The car thread ...

[neoplacebo]

Today I just happened to notice that my left front tire has an area about 4" long along the edge of it that protrudes as if it is being poked out from the inside. The tires are Uniroyal Tiger Paw GTZ 245/50-16 and have less than 14,000 miles on them. I went to the place I bought them today and got nothing but bullshit. The first thing the guy said to me after we went outside and looked at the tire was "these tires are six years old." Well, I bought them on 4-10-17 and today is 3-14-22.....a period of slightly less than five years. So that means that they were nearly a year old when I got them. The tire store guy tells me "we don't sell Uniroyal tires" even though I bought them from his store. He blames the distributor (it's a Firestone store). I've been doing my own research since then and notice on the Uniroyal website that their tires are guaranteed for "six years from date of purchase" or from normal tread wear from mileage, whichever comes first. Tomorrow I will be going back to that store and whipping out some neo on them. I've already got my paper ready with "your name" and "store owners' name and number" and "distributors' name and number" lined out on it. I anticipate victory but am prepared for skirmish or outright battle. This store has very large windows on two sides that are about eight feet high and six feet wide. I might have to reenact that tire ad where the old lady heaves a tire through one of those windows. But I also have rocks. And as a former estimator for a security and alarm company I observed that there are no cameras in this store.

Victory for me in the tire wars. Michelin (Uniroyal) called me today and asked that I take my car to another tire store and then have them call him. My foray to the place I bought the tires was as I expected. The guy there is still absolving himself, his store, his distributor, and his mother of any responsibility. I did obtain the information I came for, though.....his name, the name and number of the store owner, and the name and number of the "distributor" which was American Tire Distributors. I also informed him that having once worked as a service advisor for Ford and GM I told him that had I been him and he were me I would have put the car on the lift and checked to see if any of the other tires were showing a similar defect and made the point that "you didn't do that" and that that fact would be in the report I send to Firestone about him and his store. I also took the opportunity to bid him farewell with the one finger salute. He told me to sit on it and spin. I just laughed, said "fuck you" and left.

[O Really]

Sounds like a good story for your local TV muck-raking reporter, if they have one. And of course they have one - all the stations do. They love the sense of power.

Reminds me of an incident long ago when I took my Golden Retriever into the groomers for a "summer cut," sometimes known as "puppy cut" in which the hair is cut to about two inches, with feathering left on the legs and tail. I don't know what this groomer was thinking, but when I went to pick up my dog, I literally did not recognize her. She looked just like a yellow lab. Short hair all over. And very embarrassed looking, like "it wasn't my fault, dad." I was furious, but what can you do - you can't grow instant hair. What I could do, though, is take the dog in the back of my Bronco wherever I went, and had a sign saying "This Golden Retriever groomed by (name of shop)" And took her walking and told everybody when they asked what happened to her. There wasn't any Instagram or Facebook back then or I would have had her picture and the groomer's name all over the internet.

[neoplacebo]

I suppose I could make myself a sign and parade up and down on the sidewalk in front of the place. I'm still composing my address to Firestone. Apparently, Firestone "owns" this store as well as hundreds of others across the country called "Firestone Complete Auto Care" which in my case became "Firestone- We Completely Don't Care." I plan to expend considerable effort to make sure Firestone is well aware of how Mike Stanley operates a store in their name. I expect they will be contacting him before the month is over.

[billy.pilgrim]

I suppose I could make myself a sign and parade up and down on the sidewalk in front of the place. I'm still composing my address to Firestone. Apparently, Firestone "owns" this store as well as hundreds of others across the country called "Firestone Complete Auto Care" which in my case became "Firestone- We Completely Don't Care." I plan to expend considerable effort to make sure Firestone is well aware of how Mike Stanley operates a store in their name. I expect they will be contacting him before the month is over.

https://www.faulknerhondadoylestown.com ... new-tires/

https://jeffdavislawfirm.com/news-artic ... new-tires/

You would think that they would have to tell you the age of the tires when you purchase them.

I ran into this at a discount place years ago when my son bought 2 tires sold as new tires that were actually 3 years old.

Capitalism loves its secrets.

[Ulysses]

[O Really]

Yes, the date of manufacture code is on the side of every tire. But the dealers don't tell you about it, at least in part because for car tires it probably doesn't matter IRL. Age can affect car tires because of the drying and damaging effect of UV. When tires are on the road, the movement keeps the lubricants in the tire rubber blend working. Overall, tires on regularly used cars will almost always wear out the tread before wearing out from age. On the other hand, if a car sits around not being driven, the tires will "dry rot" and develop cracks.

