BRIDGESTONE TURANZA TIRES Complaints

TL*THE CONTACT OWNS A 2005 LEXUS ES. THE FRONT TIRES WERE BALD ON THE OUTER AREA OF THE TIRES. THE REAR TIRES WERE DRY AND CRACKING. THERE WAS NO FRONT END VIBRATION OR LOOSE STEERING EXPERIENCED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT LOOKED AT BY A DEALER AND THE TIRES WERE NOT CHANGED. THE TIRES WERE BRIDGESTONE TURANZA EL42 SIZE P235/45R17. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS UNKNOWN. THE CURRENT MILEAGE WAS 16,642.

DAUGHTER DRIVING HOME ON I-81 IN VA AND REAR DRIVER TIRE BLEW OUT. THE TOYOTA CAMRY (2007) IS ONLY 3 MONTHS OLD AND HAS 6,00 MILES. SHE SAYS SHE CHECKED BEFORE LEAVING AND WAS GOING 70-75MPH. IT WAS 4 AM ABOUT 75 F. I BELIEVE IT IS A FAULTY TIRE: BRIDGESTONE TURANZA EL 400 02 P215 60R16 94 V M+S. SHE ENDED UP IN A DITCH, IT WAS THAT OR HITTING A TRUCK. AMBULANCES, FIRE AND POLICE RESPONDED BUT THANKFULLY SHE WAS NOT HURT. THE CAR SUFFERED FRONT PLASTIC BUMPER DAMAGE. *TR

I AM CURRENTLY HAVING ISSUES WITH THE REAR TIRES ON MY 2006 HONDA CIVIC EX. ONCE MY VEHICLE REACHED ROUGHLY 17,000 MILES, I STARTED TO HEAR EXCESSIVE ROAD NOISE COMING FROM THE REAR TIRES. NOT THINKING MUCH ABOUT IT, AT ROUGHLY 20,000 MILES, THE SOUND WAS GETTING WORSE. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT AT THE LOCAL HONDA DEALERSHIP AND THEY TOLD ME THAT MY REAR TIRES HAD A FLAT SPOT ON EACH TIRE. THEY SAID THAT IT LOOKED LIKE SOMEONE HAD PULLED THE EMERGENCY BRAKE AT HIGH SPEED. I DROVE IT FOR 500 MILES MORE AND COULD NOT TAKE THE LOUD HUMMING COMING FROM THE REAR OF MY VEHICLE. AT THIS POINT I DECIDED TO REPLACE THE TIRES. THE MECHANIC SAID THAT IT LOOKS LIKE THERE IS AN ISSUE WITH THE SUSPENSION. THERE WERE MANY (8) FLAT SPOTS ON ONLY THE REAR TIRES. *JB

