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Sidewall crack on Yokohama Earth-1 Tyre | Warranty denied

I don’t understand how to go ahead with this now? Has anyone faced a similar issue with regards to sidewall cracking of Yokohoma tyres?

BHPian ashvek3141 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I need a help with an issue that I am facing with regards to the Yoko Earth-1 tyre which faced a sidewall crack.

This happened in the evening while returning from my work. On a well tarred highway, I was doing about 60-70 kmph-ish, that’s when suddenly the car started pulling towards left. I immediately pulled it to the side of the road and noticed that there was a flat. I got the tyre changed first & on observing closely, I found that the sidewall has cracked!!

I drove back home & following day immediately called up my dealer, to which he replied that the Yoko Earth-1 tyres have unconditional warranty & that it’ll be replaced under the same. He also mentioned that I may have to pay some nominal amount on pro-rata basis as I had used them for close to 9000 kms. He asked me to send him the pics over WhatsApp, to which I obliged.

This happened on 4th May 2021; unfortunately, 2 days later, my city went into a lockdown of 3 weeks. Only essentials were allowed to function for half day.

Today when I called him up, he mentioned to me that the complaint has already been raised & he shared the number of the Yoko representative for Goa, just to follow up from my side too so that the claim is processed faster.

But to my surprise, when I called up the rep, he blatantly denied the claim saying that sidewall cuts are not covered under the warranty. I told him that this is not what the dealer told me & that this tyre definitely has an unconditional warranty. But he didn’t budge.

I called the dealer, and he too is denying the claim now saying that there was some misunderstanding & that they have commenced the unconditional warranty only 2 months after I purchased the tyre.

I purchased the tyre on 7th July 2020 & it’s not even a year! Moreover, the MY of the tyre is 2019. I had initially refused to accept this lot of tyre saying that they were already a year old. However, he assured me that there is no issue with a year old tyre & that they work perfectly fine.

I don’t understand how to go ahead with this now? Has anyone faced a similar issue with regards to sidewall cracking of Yoko tyres?

Infact, I went in for the Earth-1 on the dealers advise & also on the positive reviews on this page, that they are solid tyres, especially designed for India with stronger sidewalls.

My car is rendered useless for over three weeks now as the tyre spec is a mismatch. Three tyres are 17” whereas the stepny is a 16 inchers.

Could you’ll please share your thoughts on this as to how should I take this forward now?

Here's what BHPian Artyom had to say on the matter:

I would suggest starting off with:

  • Check the Yokohama India website and see for yourself whats the warranty offered by the company in the first place. That should clear your doubt. Check the warranty card also to see if it does mention the terms and conditions.
  • If the site claims that the warranty is applicable, then send an email to the support email address given on the website with a clear picture of the warranty card and the bill along with the issue and I am hopeful you should get a response. Yokohama is selling its tyres as a premium product as far as I know and hence should offer some premium customer service also.

Here's what BHPian nirmaljusdoit had to say on the matter:

I have faced two sidewall damages on the Earth -1 tyres, both times on the highway and both after going into deep potholes. I didn’t pursue any claims as I fully well knew that it was due to road conditions.

Sidewall damage is a grey area, you may have gone into a pothole and sustained some previous abrasion or micro tear at that point which you might not have noticed. Tyre warranty is again manufacturer dependent and at their discretion. Considering Indian road conditions, I sympathise with the manufacturer as most of the times, issues are with our roads rather than the tyres.

Earth -1 tyres seem to be directed more at the value conscious end of the market, built to a price and competing with regular Janata tyres from other brands and from my experience, they get hard and very noisy after a few years (2~3) They are however long lasting. From my experience, the tyre starts deteriorating fast and ride quality goes downhill. High speed braking and wet braking also got poor. Initial performance is very good but that doesn’t last.

Here's what BHPian neil.jericho had to say on the matter:

ashvek3141, sorry to hear about your ordeal. Can you share some pictures of the damaged tire? That can help us understand how it failed.

Also, who is the dealer? At least if you name them, other readers will be aware of the ground realities.

It appears as though your dealer might have forgotten that he sold you tires that were manufactured a short duration before the unconditional warranty kicked in. Hence he might have misspoken about your tire meeting the criteria for unconditional warranty.

Keep all communication on email and see if the company will support you. I dont think they will.

From the facts that you have presented, I would suggest that you just buy a replacement tire and move on. And unless you get a good deal on the year old tires, chalk it up to a lesson learnt.

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