Tires on motorcoaches, however, are much more affected by actual age, and motorcoach tires usually "age out" before the treads are gone. Michelin tires are good for about 7-9 years, with a recommendation that they be closely inspected each year starting about year 5-6.

Bottom line, though, the extra year or so on neoplacebo's tire likely didn't affect its failure. And it's also why his warranty starts at date of sale, not date of manufacture.

[Ulysses]

Yes it could just be defective manufacturing.

I suspect the process used to embed the ply fibers into the rubber failed.

[O Really]

Yes it could just be defective manufacturing.

I suspect the process used to embed the ply fibers into the rubber failed.

More likely pothole or curb damage.

[neoplacebo]

I suppose I could make myself a sign and parade up and down on the sidewalk in front of the place. I'm still composing my address to Firestone. Apparently, Firestone "owns" this store as well as hundreds of others across the country called "Firestone Complete Auto Care" which in my case became "Firestone- We Completely Don't Care." I plan to expend considerable effort to make sure Firestone is well aware of how Mike Stanley operates a store in their name. I expect they will be contacting him before the month is over.

https://www.faulknerhondadoylestown.com ... new-tires/

https://jeffdavislawfirm.com/news-artic ... new-tires/

You would think that they would have to tell you the age of the tires when you purchase them.

I ran into this at a discount place years ago when my son bought 2 tires sold as new tires that were actually 3 years old.

Capitalism loves its secrets.

Yeah, most people don't know about the codes that appear on the tires. The example Useless posted is outdated. The four digit date code is now the last four digits in the last oval on the tire. In my case 2416 and 2516. For decades, and maybe even now, you could look at the raised numbers on car tail lights (usually at the top of the lens cover) and see what model year the car was made; it is a two digit figure and may be followed by other characters but the first two digits are the year of manufacture of the car.

[Ulysses]

I suppose I could make myself a sign and parade up and down on the sidewalk in front of the place. I'm still composing my address to Firestone. Apparently, Firestone "owns" this store as well as hundreds of others across the country called "Firestone Complete Auto Care" which in my case became "Firestone- We Completely Don't Care." I plan to expend considerable effort to make sure Firestone is well aware of how Mike Stanley operates a store in their name. I expect they will be contacting him before the month is over.

https://www.faulknerhondadoylestown.com ... new-tires/

https://jeffdavislawfirm.com/news-artic ... new-tires/

You would think that they would have to tell you the age of the tires when you purchase them.

I ran into this at a discount place years ago when my son bought 2 tires sold as new tires that were actually 3 years old.

Capitalism loves its secrets.

Yeah, most people don't know about the codes that appear on the tires. The example Useless posted is outdated. The four digit date code is now the last four digits in the last oval on the tire. In my case 2416 and 2516. For decades, and maybe even now, you could look at the raised numbers on car tail lights (usually at the top of the lens cover) and see what model year the car was made; it is a two digit figure and may be followed by other characters but the first two digits are the year of manufacture of the car.

My screen name on BRD is Ulysses. Please use that in future.

Otherwise I'd be inclined to agree with O Really that the cause of your tire failure is from poor driving.

[billy.pilgrim]

I suppose I could make myself a sign and parade up and down on the sidewalk in front of the place. I'm still composing my address to Firestone. Apparently, Firestone "owns" this store as well as hundreds of others across the country called "Firestone Complete Auto Care" which in my case became "Firestone- We Completely Don't Care." I plan to expend considerable effort to make sure Firestone is well aware of how Mike Stanley operates a store in their name. I expect they will be contacting him before the month is over.

https://www.faulknerhondadoylestown.com ... new-tires/

https://jeffdavislawfirm.com/news-artic ... new-tires/

You would think that they would have to tell you the age of the tires when you purchase them.

I ran into this at a discount place years ago when my son bought 2 tires sold as new tires that were actually 3 years old.

Capitalism loves its secrets.

Yeah, most people don't know about the codes that appear on the tires. The example Useless posted is outdated. The four digit date code is now the last four digits in the last oval on the tire. In my case 2416 and 2516. For decades, and maybe even now, you could look at the raised numbers on car tail lights (usually at the top of the lens cover) and see what model year the car was made; it is a two digit figure and may be followed by other characters but the first two digits are the year of manufacture of the car.

