About 6 weeks ago I bought a new set of wire wheels for my old Sunbeam Alpine. These need to have inner tubes fitted, which I also bought from the same company. A local branch of a well known national tyre fitters said they could do the work, so they fitted tyres and my tubes to the new wheels.
I was in France about a month later and had a puncture on the motorway, which seems to be due to a failure of the tube rather than the tyre. When I took it back to the fitters, the manager refused to look at the wheel as apparently they "never touched wire wheels", because of the difficulties associated with fitting tubes. By the time I returned with my receipt to prove it was his staff who had done the work, he had obviously asked around and found that his lot were responsible and so offered to fit a new tube (which I would have to provide) free of charge.
My concern is that if one tube can go pop due to poor fitting, what's to stop one of my other wheels doing the same, with potentially disastrous consequences? I'd rather take all four wheels to another firm with more experience in tube fitting, but this will obviously cost money. Do I have a case against the company who originally did the fitting? Is the branch manager just trying to cover his own back?
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I would bump it up to the customer service department of the well known national tyre fitters, as I doubt that you will get satisfaction from the branch given your experience with the manager.
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Maybe there's something wrong with one of the wire wheels too that's puncturing the tube?
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I assume you had radial ( tubeless ) tyres fitted.
If so IIRC these tyres are not suitable for tubes unless the insides are buffed smooth prior to fitting a tube.
Failure to do so causes the tube to wear where it rubs on inside of the tyre.
Were the proper processes carried out when the tyres were originally fitted?
I assume some sort of lining on the wheel also protects the tube from the spoke fixing.
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The tyres are radial, but I consulted the wheel manufacturers regarding suitable tyres and they said these would be fine with the tubes.
There is a lining on the inside of the wheel to protect the tube.
As to whether the proper processes were carried out, well this is the question. If the company didn't know how to fit them properly, they shouldn't have gone ahead and taken my money. As I said, the branch manager himself refused to even look at the wheel at first, because he said they were too difficult to fit properly and took some convincing that the original fitting had been done by his staff.
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there should be a proper band protecting the tube from the rim
maybe rim faulty
maybe tyre rubbing as said
maybe inferior tube
maybe a puncture
you are quibbling over a tube,the manager has said they dont normally do these,he has offered to do another if you supply the tube
i think under the circumstances he has fullfilled his obligations to you and wants to wipe his hands of a situation that is no win
suggest you go to a motorbike dealer and ask their advice regarding your rims and tyres(obviously one that is conversant with wire rims
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As to whether the proper processes were carried out
As I said the branch manager ...took some convincing that the original fitting had been done by his staff.
So you can choose to
a. Keep going back to the branch and get a sore head banging it against a wall.
B. Raise the matter with the company central customer service desk, "problem with inner tube, manager denied branch fitted them as too difficult, until presented with invoice. Given the manager's statement, are your staff trained to fit, what are you going to do about the problem, etc).
C. Forget that you ever dealt with that national tyre fitting chain and as has been suggested go to someone that understands that type of wheel and tyre.
Edited by Altarf on 23/09/2009 at 14:23
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I would take no notice of what the wheel maker says.
If the tyre itself says "tubeless" then I would take that to mean not suitable for use with tubes. You could ask the tyre maker and I bet they would say the same.
I have been round similar circles (sorry about the pun) with spoked motorcycle wheels and tyre combinations.
p.s. I didn't know before, but BMW spoked bike wheels have sealed spoke nipples and can use tubeless tyres and no tubes.
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... I consulted the wheel manufacturers regarding suitable tyres and they said these would be fine with the tubes....
Good, so when you get a puncture why is it the fault of the tyre fitter or manufacturer?
Is not the most likely explanation that you simply ran over a nail?
The tyres on my CC3 were new with the car when I bought it in March.
If I'd got a puncture a week later, I wouldn't be getting on to Ford or Dunlop.
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