firestone recall question

[X24]

I am thinking about buying a set of rims with the firestone wilderness AT's on them. the guy said that he already got reimbursed for the tires by using his vin#. my question is that if i buy them will i be able to get the tires changed for free. BTW... my tires have already been replaced but when they were replaced i wasn't the owner of the truck. i assume that would mean that my vin# is already marked down for getting tires. do they need the vin# or just the DOT codes that are on the tires? let me know what you think. thanks

 

[ChuckyD]

they are suposed to be destoyed when you get or go for the replacements. Im sure you can put up a good fight and get another set for free

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

You can get a refund by using your VIN#?

peace

Mike

 

[CBoug76]

98FordX24,

Your out of luck. Since both Vin#'s have been used to get recall tires, FORD will not give you any recall exchange. Unless you know a Good Ford Mechanic that knows how to play the games......

Ford doesn't care who ownes the trucks, they just want to make sure that all the affected trucks are corrected, and they keep track of this by the VIN #'s.

What size are these tires? are they 15" or 16"?

If they are 16" E-mail me! I might be able to help you out. I am sort of in the same predickerment(SP!) as you are.

BTW ChuckD was right, If ford replaced the tires, they are suppose to cut a 2" hole in the side wall of the tires to make them un-useable. Now If he got the tires replaced at a different place, and he sent Ford the recipt, then he might have been able to keep them, but Iwould think that the place that replaced them would have needed to keep them as to have proof that they replaced some Recalled tires.

 

[Robert]

Actually, you can get two sets of tires for the same VIN. My neighbor had her original Wilderness ATs replaced right after the recall was announced in 2000. The tire store replaced them with Wilderness ATs that weren't on the recall list. When the recall was broadened, she took her Explorer back to Ford and they swapped out the one year old tires this time with Michelins. Put the Wilderness ATs on your Explorer and drive to the Ford dealer and you shouldn't have any problems getting them replaced. They are supposed to destroy the tires to prevent this type of thing from happening.

 

[rob54b]

you can still get reimbursed with your vin, it just takes forever....rob

 

[CBoug76]

Here is something that you CAN NOT Do!

If you have 16" rims, and replace your tires Before the Firestone Tires hit the "Fan", and do not have the old firestones, and the recipt is dated before a certain date, You are out of luck! No Recall for you!

Now your Vin # is still clean with no re-call for tires on it, and then you go an buy a rim from someone and it comes with an original firestone on it, Now You can not get JUST that 1 tire re-called. Ford will only do 16" tires if you have 4 Firestones. This is able to be done on the 15" rims since some of the Explorer's had Firestone Spare tires that were part of the recall. but the spare tires that are on the 16" explorer are not part of the recall.

Did I confuse anyone?

I did the same thing as Robert did, read his story below.

 

[Jim F]

When I got mine replaced at a Discount Tire place, they had a tool they started to use to cut/shave the DOT code off the sidewall without actually puncturing the tire. I had them stop since I was going to delivery the tires to Ford myself and eliminate the disposal charge they were going to charge me per tire.

My point, if these tire have the DOT's cut/shaved out but the tires are still whole, the reimbursement process of retrieving the DOT codes would be difficult.

I thought that I heard on the news regarding whole-in-wall tire places reselling Wilderness AT's that they replaced under the recall. They also said that it was a Federal Offense to sell a known recalled tire new or used.

 

[X24]

i talked to ford and they said that my vin# has not been used!!! BUT. my vin shows my truck as having a 15" rim so he said that wouldnt fly if i went in there with a 16". he did say to try a tire dealer. they dont care what size tires goes on.. they just use the vin and the DOT codes. now the guy im buying them from said that the DOT codes have not been used. so that means that it will work. but i am curious how he got his refund without using the DOT codes and without having the tires destroyed. anyone have any ideas?

 

[X24]

tire dealer says the same thing that ford said damn!

 

[rockymntnhi]

98fordx24

Like I told you before . I replaced my Stock 16" Wheels & Firestones w/ 15" Ultras and BFG's months before the Ford recall . So when I went to Ford for reimbursement and they asked for the old tires , I told them they had been thrown out already . They gave me a refund based on my Vin# and reciept for the new BFG's ... So I still have the Firestones Wilderness (DOT codes untouched) mnt/bal. on the OEM 16" 3- Spokes .

 

[Robert]

Originally posted by CBoug76
Here is something that you CAN NOT Do!
. . .
Did I confuse anyone?

Yeah I guess the number of people with 16" tires that only have one Firestone would be pretty small. I can't think of very many reasons why someone would replace one of four non-Firestone tires with a Firestone? I was one of the unfortunate ones that replaced my 16" tires 6 weeks before the elegibility date and did not keep the tires. No refund for me. I replaced them because here in Arizona, we tend to get a little hotter than most of the US and a little earlier too. The local news channel did a story about an unusually high number of vehicles experiencing tire failures on the freeway last June. The thing was, they kept showing rolled over Explorers and the one picture of the tires that they kept showing was a Wilderness AT. They said it was all due to people not maintaining their tires properly, however I had been hearing nothing but bad news regarding the Firestones for a year or two. I had my 16" Wilderness replace in mid-June 2000 when the temperature started hitting the 110 range. I didn't think to keep them since there wasn't a mention of a recall yet and Discount Tire gave me a $10/tire credit towards my Michelins.

 

[Crankcase]

I dont see why the Vin # should matter, as the recall is on the TIRES. Why would any tire shop say" Hey you have unsafe tires, but you have had some replaced before so too bad, I guess you have to take your chances"
I was wondering about this problem as my dad replaced his ATX tires on his Explorer through ford, but he still has an ATX spare, and so do I. They are both brand new,but would we have to put them both on my truck to get them replaced now? It would look funny as they are on different type rims!

 

[rockymntnhi]

If it's a full size spare , it is included in the recall . Go to Ford and get yourself a new tire , for FREE . The Vin # is to keep record of people who have already replaced a set of tires . So they can't get refund $ over and over . Ford would be toal idiots to not keep track of that kind of info.

 

[Frisckey1]

Refund w/ no proof

I got a refund and got to keep my tires. My tires were not part of the recall, but because they had a "wump" I had them replaced anyhow. Then when Ford did the 2nd recall, all I had to do was provide the receipt showing I had them replaced. The receipt didn't show what tires I had on there previously, because it wasn't a recall replacement. 1 month later, I got a check for $480.00, no questions asked. I did all my stuff by mail.