My friend has a W203 that was bought from new 11 months ago. To date it has done 5000 miles. A few days ago, one of his neighbour told him that he noticed that the rear tyres on my friend's car is completely worn out. My friend checked and was amazed to find both the tyres were indeed worn out.
My friend's wife took the car to dealer B to have the tyres checked out since it was nearer than dealer A where they had bought the car. Mr X from dealer B told her that the tracking (correct word?) is wrong and the wheels has to be realigned. He advised her to go to an independent tyre shop to have the wheels fitted as they are cheaper. Once that is done to bring the car back to them for realignment. He told my friend's wife that the cause of why the tyres are completely worn out is the car going over potholes and this is not covered under warranty.
My friend's wife then took the car to a tyre shop. The man at the shop asked if the car has been involved in an accident. When told no, he said that going over potholes would not caused a 2 degree misalignment otherwise the local authorities would be sued by lots of drivers. He thinks that the wheels weren't checked properly before they left the factory. He advised her to complain to Mercedes again.
My friend's wife said to me the tyres aren't that expensive. It's about £60 each to replace the Goodyear. She was more worried by what the tyre shop man said to her. If the alignment is not done properly, the same will happen again to the tyres.
I said to her that my husband's car (identical to theirs) has Continental tyres. How come she has Goodyear on hers.
Question: Does Mercedes use Goodyear as an alternative supplier besides Continental on the W203?
One other thing I remembered was that my friend took the car back to dealer A when first bought to have the car realigned as the car was bearing left.
Question: Is it possible that dealer A did a poor job on the alignment that caused the tyres to be worn out at 5000 miles?
Personally, I think she should go back to dealer A to complain and not accept dealer B's argument that it is wear and tear and not covered under warranty. What would be your advice?
Thanks.
swl
My friend's wife took the car to dealer B to have the tyres checked out since it was nearer than dealer A where they had bought the car. Mr X from dealer B told her that the tracking (correct word?) is wrong and the wheels has to be realigned. He advised her to go to an independent tyre shop to have the wheels fitted as they are cheaper. Once that is done to bring the car back to them for realignment. He told my friend's wife that the cause of why the tyres are completely worn out is the car going over potholes and this is not covered under warranty.
My friend's wife then took the car to a tyre shop. The man at the shop asked if the car has been involved in an accident. When told no, he said that going over potholes would not caused a 2 degree misalignment otherwise the local authorities would be sued by lots of drivers. He thinks that the wheels weren't checked properly before they left the factory. He advised her to complain to Mercedes again.
My friend's wife said to me the tyres aren't that expensive. It's about £60 each to replace the Goodyear. She was more worried by what the tyre shop man said to her. If the alignment is not done properly, the same will happen again to the tyres.
I said to her that my husband's car (identical to theirs) has Continental tyres. How come she has Goodyear on hers.
Question: Does Mercedes use Goodyear as an alternative supplier besides Continental on the W203?
One other thing I remembered was that my friend took the car back to dealer A when first bought to have the car realigned as the car was bearing left.
Question: Is it possible that dealer A did a poor job on the alignment that caused the tyres to be worn out at 5000 miles?
Personally, I think she should go back to dealer A to complain and not accept dealer B's argument that it is wear and tear and not covered under warranty. What would be your advice?
Thanks.
swl
