17 replies to this topic

[gerglmuff2]

i had a brand new set of SM7s on my car last race, and one of the tires bubbled on the side wall, big enough it was actually pushing into tread area. i obviously took that tire out of service and put another on for the rest of the weekend. I removed it and shipped i back to hoosier through my dealer, and the dealer is telling me that hoosier corporate wont authorize a replacement for the tire because they can't find a problem with it. dealer and I highlighted where on the sidwall it had bubbled, you could even see how the lettering on the sidewall had shifted and moved because it had separated from the rest of the carcass. 

what are my options? 

I did get the name of the hoosier guy im supposed to talk to (Steve Hudspith?), so im gonna call him tomorrow. but really, at the end of the day, due to the rules and having to run hooisers, they can just tell me to pound sand all day if they want to. 

tire isn't going back on my car, its worthless to me. i don't want it back. im not gonna take it to road america next and run the kink with a bubbled tire. fudge that. 

am i just fucked? 

[LarryKing]

Is there any warranty on Hoosier race tires?

[Bench Racer]

If it were me in same situation, I'd contact Tim Gilvin Circuit Racing Product Manager. We see Tim at all CenDiv Souper Tour races.

[Tom Sager]

i had a brand new set of SM7s on my car last race, and one of the tires bubbled on the side wall, big enough it was actually pushing into tread area. i obviously took that tire out of service and put another on for the rest of the weekend. I removed it and shipped i back to hoosier through my dealer, and the dealer is telling me that hoosier corporate wont authorize a replacement for the tire because they can't find a problem with it. dealer and I highlighted where on the sidwall it had bubbled, you could even see how the lettering on the sidewall had shifted and moved because it had separated from the rest of the carcass. 

what are my options? 

I did get the name of the hoosier guy im supposed to talk to (Steve Hudspith?), so im gonna call him tomorrow. but really, at the end of the day, due to the rules and having to run hooisers, they can just tell me to pound sand all day if they want to. 

tire isn't going back on my car, its worthless to me. i don't want it back. im not gonna take it to road america next and run the kink with a bubbled tire. fudge that. 

am i just fucked? 

 

Any interactions I've had with Hoosier have been very helpful and professional.  They replaced a tire for me a few years ago and did so very readily.  Good people and you'll probably get a good result if you bring it to their attention. 

[gerglmuff2]

they had this tire for over 2 weeks and i had to bug my dealer every 2 or 3 days to get anything out of them. 

forgive me for not having a high opinion of hoosier customer service (yet). always willing to be proven wrong, but its not looking go so far. 

[Jim Drago]

i had a brand new set of SM7s on my car last race, and one of the tires bubbled on the side wall, big enough it was actually pushing into tread area. i obviously took that tire out of service and put another on for the rest of the weekend. I removed it and shipped i back to hoosier through my dealer, and the dealer is telling me that hoosier corporate wont authorize a replacement for the tire because they can't find a problem with it. dealer and I highlighted where on the sidwall it had bubbled, you could even see how the lettering on the sidewall had shifted and moved because it had separated from the rest of the carcass. 

what are my options? 

I did get the name of the hoosier guy im supposed to talk to (Steve Hudspith?), so im gonna call him tomorrow. but really, at the end of the day, due to the rules and having to run hooisers, they can just tell me to pound sand all day if they want to. 

tire isn't going back on my car, its worthless to me. i don't want it back. im not gonna take it to road america next and run the kink with a bubbled tire. fuck that. 

am i just fucked?

Was this tire used? If so.. Are you sure this is a defect? did you run over something? Did this happen on track? are you sure we are talking about a manufacturing defect?
You should call Hoosier direct, talk to Tim Gilvin. I don't think they "owe" you a tire unless it is a clear manufacturing defect and the tire wasn't run. Posting and commenting negatively not sure that helps? In my everyday life, I deal with all types selling used parts etc. I will help to resolve nearly anything, even when not covered under warranty etc when people are reasonable.. The minute I come to the realization that a customer will never be happy with whatever decision we make, I go 100% by the book and offer no more than that and rescind anything above that previously offered.
.

