The last few weeks have been hell.
I purchased a set of four Good Year Eagle GT II 255/60/15s late in 2008 because I liked the look of the tire and it was as close to original equipment as I could get.
They never felt quite right there was vibration but not excessive. The tire shop that installed them (a Good Year dealer) must not have sealed the rims/bead very well as from day one there were constant issues with tires going low or flat.
This year, I finally got tired of the problem and decided that I would take all four tires into another shop to have them re-sealed (I did not really trust the dealer I purchased the tires from). When I dropped off the tires and rims I told the young lad to make sure he checks the rims really well for damage prior to taking them in as I want it on the receipt that they are in good condition.
After a quick look and a megre wipe of his hand across the rims he said yup they are in good condition. I know they were because I restored them and have hand polished each rim myself many times.
I picked up the rims and what do you know, they were quite badly scratched and chipped. The shop made good for it and replaced one and refurbished the other three. They also damaged one of the tires when refurbishing the rims so that had to be replaced. After rebalancing the tires I found an excessive amount of weight on the rims.
I took the car to a Firestone dealer here in my town - in Kingston Ontario Canada for an unbiased opinion and was told the tires were so bad they could not be balanced. I found this hard to believe so I went to the US to Cheeney Tire in Watertown NY and after two technicians and several attempts they told me the same thing.
The Firestone dealer used a Road Force balancing machine which told me the tires were bad and one of the rims was marginal (thus the replacement) and Cheeney Tire used another type - Hunter I think, and determined the rims were ok.
First let me say that Both the Firestone dealer here and Cheeney Tire were fantastic, I can't say enough good about them. I was so appreciative of the service at Cheeney, I tipped the tire technician.
During this time I had been in touch with Good Year and they will take the tires back and give me my full amount of money back, although I have to send the tires to Good Year first.
Now I am on a quest to find good replacement tires. Being in Canada and taking warranty into consideration I will be buying here even though as I say I really like Cheeney tire.
This tire size is hard to get both Good Year and BF Goodrich are on back order both in Canada and the US and I don't want to be without my ride bumpy or not.
Can anyone really recommend the Firestone Indy 500 Firehawk, are they a good tire and do they look good on the C3? I prefer the RWL look. Would you consider this as a choice for your car?
Thanks and I look forward to your opinions.
Martin
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