1year old van from ford dealer - one bald tyre

Mistermeaner

Inner_Zone wrote: »

No because they don't remove the wheels as part of an MOT test!

who knew :huh:

you get my point though I'm sure

Mistermeaner

Takmon wrote: »

The wheels are not removed during an MOT so there is no need to check them.

But i do have a torque wrench with a plastic sleeved socket (So it doesn't damage my alloy wheels) and i do check the torque after roughly 50 miles of having my wheels taken off, but they have never actually been loose.

Your right a lot of people don't carry out basic checks on their car which i think is a big problem. A monthly Tyre check (including pressure), oil and fluid check etc doesn't take long but would help people spot a lot of problems early.

I even use a digital tyre depth meter and record it in a spreadsheet with the current mileage and based on predicted mileage i know when my tyres will need changing next. I also measure inside and outside tread depth so can spot any alignment problems and get them corrected before they wear out my tyres prematurely.
This is OTT for most people but only takes me 20 minutes a month.

that's hardcore

I've not even washed my old VW in 6 years of ownership

Before everyone jumps on me it does have 4 new tyres recently fitted though... amazingly I didn't bother checking that the garage had actually replaced the tyres when paying the bill

Maybe I should go and have a look

Inner_Zone

Mistermeaner wrote: »

who knew :huh:

you get my point though I'm sure

Keep digging you'll be driving a Ute at this rate.

SmokeyUK

If one tyre is bald on a year old van, I would get the tracking and camber checked. Its possible the previous owner could of hit a pot hole and bent something. For a tyre to excessively wear on one side does indicate a underlying problem. Get this checked out when you have the tyre replaced, otherwise you could be replacing the same tyre in another year/9000 miles.

F1F93

Mistermeaner wrote: »

For example after having an MoT do you check the garage has re-tightened all the wheel nuts?

No, because they are not removed as has already been said.

I do, however, undo the wheel nuts and re-tighten them every time someone takes the wheels off (garages often over tighten nuts with a pneumatic air gun), then recheck after 50-100 miles.

I went to look at a car for my brother with him. The dealer had told him that the car had just been serviced a couple of days before when they had got it in, yet the oil was a horrible dirty black - obviously they were lying to get the sale.

You are essentially trusting the word of a complete stranger, who's job it is is to charge you as much as possible whilst spending as little as possible. If you genuinely believe everything they say, you are incredibly naive.

Mistermeaner

F1F93 wrote: »

You are essentially trusting the word of a complete stranger, who's job it is is to charge you as much as possible whilst spending as little as possible. If you genuinely believe everything they say, you are incredibly naive.

Would a ford main dealer really knowingly lie in written documentation?

I get the point with a backstreet dealer but when you have written representations in the sale contract you can surely take these at face value

As evidenced by the outcome ford held their hands up, admitted a mistake and agreed to reimburse the replacement cost

Also as pointed out where should one stop with pre-sale inspections? tyres I agree are easy to look at but dip checking? VIN matching? wear parts? etc.

System

Bloody hell an awful lot of condescending holier than thou commenters here today.


of course you would all have done thing differently and of course you all spend however long every month checking your vehicles.


One bald tyre on a car will not make a blind bit of difference to the handling or stopping capabilities of a vehicle at low speed and in the dry. Op glad you got it sorted

F1F93

Mistermeaner wrote: »

Would a ford main dealer really knowingly lie in written documentation?

I get the point with a backstreet dealer but when you have written representations in the sale contract you can surely take these at face value

As evidenced by the outcome ford held their hands up, admitted a mistake and agreed to reimburse the replacement cost

Also as pointed out where should one stop with pre-sale inspections? tyres I agree are easy to look at but dip checking? VIN matching? wear parts? etc.

Yes they may well lie - Ford could very easily have turned round and accused you of putting a bald tyre on it when you got home to con them out of a new tyre. The written representation then would work in their favour - after all, they said that it was okay and I'm presuming somewhere in the documents you signed is a statement saying you agree with this - if nothing else, your agreeing to drive it does imply as such. To be honest I'm a little surprised they agreed to reimburse you.

As for the pre-sale inspections I would agree to all of those, to be honest. It would take you, what, 5 minutes?

F1F93

Simonr66 wrote: »

One bald tyre on a car will not make a blind bit of difference to the handling or stopping capabilities of a vehicle at low speed and in the dry. Op glad you got it sorted

Arguably not, however firstly this was not at low speed, it was on the motorway as OP has admitted.

Secondly, you cannot possibly know in advance that the whole journey will be completely dry and perfect conditions. No puddles anywhere? No dirt on the road? No oil/petrol spill? No puddle of washer fluid from a misaligned windscreen washer?

Mistermeaner

F1F93 wrote: »

Yes they may well lie - Ford could very easily have turned round and accused you of putting a bald tyre on it when you got home to con them out of a new tyre. The written representation then would work in their favour - after all, they said that it was okay and I'm presuming somewhere in the documents you signed is a statement saying you agree with this - if nothing else, your agreeing to drive it does imply as such. To be honest I'm a little surprised they agreed to reimburse you.

As for the pre-sale inspections I would agree to all of those, to be honest. It would take you, what, 5 minutes?

what a strange world you must live in if your thought process would be that it is more likely I got home, swapped out a good tyre for a bald one in order to try and claim a replacement rather than thinking the dealer just messed up. Im afraid you have this completely the wrong way round and I am sure 99.9% of the population would be surprised if the dealer DIDNT agree to replace the tyre.

The thread was started by me to test thinking on the reasonableness of me potentially having to return the vehicle to the dealer for them to change the tyre

and pre-sale inspections 5 minutes? Absolute rubbish - tyre tread and pressure (if one takes a gauge) in under 5 minutes.

Full body work, spares, screen wash, oil level and quality, brake and steering fluid, hsoe condition, bearings, tracking, brakes (discs and pads), lights, aircon, etc etc etc how long?

Where should a reasonable pre-sale inspection start and stop (as an ordinary member of the public with no mechanical expertise) vs the written guarantee and 160point inspection of an approved manufacturer / dealer