Falken Tyre Problems

[Justin S]

Hope this is the right section for this, but I had a pair of Falken 452's fitted to my Focus ST when I bought it from a Ford dealer. They are 14 months old now and 6k miles on them. Plenty of tread still on them, probably 5 to 6mm ( should try harder, I know)
Ever since we had them, we have had inbalance issues. We have had them rebalanced 3 times in the last year, so today, I tried another tyre shop, who are really good. They checked the tyres and found that both of them , internally show the sidewalls are delaminating. The both have at least 50% of the sidewalls showing this. They are both blowing outwards in a large squishy bubble. Reading on the net, people seem to believe that its the roads that have caused this, but we have no problems with the rear Toyos on the car. Has anyone contacted a tyre manufacturer and complained about a defect and got anywhere rather than being fobbed off?
Personally, I do believe they should have lasted the life of the tyre.
Any sensible thoughts would be great. Cheers

[Justin S]

Very fussy with my tyre pressures. Car isnt used hard. Cant see any reasoning behind them falling apart. Shown another Pistonheader them tonight and he couldnt believe what he saw. The tyres, I guess went a bit out of balance 'probably' a month after fitting. Being I fell out with the Ford dealership where I got the car from, due to them 'breaking' my car while in for a few niggles after buying it, I went and got them balanced myself locally. Seemed fine for a little while and then it came back. So got them done again at the same place, FOC, as the weights seem to move around the rim about 5mm, so thought they had put them on wrong. Then we just sort of put up with it for a while, as other owners of ST's say they have similar issues, so put it down to a car traight of big wheels. Just decided to try somewhere else to balance them on Saturday and thats what they found. The treadwear is pretty even across the tread. Maybe a little missing more off the outside of the NSF, which is the norm, but other than that a good 5 to 6 mm left on the tyre.
I have Falkens number , which I will have a chat with them in the morning and report back.

[Justin S]

Just to bring this back up. Falkens are regarded as a 'reputable' tyre, so not as ditch finding as some. The tyres were sent back to Micheldever tyres, who are the Falken importers. This was via a tyre guy across the road from our office, who does our vans and cars.
So, have chased 3 times now. Was told initally that it takes 6 to 8 weeks for a reply and Falken will contact me direct. I have no details of Falkens and the guy at micheldever says they send the calls to them......... Worried that they are now lost 'in hampshire' to be honest, but will be chasing again, as £180 of tyres is £180 of tyres. Really happy with the Good Year Assymetric 2's I replaced them with , quieter , more supple and generally better. Frustrating as to the time it takes to resolve these things....

[Justin S]

Well today after what seems a very long time. I have a conclusion. They were faulty. Falken admit them to having a fault and have offered me an 80% credit for them. Thats all that was advised to me today. Seems nuts that as a consumer we have to wait for such a long period of time before a settlement could be reached. It has not exactly made me think 'lets put Falkens back on the car' 'If' the answer was in a reasonable time, maybe, but I must admit to liking the GoodYear Assymetrics 2's on the front , so since the rears are getting low, I have used the credit against another pair of those.