Important Information About Tire Warranty

Tire mileage warranties have become a popular marketing tool used by most tire manufacturers (and some independent retailers) to help position some of their tires competitively in the marketplace and to help indicate their potential longevity to consumers. Unfortunately, due to the variety of road conditions and geographic influences encountered across the country, not all consumers will receive the warranted tire mileage. And while tread wear warranties seem straightforward enough, it is important to remember that they are a limited warranty, and the consumer has to complete specific maintenance requirements to keep them in force.

The tread wear warranty only applies to the original owner and the original vehicle. Proof of purchase and the original installation date and mileage are required. The consumer is also required to prove that the tires were properly inflated, rotated, and aligned, replacing worn suspension components as necessary.

The manufacturers correctly contend that if the tires have been rotated and properly maintained, all four tires will wear out evenly at approximately the same time. However, if the tire's worn appearance indicates that they weren't properly maintained, the tire manufacturer will not honor the tread wear warranty.

Assuming that the tires have been properly maintained, let's review how consumers receive their value.

The specific mileage tread wear warranties quickly followed the introduction of American-made steel-belted radials. Today, the majority range from a low of 30,000 miles to a high of 80,000 miles. If a consumer evenly wore the tread depth down to 2/32 of an inch in 30,000 miles on a tire with a 40,000 mile treadwear warranty, they would be offered a new set of tires (of the same brand) that would be discounted from their current retail price by 25% (prorating the 10,000 of the 40,000 miles of wear they didn't receive). The consumer is then required to pay the difference between the warranted mileage and the mileage actually received as they purchase their replacement tires.

Lifetime tread wear warranties provide for free replacement if the tires are worn out within 3 years from the date of purchase. If the tires wear out during the second three years from the date of purchase, the consumer is required to pay 50% of the current retail price for Bridgestone and Goodyear tires, and a prorated cost based on the number of months of actual service received vs. the 72 months (6 years) warranted by Michelin. While these tires have been developed to deliver long mileage, the consumer could misunderstand the term “lifetime”.

One of the other problems consumers may have with any of the mileage warranties is that the tires must be worn down to the tread wear indicators before replacement under the warranty can be considered. That means that the tires must be at (or very near) the 2/32 of an inch of remaining tread depth which is the minimum allowable legal tread depth for most states and has been adopted by the tire manufacturers as when tires are "worn out." The difficulty is that since a tire's hydroplaning resistance, wet traction and snow traction all diminish as it wears, the consumer may be faced with the dilemma of tread wear warranty vs. traction. If the winter or rainy season is approaching, the few dollars saved by running out the tread wear warranty probably won't make up for the extra traction required by adverse weather conditions.

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