dj Dozhe

Last night I was driving home from class and I hear some slight road noise coming from the right side of the car. I turned down my stereo, slowed to about 60, and listened so I'd be able to describe it to the dealership when I called. The car was still handling find and the ride felt no different, probably because I was driving in a straight line, but then the noise started getting loud.

I began slowing down and driving towards the shoulder just in case anything should happen, and then instead of a bang I felt a whoosh which was actually the rubber flying off the tire. I was going about 15-20 at the time so I didn't lose control and was basically right at the shoulder so I stop the car and got out to take a look.

Instead of a flat tire I saw NO tire except for the rubber around either side of the rim. There was slight rash on one part of the rim, and some slight damage to the front part of the right side skirt behind the wheel which I can only imagine was caused by the tire flying off. I've had two flat tires in my life and nothing that ever looked like this.

So I sent off an email about 30 minutes ago to the dealer explaining what had happened and hoping since it was only 4K miles and my first experience with this dealership that they'd stand behind the car and help me out. Wish me luck. I hope I have a good experience with these people

Also when I go in I have to talk to them about the squeaky driver's seat, the rattling noise at 2nd stage vtec, and the slight condensation inside my left headlight.

I love this car and I hate the damn donut, but finding the jack spot and changing the tire was pretty damn easy. If anyone wants pictures just complain and I'll see what I can do.

observer

Oh man, sorry about that. Hope you can get this fixed without any major problems. Do you know if you had hit or run over something on the road?

dj Dozhe

I didn't feel any kind of a bump and it's hard to miss anything in the road with those badass HIDs.


edit: And bout the title for this thread, ya I'm a moron, it's the front RIGHT tire.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

That sucks...sounds like a possibly defective tire.

dj Dozhe

That's what I was thinking.

STL

When was the last time you checked your pressures? Maybe it picked up a nail or something and has been low for awhile -- although you should have been able to feel a tire that low.

dj Dozhe

I took a mild road trip about 2 weeks ago and checked it then. perfect. I wasn't noticing a difference in ride, MPG, or pulling in any direction so hadn't checked it since then. Even driving it out of the parking lot onto the 45MPH road that led up to the highway I didn't feel any kind of an issue.

STL

Sure sounds like a bad tire then...

Master47

Will the dealership handle this, or will they point you to the local Michelin dealer for warranty?

dalieu

interesting...

jlukja

That might depend on how good of a dealership you deal with.

narci

I got that too..if you find out let us know.

thanks.

lilballa

The tire should be replaced since its under a 1 year warrenty, as long as you didnt run anything over, and any damage that may have been done to the rim,etc should be taken care of by the dealer, since its only been 4 months. Hopefully you have a good relationship with the dealer. Post how everything turns out afterwarsds.goodluck

Master47

The dealer will probably take the car to Michelin shop to have a tire put on. I don't think my dealer has equipment to remove, mount, and balance tires.

sccpu3d

Wow, at 4k must be a defective tire. Glad you made it out safe though, thats the most important thing. Since you described it to be something of an amazement, i gotta seee how the hell it looks, sooOoooooOoo........... =D

fuckleberry

a picture is worth thousand words

Colin

Sorry to hear about this. I know yo don't want to hear this, but 90% of tire failures are caused by some kind of road hazard. Picking up a nail and letting the ari leak out caused this failure on my wife's S2000.


To the uninitiated it looks like a tire failure or mfg defect. It's not. I've seen people brush a curb and damage the belts inside the tire causing a failure far after the initial contact.

Another common problem is the corners of the metal plates used to cover the holes in the road when they're doing construction. These have a habit of sticking up and "slashing" the sidewall of your tire as you drive by.

