Bit of advice please.....

I bought an MY00 UK Turbo last December, paid a shedload of money for it from a Subaru dealer and bought a 2 year extended warranty at the same time. At the weekend the sun was out so I decided to take the wheels off the car (for the first time), give them a proper clean and polish and smarten up the calipers with a lick of paint.

When I got the front wheels off I noticed that the inner walls of both tyres are covered in 1-2 inch splits all the way around. The outer walls are perfectly OK and the tyres don't look to have done many miles. Now I'm no expert but I've never seen this happen to tyres before and I'm VERY dubious about driving the car with the tyres in this sort of condition.

I'm going to take the car in to the local tyre dealers and see what they say about it before I ring the Subaru dealers.

Firstly, has anyone else ever seen this and is it dangerous to drive the car on these tyres?

Secondly, would I be within my rights to demand that they are replaced on warranty?

Any advice gratefully received.....

Steve

I saw it yesterday on aPeugeot 206 - it was like the outer layer hadnt bonded to the inner layer, and had started to split, like a dotted line, around the tyre.

The ATS man (only place open on a Sunday) said it looked like a tyre fault. If it is youve got a good claim Id say.

You need to buy some more tyres either way, and drive it carefully until you do - no high speed passenger rides!

If you dont you might be dead - is it worth the risk? It wont get better on its own.

Hope thats of help :D

It was the ATS just before Brighton street flyover, on the left off the dual carriageway. Know the one?

GET SOME NEW TYRES!

Did you get it from *gulp* Morons Motor Village??

Christ I hope not :D

Paul

Paul,

I passed your place on Sunday - I was gonna pop in for that cuppa and to see if you'd picked up the new toy but you weren't in (well there was no Scoob on the drive anyway)!! So have you got it??? What's it like???

No I did NOT buy it from Moron's Motor Village (isn't a village supposed to have only ONE idiot???) I bought it from Pulleyn's in York. I think I'll take it to an independant tyre place and get their opinion before I take it to Pulleyn's. The only thing that bothers me is that they're likely to say that tyres aren't a warranty item.

In the meantime I'll drive it very sedately!!!

Cheers,
Steve

Hi...There was a huge problem with the pirelli tyres fitted to the 18" wheels on the P1 when they were first released, dealers changed them all eventually, hope this helps

Mog

Steve - Saturday I was in Southampton collecting it :D Got back late Saturday afternoon.

Look for a silver one now, the green one has moved down the road to the other side, opposite the Oval.Get yourself round, I've got some Evostick you can use to hold the tyres together ;)

DISCLAIMER : DONT do that, its silly. :D

Where are you going to take it for some advice then?

That's the other thing that bothers me - they're not Pirelli's (the P-Zeros on the rear wheels are fine) so I guess the previous owner fitted them and not the dealer. They are "Ventus" (never heard of 'em personally) - I suspect they were the cheapest available! Another reason for the dealer not to replace them!!

Another question - are P-Zeros directional? Or can a wheel with a P-Zero on be fitted on either side of the car? There's nothing on the sidewall to say it's directional but the tread pattern is different depending which side of the car it's on.

yeah, they spin clockwise usually, rather than edge over edge unless you've got it wrong on the bend.... ;P

These ones I saw were Pirellis, they were 16" though. Not sure if thats just coincidence.

How long have you had the car now? If the splits "look old" you SHOULD be able to claim new ones from the dealership as they SHOULD have checked the bloody tyres were safe before you drove it off, and they CERTAINLY should have inspected the brakes etc, which from recollection is rather easier if the wheels are OFF? :rolleyes:

If the tyres are still like new, ie got the little nobbles still on the sidewalls, then its obviously a fault. If they are almost worn out dont bother, just get some more.

Paul,

So are you happy with it then (except for the warranty thing of course)? D'oh - stupid question.....it's a Scoob, of course you're happy with it!!!

I was gonna pop it into Brit Tyres as it's just round the corner (plus I know Neil and Craig fairly well so they'll be honest with me).

Or shall I just use this as an excuse to buy some bigger wheels and tyres? (mmmmm now there's an idea...............)


