Sometimes you need TWO spare tires! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

LUVMBDiesels · #1 03-27-2010, 08:28 AM

I was getting on the Va 267 toll road yesterday at 6am when I drove into the Grand Canyon! I did not see this super deep hole and blew the left rear tire immediately! I was on the side of the entrance ramp taking everything out of the trunk, suitcases, tools, rifles, etc to get to the spare. I got the rear tire changed and went on my way. About 7 miles later the distinctive noise of a low tire came through! I pulled to the right shoulder - a strip just wide enough for the car and got out. The FRONT left tire was going flat! CRAP!!!
I was stuck between an entrance ramp and the highway, cars whizzing by on both sides less than a yard from the car! I was just waiting for the Congressional Staffer, texting and yapping to hit me.

I called AAA and gave them my location. AS I was trying to make myself understood, a VDOT roadside service truck came up. He tried to pumpp up the tire with his hand held compressor but it did not work. He then called dispatch to get AAA to expedite the tow. He put out flares then had to take off. (Did you know that flares are the worst thing you can do? The light attracted the sheeple driving near me and at least four of them came straight at the lights only to swerve at the last second away from the car!) This took from 6:30 to about 7:30. I waited until 8 then called AAA to get a status. They said the tow truck was looking for me but could not find me. I said to the dispatcher that al he needed to do was look on the side of the road by exit 13 and he could not miss the car in the shoulder! At 8:35 I called back and they told me the guy could not find me. I said get somebody over to me NOW! They dispatched a new guy who showed up in 15 minutes. After putting the car on the flatbed, we drove down the highway to the next exit - on the side of the road was the other tow truck, guy sitting there feet on the dash! I guess he figured taking a break was more important than helping a poor sucker in a very dangerous situation!

Anyway he took me to a GOODYEAR shop where they told me both tires were not fixable and that I also needed tie rods, tie rod ends, control arms and an alignment.
I told them to put on a tire, and get me out of there.
The tire set me back $200!
I got on the road at 11:30 and guess what? My alignment, tie rods, etc are fine!
I am taking the car in to have the snow tires switched to the summer ones today and I am going to have them look at the two 'bad' ones.
If they are OK I will be fit to be tied....

JimFreeh · #2 03-27-2010, 08:33 AM

Might want to take a close look at the rims. A whack bad enough to take out the tire can bend the lip.

Jim

layback40 · #3 03-27-2010, 08:53 AM

I have 2 spares when ever I do a trek away from home. The only time the second spare is not in the trunk is when there is no room.
I guess the goodyear place had the flat bed driver on his payroll. $200 for a tire is a bad joke.

LUVMBDiesels · #4 03-27-2010, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by layback40

I have 2 spares when ever I do a trek away from home. The only time the second spare is not in the trunk is when there is no room.
I guess the goodyear place had the flat bed driver on his payroll. $200 for a tire is a bad joke.

Yeah, tell me about it! for a GOODYEAR tire! I paid less for my snows!

I think the 2nd spare might be a good idea!

The one rim holds air (with the badyear on it)
The other rim looked OK. I will see when I get to the tire place I trust

I might have to dip into JohnHef's rim stash!

layback40 · #5 03-27-2010, 09:17 AM

I use a lot of second hand tires. I get them for free. Some of them leak around the bead, if they go flat I toss them & fit another. We have an old tire fitting & balancing set up from a clearing sale. I think it all cost about $15 and 4 dyna bolts to hold it to the shed floor.
Even new tires only last about a year. The steel belts dont like hitting rocks all the time on dirt roads.

vstech · #6 03-27-2010, 12:06 PM

GC area is HUGELY damaging on tires.
DO NOT DRIVE OFF ROAD!!!
went through 6 tires in that area... heat, sun, weeds, trash.... and the local tire shops coat their tires in gold...

LUVMBDiesels · #7 03-27-2010, 03:33 PM

As a follow up to my saga about the pothole, I took the car into my tire place in NY today to get the winter tires changed to the summer ones.
It turns out that while one of the winter tires had a suspicious hole through the side wall the other one was FINE. The reason it went flat was a bad valve. The valve took the hit from the hole.

