RESOLVED---My Bridgestone Duelers are toast...yay :(

[X5SND]

This situation is still on-going so I'll keep this post updated as everything progresses...

Background:
I purchased a set of Bridgestone Dueler H/P Sport (non-RFT) tires back in January of 2011 from TireRack.com. Standard 20" 275/315 staggered setup to mount on my current 300M wheels, nothing out of the ordinary. The first summer I ran them, everything was smooth as silk...but towards the end of last season (Fall 2012) they developed some vibrations at highway speeds. Being late in the season and almost at the point of switching over to my winter setup, I pushed off getting them rebalanced until this season.

Monday May 13, 2013:
I finally got them re-balanced early last week, only to hop on the highway and find the vibrations worse than before. No biggie, time to track down a road force balance machine. Yesterday afternoon I pick them up only to find that one front tire was ok, the other front was a marginal pass, one rear was a marginal fail while the other was basically a lost cause. Now I guess I should probably point out that I'm not talking about tires that have been abused or ran excessively hard.....3 of the 4 tires have 10 of the original 11/32 (which is new) tread remaining, while the 4th is at ~9.5/32, and are kept at ~32psi. From what the tech was explaining to me (I'll admit at this point I was rather frustrated, as I had a bit of a getaway planned this weekend to Minneapolis, and wasn't really paying attention) is that I have problems with the internals of the tire moving/separating. With my 8 pages of info from the hunter RF machine and original purchase invoice in hand, I jump on the phone with tirerack, and explain the situation. After forwarding all my info, and explaining that my rims are confirmed to NOT be the issue here, the customer rep said that they would be passing it along to their "warranty experts" and that I should be hearing back sometime within 24-48 hours---so by end of day Wednesday the latest with some answers.

Worst case scenario is that I'm S.O.L...and have to buy 4 new ones. I know only 3 are technically toast but when it comes to tires, I either do them as a set or pairs. To be clear, I'm not looking for any freebies here...but feel as though with very little wear on these things and (to my knowledge) since these problem stem from factors beyond my control, don't see why at least pro-rating a set of replacements would be seen as being unfair/unreasonable?

If anyone has any input/opinions, and/or dealings with similar situations I'd appreciate the input and like to hear your outcome!

I can also attach the Hunter RF results for those who want to see (and can make sense of it) it later tonight.

-S

Update --- Wednesday May 15, 2013:
Spoke with tireRack, and was informed that in addition to the RF results they would physically have to have the tires to inspect and send to bridgestone before any kind of replacement/warranty could be discussed any further. Now, she did say that since I live in Canada, and that any authorized bridgestone dealer can help with warranty that I should try that channel before paying for shipping back to tireRack. Well fellow Canadians, guess what...no Canadian dealer will warrant or even help with any issues if the tires came across the border....and that's fair enough, but the cost of replacements here are where the blood starts to boil. While I was at the local tire shop, I had them price out some Conti DWS's for the hell of it. Keep in mind that at this moment they're about $255 (front & rear) for a total of $918.00 ($1018 - $100 main in rebate) and in stock....right then, so, the local price: $340 (front) & $445 rear for a total of $1570 and are ~ 2 weeks away. Keep in mind that the tireRack shipment is subject to 6.1% at the border, while both prices are also subject to 13% tax, provincial tire fee....but it's still a significant difference.

I have one last ditch effort tomorrow and going to talk to bridgestone directly, but I think at this point It's likely that im going to just bite the bullet and order a complete new set from TireRack...the high initial local cost simply does not pay out unless you use the warranty within the first year or first 32'd of wear (which ever occurs first).

I figured cross-border warranty would be a bit of a hassle, but figured with tires I'd be ok...figures! lol. With shipping in the neighborhood of $140 to ship these back to tireRack in hopes of getting maybe 75 bucks a tire off replacements isn't worth my time. Pay to play right?!

