Please Excuse My Rant...

[FRSam]

Today I was all set to head out to Lake Davis with my father's ashes - I promised him I'd take him out in my new Boston Whaler shortly before he passed at 93 yrs of age. He was just to frail to get out while he was still with us but when he saw my boat his eye's light up and he made me promise more than once that I'd take him out. He didn't plan on being in a wood box for the trip but I knew it would be the only way I could keep my promise.

So I get everything set this morning and do the final walk around my Jeep and trailer and notice a big bulge in one of the trailer tire sidewalls. Damn - I just replaced both trailer tires 3 weeks ago at Les Schwab just because I was being supper cautious - I never had any problems with the original tires. One week after replacing the tires I'm driving home from the lake and I notice smoke streaming from my right rear trailer tire. DANG!!! So I replace the tire with my spare and bring in the shredded tire to Les.

They say they can't tell what caused the blow out because the tire is so shredded and put on a new tire - no charge. When I replaced the tires I seriously considered going with a higher end tire but he said they would have to be ordered and it really wasn't worth the extra money - you were in essence just paying for the name. He assured me they were good tires and says I probably picked up a nail. Okay stuff happens.

And now here I am a week later with a bubble in the sidewall the size of a grapefruit in the other new tire which would have blown had I not seen it.

http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/FeatherRiverSam/TrailerTire.jpg

Well Dad's not in a big hurry...but I'm sure my Mom would like the ashes back asap as she left them here with me, so I could keep my promise, during our family reunion this past week.

I've had it with these tires and I'll be looking for a full refund to replace them with the upper end tires which will have to be ordered which means more time and in the duration I'd like to see Les replace this tire with another one of the same and when the new tires arrive replace them both with a full refund.

Do you think I'm outta line here - driving back and forth to Les Schwab here in the mountains is costing me time and money. It looks like they're closed today so that will give me some time to cool down - not too much I hope.

Sorry for the rant - but I do feel a little better. Just for the record the fishing at Lake Davis has been pretty good and the damsels are still very active.

Pete

[mike N]

I would say if they don't provide you with a satisfactory solution, then it should result in a call from your to Clark Howard. He is a national radio guy that detests poor customer service and doesn't mind calling the vendor to the mat when good service is not provided. A couple tires and a satisfied customer is well worth not having their LS's name mentioned on his show. On the other hand, if they do satisfy you, it may very well be worth mentioning it on the show.

MN, talk radio listener.

[captnorm]

Les Schwab has great customer service, you won't have any problems. He's from the "old school" and puts pride into his customer service.

Sorry for your loss of your Dad.

Norm

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Stuff happens............but what bad timinmg for it to happen.

Hope all is well soon.

I always buy top end tires for everything just to be safe, especially at 63 years old now.

[FRSam]

I think I'll hold off on the radio Mike and give Schwab a chance to make amends - I've heard Clark Howard's program and it's refreshing to hear him do his thing.

Thanks Norm...In fairness to Les Schwab I've had nothing but good experiences with them and I think you're right...they will take care of me.

I agree Bill...I let them talk me out of the upper end tires...their exact comment was if you want to spend the extra money on the tires we'll be happy to order them for you. Stuff does happen but the more you can minimize it the happier you'll be - life is just too short.

Pete

[Tony Buzolich]

Having owned my own tire store for almost thirty years I've seen lots of examples of what has happened to you.

Sometimes tires fail because of road hazard type problems, sometimes because of lack of care or negligence, and sometimes because of just poor quality product.

Realize this, "All tires are basically constructed the same way." The tire is assembled in various layers with various compounds and various belt materials and then put in to a clam shell like mold and baked liked a cake.

When the tire is in the mold it is heated to a liquid state again and the various parts fuse together. This is where the problems happen.

Sometimes, while in this liquid state, the various parts move or shift just slightly and the internal construction of the tire is no longer round. The tire is taken out of the mold, and is perfectly round on the outside, but, not always round on the inside.

The belts may not be in perfect alignment with the casing. There may be uncured areas of the tire that never bonded, etc. Most often this refered to as radial or lateral run-out.

