This is a good story that could have gone bad... People always report the bad, but this time I'll report on "good".
When I bought my '02 D/A brand new, with less than 100 miles on it, I took it to Simon's Tire in N AL to have a set of Bridgestone Dueler A/T 285/75-16 Load Range D (but with 3300 lb rating, more than the stock E rated 245s) tires mounted. I wanted Michelin but they were not available in the height I needed. I've run Bridgestone street tires on heavy trucks before, and friends report good use from the Duelers, so that's what I got.
Fast forward. to Summer '04 4500 mile road trip that I just completed. The truck only sees "real miles" on "event trips" and a few cross country trips like this one (the second). Other than that, it's just up to the local trails with the truggy in tow.
So, I had 20k on the tires when the first separated badly in Albuquerque at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning running 80+ on I40. No warning and it was on the front, oh joy. Changed it in a (luckily) near by "Travel Center" parking lot under the lights. Not wanting to head out with no spare for the 250 miles of open land to Oklahoma City, and then on to Little Rock 350 miles past that with only Fort Smith of any consequence in between, we stopped in Amarillo and waited for things to open. Finally found a WalMart SuperCenter and put a cheap "Liberator" (only thing in the right size). Nobody else that was open had that size in stock, and with Lockers, I don't want to run mixed tires.
Made it into N AL where the truck and tires were bought. Simon's Tire refused to honor the warranty due to a nail that was plugged around 10k. He claimed that Bridgestone was "anal" about the warranty on "patched" tires and routinely refused to reimburse him so, "Warranty denied", no prorate at all! Pissed me off, but what can I do with limited time and on "vacation". I told him to forget the $260 he offered to put on there and waited to get home to call Bridgestone Direct to see what they had to say.
On the way home, we hit the E. side of San Antonio and started looking for a room to split the trip in half. All booked up. <sigh> Roll on into the wee hours of the morning, all rooms down I10 were booked. Just about 5-6 a.m., one of the rear tires separated only 1.5k after the first, this is on the back and not nearly as bad as the first, you could just barely feel it. Argh!!!
To get to the end of the story, I eventually made it into Phoenix and called the nearest Bridgestone dealer (turned out to be Firestone which merged with Bridgestone) and told him my plight, and that I no longer trust these tires with 2 separating that close together on one trip. I carried it in to let him look at it. First off, he couldn't believe Simon's would not honor the warranty on the tire. According to him, Bridgestone is VERY easy on warranty, rarely giving any trouble to any reasonable claim. So, he agreed to prorate the whole set, no questions. After I agreed to the replacement and left, apparently he called Bridgestone and he wound up giving me the brand new set for only mounting and balancing charges because of the trouble on the trip and the "trouble with Simon's" who should have replaced the tire or at least pro-rated it.
Now how is that for service? Big thumbs up to Bridgestone/Firestone! /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
When I bought my '02 D/A brand new, with less than 100 miles on it, I took it to Simon's Tire in N AL to have a set of Bridgestone Dueler A/T 285/75-16 Load Range D (but with 3300 lb rating, more than the stock E rated 245s) tires mounted. I wanted Michelin but they were not available in the height I needed. I've run Bridgestone street tires on heavy trucks before, and friends report good use from the Duelers, so that's what I got.
Fast forward. to Summer '04 4500 mile road trip that I just completed. The truck only sees "real miles" on "event trips" and a few cross country trips like this one (the second). Other than that, it's just up to the local trails with the truggy in tow.
So, I had 20k on the tires when the first separated badly in Albuquerque at 4 a.m. on a Sunday morning running 80+ on I40. No warning and it was on the front, oh joy. Changed it in a (luckily) near by "Travel Center" parking lot under the lights. Not wanting to head out with no spare for the 250 miles of open land to Oklahoma City, and then on to Little Rock 350 miles past that with only Fort Smith of any consequence in between, we stopped in Amarillo and waited for things to open. Finally found a WalMart SuperCenter and put a cheap "Liberator" (only thing in the right size). Nobody else that was open had that size in stock, and with Lockers, I don't want to run mixed tires.
Made it into N AL where the truck and tires were bought. Simon's Tire refused to honor the warranty due to a nail that was plugged around 10k. He claimed that Bridgestone was "anal" about the warranty on "patched" tires and routinely refused to reimburse him so, "Warranty denied", no prorate at all! Pissed me off, but what can I do with limited time and on "vacation". I told him to forget the $260 he offered to put on there and waited to get home to call Bridgestone Direct to see what they had to say.
On the way home, we hit the E. side of San Antonio and started looking for a room to split the trip in half. All booked up. <sigh> Roll on into the wee hours of the morning, all rooms down I10 were booked. Just about 5-6 a.m., one of the rear tires separated only 1.5k after the first, this is on the back and not nearly as bad as the first, you could just barely feel it. Argh!!!
To get to the end of the story, I eventually made it into Phoenix and called the nearest Bridgestone dealer (turned out to be Firestone which merged with Bridgestone) and told him my plight, and that I no longer trust these tires with 2 separating that close together on one trip. I carried it in to let him look at it. First off, he couldn't believe Simon's would not honor the warranty on the tire. According to him, Bridgestone is VERY easy on warranty, rarely giving any trouble to any reasonable claim. So, he agreed to prorate the whole set, no questions. After I agreed to the replacement and left, apparently he called Bridgestone and he wound up giving me the brand new set for only mounting and balancing charges because of the trouble on the trip and the "trouble with Simon's" who should have replaced the tire or at least pro-rated it.
Now how is that for service? Big thumbs up to Bridgestone/Firestone! /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
