How to claim for a manufacturing fault on a tyre.

Have you had a tyre that has failed prematurely? This does not include getting a puncture or hitting a pothole / kerb and damaging the tyre yourself.

Very occasionally a tyre can fail due to a manufacturing fault, it is rare, but it does happen. When a tyre is manufactured it is made up of numerous layers of rubber, material and wire. The rubber itself is not pure rubber, but is a mix of various items mixed with silicon and other chemical components.

During manufacture some layers can get missed, or if the rubber mix contains too much or too little silicon it will cause problems. These can include cracks appearing on the side walls or within the tread, very unusual tread wear or even the tyre delaminating (where the different layers come apart).

Should you notice a serious problem like this happening to your tyres, then contact the company that supplied and fitted your tyres. There is a course of action that they should follow.

Unfortunately for you 'the customer', it means you must buy replacement tyres first.

The tyre fitting company must then remove your 'damaged' tyre, and send it along with a 'Tyre under complaint' form back to the wholesaler who supplied it, they then send it back to the manufacturer to inspect.

The manufacturers have teams of specialists who will check the tyre for damage and they will also check the chemical makeup of the tyre. If they do agree that there was a fault that could be put down to manufacturing, then they will refund some or all of the cost dependant on how old the tyre is and the mileage it has covered.

The whole process is not fast, it can take between 6 to 12 weeks before you get an answer.

We at Hometyre will always help our customers with the process, and will refund any money given back by the manufacturers.

In the last 9 years, I have sent back 8 tyres under complaint.

One turned out to be a puncture, the customer did not see it was flat and they then drove on it until the tyre fell apart (a screw was still stuck in the tread), No payout.

One had very unusual wear on the inside edge of a tyre, that had covered 6000 miles. 60% payout.

Four had cracks appear all around the tread after only 2500 miles of driving. 85% payout.

One had a big chunk of tread 200mm X 30mm that delaminated from the main structure after only two weeks and around 300 miles, 100% payout.

One is at the manufacturers now being checked, it has two sidewall cracks after only 20 miles. Still pending…..