So my front left wheel started making a noise after the 5k mile rotation. It also had an awful vibration around 85-90mph. I take it to my audi dealer today...they are awesome by the way... go for a ride with a tech, and he also hears the sound. We go back to the garage, he jacked up the car with me there, and spins the wheel. You would think it's a rim or brake issue maybe, but it turns out my tire is warped. HAHAH!!! It's not round! When he gave the wheel a spin you could plainly see a hump in the tire itself.

They were realyl cool to me over there, but here is the part that sucks. Apparently audi does not handle tire warranties!!! So they wouldn't just replace it for me. I had to take it to a local tire shop that was an official distributer for ****inental, and get it replaced there.

Good news is that since there isn't that much wear on the tire they are replacing it for free.

My question is: Is it normal practice that dealerships don't take care of damaged or defective tires?

Also I would love to hear some tire recommendations. I think as soon as I hit 10k miles or so I am going to replace all the tires with something of better quality. (i.e. less noise on the freeway, good wet performance, good treadwear)

Looking for some recommendations.

just buy one tire and bring the spare up.

He said they replaced it for free. He was asking whether it was common for dealers to push this liability off on the tire manufacturers.

The answer to that is a resounding YES. Sometimes they will help with the communication, but the dealers/automakers do not warrant the tires. That's why we get those little tire warranties with our owners manual.

So yes, what he just went through it totally normal.

PLUS big improvement in ride and tire wear!

It is standard that only the tire companies warranty there own products..not the dealer. When I told Continental about my 7000 mile bubble..they said road hazard and would not cover it. I even wrote customer service..no luck.
When I had Yokohama's, and complained about their tires being noisy and wearing out, they credited me my total purchase price for all 4!! That was customer service!
So, when contis go, I am switching to Falken. Had them on my TT and liked them.

I agree, couldn't have been a better choice for me since I don't have the time, inclination, or real need to swap summers and snows in DC. I figured I'd make a decision about putting my OEM Dunlops back on in the Spring but I am going to leave them on all the time. Am selling my OEM's with 500 miles on them to a local AW guy.