Crazy "unusual tire wear" with pics n video

[owenscott]

Ok heres the go round i had with saturn. I have a 07 ION. Im now a family guy so its cool, just a back to work and carry the kids car. I'm driving highway speed on I-4 near orlando.

I hear a hum hum hum kinda noise same time as an old chevy truck passes me (i said i was old now) and i think its his exhaust. I am now not near any other cars and i still hear the noise. I pull over and find this groove in the passenger side front outside tire. i call my mechanic, send him a pic and ask whats up .. he figues that it looks like a tire defect and expects it to pop soon.



I drive up the road and hear a pop but more towards driverside (opposite of where the groove is). I pull over and tire is same as before. I drive home slow and no problems. I have the spare put on. I go to a (former) goodyear guy and he says he seen that before with yep assurance tires, had a PT cruiser with four like that. Sends me back to saturn.

Drake at Saturn says there is alot he has seen in his many years working the garage and has never seen a tire defect. i show him above .. he uses a big words like cupping, tells me its been run low on air and has a tire plug in it. he tells me one cause could be out of alignment. so pay for an alignment and a new tire. I tell him my cars new and prolly doesn't need an alignment (23 k miles). he says all cars need alignment i ask for print out from before and after from alignment machine. (now i have the tire off i can see that the plug doesn't go all they way in to the tire ... its smooth on the inside of the tire ... no holes?)

I get print out ... all wheels were in spec BEFORE they touched them. i am not happy but i drive home ... now the car wants to drive INTO the median and i have to turn the wheel to the right the whole way home.

my question ... thanks for letting me ramble on about miss treatment via saturn .. what would cause the unusual tire wear shown above .. please help me understand.

I have more pics and Video of the tire if anybody needs to see it but i gotta pay for you to see the download so only those with real experience plase ask for the download or the extra pics. thanks.

Got ahold of goodyear. brought tire to a corporate store. They said its a separation issue defect and there is a prorated warranty " can i order you a tire?" It was that easy. SATURN IN CASSLEBERRY FL SUCKS !!!!!

[CapriRacer]

Hopefully you will have replaced the tire by now. If not - DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR until you do! If you must drive to the tire store, then drive slowly - less than 25 mph.

Yes, the Goodyear store correctly identified this as a separation. The key is the isolated wear in the shoulder of the tire.

Second, tires are warranted by the tire manufacturer, not the car manufacturer (with the exception of General Motors vehicles and I'm not sure Saturns are included in that!), so it should not be surprising to find a car dealer (even a GM dealer) who not only doesn't know what a separation looks like, but it is also probable that he doesn't know what is covered by the tire warranty. So don't be too harsh on tha Saturn dealer. He was never really trained on tires.

So what would cause this to happen?

You should be aware that Florida is one of those states that has been identified has being prone to this problem - #5. While it doesn't get as hot as Arizona (#1 on the list), it does stay warm year round. Heat is the tire killer.

To prevent this, tires must be inflated properly 100% of the time. (A tire never forgets if it was underinflated.) "They" recommend checking the pressure once a month.

Plus rotating the tires every 5K to 8K helps to even out the load carrying history of the set - not to mention the wear rate.

Also, speed is a factor. High speeds generate more heat within the tire. Tires exposed to reflective heat (also known as reflective rays from the sun) are more prone to this.


But you should also be aware that published factory alignment tolerances are too wide. "In Spec" isn't good enough. My experience says that you have to be within the inner half of the tolerance in order to prevent unusual tire wear (assuming the rotation pattern is followed and there isn't some other problem with the vehicle).

But alignment was not likely the issue here.

[blackm20i]

ya please take his advice. DO NOT DRIVE THE CAR, the tire company will cover this so there is no need to worry. It also looks like you have a wear problem on the outside of your tires. They could be under inflated or you may need to get an alignment of the camber/caster. let us know how it goes

[owenscott]

Yes thank you for your replies. I have replaced this tire already. Part of the reason why im upset with saturn. They charged me for a tire that goodyear would have replaced under warranty. They said an alignment could have been the cause. I paid about $222.00 for new tire and alignment. I then went to speak to an employee at a goodyear store. Ronnie said it was seperation and can i order you a new tire. I asked for my money back VIA the 800 complaint line.

