So I have my 2013 xj for service. Roof started to creak badly. And a shimmy in front. Already had 3 wheels and 2 tires replaced after bad winter of potholes last year. Now dealer is saying that warranty company refusing to replace bent wheels only cracked ones. Wheels have to be loosing air to have replaced. The contract reads wheel has to be loosing air or not able to balance wheel for replacement. Of course salesman originally said anything happens to wheels or tires and they get replaced. I also hear if you have bubbles on tires (which also happens alot from potholes) that they will not replace if it is not loosing air. Anyone been running into this?
Sounds like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen against these warranty companies.

 

I have to say I find it surprising a US Warranty company is covering damage to wheels caused by bad roads. It is almost an insurance policy not a warranty policy. At some point, I suppose they will realise what they have committed themselves to, in fact it seems from your post they already have !

OK, I have windscreen cover on my car insurance, but if I claim too much they are at liberty to refuse to renew my insurance next year.

 

Do you have OEM or aftermarket wheels and tires? If OEM, wouldn't they be covered by the original warranties? If aftermarket, are they OEM sizes that came on the car? If not, is this why you have a non-OEM warranty? Three wheels and two tires replaced in one season? Good grief, I have never heard of such a thing. A class action lawsuit? Really? How about learning how to drive?

 

Wheels and tires are from factory. They are not covered under vehicle warranties. In essence this is an insurance policy. As to not knowing how to drive. They obviously wouldn't be offering this type of policy if they didn't know they had a problem with tires and wheels in metropolitan areas. People would not buy these cars if they could not get a policy to cover the wheels and tires. In New York with last years winter I can't tell you how many dealerships ran out of wheels and tires. BMW,Mercdes,Jaguar. It was unbelievable. The problem is Jaguar is selling a vehicle where its wheels and tires (and its sunroofs) do not hold up in a metropolitan, bad roads, pot holed filled area.
Funny, just notice ther is another xjcat on forum, and we both are from NY.

 

So it is a wheels and tyres insurance policy as I suspected. I would not have thought it is open-ended, and there surely is a limit on claims in the small print somewhere.

The fact is that potholes are nothing new, but use of large diameter/low profile tyres on normal saloons is quite recent, and it is this combination that has proved so disastrous. It does sound, however, that ballot-box pressure is needed somewhere.

 

I owe you a really big apology. I had no idea New York had such a bad road system, and that this was having such disastrous consequences on current vehicles fitted with OEM wheels and tires. Forgive me for my ignorance.

 

These "posts" are getting interesting. I'll stay tuned to see if there is any resolution to the issue.


I've just returned from a quick trip to the dealer, to talk about the wheels (rims?) on my 2013 XJ. This is a CPO, which I picked up in Florida. I believe that the car originated in New York City. All of the wheels are showing some "flaking" or "peeling" of the paint. Since I flunked chemistry, all I can say is that it appears that there is some kind of a surface coat, maybe "clear-coat", which is beginning to peel off is various spots on the wheels.


Of course, I believed that it was a defective paint job and it would be handled. Much to my surprise (I don't know why I was surprised), I was told that the wheels had been re-painted, and by someone who did a sub-par job. It wasn't a factory issue. Of course I don't know how they know that this explanation is factual just by looking at the wheels for a couple of minutes.


Consequently I was told that I was on my own. And, if I didn't know who performed the re-paint I would have no recourse other than pay to have them repaired. I was also told that all the dealers re-paint when necessary to move the cars. I guess it's sort of like polishing a pair of shoes with holes in the soles.


I'm thinking of calling New Jersey to see if I might find out a bit more history on the car. Don't know what I'd accomplish by that but it might help to hear it from them.


Luck
King Fala

 

Do you seriously believe that most people who buy these cars also purchase an insurance policy on the wheels and tires? I doubt that most buyers even know such policies exist and wouldn't buy one if offered.

