Are these tires safe to run?

[Wilson]

This is a dispute at this point. I bought these tires yesteday. I carefully inspected the outside while they were mounted on the old wheels, things looked acceptable. After waitng over an hour for Les Schwab to dismount them, we quickly loaded them up, I paid him and we parted ways. Less than two hrs later I went to mount up the tires on my new beadlocks and found the following, while checking beads prior to mounting. The damage is not visible from the outside, but is a serious structural concern. I put a dime in some of the cuts. One extends out to the outer edge of the bead. Steel is visible in all of the cuts, and three are seperated at the bead. The previous owner did not know about this, I'm sure of it. I did call him as soon as I found it, didn't mount the tires, and didn't run them. I would like my money back, but am being told it's a "gray area". One of teh pcitures shows the one tire that wasn't cut. The spare had a cut and a sidewall patch as well. These were mounted on DIY beadlocks.

[Trailer Guy]

Are the cuts on the outside bead only, or also the inside?
Did the old DIY bead locks set into the bead or on top of it?
Where the old bead locks kept tight?
Did they get mounted to the old rims right after they got done welding them?

Lot's of different ways that this could have happened.

[DJ404564X4]

Looks like it was ran FLAT .

[DJ404564X4]

And NO there not safe .

Does sound like it was not intentional though .

[Wilson]

The cuts are on the outside bead only from either not grinding down the lip on the wheel, and/or being driven flat. How they go there is only an issue as to whether or not it's something I could have done and am now asking for my $$ back. It's a clear circular pattern. I know it wasn't intentional, but I believe he may think it *could* have happened while dismounting or attempting to mount the tires, which isn't the case. Of course I think the right thing to do is for him to return my money and me give him his tires back. I know I wasn't out to buy damaged tires, didn't pay damaged tire prices and he also wasn't out to sell damaged tires. Whether he knew or not doesn't change the fact that they were damaged when he sold them. I checked the tires as best I could, but when they were dismounted the three of us quickly rolled them into the abck of a truck. I never touched or looked at all the tires after they were dismounted. They had to get on the road, and I had to try and salvage a lost day's work. I called him as soon as I found out.

I've been on both sides of the fence, so to say. One time I sold a toyota spool to a guy. He calls me up and said the spool was bent, he checked the runout when setting up his gears. That was enough for me, I gave him his $$ back and told him to toss the spool.
I also once bought a transmission/transfer combo. I only needed the trans, but the seller didn't want to pull them apart and said I could have them both for the same price. When I seperated the trans and case I found the output shaft was twisted and splintered. I called him up, sent him pics and he sent me my $$ back and told me to toss the trans (which I did).
When I buy or sell something I expect it to be in the condition it was advertised under. If it can be shown otherwise, in a timely manner I would rather make it right because I'm not out to buy or sell bad parts. I think I usually try to go the extra mile to make sure everyone is happy. I recently sold a rebuilt th350. I only made 10 trips with it, but still paid to have it torn down, inspected and re-sealed before I would sell it, so there was no doubt in the buyer's mind he was buying a "rebuilt" trans.

[DJ404564X4]

Sounds like your a righteous (sp?) buyer/seller . Hopefully the seller of the tires is the same . Unfortunately the guy probably needed the money , and there for has spent it .

[Wilson]

Originally Posted by DJ404564X4

Sounds like your a righteous (sp?) buyer/seller . Hopefully the seller of the tires is the same . Unfortunately the guy probably needed the money , and there for has spent it .

I consider it being "honest." While saying "I didn't know about it" may be an honest answer, it doesn't make it the honest or right thing to do.

[dane]

Wilson,

First off, Kudos to you for being a completely rational human being!! Have you discussed returning the tires to the seller?? Does he understand that you are not acusing him of any ill will?? Are these tires that you would run if there was some reimbursement from the seller?? Maybe the two of you can come up with a resonable refund amount?? If you came to me and presented things the way you have here I would be completely happy to give you your money back or refund some of it to make you happy??

Dane

[Wilson]

My first call to him went well yesterday. He is coming back to town in two weeks or so to pickup some guns he transferred, and I said he could look at the tires then and we could swap back. I offered to keep the one tire that wasn't cut, the spare and a second tire that at first look seemed ok. I figured I would run the two tires, buy a pair of new ones and cycle them out when they wore down. When I looked more closely I found only one tire was not cut. He called back about a 1/2 hr later asking me to "keep an open mind," and that he thought it was an "as-is deal." I told him I was keeping an open mind to the fact that I was certain he didn't know about the damage, but the tires were in fact structurally damaged. I then offered to email pics to the guy who posted the 4sale add (friend of the seller), because he's been here a while and I consider him a stand-up guy. I said the friend could look at the pics and tell the seller what he saw. He said, "cool and I won't call him to let him know about it, so I don't influence him." I then agreed to keep it private. I sent a pm to the add poster last night and said I would send pics in the morning. He replied this morning saying the seller had in fact called him last night to tell him about it, but he felt I was an honest guy, but it was a "gray area". I then took pics, and posted them here for him to see and to get other opinions, since they are friends and he did call him to tell him about it, without letting the pics speak for themselves.

I'm calm and rational about it because that's how I am while we are still sorting it out. I know he wasn't out to screw anybody, but the pics and tires do speak for themselves. There is a way to make it right, but unfortunately it will leave him with less $$ in his pocket for new tires, but that's not my fault or concern. I feel very strongly in my view and position on this and my mood would definitely change if I'm told "tough shit."
The one 50% tire could be used for a spare and I suppose I could offer to buy that tire still but I don't want to run 3-100% tires and 1-50% tire.

My concern with the tires is that they are structurally destroyed. The tire is held together by the bead, once the nylon cord around it is cut, it's just a matter of time until the rest of the tire seperates and fails. The worst tire is already cut to almost 1/8" of the outside of the tire. I street my rig from time to time and will not risk a tire seperating while my wife may be driving down the highway in it. So, not it's not worth a reduction in price to run the tires.

[Wilson]

Just got a call. The one tire is perfectly runable, the other, after another look and talking with him about his wheels should be runable and the spare is a spare. I'll keep those three tires and he's going to give me back $240 (what I paid for the two destroyed tires).

[dane]

Good stuff in this post. I think it goes to show that not everone is out to screw somebody and honest mistakes happen. This can also be testament to how a good attitude that doesnt put the other person on the defensive can help to resolve a situation. Kudos to all involved, glad to hear it worked out!!

Dane

[Wilson]

Yep, everything worked out just fine. We had conflicting schedules and I wound up meeting with his cousin to swap cash for tires and the cousin was suprised by how cut they really were. I bought 2 new Iroks and will cycle out the others next year.