Beoshingus

When the tread flew off, did it do any damage to the body?

miner

DO NOT leave the donut on the drive axle. Move a rear tire to teh drive axle and put donut on the rear.

yuhoo22

I would totally agree with ^ if you are going to be on a donut for a while

dj Dozhe

Thanks for all the feedback. I'm taking it in to the dealership today. The dealer just called me and is going to talk to the service department to make sure there is a car for me to drive and then I'll bring it down. He said he'll since it's a michelin problem that is quite rare he'll have to send the tire in to them so they can determine what the issue is. Everything else will get sorted once I go down there. My sales guy is being pretty nice about this so I've got my fingers crossed. I'll check the thread on hosting pictures and get something up. My digital camera is dead so I took some with my cell phone. crap, but it works.

dj Dozhe

dj Dozhe

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Damn...

waTSX

I was going to say. Everyone is talking about a defective tire, but what about the more likely scenario of damage having occured? It's not hard at all to pick something up off the road that would sufficiently damage the tire.

Bummer though. Hopefully your stealer will take care of you.

dj Dozhe

I hope so too. I'll be taking it in over lunch.

JediMindTricks

sorry to hear that...

good luck and i also hope your dealer will take care or you.

fuckleberry

what is that ?

dj Dozhe

That's the mark on the front part of the right side skirt made when the rubber flew off my car.

So I just got back to from the dealer and because I don't have any other pieces of the tire it makes it impossible to figure out if it was a defective tire or something in the road. This mean Michelin won't be willing to do anything. That being said they're going to keep the car until tomorrow so they can discuss what THEY will be willing to do for me even though they don't technically have to do a thing. Everyone I've dealt with so far has been polite, patient, and pretty accomodating so I'd have to say it's a positive experience so far.

As a complete side note I'd never driven a TL before and it's nice to get to drive it around without a salesman sitting next to me. I'm glad they gave me a loaner, but I can't wait to get the TSX back. The controls, mirrors, gauges, stereo layout, button layout, seats, and visibility on the TL are NOT my style and I dislike the function and placement much more than the actual appearance. These are all very subjective things, but I don't think I'd be interested in a car like this even when I'm 20 yrs older. It's only been 2 hours...and I miss my car.

Yui

Don't worry, you'll get your car back soon and it'll be all good again... Just gotta tough it out till then.

dj Dozhe

Since I'll most likely be the one paying for the tire what should I expect to pay?

Colin

I'd be prepared for 180-200 mounted and balanced.

STL

Checkout www.tirerack.com .

dj Dozhe

Well I got a call this morning from Jay Wolfe Acura and it was nothing but good news. They checked out the issues I mentioned and explained that the condensation issues had been fixed and the i-vtec rattle was most likely due to cold as they could not replicate the sound. As far as the real issue, the tire, they said even though Michelin was no help the dealership was going to replace, mount, and balance for free. Since the car was in and oil at 20% I had the oil change done as well. They're going to recheck the issues I voiced today and test drive the car before I pick it up at noon.

My price for a loaner car more expensive than mine with 2 miles on it for two days, two seperate times checking issues that may not even be issues, replacing,mounting and balancing a fairly expensive tire, oil change, filter change, fluid top off, and paperwork............$0. That's a price I can deal with and a gesture I can appreciate. I really like it when a dealership doesn't HAVE to do anything, but they do something anyway. I never received this level of professionalism and courtesy at my Ford dealership.

jlukja

^^ Cool. Another satisfied Acura customer.

Does your other tire have much tread wear on it? I've always been told to replace both tires on an axle at the same time. Just curious.

dj Dozhe

with only ~4K on the other tires, and how kind I've been to them it's not going to be an issue.

STL

As long as the other tire is wearing normally, the 4k more of wear on it shouldn't be a problem at all.

TSXnOPKS

What about the seat creak/rattle? If so, how was that resolved?

narci

I blew a tire in my old mercedes C26 AMG when it had less then 3000 KM on it (not miles). Dealership did not cover the blow out and made me buy a new one.

dj Dozhe

What's funny is the creak has been getting less and less, and when I was driving it there to get checked out I noticed it was pretty much nonexistent. If it does start doing it enough that it's a problem, and I know they'd be able to hear it when they check it out I'll bring it in. Judging by this first experience and the fact they told me to pay close attention to everything and bring it in as soon as I notice anything out of the ordinary makes me feel pretty comfortable with the situation.