I took a good 4x4 tyre to a major tyre fitting chain for repair of a puncture caused by a stray screw. All apparently fine until the tyre was re-inflated, whereupon the bead over a 4-5" section popped back over the alloy rim - the steel band clearly broken. The tyre was fine when taken in and passed the fitter's visual check. The steel bead must have been broken as the fitter took the tyre off the rim but of course they dispute that. They refuse to replace the tyre and claim the damage is due to an inherant fault with the tyre. Do I have recourse to any independent verification of how the damage was done as an apparently excellent tyre is now wrecked and costing me £100?
Any advice welcome!
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how old was the tyre? Was the steel bead visible? Any visible marks to the casing?
In my opinion the tyre was faulty, 4x4 tyres lead a hard life. Good job the tyre failed safely and not at 70mph...
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The bead wires are extremely strong JJ, it would take considerable force to break them on a tyre removal machine, and i would fully expect the bead rubber covering the wires to be ripped to shreds before this happened.
I presume you have the tyre, is there evidence of such extreme force anywhere.
Its been many years since i was in the tyre game, and i have seen some poor fitters remove and even refit tyres without lubricating the beads...a lazy practice that makes me cringe.
Even then unless you can see obvious damage to the bead in that area i don't think you'll have much hope of a claim.
If there is appropriate damage then maybe a letter to the head of the company?
Edit..are we talking premium or budget far eastern tyres, purely out of interest.
Edited by gordonbennet on 11/04/2009 at 13:38
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Hi
Thanks for the replies. The tyre is a General Grabber AT2 fitted as one of 4 last summer. They are all in visibly great shape with loads of tread and no scrapes. There aren't any visible scars, scrapes or gouges. There was no apparent sidewall or bead damage when I took the tyre in. The tyres have not had a hard life. You don't think that damage could be done by a lever when pulling the bead over the rim? They seem extremely tough tyres.
Do you know if I can claim against or ask General Tyres to look at the tyre? (I think they are owned by Continental)
Thanks for the advice
JJ
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Many years ago such a tyre would have been returned to ''Tyre manufacturer's conference'', whether such a body still exists i doubt, i am going back to the 60's.
The tyre dealer should really have recommended a course of action for you over this especially as they say the bead was faulty, and probably should have arranged for the return of the tyre for claims consideration.
I should imagine you have nothing to lose by contacting the importers of General tyres, if no joy there a email to General USA (i believe thats where they are made) might bear some fruit.
But first contact the fitting company senior bod.
I can't imagine a chain tyre depot levering off such a tyre by hand,though its possible that their machine couldn't cope with your wheels, but i'd have said the wheel well would have collapsed before the steel bead was anywhere near damage point, and i wouldn't argue with a tyre fitter that could split such a bead by hand even with truck tyre levers..;)
Edit...my pick ups on 16" 8" wide alloys and the machine's have no trouble fitting and removing without damage.
Edited by gordonbennet on 11/04/2009 at 14:43
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Sorry let me ask again.....is there serious damage to the bead area rubber?
If so then you possibly have a valid claim against the tyre fitting company.
If not then the tyre must have been faulty , so hopefully a valid claim against the maker.
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A good reason why you should never stand over a tyre/wheel that you are inflating
Did the fitter keep banging air in to seat the bead and the pressure blew the bead over the rim or did he blow it up carefully and safely
To finish ive never seen a bead break on a tyre never and it would scare me if it did
my theory as already said is the propietry tyre soap was not added to the bead before and after removal and the tyre machine ripped the steel in the bead
if you are getting no joy from the garage then get in touch with the importer/maker of your tyre and although you will have to pay a fee they will advise the reason for failure
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sorry gb you seem to have covered everything but im a slow tipper ;-)
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Actually thinking more about it BB, i should imagine General will want to have a look see what went wrong here.
Wouldn't have thought even the most ham fisted fitter could have ripped a bead apart without leaving some evidence behind.
Silly blighter...i always got my tipper loads out quickly less chance of going over..;)
Edited by gordonbennet on 11/04/2009 at 14:52
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I wouldn't like to guess who or what actually caused the fault, be it either a faulty tyre or whatever the fitter did with it. But tyres are pretty tough things and I reckon that it would take one hell of a lot of force for the man and his machine to break the bead in the way that it has. I'm not saying that it isn't impossible, but pretty unlikely. So maybe it was a faulty tyre after all, but then again what can you actually do about it now? Maybe complaining to the manufacturer (and maybe this tyre place) will get you somewhere but I fear that you may be on a hiding to nothing. It might be one of those things that you have to grin and bear and put your hand in your pocket for a new tyre.
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Thanks guys for all your suggestions. I've had a further closer look at the tyre (still on the rim as the company couldn't find a suitable matching replacement)
The bead wires aren't snapped as I previously thought and had been told by the fitter. The bead wires can be seen, intact and lying aginst the bead seat on the alloy but ripped from the rubber. The section of tyre that was 'popped' out from the rim is the section where the bead wires have been ripped out from the tyre.
This has to be negligence by the fitter. He freely admitted that he had used pressure to 'pop' the tyre onto its seat and to my mind it seems that he must have ripped the inner of the tyre when removing it. I'll try to get some sort of recompense by approaching the head office of the tyre fitting company...
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Sounds like a poor probably dry fitting/removal practice to me too.
If the fitting company don't play ball maybe the importer/General would be able to put some pressure on as the fitting company is already suggesting that the tyre is faulty, maybe let them know that should you meet resistance?
One other thing occurs to me here, the pressure involved in ripping the bead rubber away must have been considerable, when the new tyre is refitted get someone to check the trueness of the wheel when its on the balancer...during high speed spinning it will have a safety cover over, but the fitter should be able to spin it enough by hand to check the wheel is still true.
Good luck with this JJ, i should imagine this particular tyre place won't be high on your list of companies to use again when this is sorted out, and as said above good job it didn't pop out at high speed.
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Sounds like a fitting problem - I wonder whether there was a problem with the machine (sharp edge).
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........ the steel band clearly broken.
I think you need to explain to us more fully what you saw. A tyre bead has several strands of reinforcing wire. www.etyres.co.uk/glossary-tyre-terms?term=bead
Were they all severed?
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L'escargot,
"The bead wires aren't snapped as I previously thought and had been told by the fitter. The bead wires can be seen, intact and lying aginst the bead seat on the alloy but ripped from the rubber. The section of tyre that was 'popped' out from the rim is the section where the bead wires have been ripped out from the tyre"
Thanks all
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My apologies for not reading the thread fully.
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