1997 Saturn Sl

I RECENTLY TOOK MY 1997 SATURN IN TO DISCOUNT TIRE FOR MY TIRE ROTATION THAT THEY PROVIDE WHEN YOU PURCHASE TIRES FROM THEM. I TOOK MY VEHICLE IN BECAUSE OF THE WEAR ON THE OUTER EDGES OF THE FRONT TIRES. THE FRONT TIRES ARE WORN BUT NOT DOWN TO THE WEAR INDICATORS AND THE REAR TIRES ARE IN MUCH BETTER CONDITION AND HAVE MUCH MORE TREAD. I WAS TOLD BY THEIR REPRESENTATIVE THAT THEY WOULD NOT ROTATE MY TIRES BECAUSE THE BEST TIRES WERE ALREADY IN THE "REAR", AND THAT IT IS MUCH SAFER TO HAVE BAD TIRES IN THE FRONT THAN IN THE REAR. WHEN I QUESTIONED HIM AS TO WHY, I WAS SHOWN A BROCHURE EXPLAINING THE DIFFERENCE IN LOSS OF VEHICLE CONTROL BETWEEN HAVING A PROBLEM IN THE FRONT VS. THE REAR. I WAS ALSO TOLD THAT HAVING THE BEST TIRES UP FRONT WAS "OLD SCHOOL" MENTALITY. NOT ONLY HAVE I EXPERIENCED "BLOW OUT" CONDITIONS IN BOTH THE FRONT AND REAR OF DIFFERENT VEHICLE THAT I HAVE OWNED THROUGH OUT THE YEARS, I HAVE APPROXIMATELY 15+ YEARS AS AND ASE CERTIFIED MASTER TECHNICIAN AND CURRENTLY WRITE AUTOMOTIVE TECHNICAL SERVICE MANUALS, AND NEVER HAVE I HEARD THIS. STILL HAVING MANY CONTACTS WITHIN THE INDUSTRY, I CAN NOT FIND ANYONE WHO AGREES WITH DISCOUNT TIRE ON THIS ONE. I AM NOT LOOKING TO FILE A FORMAL COMPLAINT, BUT LOOKING TO A RELIABLE SOURCE FOR SOME CLARITY ON THIS ISSUE. TO ME, IT SEEMS AS IF THEY COULD BE CREATING MORE OF A SAFETY ISSUE THAN SOLVING ONE. HOWEVER, IF PRESENTED WITH CREDITABLE INFORMATION ON TESTING (OTHER THAN MARKETING BROCHURES), I COULD BE CONVINCED OTHERWISE. I SEEMED TO ME THAT THIS WAS BEING USED TO SELL ME TIRES MORE THAN ANYTHING, BECAUSE THE SALE PITCH STARTED IMMEDIATELY AFTER SHOWING ME THE COLOR BROCHURE. I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR FEED BACK OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS CONCERN. FEEL FREE TO CONTACT IF NECESSARY.*JB REGARDS, GARY H KNAPP. *JB

WHILE DRIVING HOME CAR STARTED TO PULL TO RIGHT SIDE ,AND STEERING WHEEL STARTED TO SHAKE WHEN STEPPING ON BRAKES. CONSUMER TOOK CAR TO SEARS TO CHECK TIRES SIZEP18565R15, DOT# NOT AVAILABLE. TIRES WERE ROTATED. CAR WAS TAKEN TO DEALER TO FIND PROBLEM IN TIRES. DEALER ROTATED TIRES AGAIN. VEHICLE STARTED DOING THE SAME THING. DEALER STATED LEFT FRONT TIRE HAD A DEFECT. CONSUMER CONTACTED SEARS, AND SEARS ROTATED TIRES AGAIN, AND COULDNOT FIND ANYTHING WRONG. WOULD NOT REPLACE TIRE. *AK THEY REPLACED THE TIRE THE NEXT DAY. *YH