Update --- Thursday May, 16 2013:
While I didn't get a chance to call bridgestone directly, I did receive a call from the original TireRack customer rep. that I spoke with initially. She informed me that they had consulted with bridgestone and that while bridgestone wasn't denying that there looks to be an issue with these tires, they aren't going to do anything about it. She also mentioned that when it comes to bridgestone, unless a warranty claim falls within that first year/first 32nd, the company is difficult to deal with. Even with a best case scenario in which I was able to obtain some sort of pro-rated compensation towards a new set...I would be looking at the $50-$75 range per tire.

On the (sort of) bright side the tireRack rep said that she had spoken with her manager and offered me 10% off the next set of my choosing. To be clear, I understand that in this situation it's not TireRack's fault, so I do appreciate what they have offered...but I have zero idea as to what I should replace them with.

At this point I'm thinking it's time for a scotch, some tunes and whole lot of tire review reading to see what the heck I should replace these with.

[mrbmwx5]

Never had that problem with those tires were on my X5 ... I got 40k miles on them when I sold the car and gave away the 87s with those tires on...

[pnoyako85]

Control Arms?...if lmost everything is good except for one....have you tried if you have spare to exchange thhe bad one to spare if vibration is gone then that could be cause...but if it still there..then something with suspension.......

this happened to me..switch all tires from x5>x6..and vibration was still there.till i change my suspension links 12pcs set..and the problem was gone...

[X5SND]

^^ Unfortunately this is definitely a problem within (and limited to) the tires...my X is new underneath as I've done a complete rebuild of the underside, and I have zero vibes with my winter setup.

Attached is a copy of the HRF results....couldn't figure out how to attach it to my first post...

[Ricky Bobby]

Didn't you just replace everything in the rear / front suspension Spencer? Sometimes worn suspension components make things wear uneven, but for you I don't think that's the case.

Since the rears are really the problem, I'm not sure here. Do you have your current alignment specs? Are you wearing the tires evenly in the rear or do you have a lot of toe (BMW specs too much toe in the rear from the factory alignment specs and tends to wear the inner edges quicker)

How often do you change ride heights? Alignment should be performed every time you reset normal ride height.


Have you replaced the bushings on the subframe as well? Those could give some play in the rear.


What is the load rating on the tires? Although others have had good luck maybe they aren't load rated enough to handle, I'm not sure I never ran those tires. I know any tire I buy for the X I make sure it is "XL" load rated for good reason.



Just brainstorming man sorry to hear that, on the plus side I have had great luck with Toyo Proxes STII and other members love those Conti DWS tires!

EDIT: Just read your post, not your suspension then I believe. I'd say defective batch of at least 2 tires (the rears), out of round or old stock maybe, hope they have warranty!

[X5SND]

Ricky, I should have also add in that I do not have any irregular treadwear, and my truck doesn't generally go longer than a year without seeing an alignment. To further that, I get my alignment done with my X in the "summer" ride height and summer wheels on each time....so if anything, my winter set up would likely show wear first.

Even prior to my complete rebuild (including subframe, and LCA bushings) the links weren't all That bad...and I would think if there were an issue it would show up on an alignment anyway?

I really do think this is just a case of the luck of the draw...

[Ricky Bobby]

Yeah I know you care for the hell out of your X, so I'm not worried about something being neglected.


Definitely think you got a bad set of tires and hope Tire Rack helps you out!

[X5SND]

Updated first post.

Originally Posted by Ricky Bobby

Yeah I know you care for the hell out of your X, so I'm not worried about something being neglected.


Definitely think you got a bad set of tires and hope Tire Rack helps you out!

I gots all my t's crossed and I's dotted when it comes to the suspension and geometry! It's definitely a defunct batch I ended up with. Now I have the daunting task of deciding if Im going to go with the same tires or the DWS's....which are slightly narrower UGH!! why me?! lol. Of all the crap I've done to my X....tires screw me over. Who woulda thunk it...

[admranger]

Try contacting Bridgestone directly for some help. What's the worst that could happen?

[X5SND]

^ Precisely what I plan to do tomorrow....albeit with reserved optimism!