I own a 2017 F type, I bought it new from the local dealer. I dropped it at the dealership today as there is a slow leak in the drivers side rear tyre.

After a couple of hours I get a text telling me there is a puncture in the tyre and it needs to be replaced which is OK. Now comes the scam, he tells me the rear tyres are down to 7/32 from 11/32 Because of this both tyres will need to be replaced otherwise the diff will spin a different speeds which will damage it.

My car has 1,200 miles on it, 1,200 miles, not 12,000 and he is telling me I have used 4/32 of tread. I have babied this car, I am the only person who has driven it. It is just getting broken in. By their estimation the tyres will have a life of 2,400 miles or less.

and then there is the diff comment, the diff spinning at different speeds will damage it. isn't that it's job to allow the wheels to spin at different speeds!

I called them up and I have told them they need to figure this out. I am waiting for my call back.

 

Yeah it definitely sounds like he's trying to take you for a ride. The difference in tire diameter would have to be a couple inches, to have any kind of an effect on the differential. Even though it is a limited slip. There is still a built in tolerence as no 2 tires are exactly the same in daimeter. And several 32's is not enough to do any damage to your differential. Case in point, does your car have a "donut" spare? They are almost never the same size as the tires on the car.

 

Should be a very simple matter to measure the tread depth yourself. If they're lying to you, they'll be caught red handed.

If the tire really has worn 4/32", everything I have ever read says both tires should be replaced.

 

Why would you take the car to the dealer for a tire issue in the first place? That's like going to see your doctor when you have caught a common cold.

 

The differentials job is to allow the wheels to spin at different rates when turning, not all the time. Now some differentials will allow different speeds all the time, like an open differential. But viscous or clutch type LSD differentials can easily overheat or burn up if they're constantly trying to make up for that. If you've got a V6S, you have this type of differential. The base and the V8 have open diffs with an available electronic control, which I believe makes this a non-issue but i'm not 100% on that.

The other thing you have to keep in mind is if you have an AWD. If the dealership is telling you both rear wheels are low compared to the fronts and you have AWD they could have a gripe. The center diff, while not a full time unit, is a clutch type that can be burnt up if the fronts are spinning slower than the rears. This is the reason you have to replace all 4 tires at the same time. A few mills can make all the difference over the long run.

That being said, i doubt you went through that much tire so fast on a AWD. If you had a RWD and have been driving aggressive with lots of wheel spin however, you could totally burn through a set in a few thousand miles.


Also... do people really take their car to the dealership for tires? I feel like that's just asking to be ripped off.

 

Even if your tread is down to 7/32" you have 55% useable tread life left. DOT specifies a minimum of 2/32" tall wear bars in the tire grooves. With 4/32" more wear on one tire, it will make 7 more rotations per mile than the other. That won't burn up any differential. You'll see more variance with a pound or two of under/over inflation.

 

When I was in the dealer game we sold lots of tires...usually competitively priced. And wheels, too. Not sure about Jaguar specifically but lots of tire manufacturers have purchase programs for dealers that can keep dealers at least somewhat competitive.

Most customers still preferred going to a tire shop but some....enough to make it worthwhile....liked one-stop shopping.

Cheers
DD

 

I ask them for their price, and I check one of the online retailers I frequent.. if they are close enough I buy the tires from the dealer. Usually they aren't in stock so I would have to come back again either way. I saved $100 last time by online ordering and the dealer installed them for me.

 

I typically do not take the car to a dealer for tyre issues. The car is there to have the drivers door aligned and as they do free repairs asked them to look at it.

 

The car is a base with an open diff. Every time you drive around a curve, a corner, on a bumpy road or lose traction for any reason the wheels are spinning at different speeds. As another member posted, even different tyre pressure will cause the wheels to spin at different speeds.

The car has 1200 miles on it, there have been no burn outs or tyres spinning for any reason. There is no way those tyres should have worn 4/32 in 1200 miles. They are the ContiSportContact 2. This is my first experience with this dealer and it's not a good one. I now don't believe anything they are telling me.

