Faulty tyre - Right to a replacement

[woodyTVR]

I bought a car in December from a main dealer with 2k on the clock.

I felt the handling wasn't right and on looking at the tyres (all four) I see there is an odd raised pattern around the tyres. I emailed the sales guy who said he'd deal with it. He never came back and on chasing it he said pop in and we'll take a look.

I took it in and the tyre guy seemed pretty certain there was a fault with the tyres and took photos. He's now come back and said Pirelli won't accept pictures they want the tyres back. I have to buy four tyres and if they find the originals to be faulty I will be reimbursed a % based on wear - I've done 6k on them.

I'm not too keen on spending nearly £1k on tyres when the car has only covered 8k only to be told there's no fault.

Legally where do I stand in terms of having the tyres inspected on the car. Or done in one day by allowing Pirelli to remove the tyres and check them etc. Also I think the % is a bit harsh as the tyres are faulty and therefore could be wearing quicker, there should be something for my hassle and I wouldn't be spending on tyres now if there wasn't an issue.

Any advice appreciated. If it helps I'm fairly local to Pirelli factory.

[woodyTVR]

[JustinP1]

If it's like that on all four, that would reduce the odds of a fault I would have thought.

[paranha]

Make your own complaint at the Pirelli works, nothing like a face to face.

[AngryPartsBloke]

Can't comment on the % refund. As for the paying for the new ones, well that's pretty standard. Warranty is on the old tyres, they have to be inspected to confrim if it's a fault and if it is you'd get a refund or replacment. Things is, you obviously need tyres in the mean time so you're going to have to pay for them.

It's something we do all the time with engine parts, if there's a problem send it back and we will have a look at it but we aren't going to send a new one out Free of Charge untill we inspect it.

[woodyTVR]

JustinP1 said:

If it's like that on all four, that would reduce the odds of a fault I would have thought.

It's not normal though. Matching DOT numbers on the fronts and matching on the rear so same batch of tyres.

[herewego]

Is that a strip of a different grade of rubber all around the tyre?

[woodyTVR]

herewego said:

Is that a strip of a different grade of rubber all around the tyre?

I'm not sure what it is but it's on all four. Worse on the front than the back.

[amusingduck]

Perhaps have the rubber shaved off?

[McWigglebum4th]

Mmmm

2K on the clock when you bought it

Warranty?

As they should be the original tyres

[vanordinaire]

You bought the car from the dealer, not Pirelli. Your contract is with them so they should sort out the problem. You shouldn't need to buy a new set of tyres while they sort out the problem.

[BobSaunders]

You have done six thousand miles on the tyres since buying them and not thought to question the odd looking out of band stripe?

[V8forweekends]

The expensive Pirelli tyres on my Jag did that. Have a guess how much anyone wanted to know. Good luck, I won't ever buy any more Pirelli tyres.

[ging84]

AngryPartsBloke said:

Can't comment on the % refund. As for the paying for the new ones, well that's pretty standard. Warranty is on the old tyres, they have to be inspected to confrim if it's a fault and if it is you'd get a refund or replacment. Things is, you obviously need tyres in the mean time so you're going to have to pay for them.

It's something we do all the time with engine parts, if there's a problem send it back and we will have a look at it but we aren't going to send a new one out Free of Charge untill we inspect it.

I don't really think they need to inspect those tyres, the issue is clearly evident from the photo, they should know if that is normally how they wear or not

[SMB]

woodyTVR said:

looks normal to me for a fuel efficient tyre, the strip aids fuel economy

Edited by SMB on Monday 23 February 23:22

[SMB]

woodyTVR said:

looks normal to me for a fuel efficient tyre, the strip aids fuel economy

Edited by SMB on Monday 23 February 23:24

[defblade]

Carbon strip for static discharge?

I remember a question about a similar feature of Michelin motorbike tyres....

... off to google....

http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/threads/61279...
(not the original version I saw, same result though)

http://www.google.com/patents/US5898047

[SpeedMattersNot]

I was a technician for 13 years (Toyota, Renault and Land Rover) and would occasionally see this. I didn't see it to be a cause for concern as it wasn't distorted or separating in anyway.

[allergictocheese]

Unless you can convincingly demonstrate how that strip makes the tyre worse performing or less safe than it should be, what does the OP think is going to motivate the dealer or Pirelli to change the them at their expense?

The only way I can imagine is Pirelli doing so out of good will. I can't see a dealer swallowing the cost based upon a customer complaining without a valid reason to require replacements.

[herewego]

Maybe you can email the pictures to Pirelli and see what they say?