B

Here's my nightmare i've been dealing with the past 2 weeks and my on-going battle with tirerack.

4/3/2008
New wheels and tires ordered pre-mounted/balanced from tirerack.

4/7/2008

Item arrives. I come home Monday Night to 4 packages sitting in my driveway. No sign? They just left 3500 dollars of product in the driveway. Didn't try to conceal it, put it on my porch or anything. Luckily i live in a nice neighborhood and nothing happened to them, but I still think this is bad practice.

I jack up the car and install them that night.
1 rear has a tiny nick in the lip already. No big deal... i bought them for performance/autox use more than looks anyway... but it's still slightly annoying.

Drive around the block, come home a re-torque. Tires feel very lose. Figure they just need to break-in.


4/8/2008

Drive the car to work (~55 miles X2, combined highway and city). Steering wheel is vibrating like crazy. After 45mph, my steering wheel is moving a sold 3/4-1" up and down. it's not just a little 'shake'.

Come home, park the car. can't get to the local tire shop until saturday. Good thing i have a 2nd vehicle.


4/12/2008

Take the car to the local tire shop to have the wheels re-balanced, thinking that's the problem.
front's balance perfect
rears were off by .5 ounce each.
Pay the $45 for the re-balance out of pocket.

Leave the shop, drive around for a bit, and they are still bad.

Go back to the shop. Troubleshoot with the owner.
He suggested hub centric rings might be required, or that a tire is defective itself.

Tirerack CS is closed on weekends.



4/14/2008

Monday, I call tirerack and speak with Fred.
Explained what i did at the local shop.

He looked up the wheels and said that no hubcentrix ring is required for these wheels on my car and also thinks it could be a bad tire. It's pretty much a given that it's on the front (otherwise my wheel wouldn't shake like it does)

They won't send out 2 tires.

Get charged $261 for a single front replacement tire to be sent to me.
5 min later i get a call back from another rep saying Fred did it wrong due the tires being so new, and that i wouldn't be charged.
CC is never billed, so good there.



4/16/2008

New front arrives.




4/18/2008

Head to the tire shop again friday morning before work.

Try the new tire on the right front.
drive around, no good

Try the new tire on the left front, putting the old right front back on.
drive around, no good

Try the new tire on the left front, putting old left on the right
drive around, no good

Try new tire on the right front with old right front on left
drive around, no good

Try the old left on the right and the old right on the left
drive around, no good

pay the $100 bucks for 5 mounts and balances out of pocket.

Late for work now... drive to work in the Sybian of cars.... vibrating like crazy, getting passed by yugo's and box trucks on the highway while i try to stay in my lane at 55 mph

Get tied up with work friday and don't get to call tire rack. gotta wait till monday again

Friday night, take the wheels off the car, and re-package them to send back (along with the 5th tire).
Put stock wheels back on, and did a left-to-right rotation. Car drives perfect again. Therefore, it's not an alignment issue, or worn-in tire with it, as i swapped them.




Monday 4/21/2008

Call tire rack stating my situation and that i'm basically frustrated with the whole thing. I don't have time with my busy work schedule and lack of available hours at the local tire store (8-5) to keep troubleshooting.
Rep says they can't take 'em back because bridgestone won't take 4 tires back, and the wheels are used.
I flat out tell her 'that is BS, can I have a manager please'.

Manager comes on after 10 min of hold music. Once again explain the situation and refer to the fact that i'm sitting on a $3500 paperweight. She suggests that I speak with someone from their technical team to rule out any more possibilities. I humor her and wait for the call back from tech.

Guy from tech calls about 20 min later.
go over everything again...
One option he offered was to go to a different tire store a couple towns over. I trust my local shop (who is also a tirerack registered installer) having done much business there in the past and so pretty much tell him that i'm not taking the time i don't have to go to another store to simply get the same results again. Furthermore, I've already removed them from the car, and re-packaged them back for shipping. I'm not going through that again for a 99.9% chance of no gain. He pretty much agrees with me that I've tried everything within reason and says he will consult back with the CS manager who I spoke with previously (Cindy) about what our options are.

So here we are. I'm awaiting the call-back from them at this point.


