Kwik Fit tyre issue
 

Guys,
about 3 months ago I bought 2 new front tyres ,Conti Sport 5,s and had them fitted at home by the Kwik fit mobile van.
All seemed well.
Yesterday I took my wheel to a local tyre fitter as I thought I had lost a balance weight off the wheel so thought I would get it re-balanced to be on the safe side. The car didn't feel bad to drive.
The tyre fitter said it was probably just the sticky pad left on by the Kwik fit fitter when he replaced my tyres before.
He did say he would re-balance it anyway to be on the safe side.
On doing this he removed the old remaining weights and balanced the wheel .
He then said the tyre looks egg shaped and he showed me it spinning whereby I could see it bobbing up and down at one point on the tyre. The rim looked straight and he confirmed it does not look like the rim is bent at all.
I went home and phoned Kwik fit who said they wouldn't replace the tyre but I could buy a new one and have the old ,damaged one sent off to Continental who would inspect it and refund the cash if ,I say if, they deem it faulty.
Now strangely I wasn't happy with this as the tyre is only 3-4 months old and has covered 1000 miles or so.
I said I wanted it inspected by the tyre fitter first to see if there was anything obviously wrong and then we will decide what the course of action is. They agreed to send the van round on Friday to check the tyre and try and reseat it to see if that works.
Do I have any rights for Kwik fit to replace it at their expense as I purchased the tyre of them and not Continental.
Your thought guys ?
Regards
Rob.

Pretty sure yoiur contract is with KwikFit and NOT Continental

That's what I am thinking to be honest.
I don't buy a washing machine that fails after 3 months and then go knocking on Hotpoints door ,I go back to Currys or wherever I bought it from.
Ta.

So you drive over 1 thousand miles,

3 months

Now want a replacement tyre ?

Cant see you getting anything as they just say it's how you been driving or where,

Tyres are consumables wash machine isn't

If you got a puncture or bulge in sidewall 2 secs down road they wouldn't entertain you nvm 3 months and 1k miles later.

Also not clear in 1st post, did you source your own tyres or did quick-fit provide em ?

Oh right so tyres only last 1000 miles and 3 months..! eh
The alloy is not bent and I avoid potholes like the plague ,so I am pretty sure its not my driving over anything to cause it.
I don't scuff curbs and I use the car on Sunday drives in good weather only , it leaves my garage and returns to the garage without parking anywhere usually.
I understand it if it is a puncture as that would not be tyre fault.
Yes I purchased the tyres from Kwik fit and had them fit them at my home as I didn't want some gibbon using a scaffold pole to take my old tyres off and I could watch him doing it..! And ensuring he took care of the unmarked alloys in the process.

Unfortunately I think that your chances of getting money back from Kwik-fit or Continental is slim to nil. They will just say that the tyre was fine when fitted and if it's faulty now it must be as a result of a subsequent impact. Even if you 100% believe this not to be the case, trying to prove that will be impossible.

It would be worth trying it re-fitted, and if that doesn't help it would also be worth asking them to return it to Continental for a quality check because it won't cost you anything to have that done.

4 months down the line tho....

How do we know how you drive ?

How do we know you never pumped it upto 90psi to seal the bead ?

How many time you checked your pressures in 4 months ?

Struggle to think of any reason why they would even entertain you,

Could kill a set of tyres in 2 mins in an empty car part so age & miles are irrelevant.

Send it back if its free,

Wouldn't hold my breath tho

Reckon Conti will blame Q-F & Q-F will Blame conti....

Well im certain its not been over anything or pot holed .
Its a Y rated tyre so should be good for 180 mph.. I can confirm its not quite got to that either.
Not expecting much of a result but miffed at the fact it has done so little mileage before deforming.
Thanks for your thoughts guys.

One of mine went oval. Kingsway tyres replaced it under warranty with 6000 miles on it.
It was one of theirs.

IIRC don't Kwik fit print all their Ts and Cs on the back of the invoice?

https://www.kwik-fit.com/about-us/terms-and-conditions

That's good news Alcazar.
To your knowledge had you pot holed it or anything or can this happen through "normal" use?

Thanks Ali B.
I was not aware of the lifetime guarantee they "offer".:thumb:

Umm I see...
Still not clear as to whether they will charge me for it and send it away and return my money if fault found.
Whats the chance they find no fault and say it is my driving that has caused it..
And it says they may not return the tyre ,which means I would not be able to get a third party inspection of the tyre because they have destroyed it?
Not going to be easy but I think I will make some noise.

What did you expect using KwikFit? They have a well deserved bad reputation.
I had brake failure once and was taken by the RAC to KwikFit as it was the only place open on a Sunday. They wanted to replace nearly the whole braking system at a cost of around £800 (this was 20 years ago). I went elsewhere and all it needed was an O seal in the master cylinder. Barstewards the lot of them.
Back to the OP. I'd expect the tyre to be changed free of charge under warranty and would remain at their tyre centre until it was. No company like to honour warranty work as it costs them time/money so will try the easy way out at first. Stick to your guns and make a fuss and you should get it changed.

Normal use, no kerbs, potholes or anything.

And tyre fitters tell me it's not rare, any tyre can do it.

Had a similar issue with the same tyre on the new civics. All looked okay however the tyre was misshapen. And the car pulled to one side. Changed to a new wheel. Same tyre. Same problem. Tried new tyre with old wheel. And it curee it.The car was only on 45 miles as well.

If there' no bulges or visible defects then it' worth chasing up Tbh. Get the tyre off and check the rim on the balancer. Be a good Indication if it's due to a buckled rim or the tyre going out of shape.

Unsure how or why it happenend but something ain' right

Thanks Guys,
will see what the mobile van fitter says on Friday when he comes to check it.
I will get him to check the other front one as well.
Regards
Rob.

