New tire flat, is bad install possible?

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I bought new tires on the weekend and got them installed at the shop. Left the shop and was heading home, cross a bridge and when I drove over the expansion joint, I heard a noise. I thought I had lost one of center caps of the wheel. I then waited at the red light right after the bridge and the tpms light came on and then I notice my truck leaning towards the drivers side. When the light turned green and I started droving I notice it was completly flat so I pulled over at the next entrance and my tire was off the rim on the road but the bead still seated on the in the back. I called the tire shop ahead of time and said that I was coming back on a tow truck since the tire was flat. When I got back to the tire shop the tow truck backed the truck in the bay and I went inside to talk to the manager as the mechanic was removing the tire. He then came to get me to show me there was a hole in the thread. He then plugged the tire and I was on my way. I don't recall seeing anything on the road and the tires on the cars ahead of me didn't go flat. I mean it's possible that I got one but with my old tires, I never had a flat in 5 years.

Is it possible that the bead didn't seat right and when I hit the expansion joint the tire lost all of its air? The conspiracy theory would suggest that the mechanic would of puncture a hole in the tire when I went inside to talk to the manager as the shop didn't want to pay for the towing but they ended up paying for it anyway. Now it kind of sucks, since I have new tires but one of them already has a plug in it.
 
Originally Posted By: HoosierJeeper
I would ask for a new tire, you bought new tires, not a plugged one.

So when you buy a new car and don't buy insurance, and your car gets totaled right after driving off dealer lot, do you go back to the dealer and ask for a new car, not a crumpled one?

As for the OP, it does sound a bit sketchy, given the fact that he heard a noise just before he noticed his tire was off the rim. Not sure that a tire puncture would make any noticeable noise... I guess it depends on what he hit, if anything.
 
Yep the cynical side of me would suspect that the tire shop guy did that though with no proof it’s all speculative. Sadly so many places do anything to screw over customers that the good ones suffer as well. Did you get a good look at the hole? Jagged, uneven, or a nice round punch?

If you don’t trust the shop then you could not give them any further business.
 
With the amount of trash and debris that's constantly on the roads,you more than likely ran something over and got a flat. It sucks,but stuff happens.
 
Most of the premium tire brands like continental or michelin have a 30 day satisfaction or other satisfaction warranty that is not just satisfaction but above and beyond road hazard. The claims are fulfilled with new tires not a repair
So if you are utilizing that, yes you can have a brand new tire if the tire is damaged 5min after pulling out of the shop if you insist on that policy.

The analogy to totalling a car off the lot is obviously flawed because a car is not a tire and the contracts are different.
 
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Originally Posted By: raytseng

The analogy to totalling a car off the lot is obviously flawed because a car is not a tire and the contracts are different.



Correct, if you totaled a car coming out of the dealer, it's assumed the dealer did nothing to create the accident (unless they sent someone out to get you). With this, there's a possibility the tire shop messed up. Not worth going to jail for torching the shop but I would lookup the satisfaction policy and there's likely a remedy in there.
 
If this is a well known brand of tires, maybe try calling their customer service # and get clarification on their satisfaction guarantee. If it’s in your favor they can contact that shop to make things whole for you?
 
I've never had a tire bead come unseated, even with a flat or what I'd call a blowout. I'd think if it did and you rolled on it, even for a short while, the tire would or should be trash.
 
When I worked at a tire shop we had a pricey continental tire come in that was leaking air through a manufacturing "pip" in the middle of the tread. (There were four of these pips visible on the inside.) I reamed it wider and stuffed a mushroom patch through there, and we rang it up as a mfr defect.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
I've never had a tire bead come unseated, even with a flat or what I'd call a blowout. I'd think if it did and you rolled on it, even for a short while, the tire would or should be trash.


I had a bead unseat on a fully inflated tire, once. In order for that to occur, I had to drift almost completely sideways into a series of dirt ruts at somewhere around 30 or 40 MPH. Rallycross. An expansion joint on a bridge will not do that. Even driving on a completely deflated tire is not likely to do that. I would raise heck with the tire shop. This is too fishy.
 
I installed a new set of 20 inch tires on my friend's Tundra, and on his 3 mile trip home he had a totally flat tire. Turns out it was on the usual right rear tire with a 1 inch chunk of metal in it. The tires were bought from Tirerack with included road hazard, and they shipped a new one right away, and the problem was solved. 75% of the flat tires I have fixed have been the right rear. Most of the junk is near the shoulder, and the front tire kicks it up, and it goes in the rear tire. Most destroyed tires come from the right side too, because the driver doesn't see it when they walk up to the car, then it's too late in a few hundred feet, even with TPMS.
 
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As far as the bead. On a new install the seating is far more vulnerable due to the lube.
It is not that rare that if someone hoons or emergency stops immediately after install that the wheel will slip and balance will be off.
 
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You got unlucky and had a puncture on a new tire. That sucks. Blaming someone else for your misfortune that had nothing to do with them sucks even worse. Man up and accept that life isn't fair.

Claud.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
With the amount of trash and debris that's constantly on the roads,you more than likely ran something over and got a flat. It sucks,but stuff happens.

I go for ages with no flat. As soon as I buy new tires, I always get one little puncture.
wink.gif
 
I'm going to contradict a lot of people here. Please do not take offense. I spent 10 years analyzing failed tires and had access to a lot of very knowledgeable people to refine what I learned. So here goes:

First, the fact that there was a hole makes it very, very likely the tire went flat because that. It is much, much easier to puncture a tire when it is inflated and stiff, as opposed to when it is deflated and more flexible.

Punctures are random events and can occur at any time in the life of a tire. The fact that this one occurred very early is all about luck.

Second, while it is difficult to dislodge a bead when the tire is inflated, it is not impossible. - BUT - it takes a LOT of force to do so. However, it is not difficult to dislodge a bead when the tire is flat. That's why RunFlat tires come with rims with - how do they say it? - enhanced safety humps, which makes the beads very hard to seat!

So based on what the OP wrote, I would say the tire suffered a puncture, then became debeaded due to running flat. It was bad luck that it occurred so soon after purchase, but it was good luck that neither the tire nor the wheel suffered enough damage to render them unserviceable.
 
The tires are Cooper tires. I just had my concerns because usually I would never get my vehicle worked on at that shop because of the reputation since they have a lot of employee turnover. The tire and oil change guys are mostly students and don't stay long, the actual mechanics have been there long but they don't do tires. The only reason I got them to do the install is that if I wanted the road hazard warranty, they had to do the install.
 
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