[gerglmuff2]

it was run, less than 15 laps at BIR. I have called hoosier now, steve was not at his desk so i left a calm, dispassionate message and my number, ill let everyone know there response. 

i dont think ive ever seen a tire sidewall bubble from running something over, and BIR has very mild curbing. might be possible? dunno. ive killed 2 or 3 wheel bearings, never a tire at BIR. frankly never even seen a bubbled tire in real life until this happened. 

i ask am i just fucked because i understand that "by the book" they don't owe me anything. and there is essentially no recourse, as i have to buy there tires, and i also can't even not recommend them to normies, cause only racers run hoosiers. i ask this question in order to decern if someone else here has some additional information and/or experience with bubbled tires and hoosier in order to find a reasonable agreement. 

certainly willing and open to be pleased here. 

[gerglmuff2]

update: finally got in touch with steve. he says they didn't find a bubble in it when they mounted it. so they concluded it was not a manufacturing defect. and said it could have been shipping or i hit something. i pushed on that claim, and he claimed they X rayed the tire (i guess this is common practice in QC?) and determined it wasn't manufacturing defect. no more information there. i pushed on the shipping front too, as in, i go to a physical hoosier tire dealership and pick them up from them, how do you not cover your own companies internal shipping? he said someone eats the cost for shipping problems, and i said, yeah, in this case, thats me.

i find the hitting something response tough to justify based on a couple things: 1. this happened in my first run with the tires, that screams manufacturing defect. tire was bad from the start likely 2. its my home track, the curbing is very light. BIR is not a hard track vis a vis curbing etc 3. ive destroyed a number of metal wheel bearings hitting things with the car, without any tire damage, i find it hard to believe that id still have wheel bearings hitting something hard enough to damage a fully compliant tire. ie, a good tire is easily strong enough to break something else, its not the weak link in the chain. 

anyway, steve was as helpful as he could be, not being the one who actually inspected the tire and all. interesting to learn they use X-ray to inspect tires, didn't know that. 

says hes gonna "work" on a discount for a replacement tire. 

so, idk. still dont really know what really happened with the tire. not sure the discount will be anything other than token. kinda feeling "meh" erring on disappointed about the entire interaction esp after all the hype ive read about how amazing hoosier CS is. i don't buy it that i hit something that would have damaged a good tire, and shipping is pretty ridiculous claim IMO. 

but i didn't see any traction to continue the conversation. we'll see i guess what the discount is. 

[Jim Creighton]

I would ask they return the tire. I would then mount it and see if the defect is still  there. If not, run the tire. If so, take photo and send it to Hoosier. Or send it to the Runoffs with someone and see what develops.

[OrangeCrush86]

^ Get the tire back if it isn't bad.

[gerglmuff2]

the tire is not good. 

[gerglmuff2]

update: steve did not call hooiser north and did not discuss a discount with them. 

hooiser north guys said the tire was back and they'd give it back to me. i said i didn't want it, and they agreed that they also see where the bubble is and wouldnt run it. hooiser north guys were understanding, offered there own discount, and then we decided that they would call steve and work something out and let me know what they will charge me. 

so ... idk. im like, for having a reputation for such good customer service, i find that reputation unfounded. hoosier north guys were much more helpful, hoosier corporate kinda 0% helpful, including actually not doing what they said they would do. 

will update when north calls me again. 

[gerglmuff2]

north called me back,  said they called steve and he still resisted. said they'd split the cost of the tire if corporate chipped in the other half. so they did. 

that was a lot of work by a lot of people that is unnecessary. all's well that ends well? 

[Steve Scheifler]

You are more persistent than I would be over a single tire.

[Jim Drago]

north called me back,  said they called steve and he still resisted. said they'd split the cost of the tire if corporate chipped in the other half. so they did. 

that was a lot of work by a lot of people that is unnecessary. all's well that ends well? 

 

I bet the Hooisier guys feel the same way. I think that was go away money.   

[Sphinx]

I was chatting with another forum member yesterday and he mentioned that when running too-many-heat-cycle Hoosiers, he's seen tread separation "lumpiness."  First time I'd heard of it, but perhaps that's what OP experienced. (but that would have shown up in the xray).

[gerglmuff2]

I was chatting with another forum member yesterday and he mentioned that when running too-many-heat-cycle Hoosiers, he's seen tread separation "lumpiness."  First time I'd heard of it, but perhaps that's what OP experienced. (but that would have shown up in the xray).

 

happened in the first 15 laps of running the tire. 

makes sense though if you were running really worn out tires, the differential in all the thermal properties, esp as the tire ages would lead to that kind of thing. 

but these were a sticker set.