Sounds pretty tricky if you ask me. I don’t think the average person would know to do this.
Today’s post is our archives at SafeSourcing, Inc.
Recently I was in the market to replace my two front tires. I had been to the tire store a year prior and was advised to replace two tires and rotate the other two tires. I was told that the new tires that were to be replaced were the going to be the same tires that were on my car. The work was done and I never gave any thought to the tires that had been replaced. Well, it turns out, my car had run-flat tires and the two tires that were replaced were not! All four tires are both made by the same manufacturer.
When the gentlemen came out to look at my tires, he asked to see my spare. I opened the trunk and realized I had no spare because they were run-flats and a spare is not needed. He told me he noticed right away I had run-flats on the front and regular tires on the back. Thankfully, I never had an incident with a flat or a blow out before discovering that the tire store put the wrong tires on my car. How can the front desk person and the actual installer not notice that the wrong tires were sold to me and installed? I elevated my concern to the store manager and was given a significant credit for the two tires that were put on in error. I told him my concern was that two of his employees signed off on these tires – the wrong tires!
What is a run-flat tire? A run-flat tire is a pneumatic vehicle tire that is designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured, and to enable the vehicle to continue to be driven at reduced speeds – under 56 mph – and for limited distances – generally between 10 mi to 50 mi, depending on the type of tire. Wikipedia
How would the average person be able to identify a run-flat tire? Identify run-flat tires by carefully inspecting the tires for specific markings. Turn on the flashlight. Scan the sidewall of the tire. Look for markings such as “ZP,” “RFT,” “SEAL” or an image of a flat tire with an arrow pointing away from it. Use the magnifying glass to pick out these indices, if necessary. Sounds pretty tricky if you ask me. I don’t think the average person would know to do this.
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