[carsbill]

I am in a debate with a dealer. The tires are Michelin Primacy 245/45/19 When I purchased the vehicle they said the tires measured 9/32nds. When the vehicle arrived ,I checked with Discount Tire and they said the tires are at 5/32nds. I finally received the work orders on the vehicle and see that the tires were new in 2015 and have approximately 21,ooo miles on them. How is it possible for the tires to be four years old, driven that amount of miles and still have 9/32nds. New the tires have 10/32nds. They stand by their tech and his measurement tool read. I had the tires replaced to be safe in the winter.
What is your take? Thanks

[pungo]

The dealer did not tell the truth about the tread depth

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by carsbill

I am in a debate with a dealer. The tires are Michelin Primacy 245/45/19 When I purchased the vehicle they said the tires measured 9/32nds. When the vehicle arrived ,I checked with Discount Tire and they said the tires are at 5/32nds. I finally received the work orders on the vehicle and see that the tires were new in 2015 and have approximately 21,ooo miles on them. How is it possible for the tires to be four years old, driven that amount of miles and still have 9/32nds. New the tires have 10/32nds. They stand by their tech and his measurement tool read. I had the tires replaced to be safe in the winter.
What is your take? Thanks

Could be as pungo said or it could be a mistake. I bought an out of state CPO with 35K miles on it and the dealer said they put a new set of front tires on and the back were still good enough not to need replacing. I put a tire tread depth gauge in my pocket and off we went on a three hr drive to buy the car.

When we arrived at the dealership, the car was said to be in the wash bay so the sales guy said lets get started on the paperwork. We did all the paperwork right to the point of me signing, which they expected me to do. I told them that I needed to see and drive the car first. Now I had already seen it a couple weeks earlier when we selected it but I did not measure the tread depth because the dealer said it had not yet gone through the CPO inspection and not to worry, they will assure it passes before I came back to pick it up.

When the car came out of the wash bay I did a walk around, inspection and drove it. All was great till I pulled out my tread depth gauge and found the rear tires to be at the minimum legal limit and therefore rejected the car and asked for a new set of tires. They pulled out the CPO inspection report and showed me where the tech had written down that the rear tires still had plenty of tread left (can't recall the numbers at this writing). I brought the sale guy out to the car, handed him my gauge and offered him the ability to see for himself. He called the tech out who brought his gauge with him and remeasured the tires and found them to match my measurement. The techs explanation is that he misread his gauge during the CPO inspection. They replaced the tires on the spot.

So whether he misread or misinterpreted or misrepresented, I don't know but people do make mistakes. In your case, as I read your post, it appears the car was shipped to you and then you found the tread issue? That's why I don't think I could ever buy a car without seeing/driving it. Not much you can do now. You were good to replace them but lessen learned about dealers and trust There's no way a tire that has 21K miles on it would have only worn down 1/32, no way, no how.

[Opie55]

You are trying to prove tread depth indirectly by how old they are and number of miles. Why not just measure them? The dealer can't "stand by" an objectively provable fact that is wrong. And your eyeballs should easily tell you that much difference w/o even measuring. 9/32" will look like an almost new tire. 5/32" will look half worn out. But if the tires have been thrown away, then I think you have lost your leverage. In that case, you should have at least taken a photo of the measurement being taken. Or, if you did buy it remotely, do the ad photos still exist? Any tread photos? It would be easy to see if they are 9/32" or not.

[carsbill]

Thanks for the responses. Yes, I did buy the car w/o driving or seeing it and I relied on the word of the salesman. I requested a printout of the inspection and it indeed said 9/32nds. The issue occurred when the vehicle arrived and we measured the depth and found they were all 5/32nds it raised a concern. Yes I could drive them probably fror a few thousand miles in the summer but the car arrived just before Thanksgiving from the East coast.

No matter, I have always been a man of my word and rely to much on others to be the same. Life Lesson Learned but I will continue to trust and be true to my word.

[carsbill]

If I had the vehicle I would have.

[carsbill]

Originally Posted by Marty in Bgm

Could be as pungo said or it could be a mistake. I bought an out of state CPO with 35K miles on it and the dealer said they put a new set of front tires on and the back were still good enough not to need replacing. I put a tire tread depth gauge in my pocket and off we went on a three hr drive to buy the car.

When we arrived at the dealership, the car was said to be in the wash bay so the sales guy said lets get started on the paperwork. We did all the paperwork right to the point of me signing, which they expected me to do. I told them that I needed to see and drive the car first. Now I had already seen it a couple weeks earlier when we selected it but I did not measure the tread depth because the dealer said it had not yet gone through the CPO inspection and not to worry, they will assure it passes before I came back to pick it up.

When the car came out of the wash bay I did a walk around, inspection and drove it. All was great till I pulled out my tread depth gauge and found the rear tires to be at the minimum legal limit and therefore rejected the car and asked for a new set of tires. They pulled out the CPO inspection report and showed me where the tech had written down that the rear tires still had plenty of tread left (can't recall the numbers at this writing). I brought the sale guy out to the car, handed him my gauge and offered him the ability to see for himself. He called the tech out who brought his gauge with him and remeasured the tires and found them to match my measurement. The techs explanation is that he misread his gauge during the CPO inspection. They replaced the tires on the spot.

So whether he misread or misinterpreted or misrepresented, I don't know but people do make mistakes. In your case, as I read your post, it appears the car was shipped to you and then you found the tread issue? That's why I don't think I could ever buy a car without seeing/driving it. Not much you can do now. You were good to replace them but lessen learned about dealers and trust There's no way a tire that has 21K miles on it would have only worn down 1/32, no way, no how.

Exactly. I wasn't trying to get anything other than - a mistake was made and we take ownership for it. Instead they denied that their tech is very accurate and meticulous in all pre-sales evaluations. Buyer Beware

[Marty in NY]

Originally Posted by carsbill

Exactly. I wasn't trying to get anything other than - a mistake was made and we take ownership for it. Instead they denied that their tech is very accurate and meticulous in all pre-sales evaluations. Buyer Beware

You have the right attitude but unfortunately 90% of the dealers I have ever dealt with are just the opposite and will try to get away with whatever they can. If the only issue are the tires, you should feel pretty fortunate!

[carsbill]

Originally Posted by Marty in Bgm

You have the right attitude but unfortunately 90% of the dealers I have ever dealt with are just the opposite and will try to get away with whatever they can. If the only issue are the tires, you should feel pretty fortunate!

True Sometimes you just swallow and move on - This was the only issue. Airing some frustration - thanks for the input and for listening - Happy Motoring