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Thread: Falken warranty concerns?

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    Falken warranty concerns?

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    Last edited by Mirageman38; 06-22-2020 at 09:47 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirageman38 View Post
    I liked the idea of the 80,000 mile warranty buy I was reading through Falkens massive warranty page and some red flags are going off and I am not sure if I should be concerned. https://www.falkentire.com/tires/care-safety-warranty

    First it says you can't return the tires if 4 are bad to begin with. (I guess they assume they are too good for that?)

    Then it has a laundry list of things you must do and have proof (granted some of this you should do anyways). "Correct installation" and balancing. Rotate tires every 5,000 miles, check air every month. If you do some of this yourself I am not sure how you get the required proof. Not that they would know but even if you don't check air for a month the warranty is technically void.

    Must be returned through dealer and this may be a problem if you bought them online? Not sure if you can just take it anywhere or how this works with the warranty card.

    The warranty also expires in 6 years from when the tire was made. If it was sitting and you get it a year or two later this is only 4-5 years warranty so you must drive at least 14,000+ miles a year to even make full use of this. Also don't buy these tires and wait to install them because your warranty is ticking. Furthermore at their discretion it must not be in commercial use. So that means Uber/Lyft/etc may void it?

    Furthermore the road hazard warranty only covers the tire for the first 2/32nd and if anything happens to your tire after this your 80,000 mile warranty dies. If your car ever gets out of alignment the warranty is void.

    For tread left you can only submit for warranty if it is down to 2/32nd tread left but also if you go under 2/32 the warranty is void. Or if the tires wear more than 2/32nd different the warranty is void. Also you may not use tire chains or even the vague "irregular wear due to abusive service at our discretion".

    I am sure there are probably more loopholes I didn't see. Even after this you just get the prorated part back and it probably takes weeks. The point I am getting at is this warranty doesn't seem very friendly. Does anyone have experience with actually redeeming it and if they loosely interpret it? To me this is the big difference between the Federals and Falkens.
    I think you will find loopholes in any tire warranty.

    I would assume Falken tires are superior to Federal. Federal makes/sells 165/65-14 tires, but Falken would require jumping to 175/65-14 tires. This is not a big deal in my opinion.

    As far as Mirage owner's go, Steve has done the best endorsement for Falken tires. I copied this from his post - 175/65-14 82T Falken Sincera SN250 AS All-Season (80k mile warranty - Replaced at 78k miles)

    78,000 miles is pretty awesome. They were cheaper when he bought them, but they are pretty reasonable right now, too. $55.40 @ Walmart tonight. The Falken tires may last twice as long as the Federal tires. In that case, you are saving on mounting, balancing, and installation costs. Walmart may rotate tires for free? I think Steve has taken advantage of that? Don't mean to speak for him, but he has said good things about these tires.

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Falken-Si...-Tire/51494282

    I have never heard of a tire friendly warranty. I would buy with the mindset that some tires are better than others. Some people neglect service to their cars, too. I don't blame tire companies for stating some conditions.

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    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Tire warranties are just like auto manufacturer warranties. If they are willing to warranty their product for that long, then you probably won't need the warranty anyway.

    As with the Mirage! I wouldn't worry about it too much. Falken makes pretty good tires.

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    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    I think there's a belief among some Mirage owners that these cars are hard on tires. When you read posts that say "my tires were toast after 20K miles" or see images like the one below, it does make you wonder...

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    If your Mirage is properly aligned AND you rotate the tires on a regular schedule, you'll never have to worry about making a claim on a treadlife warranty. The tires will last. Mirages are NOT inherently hard on tires. Cars with bad alignments and poor tire rotation maintenance (which includes a lot of Mirages) are hard on tires.

    My Bridgestone tires have a 70,000 mile treadlife warranty. They are approaching 85,000 miles (yes..they need replacing soon )...but they have worn evenly and beyond the expected treadlife because my alignment is correct and I rotate them regularly.

