Road hazard warranties for new tires

[JDgreen227]

Priced a replacement set of tires for one of our vehicles and Discount Tire is pushing us to buy the "Lifetime Road Hazard Warranty" which is about $18 per tire. Tires will cost about $170 each with mounting, balancing, valve stems, etc. I doubt if I have purchased any new tires since at least 1995 and as far as I can recall, the only time I have ever had a tire fail because of a road hazard was back then, a 4 inch nail punctured the sidewall of one of the near-new tires on the wife's Cutlass. How many of you guys have actually gotten your money's worth out of buying a road hazard warranty for a new tire?

 

[jeffsw6]

I have an after-market warranty contract on my truck, and one of the things it covers is $100 per tire, as long as the tire has at least 3/32" of tread depth remaining. Kinda makes me want to go slash my tires up and have it towed to the shop for new ones! :laughing:

I haven't needed to use the warranty yet, but I am going to get my A/C compressor repaired or replaced this week using the warranty, so I'll see how it goes.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I never buy them but my old lady did when she went and got new Falken Tires put on our BMW 335I. 2 weeks later she had a flat. A piece of 1/4" steel about 3"x5" was in the tire. The tires had less than 500 miles on them. Long story short I took it into Discount Tires, where we bought them, and they mounted up and balanced a new one in 10 minutes and I took it home and put it on the car.

Yes, it was $80 but one tire cost about $225 so in this case it was worth it.

Now, I have read that major retailers pay out $.03 on the dollar. This is places like Best Buy, Sears, ect on extended warranties so in the long run you are better off be your own warranty and save your money.

Chris

 

[flyingcow]

I talked to a sales person at the 1800 doscount tire line. Told him the same, I didn't want the hazard wrnty. He only charged me for tw tires but covered all 4.

 

[clemsonfor]

I use to sell tires at pepboys, that said i do not buy them. I have before and used it, but i buy tires online now and it would be a big hassle for me to get the warrenty.

Check places like discount tire direct or tires easy.com and have a shop mount them. Well i guess the discount tire is the same company, and you can get tires in the store for the same price. Folks still think im crazy for buyig tires online but i save from $75 to 150 a set this way!

 

[crazyal]

I would check to see how much they pro rate the tires. When I bought my Subaru the dealer offered a warranty but it was good for about 20k miles. They measured tread depth and they would find the most worn area. Plus they had a cut off, 3/32 that Jeff said sounds about right. Since you asked you know you are screwed, right. If you don't get it you get at least one flat days after getting them, if you do buy it you'll not need it. :banghead:

 

[Ductape]

Folks still think im crazy for buyig tires online but i save from $75 to 150 a set this way!

I sure don't think you're crazy. I have a friend who owns an auto shop .......he is always happy to let me mount / balance my new tires on his machines. I buy mine locally, but at a cash/ out-the-door price with none of the add-ons they always push.

I will say that when my wife was shopping new tires for her Toyota Highlander, I was surprised how many shops 'included' the road hazard warranty into the price of mounting/balancing , and simply weren't interested in selling her new tires without it. Really a scam if you ask me.

 

[JDgreen227]

Thanks all for the input....I do think road hazard warranties are a scam...just wanted confirmation from the experts here. I am old enough to recall when you purchased new tires many places would include mounting, balancing, new valve stems, old tire disposal, etc. for free and now they tack on $20-25 per tire for those things. Often I wish I had a tire machine and balancer at home so I could buy my tires online and do the tasks associated with installing them on the rims at home...

 

[texasjohn]

I took my extended warranty money and spent it on air compressor, impact wrenches, hydraulic jack, pneumatic hoses, etc., etc. Have Harbor Freight tire mount machine and tire tools...manual. Got numerous valve stems and shrader valves. I've got in the neighborhood of 60 tires on the ground counting all trailers, vehicles, etc.....I have several buddies who regularly change out their tires on their vehicles at around 4 years and give me their cast off (too old for them) tires...which have good tread and hold air. I use plugs and patches, swap to next tire when one totally gives up.....Admit this is for ranch vehicles and certain of my on road vehicles.....Have gotten several additional wheels and mounted tires on them....so when a failure occurs, I have a next tire ready to mount. It is soooooo handy to have a water tank that one can submerge a mounted tire in to locate leak source. Doing this myself keeps me close to the tires I have, status of brakes, etc.

I do admit that for my high speed regular long distance driving vehicles I still purchase new tires and have them mounted and balanced at a local shop...which does NOT try to add on every unneeded item in the sales book. It's the balancing that I find difficult to do.

 

[3930dave]

Depends what you are looking for.

For many people on TBN here, things like rotating tires is no big deal, and many will want to do it themselves, for a variety of reasons (inspect other things...).

Other people (most consumers) never want to lift a finger.

If you (not meaning you JD, just in general) want/need the service level, some tire places cover a fair # of things, for not really that much extra.

Like many guys on here, I pretty much take care of my own tires. When I last looked around, Canadian Tire here had a decent warranty, at what passes for a reasonable price in Canada. They'll do things like tire rotations and flat repairs for free.

Tires & Wheels warranty & protection plans - Canadian Tire

A friend has a few service vehicles (light trucks) he owns. High cargo weight, and on the road all the time. He usually buys at Costco, likes their warranty, and has used it for tire replacements.

Years ago, I backed over a beer bottle in a parking lot with a brand new Pirelli P77. Tire was replaced under warranty, N/C to me.

If I was still on the road a lot for work, I'd be looking closely at the tire warranties. Modern tires are pretty amazing, but until you walk, jog, or bicycle along most roadways, it is hard to believe how much crap is littered around.

If I was on/off construction sites for work, I'd also have a good look at what is out there for warranties. From what little I know here, LT tires are considered commercial use - if you could find good warranty coverage for LT tires under construction use, might be worth it.

For most people though, esp. with low mileage grocery getters, a high extra cost warranty is probably not worth it.

As I think Chris commented, the companies are only out about 3 cents on the dollar to cover this. A smart company can use this warranty coverage as a differentiator (as Canadian tire did, last time I priced), if they give it to you at low, or no cost. Trick is, finding these companies, at a given time.

Rgds, D.