 

In DC, last winter was especially problematic for potholes due to the unusually cold weather. Sometimes they are just impossible to avoid unless you're going to hang back 10 car lengths or stop traffic to change lanes around one that goes half the width of the lane!

 

I dunno about 'most'.

But it is becoming more and more common for dealers (any brand) to offer such coverage. And, with experience, more and more people are becoming aware of how frequently these low profile wheel/tire combinations are damaged.

Soon enough I'll wager people will be pro-actively asking about such insurance!

Cheers
DD

 

Wheels.


Back in the old days a *wheel* was made up of the hub, the spokes, and the rim. Or, later, a center section and a rim. Either way, the rim was the part of a wheel that the tire actually mounted to.

Nowadays almost all wheels are one piece....so thay are 'wheels'. And even when they are multi-piece we don't buy the 'rims' separately. We buy * wheels*

I've often wondered how the term "rims" become so common

<shrug>

Ramble switch turned 'off' for the moment

Cheers
DD

 

Happy to say my dealership took care of my problem.

As to insurance policy I would say any metropolitan and cold weather areas sell them. Sounds like the paint flaking off was probably a wheel repair that was done either under one of the policies or just to fix up car. In NY I see the rim repair guys at all the dealerships. They are reapiring the wheels in their trucks and spray paint them when done to make them look new. It lasts for a while but the real way to do it is to have repaint baked on.

 

True. The "fix" was described to me as getting them powder coated.

 

In this case, your fallback position might be the CPO provisions. If the wheel condition is part of the CPO certification, then you might have recourse through the selling dealer or Jaguar North America. In fact, Jaguar North America might honour the CPO provisions through the local inspecting dealer.

 

Not likely unless the warranty companies are violating the terms of the written contract.

If a third party sales rep said one thing, the written policy says another thing, and you did not read the policy, that falls under caveat emptor. Always read the policy. Nothing anybody says overrides the policy.

Of course, the real problem is the state of roads. Politicians don't like to raise taxes and good state of repair becomes optional. The best way to show them the error of their ways is to file lots of damage claims.

Of course, you have to be well aware of favourable time limitations. Around here, the municipality must be notified within 7 days of any potential liability whereas every other civil case against most other non-government parties has a limitation of 1 year. Civil servants hate to lose, and when they do, they move the goalposts.

 

I assume "On The Edge" is located in a country where they spell favorable as "favourable". You can run but you can't hide.

 

I live in NY state, but at the opposite end of the state from NYC. Where I'm located, which is in the middle of the snow belt, yes, the roads take a real beating from the cold temps during the winter. So yes, we have more than our share of pot holes, which can wreak havoc on cars that have either/or large diameter rims, and low profile tires.


Along that line, I remember reading a long term road test of a BMW in Car&Driver magazine 8-10 years ago, where the car had either 35 or 45 series tires, and during the term of the road test, they bent 3 rims....

 

I lived in conservative New Hampshire (Lakes Region) for 44 years. And yes, we had "frost heaves" in the Spring, but "pot holes" were extremely rare, and in general the roads were always in excellent condition.

NH also had no sales tax, nor income tax.

When my kids were young and we drove down to liberal Massachusetts to visit their grandparents; they could always tell when we entered "Taxachusetts" by the extremely poor condition of the roads.

I could always tell by the discourteous and moronic drivers on their roads.

I'm convinced road conditions, and driver's abilities, are not as dependent on the weather conditions as they are on the political leanings of the state in which people live.

Anyway, cars with big wheels and rubber band thick tires may look cool, but are totally impractical in the real world.

So are summer performance tires that get hard and greasy at temperatures below 45 degrees F., which usually wear out in 12,000 or less, and which have no adherence on anything but dry roads.

Ever notice how car enthusiast's magazines always test vehicles: (A) in the summer, and (B) on smooth tracks or airport runways? Their results are simply not applicable to the real world, yet simple minded people make buying decisions based on these magazine's test results.