[32Flat6]

I'm in run-flat hell with my wife's car (non-porsche). Had one front tire fail and need replacing. Cost is roughly twice that of a regular tire. Since the vehicle is AWD, need to replace by the axle. I took the car to a national tire store chain in town because they have a good rep, are close and the wife needs the car back asap. First the guy is going to simply try and fix it. I tell him it needs replacing (per the owners manual) and he reluctantly agrees. Then I need to tell him replace both tires on that end due AWD, which he failed to notice when he walked the vehicle looking for other things to sell me (oil change, alignment, tire rotation, etc).

Ok, I give the guy the benefit of the doubt as he's just going through his routine which all service organizations seem to do these days. AWD is easy to miss since it's a minivan and not very common. But then I tell him I want to look at other tires (non- run flats) as i'm considering replacing them altogether and he REFUSES. Says it a safety issue and due their liability he can only sell me run flats (which they don't carry in stock anyway) cause I might sue him if somehting happens with a regular tire on the car. You've got to be kidding me! This same vehicle uses regular tires on non-AWD models and this one only has them because the AWD components cut into the area where a spare would be mounted. I argue, offer to sign a release of liability, etc. They won't do it and my only option is to get differnet car. I ask what he would do if I brought in just the 4 wheels with run flats monted and asked to switch to non-runflats. He said they would probably do it since he wouldn't know what car they will go on. Huh?

I didn't have the time to screw around with it anymore and wife needed car back so reluctantly agreed to stick with the runflats. He writes up the work order, which includes roatating the tires. I say please don't since the fronts wear faster and these new tires will be on the front anyway. He then tells me he HAS to put the new tires on the rear due liability. New tires on front present a possible safety issue as the better grip creates the possibility for an oversteer situation. PLEASE make it stop. The car has traction control, stability control and AWD. Its a minivan for heavens sake and with two kids under 3, its more like "Driving Miss Daisy" than LeMans.

What is this world coming to? No one takes responsibility for themselves so we end up with attorneys telling us what we can/can't do. Sheesh.

End of rant. I feel better now....

Kevin