TRAVELING EAST ON I-75 BETWEEN NAPLES, FLORIDA AND FT. LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA AT APPROXIMATELY 6:00 P.M. I HEARD A STRANGE NOISE COMING FROM UNDER THE CAR. IMMEDIATELY THE CAR BEGAN PULLING TO THE RIGHT. I LOOKED IN MY REARVIEW MIRROR TO SEE TREAD FLYING UP FROM UNDER THE CAR. I PULLED OVER AND SAW MY FRONT LEFT TIRE'S TREAD SEPARATED COMPLETELY. I COULD EVEN SEE THE STEEL RADIALS EXPOSED. *AK (DOT NUMBER: W2EPBCA466 TIRESIZE: 175/70 R14)

TIRES WERE SOLD AS REPLACEMENTS FOR FIRESTONE AFNTY TRGT1 TUBLPS 18565R15 TIRES. THE TIRES WERE SOLD BY RUST TIRES, LLC D/B/A AUSTIN BLUFFS BIG O, 4496 AUSTIN BLUFFS PARKWAY, COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80918, TELEPHONE #: 719-599-4555. I REQUESTED SIMILAR QUALITY IN AN ALL-WEATHER RADIAL TIRE TO THE TIRES BEING REPLACED. THE PRODUCTS SOLD DO NOT PERFORM SAFELY IN ANY AMOUNT OF SNOW AT ANY SPEED. AT APPROPRIATELY SLOW RATES OF SPEED, THE TIRES TEND TO LOSE TRACTION WHENEVER THE CLUTCH IS PUT IN AND WHEN BRAKING. THE CAR BEGINS TO SLIDE AT THOSE TIMES AND WHEN STARTING FROM A COMPLETE STOP. TIRES DO NOT SEEM TO GAIN ANY TRACTION UNTIL CAR IS IN THIRD GEAR. I HAVE NEVER HAD THIS TYPE OF PROBLEM WITH ANY OTHER ALL-WEATHER TIRES I'VE HAD OVER THE YEARS. THESE TIRES HAD APPROXIMATELY 5,500 MILES ON THEM WHEN THE PROBLEM FIRST OCCURRED WITH SNOW ON THE GROUND. WHILE IT WAS VERY ICY ON12/11/00, I HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED THAT DEGREE OF SLIDING IN OVER 30 YEARS OF DRIVING IN WINTER CONDITIONS. WITH A CHILD IN THE CAR, I HAD NUMEROUS "MINOR" SLIDES AND THREE VERY CLOSE CALLS WHERE THERE WAS NEARLY PROPERTY DAMAGE AND/OR INJURY. DURING A SUBSEQUENT SNOW AT CHRISTMAS TIME, I AGAIN EXPERIENCED UNUSUAL SLIDING. THE MOST RECENT OCCURRENCES HAVE BEEN DURING AND FOLLOWING A SNOW STORM ON 1/16/01. YOUR DATABASE ONLY LISTS 2 TYPES OF NANKANG TIRES AND I CANNOT DETERMINE WHETHER THE ONES ON MY CAR ARE EITHER ONE. I SUSPECT NOT.*AK (TIRESIZE: 1956015)( DOT NUMBER: TIRE SIZE: 1956015 )

I TOOK MY SATURN FOR IT'S YEARLY INSPECTION AT MY LOCAL SATURN DEALER. THEY TOLD ME MY DRIVERSIDE FRONT TIRE WAS WORN, BUT NOT DUE TO NORMAL WEAR, THE TREADS WERE READY TO PEEL OFF. THEY TOLD ME THE CAR WOULD NOT PASS INSPECTION AS IS BECAUSE OF THE TIRE AND I HAD THEM PUT A NEW FIRESTONE TIRE ON. I THEN BROUGHT THE BAD TIRE TO FIRESTONE AND TOLD THEM WHAT HAPPENED. THEY SAID THEY COULD ONLY REPLACE THE TIRE AND NOT GIVE A REFUND ON THE TIRE. I FEEL FIRESTONE SHOULD GIVE ME A REFUND ON THE TIRE BECAUSE THE TIRE WAS'NT WORN OUT NORMALY AND THE CAR NEEDED THAT TIRE TO PASS INSPECTION. I ALSO CALLED FIRESTONE AND THEY TOLD ME THE SAME THING AS THE MANAGER AT THERE STORE TOLD ME THAT THEY COULD'NT GIVE ME A REFUND. *AK (TIRESIZE: 17570R14)( DOT NUMBER: TIRE SIZE: 17570R14 )