Good luck.

Any update?

Some funny replies on here, beggars belief :wonder:

I find it worse on some brands over others;

Some of the cheap and nasty tyres have massive run-out (oval or misshaped) when brand new. Some requiring over a 100grams on each side to balance on a true rim (not bent).

Some branded are not so good either that suffer structural issues after use; I've seen repeated problems with Goodyear Exellence and EfficientGrips. Dunlop Sportmaxx and Bridgestone RE050s. They balance ok, but either vibrate or wear in strange patterns.

Not good news.
Checked it yesterday and fitter agreed no wheel damage or signs of curbing etc.
Got him to check other side and its the same.
Chased it up later with Customer services who did not phone me back as promised and they said I will have to buy 2 new tyres and they will return them to Continental for inspection and I may get some money back..! or maybe not.
I am loathe to do this to be honest as if Continental find an issue they will apparently recall the whole batch. Umm not really going to want to do that are they.
I have asked for the tyres to be taken off and re-seated to see if this makes any difference first which they are doing on Monday.
Kwik fit reckon this is the industry standard and the manufacture guarantees the tyres not them. Thieving scum.

That's crap!

Forgot I had this on the phone:

Kwik fit hall of shame:

Guy had puncture repaired...tyre went flat next day. Dropped it in for us to look at, turns out the tyre had two punctures and Kwik fit missed one. It happens, I suppose....

However benefit of the doubt was removed after taking the tyre off the rim. When fitting a plug/patch, you drill out the puncture with a reaming tool and buff/rough up the inner of the tyre to give the adhesive something to adhere to. Seriously its not rocket science, its work akin to burger flipping, so with exception to scratching your rims, it's a job that is quite difficult to do wrong ....but...it this guy couldn't get it more wrong if he tried!!

You aren't supposed to buff down to the belt!! :eek: You are also supposed to apply over-buff, which is a rubber sealant. This was also lacking :nono:


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...cb7ad73f7.jpeg

I have to say I have no confidence in Kwik fit whatsoever.
The tyres were competitive price wise and I chose the mobile fitting so I could watch over the guy fitting them so he took care of the unmarked rims rather than letting some gimp take a scaffold pole to the old tyres when taking them off. In the tyre fitting shop on the high street that is.
To be fair the mobile fitter was very careful .
I have noticed the wheels do have an awful lot of weights on them to be honest and this may be because the tyres were not true to start with .
I have just been checking over a car I bought for track days that has after market wheels on and the wheel I took off had only one small weight on and the car its on drives spot on with no shakes ,and this is with deathslider cheapo tyres, which were on when I bought it I might add. So definitely something amiss with these Continentals.

Final update,
Mobile fitter arrived this morning as planned. Took both wheels off and then the tyres partly off ie, one side to allow them to be moved around the rim. Spun the tyres around 180 degrees and refitted them to the wheels. One balanced up no problem and the other which is the one I originally had the problem with took an age to get balanced correctly. Weights on weights off for about 15 mins, and I could see he was getting frustrated. I am not sure he didn't just give up in the end and refitted the wheel to my car. I watched them spin on the balance machine and the problem tyre did actually look less egg shaped although still noticeably not true.
Anyhow I tested it afterwards and no real noticeable shake.
I will never use Kwik Fit again , not even for a bicycle puncture as they are as sh!t as I thought they were and have no regards for the Customer once the money is taken.
I have learnt a lesson and will not go on price alone in future or use Continental tyres on my car even though the car came with Continentals from the factory.
I will see how they go for the next few weeks and if it resurfaces then I will just bin them and put it down to experience.
I hope this gives you guys some thought for where you buy your tyres in the future.
Regards
Rob

How much weight did he use on each ?

Could you no tell if all old weights were same style or approx. age ?

No real rocket science to it chances are it was last balanced with a fair load of weights and they fell off resulting in you noticing this

The eggy tyre however is another mystery and probably the root cause

The bad tyre had a 75 on one side I think and 20 on the other edge. But every time he spun it he reached for more weights and when spun again he would take a bit off , then back on and so on.
Real botch job by the look of it and he did not clean the inner rim properly so they will as you say fall of again.
I have written a letter of complaint to Dip Sh!ts ,sorry Kwik Fit but do not expect any form of decent outcome.
Be aware people....

This does sound rather dodgy. I'm a tyre fitter/powdercoater for the wheel specialist. Very rarely if ever have we had problems balancing a wheel. Yes some need more weights than others depending on a lot of factors.

75 and 20 isn't overly disastrous to be honest. Aslong as the old weights were removed. Correct tyre pressure. No **** or mess inside the tyre ( most.common cause of pita to balance wheels due to debris or water somehow inside the tyre when fitted)

I know it's probably no use but if you want to send the wheel here will diagnose the fault free of.charge and see what or needs done to correct it.

Thanks quattroowner,
He started off with the 75 then after the first spin he added more , then the inner edge ,then took a few off ,then on again...!
I will also add that the fitter did not remove the weights before putting the wheel on the balance machine until I mentioned to him that I don't want more adding before he took the old ones off so not sure why he didn't, but again it leads to a lack of confidence in the whole process with them.
In fact I would be better weighing in the lead now to be honest and it would pay for a new tyre..!
Appreciate the offer of looking at the wheel but im in Manchester area so Aberdeen would be a bit of a trek, but thanks anyway.
I did receive a call today actually from the Customer Service guy I spoke to on Friday ,who was asking how the car was after the fitter re-seated them on Monday which is at least appreciated.
He did say try and test it over the next few days and see how they are, and if a problem still, phone him back next week. Not sure where this may lead but if the vibration is still there then no harm in phoning him .
Will keep you guys posted.
Regards
Rob.