I OWN A 2007 BMW 335I COUPE. AT 9,000 MILES I STARTED NOTICING A STRANGE SOUND COMING FORM THE TIRE AREA. IT GRADUALLY GOT WORSE. AT 10,000 MILES I NOTICED PHYSICAL SIGNS OF "SCALLOPING" AND ACTUAL UNEVEN (QUITE DRAMATICALLY UNEVEN) WEAR. IT LOOKED AS THOUGH THE LEADING EDGES OF SOME, JUST SOME, TREADS WERE ACTUALLY AS MUCH OF A QUARTER IN LOWER THAN THE BACK SIDE OF THE SAME TREAD AND OF COURSE THE BACK SIDE OF THE TREAD IT WAS ADJACENT TO. IT ALMOST LOOKS LIKE RUBBER HAS LITERALLY BEEN THROWN OFF THE TIRE. THAT'S HOW BIG THE DIFFERENCE IN HEIGHTS IS OF THE RANDOM TREADS. THIS WAS TRUE ON BOTH THE INNER AND OUTER EDGES OF THE TIRES AND EVEN THE MIDDLE. THIS WOULD EXPLAIN THE THRUMMING NOISE. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT TO GET IT INTO THE DEALER AND WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING AT THE TIRES THE SERVICE MANAGER SAID, "BRIDGESTONE WILL REPLACE THE TIRES UP TO 20,000 MILES AND PAY HALF THE COST". I SAID THAT THESE TIRES WEREN'T WORN OUT, THEY WERE WEARING EXTREMELY UNEVENLY. CUPPING AND SCALLOPING LIKE I HAVE NEVER SEEN. HE SAID IT WAS THE DESIGN OF THE CARS, THAT BMW MAKES THEM VERY AGGRESSIVELY TO HANDLE THE WAY THEY DO AND ANY TIRE WOULD DO THAT. I ASKED IF I COULD GET THEM REPLACED WITH CONTINENTALS SINCE I HAVE HEARD THEY HAD LESS PROBLEMS WITH THOSE. HE SAID NO, ONLY WHAT WAS ON THERE AS BMW WASN'T WARRANTING THE TIRES, BRIDGESTONE WAS. THEY DIDN'T OFFER TO ROTATE THEM, LOOK AT THE ALIGNMENT, NOTHING, JUST REPLACE AT HALF COST. SO 9 MONTHS AND NOW 11,000 MILES INTO A $50K CAR I AM FORCED TO PAY ABOUT $5-600 DOLLARS JUST SO I CAN TALK TO MY PASSENGERS AND BE HEARD OVER THE TIRE NOISE. I REALLY FEEL THAT THIS IS A HUGE SAFETY ISSUE AS ONLY PART OF THE TIRE IS IN CONTACT WITH ROAD AT ANY TIME. *TR

THESE TIRES (BRIDGESTONE TURANZA EL42 ? 215/65R16) WERE OEM ON MY 2007 DODGE CARAVAN WITH A FIRESTONE/BRIDGESTONE WARRANTY. AT 10,000 MILES I NOTICED A PULL TO THE RIGHT. I PURCHASED A LIFETIME ALIGNMENT AND ROTATED THE TIRES AT B/F. AFTER ANOTHER 1300 MILES, THE PULL WAS A HARDER RIGHT. F/B CHECKED THE ALIGNMENT, STATING IT WAS GOOD AND TOLD ME THIS WAS A "BELT" ISSUE....PUT THE "BAD" TIRES TO THE REAR AND ORDERED TWO OEM TIRES. I AM AWAITING 2 NEW TIRES OF THE SAME OEM (ONE TO BE WARRANTED THE OTHER SELF PAY). THE F/B STORE, WHERE I PURCHASED THE LIFETIME ALIGNMENT, TELLS ME YOU CAN CHECK A BELT PROBLEM BY CROSS ROTATING THE TIRES. UNTIL THAT TEST IS COMPLETED, THEY CANNOT CONSIDER REPLACING A DAMAGED TIRE UNDER THE WARRANTY. BOTH TIRES ARE UNDER THE 12 MONTH-2/32 DEPTH WARRANTY PROVIDED WITH MY NEW CAR. I THINK F/B SHOULD COVER THE WARRANTY ON BOTH DAMAGED TIRES WITHOUT ANY NEED TO TEST FOR A BELT ISSUE. EITHER THE ?BAD? BELT DAMAGED 2 TIRES OR AN IMPROPER ALIGNMENT DAMAGED 2 TIRES. AFTER READING NUMEROUS REVIEWS ABT THIS PARTICULAR TIRE ON WWW.NHTSA AND WWW.TIRERACK.COM, I DO NOT WANT TO PAY A DIME FOR A TURANZA EL42 REPLACEMENT TIRE. REVIEWS OF THESE TIRES ON BMW'S, ACURA'S, AND DODGE/CHRYSLER PRODUCTS SHOW NUMEROUS PROBLEMS FROM BLOW-OUTS, POOR TREAD WEAR, FLAT SPOTS, CUPPING, AND BELT ISSUES. ADDENDUM: WHILE THE ORIGINAL F/B STORE (WHO INITIALLY ALIGNED AND ROTATED MY TIRES) WILL NOT CONSIDER HONORING THE TIRE WARRANTY, I DID FIND ANOTHER F/B STORE IN MY AREA (20 MILES AWAY INSTEAD OF JUST 4 MILES AWAY) WHO WILL REPLACE THE 2 WORN TIRES WITHOUT QUESTION AND UNDER THE WARRANTY. I WILL SPEAK WITH THE DISTRICT MANAGER OF F/B ABOUT BOTH LOCAL STORES AND THE GOOD AND BAD BEHAVIORS OF EACH STORE MANAGER. *TR

