Took my car in for excessive road noise. Now how does this happen?
 

Past two weeks I've been noticing road noise has been louder than normal. First thought was that I had a wheel bearing going bad. The car has 8000 miles on it, so the part must have been faulty. So I took the car in.

They just called me to tell me that it's not the wheel bearing, it's the tires. He said they are all "chopped up." He described it as if you ran your hand across the tread one way, it feels smooth. But if you run it the other way, it feel "chopped up."

Said their recommendation is to replace all 4 tires. I asked how that it's even possible for it to get that way, and he said if you don't rotate your tires with every oil change, this happens, but was unsure since the car only has 8000 miles on it.

He was unsure how to proceed though. Since it's still under warranty, he said it should be covered. But said things like this aren't normally covered under warranty, but since it only has 8000 miles on it, he said he's going to have to ask around and get back with me.

And it's not like my driving style should have caused this. It's still under 10k miles, so I've been keeping my driving habits tame while it breaks in.

Just a bad batch of tires?

I'm pretty sure there has to be an alignment problem for that to happen.

Yes it's a good idea to rotate tires for this reason; but they shouldn't get "chopped up" that quickly. With good alignment, they should wear fairly evenly, even if they are never rotated.

Did they check the alignment?

They didn't say anything about the alignment.

Been worried that it was something I've done. I added a strut tower brace, but did that on the flat level surface of my garage. And took off and painted the calipers and insides of the rotors. I had no concerns putting everything back on.

Word back from Ford is they're going to take care of it. I asked about alignment and they said it's good. Nothing appears to have been caused by anything I've done.

Guess he went to Pirelli and what will happen is Ford will front the cost of the new tires. They will send my old ones to Pierelli, if Pierelli finds fault with their own tires, then they will reimburse Ford. But if they don't find any fault, Ford will be out the tires, and none of the bill gets passed along to me.

So that's good news. But still makes me concerned about the tires though. He said to rotate them every 5000 miles.

Cool that they're covering the new tires.

Now, at 8,000+ miles the car's been broken-in for well over 7,000 miles.
So feel free to start enjoying the car :)

.

Guess I was thinking the "official" break-in period was 10k? Or thought I remember reading that in my 2006 manual.

I just can't get rid of these guys. I kinda feel bad going to them for this for fighting Pirelli and giving me a new set of tires. But while installing the new tires, they damaged the paint job on my wheels.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/themust...44dcb215b4.jpg

dang, that sucks . . . happens all too often . . . and I don't suppose they owned up to it, did they?

last time I had new tires mounted, I noticed the guy was acting a little weird when I was looking them over, then I noticed the new scratches later and realized why . . . I couldn't really "prove" for sure that they did it, but those scratches weren't there the last time I detailed my wheels

I think you have to show them; you can be all appreciative about the tire swap at the same time, "hey I really appreciate the help with the tires, but I have to show you this damage"

Any time I have any tire work done, I insist the man writing the ticket inspect my wheels and note on the work order that there is no scratches, gouges, or visible damage to the wheels. Never had any damage, and I don't know what they would do if there was, but at least they know I'm going to inspect the wheels before payment.

The Service guy I dealt with called me back. Apologized that his guys didn't point out that damage when they handed it over to him, and that he never looked it over. Sounds like he's going to make it right, but needs to talk to the manager first. His tone was either, "I'm tired of dealing with you." Or "Our employees made a mistake and hoped that no one would notice, and now it's going to cost us extra." I'm guessing the later, because he said someone had to wipe down the wheels to get the grease off and that he was disappointed that no one said anything.

I made sure I contacted them right away, which was probably 3 hours after picking it up. Knew that if I let a day or two go by, they may question me. Also pointed out that the paint is chipped and not caused by curb rash, which could have been caused by me, but also someone who pulled the car around.

Said he'd give me a call back Thursday when the manager is back in the shop.

Also, while I had the car in the shop for the wheels, I had them look at the ambient light in the passenger door. It wasn't working. He said it was just unplugged, which was from when they replaced the door stop a couple months ago from the rusted bolt. I had only just noticed it a week ago.