Damaged tire dilemma

[Bird-Dog]

Hi Guys. Been a while.

I just ripped the sidewall on one of my Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ rears (255/35R18). The set only has 3,340 miles on them, but replacements are nowhere to be found. Bought a full set from Tire Rack summer of 2020 on close-out (though I didn't mount them until Jan 21), so I'm still covered for road hazard (by Tire Rack, not Michelin) and already got the claim approved, though credit is only for the clearance price. New tires will be considerably higher, and I'll need to at least replace both rears.

Now the dilemma - do I...?

1. Just buy a pair of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 4 rears and call it done, keeping the PS 3+ up front? Outlay with the road hazard credit $350. Can maybe recoup $100 if I can sell the remaining good rear PS 3+... so perhaps $250 net
2. Go with a full set of Vredestein Hypertrack All Seasons? The Vredesteins are what I'd choose if I were shopping for a full set today - reportedly very close to PS 4 performance at a better price. Outlay $550 after claim coverage, less maybe $300 selling all 3 remaining PS 3+ for the same $250 net as above, but fully matching set.
3. Mix & Match with the Vredestein rears and existing PS 3+ fronts? Outlay $230 after claim less $100 selling the remaining PS 3+ rear, leaving a net of $130. Tread pattern is fairly close to the PS 4. Cheapest option, but not sure how I feel about mix & match (even with PS 3+ & PS 4)
4. Park it until I can find a good used PS 3+ rear. Not sure what happens to my road hazard claim. Might have to go ahead and use the credit, in which case I'd probably buy the Vreds and stow the for future use.

In every scenario except the last I'd be looking to sell at least the one remaining good rear PS 3+, which is a PITA I wish I didn't have to deal with.

What do you guys think? Will I even notice if I mix & match?

[fredo]

Hi there. I like option #1. In this way you have Michelins all around. Some years ago I was in a similar situation and found an used tire on ebay. But it appears they have none available at this time.

BTW, I never heard about Vredstein until now.

[Bird-Dog]

Hi there. I like option #1. In this way you have Michelins all around. Some years ago I was in a similar situation and found an used tire on ebay. But it appears they have none available at this time.

BTW, I never heard about Vredestein until now.

Vredestein is a very good brand. Been around a long time (I used to run Vredestein knobbies on my 1973 Zundapp ISDT dirt bike LOL). They dropped out of the US market ages ago, but recently came back.

I put a set of Vredestein Quatrac Pros on my wife's (now son's) Mazda CX-5 and we loved them. Quality is right up there with Michelin IMO, but at a better price.

[holyc0w]

Ideally they would be the same all around, but option 1 seems alright.

I had Vredestein Quatrac all-weather tires years ago. They worked well and were good in the snow.

[Bird-Dog]

I appreciate the input. Thinking I'll call around tomorrow and make sure Michelin doesn't have a PS 3+ in the right size still lurking in the back of the warehouse. Who knows, maybe they'll have pity on me and at least toss me a bone on the PS 4's.

[az3579]

How about replacing the pair and then using that spare AS3 on a full size spare? That's what I would do.

[Bird-Dog]

Update: Ready for a crazy story?

I called Michelin to see if they could dig up a matching rear PS A/S 3+. The customer service gal I spoke to was nice as could be. She checked all their warehouses, but to no avail. Then told me she was going to make some calls to see if any of their dealers had one. Told me she'd get back to me in 20 minutes... and sure enough, she did. Nevertheless, she had no luck locating a PS A/S 3+ for me, which as you'll see below was actually lucky. Already probably the greatest customer service I've ever experienced just for the effort she put in.

But - and this is where the story begins to get crazy - she volunteered that Michelin would "help me out" on necessary replacements. First, though, she needed me to take the car to an authorized dealer to inspect the remaining good tires, which I did today. An hour or so after dropping the car off I got a call from the shop. The manager handling the inspection says, "Are you aware that the other undamaged rear is a Pilot Sport A/S 4?" Me: "Really? That's crazy! Are you sure?" Yep, he was. That's right, the other rear is already a PS4! I asked him to check the damaged tire in the trunk and it was a PS3+, as it was supposed to be. I never noticed, and neither did Tire Rack when they shipped them, or the shop when they installed them... until now (same shop doing the inspection), but Tire Rack had shipped me one PS3+ and one PS4 for the rears (as well as PS3+'s for the fronts).

