quick question / need fast answer - tire warranty worth it?

[brianboru]

Well I found somebody who'll put on my michelin cross terrains for free... a 3rd party place. great american tire if that matters.

anyway, the guy's recommending I get the extra warranty for blowouts and tire damage, but it's like 12 bucks a pop for the 5 tires so almost 60 bucks. it's worth it up to 50k (prorated - however that works) but heck, a new one only costs around 100 bucks anyway.

what do you think? spring for the $60 tire replacement fee or not?

 

[Alec]

The tires should have a manufacturer warranty. I believe this guy is trying to sell you a warranty from the shop. I haven't heard of too many problems with Michelins, and like I said they probably have their own warranty. It's a toss up thing, you want the peace of mind of the retailer warranty? You have the $60?

 

[TSTONE]

check into more detail on the proration of the warranty, my experience - 1st)most prorated warranties do not pay off in the long run, 2nd)also another concern would be what if your rubbers make a change in tread design? it's happened to me. 3rd)your saying you found someone to put them on? if they don't carry them normally, your replacement/prorated cost may be higher do to their lack of sales volume. 4th)if you do blow a tire at (hmmmm) lets say 32K, you'll have 3 worn tires and 1 new one, chances are if you shop around you might find a used matching tire for less than your share of the prorated cost of replacement. 5th) lastly miche's typically have a pretty good warranty already, at least comparable to the prorated warranty that this store wants you to do.
todd

 

[Ray Lobato]

I bought one of those once, and wouldn't you know it I lost a tire in the middle of nowhere and this warrenty was only good at tire works stores, of which are only in Cali. I lost my tire(blow out) in Arizona. When I got back home from vacation and went to the tire works store to get a refund on the blown out tire, they wouldn't honor it because I didn't take it back to them, of coarse it's pretty damn hard when you're stuck in Arizona. Needless to say my warrenty was only good where ever there was a tireworks store. I wouldn't pay for one unless it is a national chain. Just my .02

 

[Maniak]

I always get them.. at least at Discount Tire.. We do enough freeway driving and dirt road driving that we do get blow outs.. (usually just cuts)..

Discount Tire fixes flat free anyway.. but this last time we needed a new tire (hole was too big to patch).. We had 60k miles on the tire.. and for $37 we had a new tire.. To put it in perspective.. I just bought new tires for the truck (same one) and it cost $174 out the door. It paid for itself.. We have only 2 two tires that could not be repaired...

Soo.. If you have the money now but may not have the money for another one later (you know.. college student style) it may be worth it now.. If you have credit cards that aren't always full then no.. it isn't worth it.. just buy a new tire when you need it..

~mark

 

[brianboru]

ok great thanks for the advice. normally I'd never go for something like this but I swear I was reading something recently about how everybody said this was a good idea or something. Musta just imagined it.

Needless to say, I'm pretty happy I found somebody who'd put on something other than the goodyear rt/s. none of the dealerships around will even order in michelins and I thought all of the 3rd party replacements were over. but this guy is saying he's still doing it and all I have to do is sign my name that I got it done. sounds like a good deal to me...

 

[Robert]

I'll second the Discount Tire warranty. I have never had a problem getting a flat fixed, my tires rotated or balanced when I purchased their warranty. They are all over the U.S. so the likelyhood of finding one anywhere I have a blowout is pretty good. I did have a nail in my Michelins that I had to get patched and I've had a couple of flats fixed on my Wife's car. Just take it in, show them the warrany and have a seat. Discount Tire is probably going to be the only place I buy tires through unless they do something to change my feelings. So far they have lived up to my expectations. If the shop you are considering isn't a national chain or you never leave town, I would think twice about the warranty though.

 

[brianboru]

hm this is interesting. hard to separate what the heck the sales pitch is versus what the real benefit is:

so I told him I wasn't going to get the warranty at least for now... told him I might call him in a few days if I changed my mind. Basically he told me it was for a full road hazard warranty... sorta a no questions asked replacement if I had any problems with a tire...

but when I check my reciept here it says:

P255/70/R16 MICH CROSS TERRAIN ORWL
* tire purchase includes:
* free mounting
* free tire repairs
* free rotations
* manufacturer's warranty
* lifetime prorated road hazard

so um. what exactly do I get with the extended warranty? no pro-rate?

anyway. think I'll be skipping it as I'm not sure how many great american shops there are outside denver.

a side note - I didn't get any documentation or anything with the tires... anybody know what the correct/recommended inflation pressure is for the cross terrains (255/70/16)? I suppose I'll check what they set it to but it'd be nice to know "officially" what it was supposed to be.

 

[01EB5.0]

I have mine filled between 32-35 (35 is the max cold inflation) i usually keep mine firmer for better gas milage and tire wear. I have had mine at 35 since they were installed and the treadwear is excellent and the tires ride really nice. the lowest I would go is 30. the Michelin has softer sidewall for better ride, so I kee them pumped up more especially whenI haul heavy loads or am doing high speed highway driving. Overall I love the tires, never had a problem, and was suprised they do very well off the pavement too (sand dunes, dirt trails, just not great for mudding).

 

[niteshooter]

Not sure if it's worth it.

I purchased my last set of Michelins at Costco. They don't stock anything exotic but the price was good and they offer free installation and balance. Also free tire rotations and road hazard which is good at all their stores as long as you have the original bill of sale. They do prorate the road hazard if the tire needs to be replaced, I destroyed one tire when it went flat on the highway, it didn't strike me as being that expensive for the prorated replacement. Something like $40 cdn and I had about 50,000 km on it at the time.

Kevin

 

[Maniak]

That is the one reason I did get the warranty at Discount Tire.. At 60k miles on the tire.. it only cost us $37 for the new one.. That was the FET, Tax, and new warranty on the new tire.. Not prorated.

~Mark