20,000 miles of incomplete-fun in my 2000 GTI (an update)
Written: Aug 05 '00 (Updated Aug 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: none
Cons: They are bad with fine sport-oriented automobiles such as VW Golf GTI, noisy, average dry grip, squealing sound on corners, cupping at 20,000 miles.
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| gti's Full Review: Goodyear Eagle LS Passenger/Performance Tire |
I would like to express my sincere disapointment with Goodyear Eagle LS tires that came with my 2000 GTI.
Tire size: 195/65 HR15
The car:
2000 VW Golf GTI GLS with the 2.0 liter 4-cylinder engine at 20,500 miles.
(Front wheel drive of course)
The problem:
It is very important to mention that each car works differently with a specific set of tires. My 2000 GTI apparently did not like the Goodyear Eagle LS and let me tell you why.
The experience:
These tires are noisy (serious noise), squeal on turns and have average grip in the dry. They are ok in the wet and average in the snow. The problem is that after following VW's recommendation of rotating the tires every 10,000 miles and maintaining a cold half-load pressure of 26 PSI in the Front and Back, my steering wheel is vibrating significantly. I am truly annoyed by this especially since the GTI is a fine handling automobile and I only have 20K on the odometer. I have missed on the maximum fun that this piece of beautiful engineering can provide.
Solution:
At 20,000 miles I took my car to VW's scheduled service and they explained that the tires show signs of "Cupping". They increased the pressure and made the ride worse with significant vibration in the steering wheel. I proceeded to call VW of America and complained about the tires. Since tires are wear and tear items, they are not covered under the warranty. For this reason, VW only gave me Goodyear's customer service number.
I must say that Goodyear has EXCELLENT customer service since they scheduled me to go to my local dealer. At my local dealer, the tires were inspected after showing proof that they were rotated every 10,000 miles. The Goodyear dealer agreed that the tires were showing signs of "cupping" and described the Goodyear Eagle LS as poor tires. In summary, Goodyear is replacing my tires free of charge with a new set of Goodyear Eagle HP (high performance all-season). Apparently, these tires work better with my GTI. By the way, VW does not offer these tires on the GTI anymore, can you guess why? Hey, I am getting new tires and I should not complain. I will review the Goodyears HP when I get them installed next week.
UPDATE------------UPDATE--------------UPDATE----------------UPDATE
Well let me express my sincere disapointment with my local Goodyear dealer at Dobbin automotive center in Columbia, Maryland, U.S.A. After I was told about a replacement using the Goodyear HP, more than a week later, they never made it on my car. This Goodyear dealer is the most dishonest and deceiving store I have ever seen. I call back to check on the tires and he says: "Sorry they sent me the wrong tires, I am re-ordering." I call back a few days later as he requested and I get this answer: "Sir, they sent the tires to the wrong GoodYear dealer, I have called that dealer and made an apointement for you." Ok, fine I said, I don't like this but I will go to the other dealer. I went there and the guy over there was clueless about my apointement. He said that no one called him about my case. He also said that he won't replace the tires under warranty before inspecting them and only after I provided proof of rotation. I explained that all of that was done at the other Goodyear dealer, but he still refused to do anything. At this point I was furious, I have waited more that a week for this and I realized that I had been jerked around for more than a week. It turns out that the initial Goodyear dealer did not want at all to replace my tires under warranty. That low-life instead of telling me that, he chose to waste my time for over a week. I am very disapointed with Goodyear for not taking a stand against their dealer for the rights of their customers. I WILL NEVER BUY OR USE ANY GOODYEAR TIRES AGAIN!!!!
At 20,000 miles all 4 tires were severely cupped. I shopped around and I bought a set of 4 BF Goodrich Comp T/A HR4 205/60 R15. So far these tires are great and very quiet!!! I will review them soon. The hell with Goodyear (good for one year tires) and their service.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
gti
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Member: Samir Kodsi
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
I am a 2nd year Radiology resident at Tufts-medical center in Boston, MA.
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