FRS/86 Tires popped at 3,800KM
 

Hey, tried searching but did not find anything. I have a 2015 86 (the Toyota version of FRS in China) and I have been driving it for around 3800KM when the front right tire popped on the highway. I was doing around ~130KM when it happened, and pulled over right away when I realized. Upon inspection, there are no visible tears and no nail or anything obstructing it. I took it to the local repair shop to see if I can patch it up, but they said it can't be patched. I brought it to my dealership, who took one look at it and said it was caused by me and is not a quality or production issue. I asked them how they could tell, especially since they did not take the tires off the rim, only looked at it from the outside after adding air to it. They said there is an air leak, but from what I can tell the air leak happened from the inside out (the way the tire looks like its punctured).

After this happened I brought it to another tire shop for analysis, and they also took the tire off to inspect the insides. This tire shop told me that there are two parts where it's torn, and both are all along "join points" and there are air bubbles all along the tires. They said this is indicative of the tires having quality issues, and it's dangerous if my other 3 tires have the same issue.

I called my salesperson at Toyota but she didn't really care. Then I called HQ in Beijing and opened a complaint ticket. They called me back and said that they can send the tires to Yokohama for analysis, but that I would have to pay all the fees for 1)shipping 2)analysis costs upfront myself, and then if it is determined that it is a quality issue then they would send me new tires and refund what I paid.

I'm pretty upset because it's a brand new car, but I'm not surprised the customer service in China sucks. They don't know how much this process will cost me yet, but I thought I'd get you guys opinion.

Here are some photos: http://imgur.com/a/FbsH5

Let me know if you guys need more information or photos

Sometimes a bad tire slips through, it's not Toyota's fault if a Yokohama tire fails. It looks like bubbles, which is a common problem you'd see in any brand tire. Could this problem existed right when the tire was mounted and aired up? I think so, but this could of developed over time as well. The one that blown out looks like it could of been seen from the outside.

Could the other tires be compromised as well? It's possible, but unlikely. Have you checked to see if it's a common problem with your specific tire model? It also sounds like the shop is trying to make a buck off you by mounting off the tire and "analyzing" it. If it helps you sleep at night, then get all the tires checked.

Honestly this just all sounds like a good idea to go for a nice rubber upgrade...

Yeah, I understand it's not Toyota's fault from the beginning, but it was the way they handled this whole thing from the beginning, especially considering how new the car was.

These were brand new tires shipped on their cars, and they a 30 second look at the tire before telling me that I must have caused the issue.

Right now I have to decide if I really want to get it analyzed - if I trusted the "integrity" of the subsupplier (supposedly an authorized supplier of yokohama) then I wouldn't mind taking the risk and having them analyze the tires thoroughly and in person. But judging how they denied my first request the first time by simply snapping a few photos and telling me that I must have caused the problem, this might just be another money sucking endeavor.

But just for reference though, if Toyota is using yokohama tires, they have to be partly responsible because yokohama is a subsupplier, especially helping to deal with the issue. If you were building a motor and the screws falls off, the motor company doesn't say "hey its not my fault, you go talk to the screw manufacture."

I've had the same issue, but mine popped within 3 days :mad0260:. I had searched around the forum but did not find anything and just took it to dealership to get a replacement. It was my passenger side rear tire and it was the outer side wall that popped. Dealership said it was most likely something on road that caused it. Just ended up paying for the replacement since the car was only 3 days old.

This is exactly the reason I wanted to post this up. Mine was passenger front. Yours seem to have popped a lot earlier than mine. Did the damage seem similar? My dealer is telling me the exact same thing. How much did the replacement cost?

Unfortunately I can't see the photo here at work. I would guess a new tire will be cheaper than getting the tire sent away and checked. If you are worried about the other four just get some new tyres all round.

I'm saving to upgrade to 18's soon, so new tires will have to wait...

You could buy a pair of cheap sh1t tyres and slide around on them until you can afford the wheels and tyres you want. The stock yokohamas (assuming you are on the 16s) are fairly expensive tyres.

Yes, almost exact size, just on the side wall of the tire, close to the rim which is weird. I was making a hard right turn and as soon as I completed the turn, it popped. I believe it was $250 with installation. I can check for the receipt tomorrow to see if this was the correct amount.

One thing the dealership mentioned is that since my car was less than 1000 miles, I did not have to replace 2 tires. Otherwise I would have to replace 2 tires if done through dealership. Maybe true maybe not, didn't care as it didn't apply to me.


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I was pissed that mine popped before 4k, I don't think I would have been able to swallow a $250 cost at 1k km...