So I am here hoping someone can explain to me the logic behind a recent issue I've had with a local Ford Dealer. They have been doing my service for a long time. My tires that came with the truck had I think 45K miles on them and they were not worn out but I could feel the steering when I hit a large bump and I know it wasn't going to be too long before I got that death wobble going on. Pulling horses on the interstate that is a dangerous event! So I decided to replace my tires. I got quotes from the dealer on I think 3 different tires. One of the ones offered was the same model that came with my truck. I would have liked more wear but the ride I got was great and i liked the traction well enough so I decided to go back with the same tires! I applied for and got the ford Service Card which gave me a year no interest to pay. I paid $800 for 4 tires and they came with life time balance and rotate.

When I drove off the lot there was a shimmy in the steering that had never been there and there was also vibration in the front and rear of the truck. I was just about to go on a camping trip so I did not go right back - which I should have done. I kept my old tires too btw. SO I called them when I got home and told them about the problem. I had always been able to get an appointment with them in just a few days prior to this but they could not get me in for 2 weeks. To make this long drawn out story a little shorter the tires could not be balanced but they did not immediately tell me this. I went back at least 4 times(30+ mile round trip) and on the 4th trip I took my husband with me who watched them balance and the tires could not be balanced. It was only then, after he had watched them balance the tires and saw they could not be balanced that they told me the tires needed replacing. The machine could not road force balance 3 of the 4. So they said they ordered replacements. I left my truck overnight and took a rental home. Picked up my truck the next morning and they rode with us for the test drive but it still had the shimmy. They say that is the way a truck rides. That is a lie. My truck never rode like that before! They pretty much tell us that's all they can do.

So fast forward 4 months when its time for rotation and balancing. I am thinking if they don't balance they will make it right given all the issues we'd had. But when they rotated the back to the front the tires again would not balance. I also forgot to mention that on that first trip back after getting the tires I asked them to put my old tires back on and just refund the purchase but they refused to do that. Then the service manager proceeded to tell me that they had ate the cost of the tires the replaced for me and I had insisted on having the tires that came on the truck and those were known to be bad.. and i'm like do you still sell those tires - yes. Did you give me a quote on those tires - yes. Do you make a habit of eating the cost of parts that come in broken or defective- no.

So I get lifetime free balance and rotate only they can't balance them and they say there is nothing more they can do for us that we have to take it up with goodyear. They did not offer to help us in anyway saying their supplier would not replace any more tires for us. It was not a pleasant conversation. I felt cheated - still feel cheated and I'm still paying for tires I am going to have to replace because I can't keep that vibration going or other crap in my truck will fail not to mention you can't have front tires not balanced and NOT expect the death wobble to show up. It was just unacceptable.

In the mean time before we can figure out what to do my clearance light started leaking. They had previously replaced one and I figured it was the same one and would be covered as far as repair costs so I took it back to them. I am at a point that I do not trust this dealer in any way and I did not want them to make another dollar off me. So they tell me this is a different light that is leaking and that I have a $100 deductible on my ESW every time I use it. I did not want them to do anymore work on my truck so I told him not to fix it. Then drops the shoe that I would have to pay them for a half hour labor. I asked them to bill me and he would not release my truck unless I paid. So the same lady manager who had screwed me on the tires comes in and tells me that since they have to argue with me every time I come in not to come back. I will also say that the guy who is giving us the news - who had also been a party to previous discussions about the tires was being hateful to me and I told him to please stop yelling at me and he apologized and I said thank you and that is when the lady crook comes in and tells me not to come back. Needless to say there is a **** storm here and it isn't pleasant but I think I did pretty good at not losing it - which I admit I had done last time because I feel they cheated me and just wanted a decent WORKING set of tires.

So in the mean time my husband always buys his tires from a local tire shop. He called them and explained all the crap. This guy also deals a lot with goodyear. They took all my tires off and attempted to road force balance them. 3 tires were bad. Isn't that a strange coincidence? He didn't charge us for this and helped us with Goodyear who sent replacement tires which are being put on today.

