My Good Year Wrangler LT Tires were manufactured in 03/14. I bought them and had them installed in 07/14 on my GMC van. less then a year later I had them swapped over to my 88 E150 and sold the GMC.
They have less then 15,000 miles on them and are 3 years and 3 months old but are dry rotting pretty good.
I went by Kaufman tire where I bought them and the assistant manger said he would have to call Good Year sales rep and see what he says. The manager said they were only worn about a 1/4 of the original depth..

One of the tires was replaced free 3 months after I bought the tires due to a nail in the sidewall.

The manager of Kaufman began telling me how cheap the wranglers are and that there is no mileage warranty on them. Also that his brother uses them and told him " I know they are cheap but I just replace them when they wear out".
That is a completely different story from what the manager who sold them to me said.. I ask him if his brother replaces them due to dry rot or does he wear them out before replacing them? He didn't answer but did say a tire should last 5 or 6 years before dry rotting.

So that is where I am now, waiting for the manager to call me and tell me what good year rep says..
From the attitude the manager had, I am guessing at this point, this is not going to turn out very good..
Suggestions?

 

I know you are knowledgeable and can hold your own in a consumer argument. Demand a fair adjustment and remind the rep that you are an active member on FTE. The outcome could change buying decisions of 1000's overnight.

 

"Only" about 19,000 at the moment. Hm.

 

Great point Jeffery! I will keep everyone updated on what happens. If I don't get any satisfaction from Kaufman Tire then I will be contacting Kaufman Tire and Good Year by email and post the correspondence here..

 

wow, that is premature

 

FWIW I have never liked Goodyear Wranglers, had them on a few vehicles but never once had the chance to wear out a set, they always performed poorly and died prematurely from broken belts, punctures or blowouts.

 

3 years old and only 15,000 miles? I’ll go out on a limb here and say maybe that’s normal. Sounds like your tires do more sitting than spinning. Tires are meant to be used not stored.
I don’t mean this in a harsh way, seriously.
I feel like the useage is good for a tire, essential oils and whatnot lol.

Anyway I agree with you pursuing action from Goodyear and the retailer.

Even though I also don’t see a problem with the dry rot. (At this point... could be much worse in another year or two).

 

dang man. I was leaning towards these tires for my next set. How much experience did you have with them?

 

Update. The assistant manager from Kaufman Tire said he would get with the rep today and call me this afternoon and let me know what the Good Year rep said.
The assistant manager from Kaufman Tire never called me.

 

Thats very odd. Ive been running Good Year Wranglers for a long, long time, On my van

for the last 3 times I needed tires and on my jeep for 2 years (had to sell it RIP Cherokee)

with no problems at all.

Did they sit for any amount of time? Ive got 2 used ones right

now that have been sitting in the elements for over a year I am going to use as spares

and they have no dry rot.

I am willing to bet this is just a fluke, or it could be they were disgusted from being on A GMC,

 

I am going to check my moms van because she also bought Wranglers from the same Kaufman Tire shop but hers are about 8 or 10 years old now. She is 90 and still drives weekly but has only put about 20k on the van since she bought the tires..

I will say that I liked the tread because it is pretty thick on the edges which helps with the way our vans wear the outer edges out.

I drive the van almost daily except for the 2 or 3 weeks it took me to do the valve covers and intake work, (sad, sad). I noticed the dry rot about 6 months ago but didn't do anything about it til now since it is looking worse. My driveway is gravel and there is no standing water at all where I park. I will say since many of my runs are short and around town that I do allot of sharp turns. Knowing that some ford vans have problems with the frame where the steering gear box is mounted, I always make sure I am rolling a little when I turn the wheels so there is not so much stress on the frame. That should also relieve stress on the tires too..

I stopped by Kaufman yesterday and had them to check the air pressure and was going to mention it to the manager who sold me the tires but he wasn't there. So I stopped by today and found out today that he had moved to a different store.

