I just had my Pirelli summer tires (The 255/40ZR19's that come with the Brembo package) taken off to put on some all-season Bridgestones. It was at night so I didn't notice until later, but all 4 of the Pirelli's have chunks cut out of them on the inside side of the tire, on the corner of where the sidewall starts to slope in to the bead. Some of the cut parts have about 1 cubic cm of rubber missing. I will try to post some pictures later tonight.

I thought I could trust Pep Boys to do a simple job like this, but they screwed it up. I had only 1496 miles on them and still have 8/32" to 9/32" of tread left.

They said their machine that takes the tire off the rim didn't do it. I'm going to see the manager tomorrow.

Any thoughts or advice? Think there's a chance they came from the dealer this way?

Tony

 

Sounds like the clamps that grab the rim on the bottom also grabbed your tire bead when they tightened the clamp grip. Don't back off on this one you have a right to expect Pep Boys to reimburse you for the damage.

 

Since you ddin't catch it when it happened I think you are unfortunately SOL.

You can't prove when it happened so I doubt pep boys is going to pony up for $1500 for tires.

 

normally I would agree, however in this case I think Pep Boys would have a hard time coming up with a plausible way how the customer could have done that type of damage.

 

Don't back down make them PAY!!!!!

You have the receipt & no denying that they removed the tires from the rim.If they are now damaged & can't be used there's no doubt who did the damage.

Never go to CRAP BOYS for anything except car accessories.Don't buy parts or get service at CRAP BOYS ever!For any reason!At all!

 

You went to Pep Boys? Really?

I am sorry that it happened to you, I have the same wheels/tires myself. But there is NO WAY I would let Pep Boys touch my car. These are high end wheels and tires and only a shop that has experience working with these types of wheels and tires should be allowed to work on your car.

 

All they have to do is claim that they must have been damaged prior to them handling them. Can't prove any different.

 

Stay on top of it. If the manager doesn't make it right go to the district manager. Way too much $ to let them off the hook for their own incompetence.

 

This.

Sorry about your unfortunate experience, and I hope Pep Boys takes care of you, but I'd never trust expensive wheels and low-profile tires to a place like Pep Boys.

 

+1 to what the rest of these guys are saying. Im glad I got the wheel and tire protection package

 

Thanks for the replies. I will go to the district manager or someone higher up if the manager is no help. I'm sure he will say the same thing as the guy the other day who said their machine didn't do it.

Here are a few pictures. They aren't very good. It's an old camera and I think I was too close for it to focus right.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5655/pic195x.jpg
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2914/pic193t.jpg
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/1904/pic192p.jpg
http://img574.imageshack.us/img574/5975/pic188.jpg
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5121/pic191.jpg
http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/3301/pic187.jpg

I now know to find a real tire place for anything I need done in the future.

Tony

 

but when you talk to the Pep Boys you need to pretend that they will save you as a future customer if they do the right thing, otherwise they have very little incentive to do anything for you

 

But will that cover negligence on the part of a tire store that does poor work?

 

It is hard to tell from the pictures, but some show the tire destroyed and others look like the tire can still be used.

Every time I move to a new area I need to locate a tire shop that will provide the service I require and tolerate my being a pain-in-the-butt.

The first step is to locate a shop with a Hunter GSP9700.

Frequently they are unaware of the machine's extended features and if they permit me to demonstrate and we can both tolerate each other, then they have all my business.

This would not be an issue if winter tires were purchased mounted and balanced from Tire Rack. I have purchased many winter tire / wheel sets from them w/o problems.

 

I was going to mention something along these lines as well. For the OP, did you take off the original Pirelli P-Zero tires to sell them, or do you plan to put them back on next spring/summer?

If it was the latter, it is always a better idea to get a separate set of wheels and tires for winter use than to swap tires back and forth twice a year. The cost of the continuous tire swapping adds up over time, and there are potential damage problems like the OP found out about when removing/reinstalling large wheel diameter low profile tires.

 

This.

 

Only thing i can think of is when they were breaking the bead, it damaged the tire ?

 

That is from the tire changer. I have one at home. You always have to be careful to avoid this damage. They know they did it. This is not the first time they seen this. Unfortunately, not the last time either...


Know one wants to take the blame for it. Good luck, the Manager knows what happened. Keep us posted...

 

I did plan on swapping them back in the spring, and then back to all-seasons in the fall. $100 to $150 a swap isn't that big of a deal, since rims are so expensive, but I was going to ask a tire guy how many times this can be done before it messes up the tire. Maybe I should just get used to the all-season tires, but the Pirelli summer onlys were really sweet in the hot weather.



I did get them from Tire Rack, but I didn't arrange for an installer through them. I should have done that. I will inquire about the Hunter machine for any future tire changes I have done. I should have just had Tire Rack ship them to one of their recommended installed that was only a few miles way and done it that way, too late now though.

I'll let you know what happens.

Tony

 

After a couple years of paying $100-150 to swap your tires twice a year, and you've bought yourself a set of new wheels, for instance, the 18" 2010 GT500 wheels that several places are selling for $600 shipped would have been perfect for winter use, and you could have used 18" all-season tires which would have been cheaper than 19's.

Don't just automatically trust an installer because they are on Tire Rack's "Recommended Installer" list. I used a local guy a few times (who I also knew from being in the same autocross club) who was on their list, and he scratched my wheels during installation on several occasions. Ask other enthusiasts in your area who they have had good luck with.