SO my question is this.. WHY couldn't the dealer work with the tire supplier until I had actual working balancable tires? Do tire manufacturers make seconds and sell them at a discount or anything like that? I'm just unsure why they refused to make this right and I am considering a small claims action suit. In addition to that, now that I am banned from that dealer I can't even get the free balance and rotate that came with these tires so seems to me I am entitled to credit for that so I can pay another Ford dealer to do it. They probably would not even include balancing on tires that could actually BE balanced. I dunno. I am just grateful that somebody in this town did the right thing for me and my husband. I also wrote to the people that manage the owner's business enterprises asking for some help. I was looking at having to continue to pay for these tires and simultaneously purchasing new tires elsewhere because I needed working tires. We are on a fixed income and my husband is 73 years old. I figured they would help us and do the right thing but I never heard from them. Given her response I think that lady manager did hear from them maybe. Again it all does not make any sense to me. I have not blasted them in an online review though I do plan to warn others not to buy tires from them. I just want to know WHY? It doesn't make any sense to me that they would be out anything other than labor of attempting to balance the tires and changing them out for working ones? Unless they are buying seconds. Then it would make sense. Any input appreciated.

Wait, wait... you paid 800 for 4 tires?!!

The real problem is you trusted the dealer, and you did not hold them accountable right out of the gate.
Being on this forum you should know that dealerships are out to make a dollar NOT to make a happy customer.

This is why places like @Discount Tire thrive.

The reason I was willing to pay the 800 (I know thats too much..lol) is because I got financing with zero percent interest for a year. I came home and set up auto pay so I don't pay any interest and the $100 per month was easier than $600 elsewhere. I end up paying a lot more in the long run though. Then add all the trips back and forth and all the time wasted while they did whatever they did and then the misery of trying to make them treat me right - which never happened. I guess I figured they would not cheat me. I'm not sure how it cost them anything other than labor and to send somebody down the road knowing they pull a trailer and live animals with sub-standard equipment is something I just didn't think a decent person - or company, would do. IF I could do it over, I would turn around and tell them to put my old tires back on my truck and go somewhere else for tires! I still do not understand their reluctance to get a working tire for me???????? Those tires were out of round from the get go.

Just an FYI - If you open a Discount Tire credit card and pay for your tires with that, you can get 0% for a certain period (depends on $$ amount spent) as well as long as the balance is paid off within that time frame...

-jokester

Pull the weights, toss in some Dynabeads and enjoy the ride, wheel weights are overrated

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No the ride and the handling in the steering was definitely CRAP with these tires and it wasn't because they were 10 ply because they were the same my truck came with. The tires were defective - out of round. The local tire dealer who dealt with good year is putting on the last tire and it is amazing that none of them were out of round! ALL of them balanced. SO I want to know if I paid FULL + Price for seconds or thirds???? Since goodyear covered ALL the costs to my local tire store under THEIR warranty I do not understand why the FORD dealer could not do the same or why they would not unless they bought substandard tires in the first place and couldn't return them??? None of it makes sense.

By the way, one of the ways to NOT get sick of your Truck is to keep it as much like new as possible. That means clean inside and out, smelling good and handling/driving like it did when you bought it. That should be doable at least til I get the sucker paid off I'd think! Nothing makes me want to trade vehicles more than when crap starts breaking or my steering and ride feels like I"m driving my husbands old dodge with overload springs!

Wish I'd known that earlier this year!! lol.. But this has been a valuable lesson. I am too old and been beat around the block too many times to have to learn this particular one though. It's embarrassing.

Your Ford dealer can't handle tire warranty issues because they're not an authorized tire distributor, they're just an installer. they didn't buy the tires directly from Goodyear, they purchased them from from Ford who bought them from a distributor who bought them from Goodyear.


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I don't buy that because they were bad from the start. So if they get a bad out of round tire they can't send it back til they get a good one? How come the tire dealer who didn't even sell me the tires could do that. All he did was contact goodyear and they sent him 3 tires to replace the bad ones and covered all the costs of mounting and balancing them. How come ford couldn't do that? I drove off the lot with substandard tires and they could have cared less. It's good because they won't get y business ever again. In fact IF I ever buy another new truck I will do it online and try to find a chevy dealer to send it to for pick up! They have pissed me off and I plan to tell everyone I know how underhanded they were. And another thing why is it they were telling me that all trucks ride rough and that is normal trying to sell that the tires were not defective when they knew good and well they were defective. And why couldn't they pick up the phone and call goodyear or whoever they buy their tires from and demand a new and working piece of equipment? I call bull**** on that. Sorry. But if they can't sell a working part they should stop selling it period. Oh and trying to tell me these tires are known to be bad. How come she didn't tell me that when she was ordering them for me to put on my truck? Dishonest jerks thats what they are.