The 800 compliant line checked in to it .. basically they asked saturn guys what happened. dealership guys told 800 line people that the tire was run low on air and thats what caused the delamination... 800 line said they would not give me back my money ..... ok i asked the 800 line ppl ... if they are not going to give me my money back because they are soooooo sure it is delamination, from me ruinning the tire low on air WHY DID THEY TELL ME TO GET AN ALIGNMENT ?????? silence ... small claims or picket out in front of the dealership ... i dunno what to do now.

I need, i feel it would be beneficial, to have three opinions total on the cause of the problem, from goodyear employees. Then i am leaning towards picketing in front on the sidewalk. christmas week alot of traffic will go by.
I dont have a job so that means i cant afford to spend money needlessly and i have time to pickett.


Maybe tomorrow ill get started. I wont rest till i get my money back, an appologee and a statement from the dealership that DRAKE is NOT QUALIFIED to speak about tire issues.

[CapriRacer]

I hope you will not be offended, but there are some things you should be aware of:

I posted my reply on Nov 26th, the day after you wrote your original post. It took you over 3 weeks to reply to that. If this is any indication of how important this is to you or how long it takes for you to address issues, then you are going to have trouble finding a sympathetic ear.

If the tire was indeed underinflated, then you have a problem. It doesn't matter what else was said at the time, if the final autopsy says "underinflated", then what was said earlier is just a preliminary diagnosis and likely to be revised.

I went back over your original post and let me point out some highlights:

The first person you talked to about this was a former Goodyear employee. Instead of sending you to a Goodyear dealer, he sends you to the vehicle dealer. This is an extremely unusual recommendation. He should have known that new car dealers don't handle tire warranties (there is one exception that may or may not apply in this case, but I doubt if he knew that!). So I wonder why he would send you to the Saturn dealer?

You mentioned that Drake at Saturn said both a "plug" and "run underinflated". Plugs are known to leak from time to time - besides being an unapproved repair. A repair such as a plug voids the tire warranty. Perhaps this is the reason the ex-Goodyear guy sent to you the Saturn dealer? He knew the warranty was void and a Goodyear dealer would know that.

Drake was saying the same thing - warranty void.

You should also be aware of 3 phenomenons of nature:

1) People don't always remember everything that happens. As human beings, we tend to forget stuff that is contradictory to our position.

2) people tend not to tell stuff that is contradictory to their position. As a result, people, listening to a story line only hear what is told them - and will comment based only on what they hear. (Not to mention that some people only hear what they want to hear!)

3) When confronted with a problem, people will try to be helpful. If they don't have all the facts, then they won't give you good advice. This is particularly true if they don't think they are involved in the situation. People will be careful what they say if they are involved in a situation - and tend to be "expansive" when they think they aren't.

I see a lot of that in your posting. While the Goodyear 800 number was trying to be helpful, I wonder if they knew about all the issues involved. I've called them myself, and found them to be extremely interested in getting me to a dealer and not particularly interested in solving my problem. With that in mind, I can see the same sort of thing in your post.

Here's the issue in a nutshell:

1) The tire failed.

2) The cause has been identified as underinflation.

3) The plug was the likely cause of that.

4) This means the tire was not covered under warranty.

5) While the Saturn dealer could have done better, in the final analysis, he handled it properly.

You've posted back in order to get a third supporting opinion - and if I hadn't been aware of what your original posted had said, I might have been supportive.

I'm sorry you've had trouble, but I think you will be wasting your time picketing or filing a suit in small claims court. The facts don't back you up. And when you explain the facts, it's fairly easy to see that you react like many human beings do. (see the 3 phenomenons of nature above.) A judge will see that, too!

BTW, if you don't have the evidence - the tire - then you don't have a case. If you do have the evidence, then you will need an expert to analyze the failure. Any expert worth his salt is going to 100% frank with you. If the tire has plug, then you will lose! The Saturn dealer will also get an expert, and if yours isn't honest with you, you can be assured the dealer's expert will be! and a guy at a Goodyear store won't be a good "expert". His expertise is limited. It will not take an attorney very long to disqualify him. The process is called "Daubert" after a case involving expert testimony.

You should also be aware that most large businesses have attorneys on retainer - which means it won't cost them anything to get a restraining order to prevent your picketing. The only thing worse would be to violate a restraining order! I recommend you don't do that!

While I can appreciate your frustration - and this is a good place to vent - the facts don't support you. Sorry.