Apr 04, 2015 01:53 PM
87483 Views
Having suffered from upgrading my Santro tube type 8 year old tires working in excellent condition to tubeless type and now suffering like hell, thought of sharing my leanings and caution buyers on what they need to be careful about while going for tubeless from tube type.
I happened to land up on this Bridgestone dealer Sri Venkateshwara Tyre Tech BTM layout Bangalore who is very good in marketing but will cheat you and make you suffer for your life just for saving Rs 50 to 100 in a Rs 18K+ deal by using counterfeit components and abysmal quality of equipments and service personnel.
Thinking that my Bridgestone lasted more than 8 years and was still performing I agreed for the dealers recommendation of moving from Bridgestone S322 - 155/70 R13 tube type to Bridgestone S322 - 155/70 R13 tubeless
I asked him what is the valve brand he is going to put and he promptly said it is a very reputed brand named Triton valves and he never compromises on that.
Taking his assurance waited for the replacements to complete and left the place with new tires with a sense of accomplishment that I have a better tire on my car now.
The very next day I noticed the air pressure levels in my tires being uneven including the stepney and one of the rear one was almost flat.
Went back to the dealer, he checked everything and replaced valve pins for 3 tires out of 5, when asked he said this never happens and only an exception.
After this I started observing that there is still a loss of at least 5 psi in a week's time, highest being 10 psi(from 32 to 12) in one of the tire. My old tube type tyres used to require a topup once in a month or 2 that too hardly I used see a loss beyond 4 psi and when over 2 months or more. I have a digital pressure gauge and a 12v inflator.
In the next week I saw one more tyre having a pressure lower than 12psi, when I took back the car to him he started saying stories and kept convincing me that it is absolutely normal for tires to loose 5 to 10 psi in a week's time and we need to check tire pressure every week or more often and keep topping it up. This time he just inflated all the tires to 32psi and said that's all he can do and I can escalate to Bridestone or whoever I want he doesn't care.
I went to another tire shop and got that specific tire checked which had lost 10psi, they found a puncture due to a nail and fixed it, this should have happened due to the low tire pressure easily picking up the nail on road.
I asked this tire shop what could be wrong in my tyres why they are loosing air unevenly, he then did draw my attention to the valves, he said many of the dealers use cheap Delhi made counterfeit valves which leaks the very air slowly due to many reasons such as poor stub quality, pin quality and other materials / workmanship.
He confirmed after checking my valves that they are not of Triton make as claimed by the original dealer but some cheap unbranded ones.
With this knowledge I called Sri Venkateshwara Tyre Tech that I am going to file a consumer case to Triton valves and need his letter that what he used for my tires are of Triton make only, now comes the truth, he refused saying he can only mention as 50 Rs valve and not Triton if a letter is needed.
Now I was in a fix, if I try to get only the valve replaced it could be messy since how well these 3rd party tire shops are equipped to clean the rim off any old adhesives and ensure the new valves have a good sealing to the rim god only knows, also I will have to get the wheel alignment and balancing again.
To reduce the level of problems I was facing had to do several times a air valve leak test myself and found the ones which which were leaking slowly, nothing came to better help than a coat of salaiva since it won't evaporate quickly like a soap solution which will burst but will let you see the bubble forming on top of the valve even when it is taking more than a minute.
Reluctantly went to the same dealer and insisted that the pins of those valves be replaced, he was not agreeing for the same until I told him that I will need to register a case against him for not adhering to his commitment of using Triton valves.
After this the situation is somewhat better but still nowhere near to the hassle free experience of my old tube type tires.
Meanwhile I contacted Bridgestone tyres to have my Tyre serial/batch numbers validated to check whether the tires were genuine or not, luckily the suspicion came as negative and were willing to help me out of the situation though not ready to take any action on the dealer who is spoiling their brand's reputation by using counterfeit cheap alternatives to along with their new tires and earning them a great disrespect from customers for having had to go through such hellish experience for trusting their brand.
So be careful and don't think that third class dealers like Sri Venkateshwara Tyre Tech are only in Bangalore but will be very near to gullible consumers like us and will always have a bright chance to land on them in our cities. Greediness for 50 Rs per valve is sufficient for them to make you go through hell.
So here is the quick summary.
1 Ask for tax invoice with mention of the Tire serial numbers / batch numbers.
2 Make sure the invoice contains every small item such as Valve included with make and model mentioned which they are going to use for the upgrade / replacement.
3 Get the computer generated report for wheel alignment and balancing, I realized later that it was not provided one along with the invoice. I have a strong doubt that it is not done properly.
4 Do not believe that they are professionals(you hardly find good professionals nowadays in such low paid jobs) use your commonsense and strongly refuse doing anything while fixing the tire which you feel will hurt either the car or tyres until you are fully explained to your satisfaction not heeding to their assurance that they will take liability for the end result or damage unless given in writing on their letter head.
Hope this review helps you avoid going through the worst experience what I had. Would love to hear your comments.
Happy buying!
