I didn't want my first post to be a rant, but unfortunately I encountered a situation that made my blood boil yesterday. I bought my CX-9 in March 2008 with about 150 miles on it. There are 6,780 miles to date (6 months later) and I have been making all of my required service dates right on time. I bought the car from Biddulph Mazda in Peoria, AZ which is about 35 miles from where I live, simply because they had the color I was looking for at the time I was buying. I was thrilled at the time of purchase to learn that there was a "Tires for Life" program. I later learned that in order to maintain the Tires for Life promise, I had to have all of my service done at THEIR Mazda vs. the one 5 miles from my house.

[sm=dontgetit.gif]Although I was irritated that this was a clause in the tires for life (TFL) contract, what could I do? I just took my car in for my 6,000 mile check up & tire rotation last Saturday. The following Saturday, I noticed that my right rear tire looked a little low, but my TPMS was not lit, so I didn't think much of it.Sunday morning(thank God I didn't go out driving with my kids the day before) my husband came in to tell me that I had a flat. Upon inspection, the whole outer wall of the tire had blown out, obviously from a defect. Everyone is closed on Sundays, so we switched to the spare & waited to call the dealer on Monday.

Yesterday I called my service rep who informed me that they do not handle tire warrenties, only replacements when worn, and that I needed to call the nearest Discount Tire to have them replace my Bridgestone tire. I took the tire to Discount Tire who then informed me that Bridgestone does not warrenty their tires. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????!!![sm=badbadbad.gif] So, here I am, with a 6 month old car that has a defective tire, and NO ONE will replace it? The tire rep then informed me that the STOCK tire is $199 plus addt'l fees. Unbelieveable. I called Mazda to tell them of the situation, and my service rep basically said, "sucks to be you". I asked him what the purpose of TFL was if they didn't warrenty them and only replace them when the tread is worn. He said "That's Mazda's policy."

Well, I guess there's no use in complaining since it won't solve anything, but I just wanted others to be aware thattires (defective or not) are not warrentied...period.

I have made the decision to service my car at the near-by dealer and purchase the tires myself at Discount. At least that way should I ever run into a similar situation or run over a nail or anything Discount will replace it or repair it for free. (Not to mention the savings in gas).

Melanie

I would contact Bridgestone directly. All tires come with a warranty.

Bridgestone should ofat least prorated the tire.
As for the tires for life, it is a gimmick to sell the car, take it off road, tow a trailer or use it as a commercial vehicle and they won't honor it either

What did the "Tires for Life" contract say? If it didn't say anything about defective tires, then you shouldn't expect them to be replaced.

Take a look at pg 33 in this link, maybe it will help.

http://www.bridgestonetire.com/warranty/Warranty_US_EN.pdf

It would be incredibly rare for the entire sidewall to blow out all at once (i've never heard of this occurring)...are you sureyou didn't get a flat and drive it that way without realizing it? (Thus destroying the sidewall.)

Check the wheel for any road rash. If it just went flat sitting there, the rim should be undamaged.

Is TFL a Mazda add-on or a dealer gimmick?
It sounds to me like the wheel replacement contract my dealer tried to sell me when I bought mine, and that was a dealer contract. That would explain why you had to have the car serviced where you bought it and not at another dealer.
As far as a tire that simply blew out, my wife had that happen twice about 6 months apart from each other, both Good Year"s (my favorite.) Admittedly they weren"t the highest quality tires GY makes, and were about 2- 2-1/2years old @ the time.
I check her tires religiously, as I do my own and @ the same time. I have a compressor and professional quality gauge(s) here @ the house. Her tires were not running low either, but the side walls blew-out on both on a normal simple drive home from work.

Bridgestone and most tire manufacturers will cover there tires from defect if you buy them outright. If it is a OEM tire that you bought brand new with the car sometimes they do not have to warranty it. I would look at the paperwork you got with the owners manual. Mazda wont warranty the tires and sometimes the actual manufacturer wont either. The TFL is def a dealer gimmick and not a mazda gimmick. So be upset at the dealer and not mazda, but I do feel your pain! I am sorry!

I bought a set of Toyo tires from my local tire dealer. They came witha 70,000 mile "warrantee". This was on myold Subaru but anyway the tires wore out completely bald after 12,000miles. The tire dealer just laughed at me when i asked about the warrantee. He said they could contact the mfgr but not to hold my breath and that if they decided to honor a warantee they would credit my charge. ya right. never happened.
Tire warantees either from dealer or a manufacturer are a Joke. you can never collect.