Crazy, right? On one hand, it's lucky because now all I really need to do is replace the one damaged tire with another PS A/S 4 and I'm at least matched up on each axle, and pretty close between PS3+'s front and PS4's rear (seeing as I was already mismatched and never noticed). But, even with the road hazard coverage I'd still be out-of-pocket for about $100 due to price difference between the new PS4 and what I'd paid (for PS3+'s), the original cost being max covered by road hazard. So at that point I was both relieved and a little retroactively PO'd that Tire Rack had shipped me mismatched tires. Therefore, I called Tire Rack to see what their customer service had to say.

I laid out the story for the CSR there. Kept my cool and did it nicely - after all, it is just a tire - honey>vinegar. The Tire Rack gal was very apologetic. I mean, she could see the original invoice for PS3+'s. After talking it through, she asked me what I'd like her to do about it now. I explained about the price difference and told her I'd ideally like them to discount the replacement PS4 to the price I'd paid for the damaged tire, making so all it would actually cost me after the road hazard coverage comes though would be installation cost. It kinda' shocked me, but she agreed without a fuss, saying it's "only fair" to make up for their mistake. WOW! I'm still surprised, and grateful for such agreeable customer service! Placed my order with her on the phone and the tire ships tomorrow from their warehouse across town.

Being late in the day when all this happened, I haven't heard back from Michelin yet. The tires showed 8/32 tread - about 96% the shop said (after all, only 3,340 easy miles on them). I'm happy enough as things stand, but we'll see what Michelin comes back with. If they want to throw me a big enough bone... well, I guess replacing the fronts with PS4's too would make me even happier!

TL;DR - Great customer service from both Michelin and Tire Rack! Replacement is only going to end up costing me installation fee on one new rear because the other rear is already *mistakenly* a PS4 and Tire Rack is matching my original price on the replacement so the road hazard works out to 100%. Could possibly end up with PS4's all around too if Michelin decides to discount a couple of fronts deep enough.

[fredo]

Crazy story indeed. Great customer service from both companies involved. Lets see what Michelin says next, please keep us posted.

[Bird-Dog]

Epilogue:

• The replacement rear arrived today. Mounted and back on the car now.
• Michelin offered me a 60% discount on replacing the fronts with matching PS A/S 4's. Nice offer, and much appreciated. But with mounting it'd still come out north of $200 for the pair. So I think I'll just stick with the fronts I have, which are still nearly new. Might have gone for the deal if it didn't require returning the take-offs to Michelin.
• To add insult to injury, in the meantime my compact spare went flat while it was on the car. Turned out to be a dry-rotted valve stem. Might be worth adding a new valve stem to your list of preventive maintenance if you're relying on a nearly two-decade old spare in an emergency.
• I will get that valve stem replaced. But considering situations like this little saga can take days to resolve, I decided a full sized spare might be a better idea anyway. So I picked up a used Style 137 wheel with a good 205/50R17 tire off eBay at a good price. Hopefully it'll fit in the trunk well, even if I have to forego the cover and relocate the jack.

So, that's it. Back in action and almost all done, pending sorting out the spare. Total outlay $25 for mount & balance... and $75 +shipping for the full size spare I opted to get. Phone-work took some time and persistance, but all-in-all a happy outcome.

PS - I should also mention another related tip. I've been very careful to keep up with the adapter key for the wheel-locks that came on the car, and had it readily at hand. But I got a little worried about what would happen if I lost it (read that, "if the tire shop or AAA neglected to give it back"). When I checked with the usual suspects, BMW dealers, FCP, etc, they no longer had stock of the particular one coded to my OE locks (there are several different code numbers - find yours on the head of the adapter key). Finally located the correct one on eBay and had it shipped in from Latvia. Again. like the donut spare's valve stem, this might be something to think about in advance of need. No telling if or when the supply will dry up completely.

[fredo]

Good to hear you are back to business. A new compact spare is on my to-do list.

The PO installed wheel-locks on my ZHP. I decided to get rid of them two years ago, I was worried about losing the adapter keys.