And off topic, but that was back when the city where the coke bottle was filled the first time was in raised letters on the bottom. Great for betting whose was closest or furtherest away.

[O Really]

My screen name on BRD is Ulysses. Please use that in future.

Otherwise I'd be inclined to agree with O Really that the cause of your tire failure is from poor driving.

He wasn't addressing his comment to you - he was addressing "useless" another regular poster on this forum. And when you address "Voldemort" you aren't referring to Vrede.

And I said or implied nothing about poor driving. Potholes don't care.

[neoplacebo]

I suppose I could make myself a sign and parade up and down on the sidewalk in front of the place. I'm still composing my address to Firestone. Apparently, Firestone "owns" this store as well as hundreds of others across the country called "Firestone Complete Auto Care" which in my case became "Firestone- We Completely Don't Care." I plan to expend considerable effort to make sure Firestone is well aware of how Mike Stanley operates a store in their name. I expect they will be contacting him before the month is over.

https://www.faulknerhondadoylestown.com ... new-tires/

https://jeffdavislawfirm.com/news-artic ... new-tires/

You would think that they would have to tell you the age of the tires when you purchase them.

I ran into this at a discount place years ago when my son bought 2 tires sold as new tires that were actually 3 years old.

Capitalism loves its secrets.

Yeah, most people don't know about the codes that appear on the tires. The example Useless posted is outdated. The four digit date code is now the last four digits in the last oval on the tire. In my case 2416 and 2516. For decades, and maybe even now, you could look at the raised numbers on car tail lights (usually at the top of the lens cover) and see what model year the car was made; it is a two digit figure and may be followed by other characters but the first two digits are the year of manufacture of the car.

And off topic, but that was back when the city where the coke bottle was filled the first time was in raised letters on the bottom. Great for betting whose was closest or furtherest away.

I remember those bottles. I think most of the ones we got said Bristol on the bottom but we'd sometimes get ones from Atlanta and places in Virginia. I also remember when beer cans were made of steel and you had to have a triangle shape piercing tool to open them. Back then none of these dumbass redneck pseudo tough guys flattened any beer cans on their foreheads.

[neoplacebo]

My screen name on BRD is Ulysses. Please use that in future.

Otherwise I'd be inclined to agree with O Really that the cause of your tire failure is from poor driving.

He wasn't addressing his comment to you - he was addressing "useless" another regular poster on this forum. And when you address "Voldemort" you aren't referring to Vrede.

And I said or implied nothing about poor driving. Potholes don't care.

I thought I'd fallen into a vortex of abject memory loss and general confusion when I read that you'd accused me of bad driving. Then I just thought "hell, there's no such thing as bad driving in a 99 Z28 with the LS1 engine."

And Useless has referred to me more than a few times as Neo(fill in the blank with something stupid or childish) but I never cried about it. I have no capital "N" on my forum name, either, which he generally uses when castigating me. So considering all that, I will now and in the future refer to him as "Useless" no matter what.

[neoplacebo]

Today I just happened to notice that my left front tire has an area about 4" long along the edge of it that protrudes as if it is being poked out from the inside. The tires are Uniroyal Tiger Paw GTZ 245/50-16 and have less than 14,000 miles on them. I went to the place I bought them today and got nothing but bullshit. The first thing the guy said to me after we went outside and looked at the tire was "these tires are six years old." Well, I bought them on 4-10-17 and today is 3-14-22.....a period of slightly less than five years. So that means that they were nearly a year old when I got them. The tire store guy tells me "we don't sell Uniroyal tires" even though I bought them from his store. He blames the distributor (it's a Firestone store). I've been doing my own research since then and notice on the Uniroyal website that their tires are guaranteed for "six years from date of purchase" or from normal tread wear from mileage, whichever comes first. Tomorrow I will be going back to that store and whipping out some neo on them. I've already got my paper ready with "your name" and "store owners' name and number" and "distributors' name and number" lined out on it. I anticipate victory but am prepared for skirmish or outright battle. This store has very large windows on two sides that are about eight feet high and six feet wide. I might have to reenact that tire ad where the old lady heaves a tire through one of those windows. But I also have rocks. And as a former estimator for a security and alarm company I observed that there are no cameras in this store.

