Another tire replacement question

[srellim234]

I've been running Michelin HydroEdge tires on my Versa for about 30,000 miles now and love them. No signs of wear at all. My wife was taking our daughter to urgent care the other night, hit something laying in the roadway and tore up the sidewall. I have an unconditional free replacement certificate on the tire from Discount Tire/America's Tire Store but Michelin will not be able to supply the HydroEdge to the United States again until some time in 2012.

I'm going to have them replace the one tire with a Michelin Destiny so I'll be running 3 HydroEdge and 1 Destiny. Normally I would replace 2 tires at a time but I simply don't have any money in the budget since I don't get paid again until the end of August.

Here are links to the two tires:

HydroEdge

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTi ... 5&sw=false

Destiny

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findTi ... 5&sw=false


What, if any, problems am I going to have running one odd tire/tread pattern? With 60,000 miles left on the HydroEdge do I still need to look at replacing one of them with a Destiny to match when I get paid in August? Will it be OK if I don't do anything in August and do normal rotations with 1 Destiny and 3 HydroEdge?

[chompsticks]

having one different tire will cause you car to pull to one direction or another since not all tires have the same rolling resistance. Not a great idea because it can throw of the driving dynamics of the car. I'd replace two and keep the good tire for use later on.

[srellim234]

That's along the lines of what I was thinking...I'm just going to have to put up with the driving dynamics until I can afford the other tire in 1 1/2 - 2 months, though. Fortunately I'm not putting a ton of miles on the car and I can even use our Buick Rendezvous as my primary vehicle until then.

Thanks.

[AZhitman]

Hmmm... Steve, I think I'd push the issue a little harder with DT. If they offer a replacement warranty, they can't just leave you hanging. Press them for an in-stock tire from somewhere else in the country (there's GOTTA be one laying around someplace) OR tell them you're gonna need four comparable tires.

Don't settle for their weak excuse.

[srellim234]

The HydroEdge is not in stock in that size anywhere in the country. A call to Michelin from the tire shop confirmed no HydroEdge in that size here until next year. They'll honor the replacement certificate with a free comparable tire but not a second one to match them up. They do have a 30 day free ride guarantee so I might just take the Destiny, run it for 3 weeks, swap it out with another tire for three weeks and see if we can get a close match. If not then I'll buy the second tire to match the free one.

OR, I might just throw a couple of cheap tires on the back for the winter and have them give me a free HydroEdge when they come back in the spring. I could put the third HydroEdge back on then to match up all four tires again.

[AZhitman]

Then they need to pony up for the second tire.

It'd be a hell of a lot cheaper for them (and simpler for you) than them having to eat the cost of 2 more tires on the "free ride" program.

If the DT manager has half a brain, he'll call Michelin, explain the situation, and get the ok to give you a pair of comparable tires on Michelin's dime.

By the time a new replacement tire shows up, you'll have 15K miles on the other three tires. That's gonna put you in the same situation you're in now.

Or, you can roll over and let DT dictate everything for you.

[srellim234]

I'm also hoping to hear back from a few other places today. No one locally at any of the other tire places has it in stock but I have emails out to some online retailers to see if any of them still have the right HydroEdge left in stock. I'll make DT buy it from them.

[srellim234]

Heard back from a couple of the online retailers and no one has it in stock. If DT/ATS doesn't give in and I'm forced to buy a matching tire I'm going to make it very clear to them that I will be buying it from someone else. As well as the next 2 sets of tires for our vehicles. The business is theirs to lose, just like West Covina Nissan lost my service business. 12 years of loyalty, tires for 6 different cars and referring friends to them should be worth something.

[srellim234]

Apparently it wasn't worth anything. They put on the one Destiny but weren't willing to deal on a second so I left with the three HydroEdge and one Destiny.

On the bright side, I put the car through the paces (around town, on the highway and on the freeway to a meeting I had to go to) and the car tracked perfectly. I was able to take my hands off the wheel and there wasn't even a hint that the car wouldn't go straight. We'll see if it stays that way.

I expressed my unhappiness with them to their corporate office in the follow up survey I receive by email. Let's see how they respond on that level. Of course, if things continue as well as they've gone so far I probably won't need to buy that other tire. Except for the slight tread pattern difference the tires are basically identical.

[srellim234]

The survey worked. All is well with DT/ATS again. As a result of the survey I received a phone call about 8:15 this morning from the store manager, asking about the situation (his people apparently never filled him in and he hadn't been there while all this saga was occurring). I didn't feel I was being unreasonable asking him to split the price of the second tire since it wasn't my fault, his fault or actually even Michelin's fault. He agreed and did not even hesitate to offer me another Destiny for even less than what I was asking. Another Destiny, installed, for only $30. He will get his money by using the road hazard warranty to split his part of the loss with Michelin and I'm sure someone will be selling a HydroEdge with 60K miles left on the used tire market.

I am comfortable with this solution. My goal was never to shaft anybody and was always willing to share the burden of the new tire cost since there's no real blame to be assigned for what happened. Accidents and earthquakes happen.

Once the right people know about things DT/ATS does really seem to understand and get it right. I like the fact, too, that the focus on taking care of the customer starts at corporate and flows down. Most companies have frustrated employees trying to force customer service from the bottom up.

[chompsticks]

Awesome! I am glad everything worked out. Sometimes all it really takes is a call up to the corporate offices.

[AZhitman]

Well done, sir.

[srellim234]

Just to let you know, they wound up going above and beyond. When I went in to get my new tire they refused to even charge me the $30. I had no idea about that development until it was installed on the car and I tried to pay for it. They gave me a Michelin Destiny for free!

They have really restored my faith in their company and I'm once again more than willing to recommend them to family and friends.