Got a flat - Cooper Tires Warranty & Americas Tire?

[jeromedawg]

Hey all,

Curious what our next steps should be for a non-repairable flat (we are on a full spare currently, so not in a huge rush in figuring out what to do next). The tire (Cooper CS5) got a screw on the angled transition/shoulder between the bottom tread and sidewall. Scary because we were driving around kind of a long distance on it yesterday - the TPMS light came on and pressure was low at 25 so I filled it up yesterday on the way home, thinking it had just lost a bit of air for whatever reason. Didn't realize there was a puncture until my wife saw the TPMS light come on again after heading out earlier today, and found the tire pressure was at 15psi :(




Fortunately, we had a full-sized spare on our Rav4 (though different brand - Yokohama) so had AAA Roadside change it out.

We had the tires installed Sept 2017 and have put probably over 25k miles on them, so while not brand new there's still a good amount of tread - I just measured and they are around 7/32" - 11.5/32" is the original tread as new.
America's Tire said that for non-repairable tires they'll replace them via proration by factoring existing life of that tire. Cooper Tires' warranty states that for the tires that are within the life of the warranted coverage (80k miles), as a result of "eligible adjustable condition", they will replace the tire based on multiplying the dealer's current selling price by the percentage of tread depth that was worn from the tire. I calculated this to be at around $46.xx based on America's Tire's $119.00 current selling price and 39% wear (7/32" out of 11.5/32").
I called another America's Tire gave them the tread level and they said based on the 7/32" tread level, per their system it would cost $85 to replace with a new matching tire - this is $10 more than I estimated based on Cooper's policy (http://us.coopertire.com/getmedia/e1835d3c-7ee8-46b3-900c-edb66a5c6e64/2019_US_Warranty_English.pdf.aspx) but I might be missing something. $25~ is the installation cost so not sure how they came up with the $60 proration amount.

That said, do you guys think it's worth bringing in to have them check and proceed with buying a new tire given the current circumstances/remaining life on tires and estimated cost of the replacement? The spare full tire is brand new I'm pretty sure but of course 'mismatched' brand-wise. Also, the spare with the puncture is sitting inside the trunk of the car right now and the back wheel mount is exposed, so it looks pretty ugly either way.

[FINate]

Either way you need a functional spare tire. Personally, I wouldn't worry about spending $85 on a new tire of the same make/model and then putting the spare back. But then maybe I'm a spendypants :) Another option would be to get a good used tire to have as your spare.

[jeromedawg]

Either way you need a functional spare tire. Personally, I wouldn't worry about spending $85 on a new tire of the same make/model and then putting the spare back. But then maybe I'm a spendypants :) Another option would be to get a good used tire to have as your spare.

I'll probably just do the replacement for that price. It's not too bad in general. If I got a used tire off Ebay, I'd still have to pay to have it installed onto the wheel and it would likely end up costing about the same thing give or take $10-15. Might as well get a new tired for that matter. Then again, my hesitation is more on the fact that I'll have 3 other tires with 50% less tread/life on them. Guess I'm OCD in that way hahaha.

[chemistk]

One thing to consider here first is whether your Rav4 has AWD. If it does, it's strongly suggested to get an additional tire to put on the opposite side. Non-matching (brand and wear level) can lead to incredibly premature wear of internal AWD components. If it's just 2WD, no worries.

If the tire shop isn't going to hassle you around about the warranty claim, I'd say just go for it (get it replaced) - as was mentioned, you'll still need to have a spare tire sitting around. I would probably not drive on the Yokohama spare for long periods of time - it's probably out of code and having been mounted on the back of the car it may be developing internal rot from elemental exposure.

[JLee]

If it were me I would probably plug the tire myself and keep running on it.  Plug kits like this are common in the off road / 4x4 community and they hold up well; I'm not sure I'd want to do that on a high performance car/tire, but for a small puncture like that I'd probably put a plug in it myself and keep an eye on it.

One thing to consider here first is whether your Rav4 has AWD. If it does, it's strongly suggested to get an additional tire to put on the opposite side. Non-matching (brand and wear level) can lead to incredibly premature wear of internal AWD components. If it's just 2WD, no worries.

If the tire shop isn't going to hassle you around about the warranty claim, I'd say just go for it (get it replaced) - as was mentioned, you'll still need to have a spare tire sitting around. I would probably not drive on the Yokohama spare for long periods of time - it's probably out of code and having been mounted on the back of the car it may be developing internal rot from elemental exposure.

AWD needs all four tires to be very close in diameter otherwise the center differential will see accelerated wear.

[jeromedawg]

One thing to consider here first is whether your Rav4 has AWD. If it does, it's strongly suggested to get an additional tire to put on the opposite side. Non-matching (brand and wear level) can lead to incredibly premature wear of internal AWD components. If it's just 2WD, no worries.

If the tire shop isn't going to hassle you around about the warranty claim, I'd say just go for it (get it replaced) - as was mentioned, you'll still need to have a spare tire sitting around. I would probably not drive on the Yokohama spare for long periods of time - it's probably out of code and having been mounted on the back of the car it may be developing internal rot from elemental exposure.

If it were me I would probably plug the tire myself and keep running on it.  Plug kits like this are common in the off road / 4x4 community and they hold up well; I'm not sure I'd want to do that on a high performance car/tire, but for a small puncture like that I'd probably put a plug in it myself and keep an eye on it.

One thing to consider here first is whether your Rav4 has AWD. If it does, it's strongly suggested to get an additional tire to put on the opposite side. Non-matching (brand and wear level) can lead to incredibly premature wear of internal AWD components. If it's just 2WD, no worries.

If the tire shop isn't going to hassle you around about the warranty claim, I'd say just go for it (get it replaced) - as was mentioned, you'll still need to have a spare tire sitting around. I would probably not drive on the Yokohama spare for long periods of time - it's probably out of code and having been mounted on the back of the car it may be developing internal rot from elemental exposure.

AWD needs all four tires to be very close in diameter otherwise the center differential will see accelerated wear.

Fortunately it's just a 2WD. I'm expecting to pay around $85 unless I measured the tread incorrectly. I confirmed with a second employee at the AT location and ended up ordering the tire for install this Friday.

Thanks for the heads-up on the Yokohama - we'll have it swapped back into the spare mount. Or is it advisable just to go ahead and order another matching tire at this point? I could order a new/used one off Ebay for partial discount. Problem is that I'd still have to get the tire changed out onto the existing wheel lol... I don't think I'd want to try DIYing that one.