I took my truck in to have the tires rotated and balanced before my trip this Friday. I was called back to the shop where they showed me that the inside of both front tires were completely worn through to the inner liners! This is on a truck with 20,000 miles on it.

I checked and there is a TSB for this problem. It's TSB 05919. An error in the suspension causes the inside front tires to wear unevenly. I called the dealership and they are having me bring it in the day before my trip. I have never dealt with TSB's before on any of my vehicles. Since this is a known defect in the 05 F150's, would this be covered by the warranty? The dealer would not commit and said that I could be looking at $135 for each tire, $15 to mount them and then $70 for an alignment.

My thought is simply that a known defect caused my tires to fail therefore the whole thing should be covered by Ford. Am I off base on this? Thanks!

Bob

 

Just because there is a known problem and a TSB is issued, it does not necessarily mean the repair is covered under warranty. If the truck is still under warranty, they will fix the suspension problem free of charge.

As far as tires go, after 12 months they are only covered by a "pro rata" replacement policy. They take the precentage of usable tread remaining and multiple it by the current dealer's selling price. So, you should only have to pay for the tread you used (20,000 miles worth) plus mounting/balancing/tax.

Legally, they don't have to put you into a better position than you are (or would have been) without the TSB. So, probably no free tires, but you should get new tires at a reduced rate. I would politely ask they mount and balance the tires free of charge merely on the basis of customer relations.