Now, here's the zinger. What do they do with these tires that are perfectly safe, but just not perfectly round? Some of them have only a couple of thousanths of run out, while others have several thousanths of run out.

Well, the cream of the crop are sold as your number one premium grade tires. Those with more run out are sold at your discount stores and membership clubs. Those name brand tires sold at these discount places can not even be warranted by the manufacturer at company stores, only at the discount store where you bought them.

Remember, that heat is the worst enemy of rubber. Those tires with several thousanths run out are going to run hotter than those with fewer thousanths run out. The rounder a tire is, the truer it will run with the least amount of friction. This equates to a cooler running temperature, a longer tire life, and fewer problems along the way.

Hope this helps a little with one of the most important parts of your vehicle. Keep your air pressure up and your tires will run cooler, and you'll save fuel at the same time.

TONY

[FRSam]

Thanks for the tire run down Tony. I also wanted to go with a bigger tire but when I talked to the trailer manufacturer, Karavan, they said this model was already maxed out. I guess it all boils down to you get what you pay for - well sort of...I'll be very curious to hear what Les Schwab has to say.

Pete

[Troutstalker55B]

Pete,

Got a plan for ya. We will take my boat out and you can drop me off at damsel shoal, and then you can take the boat and put dad in his special place. When I brought my Mom's remains back to Little Girl's Point on Lake Superior I was cool until I let them fly - It was tough. So with that said, take as long as you need, I'll just keep hunting heads. Call me if your game.

Jonny B.

[Jay Murakoshi]

Dang, that bump on the tire looks like the bump on my knee :D

I have this portable ice bag that helps out knees. It's a wrap around knee brace and fill with ice water. Sort of like an IV. When the water gets warm, you can reverse the flow and it goes back into this water container any you can pump in more ice water. A great little gadget

Jay

[Dabalone]

Sorry for your loss. I have had too many problems with Les Shwab, they always fixed or replaced things at no cost but it got old having to go back over and over. Couple bad valve stems and then tire separations, squeaking brake pads and something else that slips my mind at the moment. I always took their advice when selecting the tires, usually something on sale in the upper mid range. Has not worked out well for me at least.

[Jgoding]

Sorry bout ur dad Sam,

Regarding the tires...it happens, you can't really blame anyone. You may want to check the age of the tire though. Recently saw a news article where brand new tires are being sold but they can range from 3-12 years in age. You can check the tires for a coded number, sometimes it's on the backside, but it basically tells you the tires age. The digits correspond to week and year it was made. So like it would be ...3299, would mean 32nd week in 1999.

Sometimes it's not about the brand but how long it's been sitting at the store/warehouse etc...

[jayclarkflyfishing]

Pete-
Ive dealt with that Les Schwab(Portola) for years.Ask for Jeff or Bob and they will take care of the problem.They are stand up guys.
Jay

[FRSam]

I thought I'd update my trailer tire story...I went into Les Schwab this morning and talked to Jeff and he looked at the tire and just shook his head. He called in to find out if there had been a problem with this particular tire and the return rate was below 2%.

You're right Jay, Jeff is a stand up guy, and he did agree that I should go with another tire so he ordered the $70.00 tires which will be in this coming Thursday and in the interim replaced the bad tire so I could get on with my Dad's ashes up to Lake Davis. A real nice guy and I couldn't be more pleased with Les Schwab.

Thanks for all the feed back and thank you Jon for your kind offer to let me use your boat.

I'm hoping to get up to Oregon this coming weekend with the boat and do Crane Prairie and East Lake. I'll sure feel better knowing I have the upper end tires on that boat trailer.

Pete

[jayclarkflyfishing]

Glad it worked out for you Pete.I knew Jeff would make it right.Good luck at East and Crane Prairie!
Jay

[mark]

Glad it worked out for you. Les schwab is a stand-up place. They have always gone out of their way to make me happy and generally they dont charge for repairs. I wont buy tires anywhere else. Also, they will custom order tires for you if you don't want to buy their brand for some reason.