Hi everyone,

I just ordered 4 new tires & rubbers from local Discount Tires. They offer a Tire Replacement Certificates for $13 a wheel. The plan is close to Tire Rack's Road Hazard Program. i.e. Free replacement tires or repair....
Does anyone have experiences with their plan? Is it really worth the money ($52/4wheels), or the trouble when I wanna claim for something?
Does these type of tire program in general just like the aftermarket warranty for cars, which has tons of ways to deny claims?

For lazy replyers , vote:
1. Get the damn plan, it's cheap insurance
2. Forget it, get a nice dinner with that money

Thanks!!!

I'll be showing off my new running shoes next week...

 

I have never needed to use such a program so it is not worth it to me.
However, Discount Tire is a real stand-up company.
They will not jerk you around if you have the plan and need a replacement.

 

Well, let's see about the costs based on my recent experience in having a OE Goodyear runflat with a pinhole leak. This leak costs me about a 1.0-1.5 pound of air loss per day.

So the Goodyear retailer tells me--"Any air loss is considered a puncture, and a puncture is NOT covered under warranty. Your cost for a replacement tire is 341 dollars, plus mounting, balancing, tire disposal, new valve stem, tax, etc. This means 419 dollars.

Oh, and the dealer offers me a road hazard warranty on just the single tire.


When I replace this tire, and most likely the others with a different brand, I can almost guarantee I'll get the road hazard insurance. Especially if I put run-flats back on the MINI.

So, read the original warranty and its exclusions, see if Discount Tire's program will make up for these exclusions, and just decide from there

YMMV

 

Thanks guys!

My little brain is still trying to weight the pro & con for this program.
$52 is such a small amount comparing to whole wheel+tire setup, and it might bring me a peace of mind. However, I just hate pay for the plan and find out later that I have to put up a fight to get my money worth. This is why I didn't even consider extend my MC's warranty with 3rd party.

Oh well, At least I don't have to decide until next weekend.

 

There is only one draw back with Discounts plan. If you're on vacation and there is no Discount Tire locally to were you are, you'll have to purchase a tire where you are and carry the failed tire back to the most convinent store.

The same is true for anyone's plan.

I have Big 10 tires plan that only cost $9.00 ea but they have a limited range also.

Buy from Sears, Goodyear store or other national store and you get the local help but the tires will typically cost much more.

 

My mini dealer told me about their Tire & Wheel protection plan 5 Years = $529.

Does anyone have any additional information on this service. I havent been able to find much online!!

 

I've bought tires from Discount Tire often, and I've used their tire replacement plan on several occasions. They're a standup company, and in my mind the plan's well worth the money and then some.

If you're running 40 series tires or shorter and you're living in a place with potholes you're almost certainly going to need it. If you're running taller tires on good roads, maybe not.

 

Dealer wants $529 ???? That's CRAZY!!!
My brand new Toyo 215-45-17 only cost $90 a peace! Run away from that dealer!!!

My local Discount Tires is super nice, they even made a group buy for MINI club. It's good news that Discount Tires stand behind their programs. I think I'll go there and read their warranty/exclusion carefully.

Anyways, really can't wait until this Sat. to see my new shoes! BTW, can MINI handle 4 old wheels inside? I have seen MINI loaded w/ wheels, but is it really pushing it? I just detail MC, don't want get dirty again.
Well, I can loaded old ones in my MINI Support Truck...

 

After hearing something like this, I can't believe people still run these tires. Take your 500$, buy some goodyear f1's and fixaflat, and enjoy life a lot more.

mb

 

there is no drama, no problem, no questions asked whatsoever with getting a replacement under this plan. I bought my wheels and tires for my mazda3 from them and got the certificates, and at the same time, we had just bought my wife's wheels from ebay (since they happened to be out of stock everywhere else at the time). We got her Pirelli RF's swapped over to her new wheels at the same time as I bought my wheels and tires, and even agreed to cover HER tires under the certificates (why I don't know, we didn't buy the wheels OR the tires there, just my wheels/tires for the mazda, but it was super cool). Turns out, 2 months later, she had an unrepairable puncture, and they didn't even ask any questions about our fairly unique situation (cuz we had the documentation that her tires were covered, despite not having any documentation of having purchased the tires from them, b/c we didn't). Talk about cool. Its worth it if you ask me, with one caveat:

The replacement plan costs are based entirely on tire cost. The cost of a replacement obviously is directly related to this as well. However, the chances that you actually USE your plan are directly correlated to MILEAGE. For example, I'm replacing my BFG G-Force sports (which I did have the plan for) with Falken Azenis's. I do NOT plan on purchasing the plan for the Falkens, as I will likely only get 10-15k miles at most out of them, so the chances I will need the plan are probably about 50-75% the chances when I run my BF's (which have lasted me about 25k), but the plans will cost about the same (since the tires cost about the same). So consider treadwear in the decision, as this is likely the make or break as to whether the plan makes sense. If you are risk averse (dont like unexpected costs to come up), then the plan still might be worth it though.

 

The dealer plan includes the wheels AND tires...and automatically covers ANY wheel/tire you run on your MINI.

 

4 Wheels and tires will fit in the back. I had to drive mine to the shop to get them all mounted and such. I had the rims in the boxes still and tires lined up accross the back.

 

Buy the plan for one tire. If something happens to any of them, tell them "that's the one!"

 

haha, thats funny, although I don't think it would work. . .

