youngmustanger

I bought some Sumitomo HTR z II tires about a year and a half ago, and only put about 6000 miles on them. Two months ago I went out into my garage and my rear passenger tire was completely flat. I also noticed that the sidewall looked as if someone scraped it all the way around, I did not think much of it, I replaced the tire and went on my way. Two days ago I was driving home from my evening class (American History) it was around 9:00 everything seemed ok, I was about a mile from my house when I was making a left hand turn and than all I heard was a loud whoosh and my rear driver side tire was flat. The tire was really hot to the touch, not feeling very safe with these tires anymore I went to replace them at American tire and they told me that they couldn’t find any problems with the tire, they said everything seemed fine they checked the valve and it was fine, but the tire was not holding any air. I called the Sumitomo Company and they were not willing to work with me because it was a performance tire. They agreed with me that the tire should not have popped, and they agreed with me that the tires did not have allot of miles on them, but yet they were not willing to work with me. I am not sure if I have bad luck or if the Sumitomo's are crap. Just wanted to let everyone know about my bad experience, and I wanted to rant a little.

I almost forgot I had 275/40/18 out back and 255/45/18 up front.

Thanks

thewarmachine

I heard recently on my local news station that a lot of valve stems are being recalled. Maybe you had some bad ones.

99flhr

Have the same tires, same sizes, no problems. The "scraping" on the sidewall is the result of the tire being run low or flat, as is the "hot to the touch"

youngmustanger

Yea I heard that the valve stems were being recalled, but the guys at American tire said that the valve stems on my car were fine.And about running the tires low I know about that too, I would believe that that was the case, but I had just put air in my tires a week before my tire blew (35psi).

I was looking at some reviews and another guy had the same problem, exept that guy said that he was crossing Arizona when his tire faild.

Riptide

Popped a bead?

28HopUp

You beat me to it! ANY tire will go pop if you drive on it long enough without enough PSI. Everyone (even those with the TPMS) would do well by checking their air pressure periodically.

99flhr

I`m missing something, Sumitomo`s site makes no warranty exemptions based on the type of tire. If it`s a material or workmanship defect it`s covered. Did they disallow your claim for another reason? Did you have those 275`s mounted on a rim with their minimun recommended width of 9" or are they on stock 8.5" wheels?

pascal

Good advice on keeping good tire pressure...
Those tires though, do not last long IMO.

9million

They are one of the cheapest tires out there. You got what you payed for.

Stoenr

They could not find where the air was leaking from? wtf!