    I read the Falken warranty and I don't see anything terribly unusual in there. 6 years has become the "unofficial" industry standard for the life of an automotive tire. Many shops won't repair any tire if it's more than 6 years old...no matter how good it looks.

    Any tire warranty will have limited/no use if you bought the tires online. You are largely on your own. Even if you have a legit claim, it's going to be a massive pain in the butt to get it honored. This is one of the downsides of buying tires online.

    If you want a tire warranty you can actually use...then find a local retailer who carries that tire and buy them there. The dealer may include some worthwhile free services like rotation and flat repairs for as long as you own the tire. If you have a warranty claim, the tire dealer will handle the warranty process...not you.

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  6. #5
    I've never paid attention to any tire warranty. But I've never had a tire fail caused by a mfg defect either. I have seen a few stock dunlops develop bulges in the sidewalls. Maybe 3 tops.

    I usually buy tires online and have no expectations of ever using any type of warranty.

    I assume some used car dealers put new tires because the stock ones look worn out even when they have 60-70% tread left. Might be hard convincing someone who knows nothing about cars that the tires are fine.
    Either that or 1 or 2 tires were worn because race car and it's cheaper to replace all 4 with cheapomoto's than replace one or two oem dunlops?
    Mirage videos:

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    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    Before CarMax sells a car, they replace any tires that are below a certain tread depth (maybe 4/32nds?). At one time you could pull up every Mirage in Carmax's nationwide inventory, and always know that way too many low-mileage Mirages had 2 or 4 new tires.

    Looking at the green text box under each picture, does anyone see a pattern here?

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


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    I was a courier and drove around 80k a year. I have had two sets of Falken SN250 tires. I’m personally not a fan. I had Premature wear, balancing issues, and pulling issues with both sets. I rotated every 6-8k. I had 3 of 8 tires replaced under warranty. I feel like the local tire shop was the determining factor for warranty claims and they always treated me right. Tire shops want your business... unless you’re being a jerk, they will work with you. There’s better tires out there, but I wouldn’t sweat the warranty. Just buy the tires from a reputable tire shop.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirageman38 View Post
    I just don't understand where these people are.
    Few make it to this forum.
    Not many complaints seem to surface.
    Bad rear axles, poor factory front end alignments, premature tire wear and off-center steering wheels were all very busy topics here a couple of years ago. Hopefully people are reading this forum (or typing "Mirage alignment" into Google) and taking action before they ruin their tires. I hope that's why we haven't seen as many complaints recently.

    My own car (2015) has a rear axle that's barely within spec. My front end was out of alignment from day 1. I didn't wait for tire wear to show up. I took it in for an alignment check before it hit 1000 miles. I had my front end corrected for free under warranty. I advise all Mirage owners to do the same.

    Based on alignment numbers owners have posted here, it is rare that a new Mirage is properly aligned at all 4 wheels. This was true for 2014-2015 models. Maybe that has gotten better? But if I bought a new Mirage tomorrow, the first thing I would do is drive it down the street to a third-party shop and have a 4-wheel alignment check performed.

    ...doesn't the warranty cover factory alignment problems?
    The rear axle is covered under the 5/60,000 warranty. The front end alignment is only covered for 1 year/12,000 miles (whichever comes first).

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


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    So I emailed Falken and they told me I could write up my own work order documenting the miles and that would be good enough LOL.
    They also said don't buy from Walmart if you want an easy warranty steer clear.

    I think I am going to need to do another alignment check anyways as I have hit a few more massive NJ potholes and a NY moon crater in the last few months (didn't hurt my wheels) and now my steering wheel is so ever slightly tilted right. I will make sure to actually save the results this time and see how the rears are doing. (I was told they were fine last time).

    The NY one really pissed me off because it was on the expressway in the fast lane during rush hour in the dark with no way to avoid it safely. You could definitely hear some metal noise.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2019 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 38.8 mpg (US) ... 16.5 km/L ... 6.1 L/100 km ... 46.5 mpg (Imp)


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