I RECENTLY PURCHASED A DEALER-CERTIFIED USED 2005 ACURA TL WITH NEW, DEALER-INSTALLED BRIDGESTONE TURANZA EL42 TIRES. IN MY FIRST EXPERIENCE DRIVING THE VEHICLE IN RAIN, I NEARLY LOST CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE AT 60 MPH WHEN I HIT A SHALLOW STANDING WATER (~1" DEEP) IN THE ROADWAY. BEING A FRONT-DRIVE VEHICLE, I WAS VERY SURPRISED TO FEEL THE FRONT TIRES DISTINCTLY HYDROPLANE AND CAUSE ME TO ALMOST LOSE CONTROL OF MY VEHICLE. THESE TIRES ONLY HAVE 2,000 MILES ON THEM AND I FIND THEIR LACK OF HYDROPLANING RESISTANCE TO BE WELL BELOW NORMAL EXPECTATIONS AND THEREFORE DISTINCTLY DANGEROUS. *TR

2007 CAMRY - ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT TIRES WERE BRIDGESTONE TURANZA 215-60-R16. TIRES HAD TO BE REPLACED AT 21,000 MILES. TOYOTA INDICATED THAT NO WARRANTY WAS AVAILABLE ON THESE TIRES. *AK

LOW TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS MUST BE REPROGRAMMED BY THE DEALER IF WHEELS ARE ROTATED, IF A FULL SIZE SPARE TIRE REPLACES A WHEEL THE REPROGRAMMING IS AT CONSUMER'S COST. THIS FORCES CONSUMERS TO HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE DEALERSHIP FOR SOMETHING WHICH USED TO BE DONE AT HOME. I BLAME NHTSA FOR PUSHING TIRE PRESSURE MONITORING SYSTEMS, WITHOUT ENFORCING MANUFACTURERS MAKING IT POSSIBLE FOR CONSUMERS TO SET THEIR OWN TIRE PRESSURES , AND THIS ADDED UNNECESSARY COST TO REGULAR MAINTENANCE WHICH USED TO BE FREE.*AK

I HAVE 2006 BMW 325XI WITH ONLY 15,000 MILES. THE CAR HAS BAD BATCH OF TIRES PUT ON AND IT MAKES LOUD ROAD NOISE. AND DEALER ASKS ME TO PAY 50% OF ITS COST TO REPLACE. I THINK BMW SHOULD PAY FOR WHOLE THING. *TR

I PURCHASED A BMW 330I IN MAY 2006. SHORTLY AFTER PURCHASE THE TIRES WERE MAKING NOISE. INITIALLY, THE NOISE WASN'T TERRIBLY OBJECTIONABLE, BUT IT CONTINUED TO WORSEN. I TOOK THE CAR TO HENDRICKS BMW IN CHARLOTTE, NC ,AND WAS TOLD THAT THE TIRES WERE CUPPING OR FEATHERING. THEY OFFERED A 50% DISCOUNT ON THE PURCHASE OF 4 NEW TIRES AT 11,500 MILES. I CALLED BMW CONSUMER AFFAIRS, AND WAS TOLD TO CONTACT BRIDGESTONE FOR A RESOLUTION OF THIS PROBLEM. LATER, ON THE WEB I FOUND BMW TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN SIB 36 06 06 WHICH ADDRESSED THIS SPECIFIC PROBLEM. HOWEVER, THE INFORMATION IN THIS BULLETIN WAS NOT MADE AVAILABLE TO CONSUMERS THAT PURCHASED A VEHICLE WITH BRIDGESTONE TURANZA EL 42 RFT TIRES. BMW WAS STILL RESEARCHING THE PROBLEM. HOWEVER, I AM NOT OPTIMISTIC THEY WILL ADDRESS IT.*AK