They don't want to take them back and are trying everything not to.
I don't want them anymore... not because I don't want them anymore... but because they don't function. The product is flawed in some way. I don't have time to keep going to the tire shop, spending money out of my own pocket for something that should be fine from the factory/retail store.
So far i'm out $145 to the local tire shop, 3 hours missed from work that friday doing the 5 swaps, 3 hours cleaning them/packaging them/removing them (cutting cardboard circles is such a pain), $5 in packing tape, $20 in boxes to get cardboard big enough (i had thrown out the packing materials when i first mounted them... my own fault i guess) and probably close to 1.5 hrs on the phone with tirerack CS.

I can certainly understand them not wanting to take them back, but they need to realize that it's a defective product-- not an issue of not affording it anymore or not wanting them any more.

I'm not eating these.
$3500 bucks is a lot of cash to eat(, yes even for me).
I would never feel right re-selling them (some people are ethical) used, and even if i did, i surely won't get $3500 for them. I'm not eating that either.

If they don't come back and say they will take them for a FULL refund (i will refuse to pay a re-stocking fee), I think i might have to get my lawyer involved.
Good thing is, since i've closed 3 properties with him, I get a 'freebie' non-trial legal representation from him. He mostly deals with property and torts, so this is right up his alley. Moreover, he's an enthusiast as well (has a pimped out 760il )

One way or another, i'm going to get my money back. I'm not taking no for an answer.

To be continued....

TurboMirage

B at this point it sounds like one of the wheels could be warped...

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get_nick

put a small mark on the inside of each wheel.

that way if you send them back and they give you new wheels, you will be able to easily tell they didn't send you back the same shit.

what are you trying to get? new wheels or $3500+ back?

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GSRCRXsi

yea sounds like a fucked up wheel to me. but i would think that would show up during balancing

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|Chaz|

They really should just refund your money or send you new wheels, whatever you want. I'm sure they make enough money each year to offset money they lose from unforeseen problems like this.

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dacheat

wheels that expensive should go through some damn quality assurance inspection, sheeeeeeesh. i'm in for the resolution.

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marco....

B

exactly. i visually watched the tech on the balancer, watching the rim closely. to my eye, i couldn't see any warps or oblong movements at all.

Moreover, if it was bent, it wouldn't have balanced. And the fronts as they came were 100% 0's across the board for weight additions.

B

at this point, all i want is my inital purchase price back, $3,326.

i'll eat the first shipping, and my attempts to balance/fix them.
They shipped with ups fine, so i'm not going to go after them for that.

I won't be paying return shipping though. My costs for 145 ++ are more than it cost them to ship to me in the first place, so the return shipping cost should be on them, and i'll call it even.


I don't think i'm asking for too much.

totalburnout

Aren't they a sponsor here?

They're on a sponsor on nasioc.com if they're not on here. You could always make a post over there to get some added attention.

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"Good talk... I'll see you out there."

B

Well, they just called back.

They are taking them back.

They are sending me shipping materials (even though i already have them packaged... they don't trust what i did/used or whatever and want to use their own even though that's exactly how they came-- whatever) and the day after those arrive, i'm to leave them out front for ups to pick up at no cost to me.

When they get back to tire rack, i will be issued a refund.
I made a note of the chip with her on the phone so i won't get charged for that.

So, i guess this is a wrap. I just hope i don't get screwed.... where as i've sent them back, and then the refuse to pay in full

YBLEGAL

yeah i think your being reasonable and fair to the company in light of the situation. not to mention the possible extra wear on the car caused by driving a Sybian down the highway at 50+mph

hosmer

lug bolts aren't seating correctly or theres something going on with the back of the hub (casting burr)?

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Hold it fellas. I'm afraid you're just too darn loud. Next please. BRING THE NEXT GROUP PLEASE.

get_nick

so what are you going to do about getting new wheels?

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Explains my life to a "T"...

B

I don't know what i'm doing.

At this point, i'm doing nothing until my CC has been credited.

I'm debating just getting another set of PS2's from the local shop on my stock wheels again, and taking the 2k left over and get a set of ast 4100's
Vorshlag Motorsports LLC

Slammed89Integra

Damn man. Sounds like you got the run-around for doing things the right way.

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When this is all over I think we should get an apartment together.

Airjockie

I remember Chris having a problem on his rear drum that had a round head screw on it, only in one spot...when we put the wheel on that was not a stock wheel, it was upset enough to make the wheel wobble like crazy.

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TurboMirage

^^^ yup, from autox

__________________
Home of the RPW built 2000 Lancer CC Coupe.

See what is done to the Little EVO5

B