I own a 2007 screw with 31,000 miles. The truck came stock with BFGoodrich Rugged Trail TA. Not that long ago I noticed that the tires have started to crack around the shoulder and chunks of rubber (size of the tip of your pinkie) have started to rip off the tire. I took the truck to the Ford dealer where I had purchased the truck and was told that they do not warranty the tires and my problem was with BFG not the dealer. I sent an e-mail to BFG and was told to take it to a local dearler for them to take a look at the tires. I did that today and was told that BFG would credit 35% of the purchase of new BFG tires. My tires are rotated every 3000 miles and are in very good shape (besides the cracking and chunks falling off), what is everyones feeling on the 35%, should I take that and be happy, or ask for more seeing that I should get another two years out of my factory installed tires. Thanks in advance for everyones opinion

 

take it and run away from those POS's...get a real tire, the rugged trails I have on my truck are the worst frickin tires I have ever seen, mine dont have 10k on them and 3 are completely shot, they all have the cracks on the shoulder just like yours...i will never buy them again

 

You have 31K miles & they are willing to pro-rate the tire replacement for 35%. That sounds about right. You have already driven about 2/3 of the expected life of the tire. It's just like with batteries. If they gave us free batteries & tires every time the products don't last 40,000 or 50,000 miles, we would never pay for tires & batteries ever. If memory serves me correct, I've never had a complete failure with a tire. No tire has ever fallen apart or blown out on me in the first 3-5 years of ownership. And even the cheapest, generic tires have gone over 60,000 miles before enough of the tread was worn down that I needed new tires. But luckily for me, even with off-brand tires, I've never seen chunks of rubber falling off.

 

I see this every day at work. People buy a set of tires warranted for 50k miles and come back later with 30k miles on the now bald tires and want 100% refund. The fact is in your case that you got 31k miles worth of use out of those tires, so to ask for 100% refund or replacement value is absurd (not saying that's what you're doing, but I see it all the time and you wouldn't believe how red in the face people get when I tell them I can't give them back the full $900 they spent on their Michelins).

Usually Michelin is pretty good about their warranty (BFG warranty goes through Michelin) so I'd take the 35% they're willing to give you and call it a day. Keep in mind for the future that other tire companies are not quite so easy to get replacements from. I've been on the phone with Goodyear for a week now trying to get a replacement tire for a customer. With Michelin its usually a 10 minute phone call and I have the customer out the door in less than an hour.

Always keep all your records to show that the vehicle has had the tires rotated on schedule. Also, a lot of people fail to realize that keeping the vehicle aligned is the customer's responsiblity. If the vehicle is found to be out of alignment when you come back to warranty out your tires (I've had manufacturers ask for a fax of the alignment printout) then they will sometimes deny your claim.

Also I just noticed you said you rotate your tires every 3k miles. Rotation should be every 5-6k miles. At 3k you may as well not rotate them at all.

 

Thanks alot for all of you advice! Im going to NTB today to get my tires put on. After some thought I am very pleased with BFG giving me 35% towards the purchase of new Rugged Trail TA's. I just spoke with the guy from NTB and they are going to let me upgrade to the BFG ATs!