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Wheel alignment and tread wear

Dear experts,

I have recently had a flat in one of my tires. It was repaired, but, not perfectly, because it keeps losing air.

Sears said that they would repair this puncture three times under road hazard warranty. If it kept losing air, they would replace the tire.

I asked if they would replace both tires. Since you are always supposed to replace sets of tires. They said no. Excuse: the car is not an all wheel drive.

I tried to get the guy to tell me, just what level of wear on the one tire would be acceptable? He kept avoiding the question. Finally, he seemed to say that the remaining tire could be perfectly bald. And it would still be perfectly acceptable to put a brand new tire on the side. Although he would not recommend it.

I asked how could they possibly give such an arrangement a wheel alignment? Every place that I've gone to, has wanted perfectly matching tires before doing an alignment.

But this guy's response was to the effect that tires didn't make any difference to wheel alignment! They could give the car a wheel alignment. And then change the tires, and it would make no difference. To me, of course, that would only be true if both sets of tires were perfectly matched in wear and tear to each other. (although one pair might be worn more than the other pair.)

It sounds like quite the hypocricy on Sears part. They expect you to worship your tires, and rotate them often so that they wear evenly, otherwise you are out of warranty. But when it comes to fixing something under warranty it doesn't matter what the difference is.

What is your experience? If one tire is worn, can it, and only it, be replaced with a new tire? And still get a perfect wheel alignment? If not, what is the acceptable range of wear between the two tires?

1/32nd of an inch? Or completely bald on one side, and brand new on the other?

Thanks a lot

Reply to
condor_222
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I have been aligning cars for 15+ years for what that's worth and The only issue I see that would arise from replacing 1 tire is a lead condition to one side or the other....The difference in tread depth means a difference in the rolling resistance and circumference between the tires...Which creates the pull........What I would recommend is putting the mixed set on the rear of the car and the matched set on the front..This SHOULD resolve any lead condition that may arise ...By the time rotation time comes around you may or may not experience a problem with the mixed set up front, and that could be addressed then by swapping tires around...

Aligning the car is also not an issue....The car can be aligned with a difference in thread depth...Also remember even brand new tires can have a tendency to lead to one side or the other even with perfect offsets of Camber and Caster and the same tread depth....I can't begin to tell you how many times a pull has been fixed by simply swapping front tires from left to right....

Again the difference in tread depth between the tires is not that major an issue...Of course Bald and new is unacceptable but several 32nds is no big deal...Now a difference in tread pattern is another issue altogether and is never acceptable....

Frank

Reply to
Frank

He could just bite the bullet and replace the second tyre to maintain a balanced set.

Huw

Reply to
Huw

Does your road hazard warranty address replacement of both tires in the event of a failure of one? I bet it does not. Have you even read your road hazard warranty fine print? If not, you are like the blind arguing with the blind about the color of the sunrise.

Here in the Pacific NW we have a chain of tire places called Les Schwab and they do free, and that is 0 dollars, flat repair, and that is any tire, it doesen't even have to be a tire that they originally sold. I have often gotten tires flat repaired there and their tire prices are competitive with everyone elses. Their only restriction is that if they dismount a tire for flat repair and find any cords showing, they will not remount the tire. Thus forcing you to buy a set of replacement tires from them. That has happened to me once, but as I knew of that policy before taking the car in, I did not mind.

I believe if you were to call around to the local tires places in your area you might find that it is cheaper to not purchase the road hazard warranty and just buy from a different tire place that has better flat repair prices.

I would also say if your that concerned, you should just go to a wrecking yard and buy a spare rim, have the opposite side wheel removed and put in your trunk, and put the new tires on the rims. I would bet that this would make a much better spare tire than the donut that is probably in there now.

Extended warranties are written for one reason - to make the company money selling them. They are designed with a million loopholes to get out of paying any claims on them. Most people that buy them don't use them, and they are a waste of money for those folks. Only a few people strike it rich where the extended warranty pays out more than they ever put in.

If you get a free tire out of this then you are getting more than most people get who buy a road hazard warranty. If the road hazard warranty cost you more than the price of a new tire then consider it a lesson learned and don't buy another one again. If the road hazard warranty cost less then you are gaining, then why are you complaining in the first place? If you didn't have the road hazard warranty at all, then you would be stuck paying for

2 tires which is more money.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Mittelstaedt

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