I gave TreadWright tires a try. I have to admit, they are nice looking tires. The price is right. I could only find a handful of cases where people had a problem with their tires from them. The ones who did have trouble, all seemed to have gotten replacement tires sent to them from TreadWright without any hassle. Well, that’s not been my experience. Here is my story.
I ordered a set of four 245/75/R16/E Guard Dog tires. I asked for matching Goodyear casings. I asked for raised white letter. I was contacted promptly and politely and told that they did not have raised white letter in this size. I agreed to have black sidewalls and was promptly sent 4 Goodyear Silent Armor tires. They say Wrangler on the sides, but from everything that I can tell, they are what Goodyear called Silent Armor tires. They have the Kevlar cords in them. Once we got them, we mounted them. They did not take a single ounce of weight. We ran the tires at 80#. We haul firewood, pull trailer, and drive some empty miles. The door post calls for 80# in the rears, and 55# up front. (The one that failed was on the rear passenger side) I just run 80# all around. I wrote the mileage down when they were installed. I wanted to see how many miles these tires would last. I got 1141 miles on them when I had a tire failure. A bulge formed in the tread of the tire. We checked the air pressure that morning before the trip. Since these are retreads, I made it a point to make sure the air pressure was checked meticulously. This was on Sunday, August 19th, 2012. I contacted TreadWright that night and got a call the next day from a lady who said that they would send a new tire out. All they wanted was a photo of the code that they imprint in the tread. I sent that to them with photos of the tire. My wife had taken a white tire marker and painted in the Goodyear and Wrangler. It didn’t look that great up close, but wasn’t too bad from a distance. Anyhow, that has nothing to do with this, but you’ll notice it when you look at photos of the tire. The photos below are after the tire was removed and aired down to about 30 pounds. Otherwise it looked like it was ready to explode.
Some time passed. I heard nothing. I thought I’d be a good customer and be patient. After a week I finally broke down and e-mailed TreadWright and asked them how long I should expect to wait for a replacement tire. I was really decent about it. I’ll post the message below. They responded by giving me the phone number to production & shipping and told me to contact them. Listen, I shouldn’t have to call the production floor to inquire about a tire. That’s what customer service reps are for. Mind you, this was now August 30th, about 10 days since they were aware of the problem.
Just curious – it has been a little over a week since I’ve heard any word about a replacement tire for the one that failed for me. What sort of timeframe should I be looking at for a replacement? I have another trip to Waterloo that I need to make with a trailer, and I don’t want to make it on the spare with no backup in case that or another tire fails. Thanks for any info you can provide. –Eric E. Durnan
Eric,
I am not really sure. Since you requested a Good Year silent armor to match I have no good time frame to tell you. I do not want to tell you something that is not correct. The number for production and shipping is 605-745-5045. It would probably be best to contact one of the ladies there. I am sorry for not being able to give you more information.
Susanne
I got back a hold of the lady. Below is the e-mail exchange between us. This was on the 31st of August (the next day). Again, the same phone number to call. By God, I shouldn’t have to call anybody to hound them about a replacement tire. I mean, come on, my money was good. They didn’t have to hound anybody to get paid. Hey TreadWright, do you want me to do business with you again? It’s starting to look like it was a mistake for me to go this route. I understand that manufacturing defects happen in all tires. What a company does to make it right says a lot about that company. Everyone else has said that TreadWright has made it right for them right away. I wonder why that hasn’t happened here. I’m starting to get upset.
Susanne,
I’m attaching a photo of the tire that I got from you. I assume it’s a Goodyear Silent Armor. My wife painted the Goodyear and Wrangler in on the tire herself. I sent you a photo that is large enough that you guys can blow it up and see for sure if I’m telling you the correct tire. If you have another Goodyear, in the correct size, tread, and ply (10 Load Range E), that is similar, I’ll take that. I think they used Kevlar belting in some of their other tires as well. Thank you for your help. –Eric E. Durnan
Dear Eric,
I changed it to a Good year wrangler as the pic shows. Everything else will be the same. It should go out soon. If you have any more questions about the shipment you can call 605-745-5045 and press the shipping key. Sorry I was not of more help.
Susanne
Here it is, the 8th of September. It’s been over a week since the above exchange. Granted, it’s a Saturday, but I haven’t heard a peep. When I ordered the tires, they sent me tracking info, so to be honest, I’m waiting to see some tracking info in my e-mail box. Nope. Just crickets. Goodyear casings are not that uncommon. The size I am asking for is not that uncommon. The tread design is one of their most popular. I’m half tempted to call and order another tire and I have a sneaking suspicion that they’ll have a GoodYear tire for me with cash in hand. But, since this is a replacement tire, I guess it’s not a priority to them. My father always told me that you can tell the character of a man by how he treats those he has nothing to gain from. Well, TreadWright isn’t making this right for me. I shouldn’t have to call their production floor or shipping department to make this right. I paid my money. They didn’t have to hunt it down. Their product should represent the good money sent to them, and they should see to it that I have my good product the same as I made sure they had my money. This really pisses me off.
So, when you go to buy your tires from TreadWright, keep this in mind. Most customers don’t have a problem with their tires. Most have seemingly had good luck getting replacements when they do have problems. However, you might get unlucky like me. I’m happy with their tires – at least the ones that hold together. But I’m not happy with how this has been handled. I’ve got a pickup truck that I need to use and I am running the spare. I can’t go very far because if I have another tire failure, I don’t have another spare. I NEED this tire. I’ve got stuff to haul before winter. I’m not being an impatient customer, nor am I being unreasonable. In another week, it’ll be a month. I’m not sure if I’ll buy tires from TreadWright again after this. It might be worth the extra money to buy new and avoid this hassle. Bad form TreadWright. For a company trying to convince people that buying recaps are as sure of a bet as buying new - very bad form.