I have kept them rotated and balanced and have all the receipts.

The assistant manager questioned me about the mileage on the tires but I was able to resolve that.
When I bought the Wranglers my GMC van had 143,322 miles on it according to the receipt.


I swapped the tires from the GMC to the 88 E150 and had to buy 2 more tires to go on the GMC so I could sell it. That shows the mileage on the GMC at 147,749
That means that I put 4,427 miles on the Wranglers while they were on the GMC.
Those tires really swayed bad!!




So I had 4427 miles on the Wranglers when they went on my Ford van. My ford van odometer was reading right at 5,000 miles when I bought it and now reads 15,053. SO that is about 10,000 documented miles while on the ford.. Add the 4,427 miles while on the GMC and we get 14,427 total miles on the Wrangler tires.
They were bought on 07/01/14 and today is 10/26/17 so they are actually 3 years and almost 4 months old. If I had reported thew dry rot when I saw it 6 months ago they would have been less then 3 years old..

Yesterday when i had the air checked on the Wranglers I mentioned Michelin tires and that salesman pushed the Cooper tires.
Today after the assistant manager told me how cheap wranglers are I mentioned that I belonged to a Ford site and many folks there recommended Michelin tires. He started telling me that the Coopers were much better. So I got him to give me a quote on both.
Again from my interaction with the assistant manager, and since he didn't call me like he said he would, I think I may have to involve Good Year and Kaufman's corporate office.
I will keep everyone updated here as it goes along...
Since only about a 4th of the tread on the Wranglers is warn off according to the assistant manager at Kaufman Tires, I think it would be fair for me to pay a prorated price for replacement Wranglers, but that is it! Mounting, balancing, and disposal should be free...

Quotes for Cooper and Michelin.

 

Thats a cute one

 

I know your tires are Goodyear, but this may apply. Check the warranty on them. I had a set of Michelin LTX tires on my van. 5 years old, about 25,000 miles, but only 1/3 tread depth worn. They failed an inspection due to sidewall dryrot. The tire store checked with Michelin and they credited me 2/3 on a new set. Michelin warranty is 6 years. Good luck.

Chuck

 

I gave up on good year tires. I had them on my one car trailer. The trailer tires were three years old and the side walls on the tires literally started to fall apart. The first one loss a chunk of the side wall the size of a baseball. Luckily this happened with the trailer parked in my driveway and not while hauling a vehicle! Needless to say they were removed and replaced before I used the trailer again. And that was the last time I bought any good year tires.

So now good year gets added to my list of tire brands to avoid ( with general ) .

Hopefully it works out for you.

Oh and I prefer BF Goodrich AT's. I've had great luck with them. They wear great, do good in mud and snow and on the highway. They are the only tires I buy for my trucks and vans.

 

Well I thought I should update this thread in real time and help me keep a record of what is going on.

Since I didn't hear back from the assistant manager at Kaufman tires, I called Kaufman this afternoon. The salesman I spoke with took a message for the assistant manager and that manager called me back at 5:43 today. He said that he was still waiting on the his rep to call him back and that he had my paperwork hanging up. He said he would call the rep tonight and get back with me as soon as he finds out what they decide.

Depending on their decision, I was thinking about what Jeffery said. This might be a good thread to involve someone from Retailer and Good Year so that they can discuss my issue along with concerns of other FTE members who post comments about their experiences with Good Year tires.

And for those of you who have never heard of Kauffman tires:
The Present- Today, Kauffman Tire continues as a family owned and operated business dedicated to ensuring that all customers experience our commitment to honest and dependable automotive service. With retail stores in Georgia and Florida, and 14 distribution centers across 7 states, Kauffman Tire is committed to serving our customers with integrity as the company continues to grow. With state-of-the-art equipment and products provided by some of the industry’s top rated manufacturers and highly trained associates, the goal is to be the one-stop-shop for every customer’s tire and car service needs.
https://www.kauffmantire.com/about-us