Liability....WHAT liability?

[jaotguy]

I also remove/remount my tires with one of these now.
I'm out in the sticks and waste 2 hours turn around IF the tire shop is not busy...

how do you balance them afterwards ? I've got an old hub and 2 knife edges ....

 

[Diamondpilot]

yup -- I ran in to this issue too. I am sick of the high prices to remount old tires or last year snow tires back on and balance. From this point on I do my own tire service. Got one of those harbor freight manual tire changer and its worth the price in gold . I cant tell you how many times I used it on my two hands. I dont leave it permanently mounted in my garage floor, all I have is two bolt metal anchors ready to use left in floor. 5 mins and I'm ready to use.
These days it pays to do things yourself anyways.

I have one also. Mounted to a piece of plywood it's portable and some weight like the front tire of a truck is just perfect in the boat yard.

Like others said it's 2 hours minimum for me to go to town and get one done. I take them later for balance. It for emergency repair only in my eyes, not a permanent fix.

Chris

 

[zzvyb6]

Here you go

http://www.ammonslaw.com/publications/danger-of-aging-tires

When I worked in GM Tire Engineering, the best ones I heard of was a guy who mounted 16" tires on 16-1/2" wheels and complained about smooth road shake. Also the kid who mounted 16-1/2" tires on 16" wheels and complained (via his mother) that the tires didn't hold air. Tire problems on GM cars are usually handled at the dealer level. Of course all the morons who think the OEM tires are nfg and buy Oscar Meyer Bulldog Mud Spitter Daytonas are a real danger to the rest of us. Its them who have the crashes, kill someone (or worse, turn their Grandma into a vegetable) and make the rest of us pay in so many ways.

 

[JDgreen227]

I offered to sign a waiver of liability should they install the new valve stem...but...no. Might be somewhat off topic here, but in my biased opinion, those cretins who are quick to file stupid lawsuits in the hope of getting easy money are EXACTLY the same type of people who want to collect public assistance when they are able to work, but are too lazy to, so they file for disability or give some other fabricated reason they cannot take a minimum wage job.

By the way, I think the hoopla about tires being unsafe after 6 years is pure crap. I ran the OEM Steeltex Firestones on my GMC for 13 years, owned a '93 Cutlass with OEM Michelins and at 19,000 miles that I had confidence in driving to Florida when the tires were 15 years old, and I have a buddy with a '78 Corvette Pace Car edition that STILL has the OEM tires, he went to Bowling Green with it last year. For what you have to pay for a new tire today, they should last a LOT longer than 6 years and there is NO reason the tire makers cannot manufacture them to last that long.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My Tire Dealer did not want to repair a tear in the sidewall of a relatively new front tire on my JD 6200. I insisted and told them I would not come back if the repair didn't work. Fifteen years or so later, the patch has held. They probably would not do that today. I am in business, and I know about doing thiings to save someone money and now it becomes your hassle, never mind the law suits and stuff. If you want my professional service, pay for it, if you don't please just go away!

In the 80s I took some old worn 70 series snow tires off a Police Car I bought. I put them on the very skinny OEM rims of my home made VW dune buggy. The Tire shop told me I was crazy! We cornered so hard in that thing, that dirt and grass was stuck in the bead, yet they never once failed!

I'm not so convinced that the experts always know the answer when it comes to unconventional matters.

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^ I have to agree with you.

If tire age was so important then why does the local National Guard Unit still drive it's trucks and trailers with tires from the Vietnam Era?

If anything, the government should set an example... right?

I have nylon tires on several of my old cars... and I bought these tires in the 70's... I expect them to be around long after I'm gone.

My Model A Roadster has Montgomery Wards Riverside from the 60's.

I've had two flats in my life and both times were new or only a couple of weeks old Michelin tires on the truck... both on the freeway. One was a roof gutter spike and the other a knife blade.

As to liability... I went skiing at Squaw a couple of years ago... use to ski all the time a long time ago.

Bought my life ticket and then was denied lift access because my equipment was too old... was told it was liability the Squaw couldn't let me on the life because of it... anyway, I got that straightened out in short order and had a great day skiing with my K2 Holidays and Kastinger boots.

All I did was ask the lift operator to repeat what he said while I recorded it.

 

[txdon]

Only half a mill?? Guess the lawyer got 50%. Thanks for the whole story. Wow.. $800 offer. Come on Micky D. We know you can do better than that.

The rest rest of the story:

The jurors awarded Liebeck $160,000 in compensatory damages and 2.7 million in punitive damages. The ammout was $2,735,000 more than Liebeck's lawsuit had requested.

(The 2.7 million is what the jurors determined was 2 days of coffee sales for McDonald's.)

However, the amount was later reduced to $500,000. I'm betting the lawyers got half of that.

So now the million $ is just a quarter of a million $.

 

[Diamondpilot]

The rest rest of the story:

The jurors awarded Liebeck $160,000 in compensatory damages and 2.7 million in punitive damages. The ammout was $2,735,000 more than Liebeck's lawsuit had requested.

(The 2.7 million is what the jurors determined was 2 days of coffee sales for McDonald's.)

However, the amount was later reduced to $500,000. I'm betting the lawyers got half of that.

So now the million $ is just a quarter of a million $.

Or about $160,000 after taxes.

Chris

 

[JDgreen227]

Just got a text from my ex, who got my '04 Lesabre in the divorce...she said the car still has the OEM Michelins and although over 10 years old, they have given her no problems. I really think all this hype about older tires being unsafe is just a ploy to get drivers to buy new ones.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Just got a text from my ex, who got my '04 Lesabre in the divorce...she said the car still has the OEM Michelins and although over 10 years old, they have given her no problems. I really think all this hype about older tires being unsafe is just a ploy to get drivers to buy new ones.

It's not hype. You two are not the norm. I am putting 20,000 miles a year on my vehicles and this is what all my friends and neighbors do. This means we are replacing tires every 2 to 3 years.

I have blown out better than a dozen older tires personally. Most on trailers but some on vehicles. Neither is any fun and down right dangerous at 70 mph. Since I have adapted a 5 year max policy on all my personal stuff and that I maintain not a single issue. The cost is more than worth my safety and inconvenience.

Chris