Just wondering if anyone had a similar experience as I did. I got a nail in my Dunlop tire a while ago, and got it changed at my dealership. Anyway, I found out afterwards that I may have warranty on my tire. I got into contact with Dunlop and was told that if I had the tire, they would have reimbursed me (I just bought my car in July 98). Anyway, I informed Audi about it, and they kept telling me that my tire does not have a warranty on it, and that they have spoken to Dunlop themselves etc. Can anyone please enlighten me on this? I feel like I am getting different information from the two sources and it is very very frustrating!

Try to get Dunlop to fax or write you info on how to have the warranty satisfied and the details of the warranty. Then take that to your dealer and demand a refund. If you paid by credit card, you can dispute the charge (ALWAYS pay by credit card).<p>I doubt that Dunlop would lie or make an error in stating something that would COST them money. BUT, were you clear that these are OEM tires? Most cars I have owned in the past have had a separate tire warranty through the TIRE MANUFACTURER, not the car maker. BUT, if you specifically asked the dealer if the tires are warrantied and they said absolutely not, without directing you to the Tire Manufacturer's warranty, then I would say you have a strong position to get your money back.<p>"Look Dealer X, it's not MY problem that your employee was completely wrong. That is YOUR problem, now I would like an immediate refund please, thank you."<p>Kirk

Audi specifically excludes the tires on the car <br>from the new car warranty. Goodyear and Dunlop<br>(Audi's A4 tire O.E.M.'s) warant the tires against<br>DEFECTS IN MATERIALS OR WORKMANSHIP. If you ever <br>have a problem with a tire, it's best to have a<br>Goodyear/Dunlop dealer examine it, but other than<br>"Road Hazard Protection," which alot of tire dealers will hard-sell to you when you buy replacement tires, there is no warranty against<br>nails,screws,glass,potholes,curbs,or any other<br>driver-induced trauma.

Town Fair Tire (in CT, likely elsewhere?) has a program where for a few extra bucks you insure your new tires for nails, etc., and the credit toward the new tire is depreciated depending on the miles driven on the wounded tire. This sort of thing makes sense; you insure against a risk and a compensated once it materializes. The other thing, getting a new tire when you puncture it, strikes me as fanciful. Anyway, the money a new dunlop costs isn't worth fretting about for too long. Just because people tell us things that we know don't seem right doesn't mean we must then demand that the world be as they foolishly claimed it was.

Thanks for the response. I have actually asked Dunlop to mail me a copy of the warranty which I just received. I have to say that the legal mumble jumble got me really confused, although I got the impression ( and so did a friend of mine ) that the new tire would have been covered if I had been able to produce the damaged tire. What do you mean by "OEM tires"? I know that Audi does not have a tire warranty and it is a Dunlop warranty. However when I bought my car, Audi didn't give me a separate pamphlet from Dunlop or even mention to me that I have a tire warranty. When I took my car in, the service department didn't mention anything about warranty to me either. It was only when I read through the manual that I realized that I may have been misinformed.

Thanks for the input. I haven't heard of an insurance program like that here in Toronto, but it sounds like a good idea. anyway, the reason I didn't get the tire repaired was that the service personnel told me that the nail was too close to the rim to be repaired, and I thought that the price of the tire was pretty steep!

I was told that there are two separate types of warranty, a road hazard warranty and a manufacturer's warranty.

Monica: your salesperson should have given you<br>a small leaflet that explains the tire manufacturer's warranty - the only part of your A4 that isn't covered by Audi. The good news is that you don't need any leaflet or receipt to<br>go to a Dunlop dealer and have a defective tire examined and replaced. The bad news is that there<br>is no road hazard warranty included with any tire<br>these days, so a tire damaged by driver-induced <br>trauma isn't anybody else's responsibility.<br>Unfortunately, it sounds as if you were inconvenienced by some mis-information from your<br>dealer.

Hmmm, according to the Dunlop people I spoke to, they are one of the few who provide road hazard warranty. I will have to look into that, but to answer your earlier question, my tire is the original that came with the car.

Are you saying that Road Hazard Warranty covers a tire damaged by a nail? Sorry, I was a little confused when I read your reply. Anyway, I was told that Dunlop does provide Road Hazard warranty on the tire. I will have to look into that further.

...and as suggested below, people tend to purchase these (or at least become aware of them for the first time) AFTER they've replaced a tire and don't want to have to lay out money for a new tire again. <br>BTDT many times.