 

I am hoping these Toyo will be good for couple summers (will get winter shoes for Minnesota snows).
After I think about it more & more, It's not a bad idea to buy me a peace of mind. No.1 reason is the driver, my wife drives it a lot recently due to her longer commute. And I think she drives over anything on her path, potholes/broken glasses/dead animal mean nothing to her. I remember she even managed to get a 2 inch nail in my brand new FX35's 265 tire in a shopping mall!

rubyred3, maybe 2 cars you own have the same tire/wheel size? And somehow you made them confused enough to certify both of your cars?

Super Coop, you are smart! BTW, Is your name on a black list of all tire shop across the county? You know they might just give me ONE rainbow colored tire so they know which one they certified!

Another question, is it a good idea to store tire/wheels in the OEM rim boxes? I really don't wanna see free rolling tires in my already packed [SIZE=2]garage,[/SIZE] planning to store extra shoes in my friend's semi-closed barn in sealed boxes, good idea or trouble? I know there is a tire wrap thingy in tire-rack, but not right now.

 

The dealer plan is from a company called Safe-Guard. They offer all kinds of additional insudeance programs. It covers Tire and Wheel.

http://safe-guardproducts.com/ptire.php

No deductible
Just have to have atleast 3/32" of tread

 

I'm using universal wheel covers that are designed for the spare tires you see on the back of jeeps, conversion vans, etc.

I bought 'em at Pep Boys for 14.99/each. Actually, I bought 2 at a time plus a Kit Kat bar so that I could use an online coupon for $5 discount on $30 purchase.

I bought one pair yesterday and the other pair today. I might even go to the fabric shop to buy some heavy-duty felt for the exposed side...not sure yet.

 

Uber, great idea!
I was thinking to get some 'moving wrapper' thingy to wrap tires sealed from anything. These wrappers are just like plastic wraps for food, but comes in big rolls. Mover uses them to seal the box/container... I might have some at home or shipping department at work has huge rolls that taller than me.
It's the very cheap way to store tires, and I can't think much risks involved. anyone wanna stop me doing this?
My MC will get his new shoes this afternoon!!!

 

I just picked up my MCSC here is the plan I was offered.
$2,100 + Tax for a tires for life program. They will replace my Pirelli eufori@ Blackwall tires:

• at 25K or if tread goes below acceptable level.
• if punctured by any road hazard, potholes, curbs, nails
• will replace wheels (I have the new shadow wheels on Sidewalk) if damaged by pothole or sratched up on curb or broken road edge.
• replace windsheild if chip is not repairable or is in line of site
• Free battery after manufacutures warrenty is up.

Am I nuts or does this sound like a good deal? I only drive in good weather, I live in NorthEast so 8 months out of the year. I'm guessing 16K miles per year. Problem is I blew my nut after buying this car. I would have to scrape this cash up soon.

Jim

 

If most of my driving was on decent paved roads, I would not get this. But, if I travelled bad roads -- and driving on dirt, gravel, etc. roads did not void the warranty --- I would consider it. 4 run-flats go for at least $800 right now. Is the 25k/ low treads a 1 time thing?

 

Interesting idea.
For me, I would not be interested. I tend to pick tires that would not be the one covered by the plan so having free tires I did not like would not work.

If you just want to drive and know tires are an expense you will never have to worry about again this could be great. Or, if you dirve a lot of miles each year it could also be good.

Just my $.02

 

$2100 is a lot of money for a wheel/tire replacement plan, isn't it? Is it a Dealer plan? Or aftermarket?

How's your road condition? Is your town a pothole city? Like LynnEl said, do you go off road into woods with your MINI? If you do, get the h*ll out of there!
Sound like your MCSC is only a summer/nice day car, I don't know why you wanna run-flat again anyways, a decent set of summer fun tires are not much more than HALF of 4 run-flats!

Let's do a probability study here, ask yourself:
How likely to run over pothole/nails/curbs/rocks/animal/people/elephant....that will result a nonrepairable tire and/or wheel? Get the idea?

Plus, Why windsheild/battery are included in a tire replacement plan?

Well, I didn't get the Discount Tire plan after all. I was too excited with my new shoes, and the guy forget put the tire plan in place. Oh well.....

I LOVE THOSE SHINNY SHOES!!!

 

I have been using Discount Tire for close to 20 years. I've always purchased the replacement certificates, used them many times, and have never had an issue with tire replacement. This includes off-road tires for my Jeep to street tires for the MCS & the wife's car. I even purchased it for the tires that came on our MCS after we bought the car. We developed a "bubble" on one of the sidewalls and they replaced it, no questions asked.

Good luck.

 

I shopped for tires a year ago and purchased at Sears since Discount Tire didn't have the tires in stock. The tech at Sears scratched up the wheels, chewed up the lug nuts using the wrong size socket so now there is rust on the lug nuts, and after I complained they provided a discount. A year later I had a tire get punctured in a location that was not fixable. I will not go back to Sears, and decided to go to Discount. They replaced the tire under the Goodyear warranty and sold me their road hazard policy on all 4 tires. The end result was about the same price as a new tire. After tire rotation I was having a shimmy so I went back to Discount. The 3 tires that Sears installed were all out of balance. Discount did the complete rebalance for free and the car drives better now. Here is a big thumbs up to Discount and a suggestion to stear clear of Sears. Sears is really just KMart (same company) and it appears they are trying to lower their standards to the KMart level. In the work that Discount did they also used the proper socket, torqued the lugs properly, didn't damage the wheels, and after checking the air pressure made sure to tell me what pressure I should maintain.

 

Check this take on these types of programs from Tom and Ray of Cartalk.