They still have the car so either they will fix the problem for free or I will take the car to a tyre shop and have them look at it.

 

My dealer suggested replacing the tires early too. The P-Zeros have a pretty wide wear bar, and I think the dealer was measuring the tread to the wear bar, not to the bottom of the groove. (Not sure which is right.) I bought a tread gauge off Amazon so I can measure them myself.

 

A penny works pretty well as a depth gauge. If the tire doesn't touch Abe's head it should be replaced.

 

Measure to the bottom of the groove.

It's understandable that a layperson might be unsure about this. If a *repair shop* is measuring to the wear bar it's either gross, woeful ignorance... or a scam.



Cheers
DD

 

This whole thing sounds like a scam from step #1. Go to a local tire place. They'll plug the tire for free or very cheap. In and out in 15 minutes, none of these shenanigans... Then you can decide what to do next, on your terms, not getting the runaround from that dealer.

 

Well, if the tire is punctured I wouldn't expect a freebie.

However, if the tires really *have* worn that much in just 1200 miles it suggests some sort of problem that merits investigation and repair under the terms of the warranty.

I'm curious as to how this was presented to you. I can't imagine any dealership service staffer expecting a customer to agree to buying two tires at 1200 miles without also expecting a lot of push-back...but sometimes my imagination doesn't go far enough.

Cheers
DD

 

Discount tire does this for free.

 

Literally every tire place I have ever gone to with a puncture has repaired it for free. I don't *expect* free, they choose to offer it.

I usually tip the guy 10-20 just because I appreciate the service.

Regardless, free or not - you are in the wrong place for a punctured tire.

Ad Doug said, if the tires REALLY wore that much, it is an issue with the car. You need to get some unbiased facts from someone who isn't trying to sell you tires.

This can be easily observed and measured yourself. We're running in all sorts of directions here based solely on the statements of someone who have been labeled a "scammer" lol.

 

1) different tires but when I bought my F type it was CPO and in order to comply with the program, they measured the tire tread depth and the rears "failed".....then they checked another brand new F type with the same tires on the showroom floor and discovered that the rears never had 11/32 when brand new.....they had something less (sorry, don't remember the exact measurement, maybe 2-4/32) than the fronts did.

2) even with a LSD, the difference in treadwear from one side to the other is irrelevant.....with an open diff it's a complete non-issue. Logic suggests that the one rear tire WILL wear more quickly with an open diff in normal operation. This is a solution looking for a problem IMO.

3) unless the puncture damaged the sidewall or caused extreme damage to the cord structure, it should be able to be plugged.....but the better fix is to have a patch/boot installed over the puncture from the inside. I'd want to see the tire dismounted before believing it needs to be replaced.

....bottom line, yes I think your dealer is full of crap.


Cheers,
Dave

 

This was sent to me in a text message from the dealer service dept. in the text message they said the rears were down to 7 mm and the fronts were 11 mm. However when I called them he used the terms 7/32 and 11/32. I told him they had an issue as there was no way the car has worn 4/32 in 1200 miles. he then looked at the mileage, and said this car does have really low miles for the kind of wear. I told him he needs to figure this out because I am not buying new tyres. They haven't called me back yet with an answer. I have a loaner so I am in no rush. I will post the text message.

 

Here is the text I got.

Hey this is [Removed} with Service. On the driver rear tire, there is a nail on the side of the tire pretty close to the sidewall which is unrepairable. The other issue we run into with that is the tread depth difference. The fronts measure at 11mm which is still brand new but the rears measure at 7mm. We can leave the fronts alone but the rear would need two tires or else it will spin the rear differential at different speeds which will cause damage in the long run. For two tires installed we'd be looking at $756. Let me know what you'd like us to do. Thanks.

I have told them to figure this out but I am not buying tyres. They haven't mentioned the door alignment.