat225]

u have the option of not running run flats, but legally u will have to carry a flat tyre sealant / compressor kit. it is only around $40 at Repco.

a suzuki swift sport comes with normal conti sc3 and does not come with a spare tyre, but a sealant & compressor kit instead.

[nat225]

re bad alignment causing the premature baldness, imo it is not the tyre manufacturing fault hence warranty wont cover.

it is more to do with the tyre shop incompetence of not offering alignment in the first place OR the driver lack of knowledge for not getting it done regularly or accepting the alignment offer.

i would think that a car with such a bad alignment would not drive nicely / straight on the highway. i am senstive to bad alignment and when i feel the car is pulling a bit sideway on a flat non cambered road, i would get it checked asap , unless i intend to kill the tyres soon

[Diesel_vert]

In the event of a deflation, runflat tyres are designed to allow the driver to retain almost normal control of the vehicle, mostly due to their reinforced side walls.

As a consequence, this makes it very difficult for the driver to notice a significant deflation through normal driving, unlike with conventional tyres - which you would notice immediately.

This is why the regulations state that vehicles with runflat tyres must be fitted with a tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS).

I walked past his car a day ago and noticed that both the rear tyres are completely bald, no tread on them what so ever.

Jaxs and Bridgestone then both claimed that the wheel alignment was out on the rear tyres...

I offer another possible explanation - were the pressures okay?

Assuming the tyres have worn evenly (no obvious signs of one-sided wear), it may be possible that for whatever reason the TPMS failed to alert the driver (not working correctly, reset with improper pressure, etc) which led to rapid tread wear from heat build up due to excessive flexing, as a result of the vehicle being driven around with low inflation pressures.

[Doddso99]

Well we took the car to two other tyre shops and they both agreed that the tyres were ruined because they were aligned incorrectly from the begin. They pointed out the when they put the new set of tyres on they moved the rear alignment by almost 8mm. So ill be back down to jax's to point out all the information I was giving showing how they were completely incompetent when they put the tyres on. If they don't budge ill be in contact with Bridgestone to inform them of what has happened with this whole situation.

[Doddso99]

it is more to do with the tyre shop incompetence of not offering alignment in the first place OR the driver lack of knowledge for not getting it done regularly or accepting the alignment offer.

Problem is the tyres were unaligned from install, so you would assume that this is what the car is ment to feel like. So it hasn't gone from Good to bad.

[nat225]

also, if u regularly drive hard over bumps N potholes, this will throw the alignment out too.

[Doddso99]

Good news, after taking my complaints to Jaxs Quick-fit head office and Bridgestone Head office, I had two brand new Potenza's fitted free of charge at another tyre shop. Bridgestone acknowledged the tyre was ruined because it was installed incorrectly from the beginning and Jaxs have had to pay for 2 new tyres.

I would also be very cautious about using Jaxs Quick-fit at Yeerongpilly. After getting the wheel alignment checked at Bob Jane, its shown Jaxs machine was out by nearly 8mm. So Buyer Beware.