Cliff notes version: They eventually did the right thing, but I had to call Michelin on them first.
The weekend was alloted to a major service on the Civic to include new tires and wheels (LX Wheels). I took advantage of the rebate deal again and ordered the tires to arrive on Friday so they could be mounted and balanced. When they arrived I took them to my dealer with the new wheels for mounting and balancing. When I picked them up they let me know that even after the best match they could get the road force was 10LBS, 26LBS, 27LBS, and 34LBS and they were quite concerned that I wouldn't be happy with the ride. They thought perhaps they would improve with a few heat cycles.
I brought them home and continued my work on the major service. When I was done for the evening and got cleaned up I sent my sales rep a message telling him about the road force and what the dealer had said about heat cycles. I said I would call him If I needed warranty assistance.
Sat work continued and everything was done except the brake fluid change. Got my mityvac out and discovered it would not pull a vacuum. Figured I'd stick the tires on and take a run down the expressway and head to the box store for a new mityvac pump. While at the store I received a call form Lainey@tire rack asking If I "had done anything to the tires", I said well I put them on and drove the car for the first time. She said she would send me 2 more but not to heat cycle them any more or "we can't do anything". At this point I am thinking I need 3 tires but don't have the numbers written down.
Get back home (tires do vibrate noticeably and "thump") finish my brake fluid change and clean up. Still thinking about tires. Go back and review my e-mail and notes and realize I have typoed the road force on the "26" to "16". Immediately send message stating my typo to Lainey, figure 3 tires should be no problem.
Monday morning rolls around and I get an E-mail saying 26 is "decent". (OK 26 is decent but 27 warrants replacement?) Go to dealer, talk to tech. Tech says "you only have one good tire on that car" and goes onto say on a passenger car tire 18 is the limit, he likes to see less. Send message to tire rack outlining this.
Tuesday morning no response for TR.
I call Michelin. Michelin tech answers and I ask "What would you consider the maximum road force on a 15" passenger car tire" he says somewhere around 21LBS depends on the speed rating and particulars, whats up", clearly he knew something was up. So I tell him what I've outlined above and he says 26 is too much particularly since I know it vibrates. He doesn't seem to see why replacing it is an issue and he sets up a case. I says they will make sure I'm happy, says to have dealer contact them.
Call TR, tell them conversation with Michelin. Brittany says she will call them. I point out that I need this tire tomorrow and this should have been handled Monday. Brittany says she will call me back, but does not see that being a problem.
She calls back about an hour later says tire will be shipped overnight.
Get 3 tires today and have them installed, new tires are 4LBS, 6LBS, 7LBS. Car rides great.
Another thing that I was a little irked about is that they sent one tire in the original batch that was one week earlier than the other 3. I didn't notice until late sat that the warranty card listed 2 and 2. The earlier tire was the one with 10LBS. I suspected a bad batch the following week. However the new 3 were the same week as the bad 3.
I am 100% happy with Michelin and 95% with TR. I think where TR is concerned that:
Things that I'd like to hear opinions on:
The weekend was alloted to a major service on the Civic to include new tires and wheels (LX Wheels). I took advantage of the rebate deal again and ordered the tires to arrive on Friday so they could be mounted and balanced. When they arrived I took them to my dealer with the new wheels for mounting and balancing. When I picked them up they let me know that even after the best match they could get the road force was 10LBS, 26LBS, 27LBS, and 34LBS and they were quite concerned that I wouldn't be happy with the ride. They thought perhaps they would improve with a few heat cycles.
I brought them home and continued my work on the major service. When I was done for the evening and got cleaned up I sent my sales rep a message telling him about the road force and what the dealer had said about heat cycles. I said I would call him If I needed warranty assistance.
Sat work continued and everything was done except the brake fluid change. Got my mityvac out and discovered it would not pull a vacuum. Figured I'd stick the tires on and take a run down the expressway and head to the box store for a new mityvac pump. While at the store I received a call form Lainey@tire rack asking If I "had done anything to the tires", I said well I put them on and drove the car for the first time. She said she would send me 2 more but not to heat cycle them any more or "we can't do anything". At this point I am thinking I need 3 tires but don't have the numbers written down.
Get back home (tires do vibrate noticeably and "thump") finish my brake fluid change and clean up. Still thinking about tires. Go back and review my e-mail and notes and realize I have typoed the road force on the "26" to "16". Immediately send message stating my typo to Lainey, figure 3 tires should be no problem.
Monday morning rolls around and I get an E-mail saying 26 is "decent". (OK 26 is decent but 27 warrants replacement?) Go to dealer, talk to tech. Tech says "you only have one good tire on that car" and goes onto say on a passenger car tire 18 is the limit, he likes to see less. Send message to tire rack outlining this.
Tuesday morning no response for TR.
I call Michelin. Michelin tech answers and I ask "What would you consider the maximum road force on a 15" passenger car tire" he says somewhere around 21LBS depends on the speed rating and particulars, whats up", clearly he knew something was up. So I tell him what I've outlined above and he says 26 is too much particularly since I know it vibrates. He doesn't seem to see why replacing it is an issue and he sets up a case. I says they will make sure I'm happy, says to have dealer contact them.
Call TR, tell them conversation with Michelin. Brittany says she will call them. I point out that I need this tire tomorrow and this should have been handled Monday. Brittany says she will call me back, but does not see that being a problem.
She calls back about an hour later says tire will be shipped overnight.
Get 3 tires today and have them installed, new tires are 4LBS, 6LBS, 7LBS. Car rides great.
Another thing that I was a little irked about is that they sent one tire in the original batch that was one week earlier than the other 3. I didn't notice until late sat that the warranty card listed 2 and 2. The earlier tire was the one with 10LBS. I suspected a bad batch the following week. However the new 3 were the same week as the bad 3.
I am 100% happy with Michelin and 95% with TR. I think where TR is concerned that:
- I should not have had to call Michelin to get the tire replaced.
- That for what these cost the date codes should match.
Things that I'd like to hear opinions on:
- Is there an industry consensus on what sort of road force is acceptable?
- Does road force work less well on H and above rated tires (Michelin rep said they find this to be true)
- Does heat cycling a new tire generally improve road force? (Apparently this is GM tire store position)