My internet connection is absolutely PANTS tonight and it's taking me that long to reply that the messages are getting out of synch

[Edited by Scooby New - 3/24/2003 10:54:07 PM]

LOL - Ive got some badly painted bronze 15 inch ones in my shed! They look great, honest! Cheap to a mate? Go on, you KNOW you want to.. complete with Nangkang tyres (or summat else of equal quality), only one of which is "slightly" oval, so it vibrates a "little bit"..... offers? :D

New car is brill (if slower than Im used to - even the wife said "its slow" :rolleyes:).

I'll tell you all about it when you come round for a nosey, and I might even let you sniff the seats ;)

Nangkang???? Is that a real brand or did you just make it up? A bit like the "Ventus Ditchfinders" fitted to mine??

Tempting though your offer is, seat-sniffing's not really my scene. But I WILL pop round and have a look (you show me yours and I'll show you mine ooooooer).

Paul,

I've just re-read the above posts and feel I should point out that unless you drive everywhere in reverse, your tyres should go ANTI-CLOCKWISE!!!!!!!!!!! :p :p :p

All the Pirellis I've used are not rotational, so you can swap them around properly. They just have inner and outer faces.

IMHO, to get them fixed under warranty you'd need to get them back to manufacturers or supplier. To claim against the garage, you'd need to be able to proove that they were like that when you collected the car, and that they were aware of it.

Josh

want to check that? Im looking at the drivers side btw :D

Point taken about the near side though... ;)

OK, 50% of them should go clockwise, 50% anti clockwise. Better?

[/pedant]

Oh yeah - I was looking at the passenger side! Duuurrrrrrrr!

Seeing as I'm probably gonna end up footing the bill for 2 new tyres, what should I buy? P-Zeros to match the rears?

I've no idea, I shop by numbers - the lower the number after the £ sign the better ;) Hence the Nangkangs

I dont have a preference as to make as I hardly ever drive it hard, and certianly not in the wet.

Scooby New,

Have a punt around the tyres forum, and you'll find plenty of help, based on members experience, together with some recommended suppliers.

As for matching the rears, it depends on how much is left on them. As I understand it, it's not a good idea to have too much difference between the fronts and rears, so if they're on the way out, it's best to dig deep and replace the lot.

Josh

Took the car in to get the tyres looked at - the opinion seems to be that it's a manufacturing fault and they need replacing asap before they go pop.

Now do I:
a) Just buy new ones and stump up the £200 out of my own pocket having shelled out the best part of £15,000 on the car and "peace of mind" warranty only 3 months ago?

b) Approach the Subaru dealer I bought the car from and try the warranty route?

c) Approach the manufacturer for a replacement/refund?

Money aside, the thing that really concerns me and turns my stomach is that I've been driving the car fairly "enthusiastically" (it's a Scoob, that's what it's there for, that's why I bought one) with my 6-year old son in it on potentially lethal tyres. Scarey.

I am now on my 3rd set of P-zeros. All replaced under warranty due to cracking. I have been driving the car for the last 7,000 miles with cracking and didn't notice any difference. I say take it back. You never know, it took some arguing but I got there in the end.

Oakers - thanks for the info.

I spoke to the Subaru dealers - they said if I took the car in to them they would have a look and if it looked like a manufacturing fault I would have to pay for new tyres and they would try and get some money back for me from the manufacturers. Yeah right - more like they would take my money from me, do nothing and hope I'd forget about it.

So I complained saying I'd paid a shedload of money for the car, a shedload more for a warranty, I'd only had the car 3 months, if I'd bought a washing machine and it went faulty within the first 3 months it would be replaced or repaired free of charge, poor customer service, warranty not worth the paper it's written on blah blah blah and now I was expected to foot the bill for replacing potentially dangerous tyres on a car which they'd supplied.

Quick word with the Sales Manager later and they have offered to fit replacement tyres and stand the cost until the result of a manufacturers investigation are known.

So not a total loss after all!!!!

the pirellis are assymetrical (spelling) like josh says they only have to be put on the wheel a certain way round and can be used on either side of the car.

Well I now have a pair of Goodyear Eagle F1's fitted to my front wheels so I am feeling much happier. And an added bonus is that I'm probably not gonna have to shell out for 'em either :D :D :D

Nice one Nick at Pulleyns! ;)

Thanx for everyone's advice,
Steve