Remember these @-holes told me both tires were shot and SOLD ME a new tire (for $200) just so I could get home. All they needed to do was to replace the valve and then let me go on my way on three tires and my spare. They also tried to get me to replace the "OLD AND WORN OUT" tie rods and ends (I did them a year and a half ago) and said that the car was not safe for me to drive to NY. Of course the car drove fine, but pulled to the left a bit. I had the guys in NY check the alignment and they said it had been ADJUSTED to be out of alignment.

I am going to write to GoodYear about these birds!

layback40 · #8 03-27-2010, 07:46 PM

I would be more concerned about the flat bed driver. he must have been in on the scam. Any business that promotes itself on trust & safety, like many tire places do, is not to be trusted.

John,
Down here some times its better to drive off the road surface as the road surface is that rough.
Its a PITA when you damage a tire, just feels better when its only an old tire, not a new one.

TnBob · #9 03-27-2010, 09:12 PM

Write ?? You need to be on the phone with BOTH the offenders.

AAA is the one who took you there ... offender #1
Excessive amount of time they left you there in a dangerous place.
The 1st driver 'sitting by the side of the road' ?? WTF ?
Taking you to a local scam/fraud repair place.. ie; Goodyear

GOODYEAR offender #2 has alot to answer for:
Fraudulently attempting to induce a customer to have unnecessary repairs done. A complaint the Attorney General of VA will be extremely unhappy to hear, especially when combined with HOW you ended up there.

Im sure your local tire guy will in writing attest to the condition of the two tires in question, offering his professional opinion.

$200 for a tire ? Thats $800 a set, very nice tires huh ??

JB3 · #10 03-28-2010, 08:38 AM

yes, 200 a piece is a joke unless you go in for pricey tires, which is unlikely given the situation.

I paid 250 for 4 tires from firestone which were only rated at 40,000 miles, but I had them rotated and flipped religiously and got them near 100,000 miles before I wore the tread down enough.

IMHO, I doubt there was a collusion between the goodyear place and the AAA driver. Probably just a lazy SOB, followed by dropping you at a shady hellhole which was close.

Nowadays I go in for tirerack.com tires. I have to pay for rotation, but you can get such a nice tire for cheap that I think its worth it. You can get the big tire chains to put them on as well when they are new, even after they instituted that ridiculous "we will not install used tires" policy.

back in the day I used to buy 4 tires for about 50 bucks out of a yard, then take them down to firestone to put them on my crappy truck. I did this because I knew they have a cast iron torque wrench policy after tire installation, which is not the case in a lot of places, like "GIT-R-DUN", next to the yard.

LUVMBDiesels · #11 03-28-2010, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TnBob

Write ?? You need to be on the phone with BOTH the offenders.

AAA is the one who took you there ... offender #1
Excessive amount of time they left you there in a dangerous place.
The 1st driver 'sitting by the side of the road' ?? WTF ?
Taking you to a local scam/fraud repair place.. ie; Goodyear

GOODYEAR offender #2 has alot to answer for:
Fraudulently attempting to induce a customer to have unnecessary repairs done. A complaint the Attorney General of VA will be extremely unhappy to hear, especially when combined with HOW you ended up there.

Im sure your local tire guy will in writing attest to the condition of the two tires in question, offering his professional opinion.

$200 for a tire ? Thats $800 a set, very nice tires huh ??

You are right! Monday I will be on the phone... AAA will be first!

Yeah, the $200 Goodyear ASSurance tire is a whopping $99 at TireRack!

I feel violated!
I am writing the VA Office of Consumer Affairs now... NOW!!

Codifex Maximus · #12 03-28-2010, 01:23 PM

Pirelli Run-Flat tires starting at $169/ea USD.

TnBob · #13 03-28-2010, 01:36 PM

CALL & WRITE... write after you get the name with spelling of a senior customer service/retention member. Just dont try to get a phone number for any management type at AT&T.

With the fraud level you have incurred, I would somewhat politely demanding to speak with a supervisor at both places. 1st level CS types have no authority to do anything.

One notable exception is ebay. Apparently NO seniors there ever reply to any customer issues directly.

RUN-EM · #14 03-28-2010, 06:05 PM

IF the chug hole was reported by someone as dangerous prior to your tire rupture, they (the state) may be liable for your tire/tow expense. Stick that in the letter to the attn.gen.

Regards

Run-em

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