Victory for me in the tire wars. Michelin (Uniroyal) called me today and asked that I take my car to another tire store and then have them call him. My foray to the place I bought the tires was as I expected. The guy there is still absolving himself, his store, his distributor, and his mother of any responsibility. I did obtain the information I came for, though.....his name, the name and number of the store owner, and the name and number of the "distributor" which was American Tire Distributors. I also informed him that having once worked as a service advisor for Ford and GM I told him that had I been him and he were me I would have put the car on the lift and checked to see if any of the other tires were showing a similar defect and made the point that "you didn't do that" and that that fact would be in the report I send to Firestone about him and his store. I also took the opportunity to bid him farewell with the one finger salute. He told me to sit on it and spin. I just laughed, said "fuck you" and left.

A small but tolerable defeat in tire wars. Michelin no longer makes or has any TIger Paw GTZ tires but they will pay 70% of the cost of two Falken tires of the same size.....will cost me about $130 for two new tires.

[Ulysses]

My screen name on BRD is Ulysses. Please use that in future.

Otherwise I'd be inclined to agree with O Really that the cause of your tire failure is from poor driving.

He wasn't addressing his comment to you - he was addressing "useless" another regular poster on this forum. And when you address "Voldemort" you aren't referring to Vrede.

And I said or implied nothing about poor driving. Potholes don't care.

If you read his latest post, he certainly is addressing me with a despicable name.

I will not return the favor.

Where's Voldemort?

[neoplacebo]

"Useless" is not a despicable name. "Urinal sucker" is. And If Voldermort was up your ass you'd know where he is. If he were in your mouth you wouldn't ask.

[Ulysses]

Today I just happened to notice that my left front tire has an area about 4" long along the edge of it that protrudes as if it is being poked out from the inside. The tires are Uniroyal Tiger Paw GTZ 245/50-16 and have less than 14,000 miles on them. I went to the place I bought them today and got nothing but bullshit. The first thing the guy said to me after we went outside and looked at the tire was "these tires are six years old." Well, I bought them on 4-10-17 and today is 3-14-22.....a period of slightly less than five years. So that means that they were nearly a year old when I got them. The tire store guy tells me "we don't sell Uniroyal tires" even though I bought them from his store. He blames the distributor (it's a Firestone store). I've been doing my own research since then and notice on the Uniroyal website that their tires are guaranteed for "six years from date of purchase" or from normal tread wear from mileage, whichever comes first. Tomorrow I will be going back to that store and whipping out some neo on them. I've already got my paper ready with "your name" and "store owners' name and number" and "distributors' name and number" lined out on it. I anticipate victory but am prepared for skirmish or outright battle. This store has very large windows on two sides that are about eight feet high and six feet wide. I might have to reenact that tire ad where the old lady heaves a tire through one of those windows. But I also have rocks. And as a former estimator for a security and alarm company I observed that there are no cameras in this store.

Victory for me in the tire wars. Michelin (Uniroyal) called me today and asked that I take my car to another tire store and then have them call him. My foray to the place I bought the tires was as I expected. The guy there is still absolving himself, his store, his distributor, and his mother of any responsibility. I did obtain the information I came for, though.....his name, the name and number of the store owner, and the name and number of the "distributor" which was American Tire Distributors. I also informed him that having once worked as a service advisor for Ford and GM I told him that had I been him and he were me I would have put the car on the lift and checked to see if any of the other tires were showing a similar defect and made the point that "you didn't do that" and that that fact would be in the report I send to Firestone about him and his store. I also took the opportunity to bid him farewell with the one finger salute. He told me to sit on it and spin. I just laughed, said "fuck you" and left.

A small but tolerable defeat in tire wars. Michelin no longer makes or has any TIger Paw GTZ tires but they will pay 70% of the cost of two Falken tires of the same size.....will cost me about $130 for two new tires.

I remember when $130 would buy two new tires without any trade-in or warranty nonsense.

But if you're happy with the settlement, that's all that counts, right?

And avoid those potholes, M'kay? Although they have the word "pot" in their name, they won't get you any higher than you already are.

[neoplacebo]

Yeah, it's like being back in 1968

[O Really]

That sounds like a good deal. Are the Falkens the same high performance design as your Tiger Paw? Or are you close to ready for a full set anyway? We wouldn't want to think of you careening around the mountain curves trying to re-live the "Thunder Road" drive on mismatched tires.