The noise started whenever our CR-V hit 40 mph. Thump-Thump-Thump. It’s my wife’s car, so I drive it only occasionally – and usually with us having conversation or ‘E Street Radio’ or ‘College Sports Radio’ playing on Sirius XM. Thus, when she told me, several times, there was a problem, I said, “It’s not that bad.” Of course, I had purchased an inferior tire compared to what we always had, so there might have been a slight bit of hidden defensiveness in my response.
Months passed… then a year… and finally it became so loud that even I admitted something was amiss. So I showed up at Discount Tires one Friday morning when they opened. After explaining our situation to the young man helping me, he said, ‘You bought these more than a year ago, so I don’t have the authority to do anything.’ He walked over to his manager and spoke to him. The manager came straight to me and said, ‘Let’s to take a look.’
On the walk to our car, I told him what happened and suggested that he drive it to see for himself. He checked the tires, asked me to turn the wheel in each direction and said he didn’t need to drive it. We went back inside and he asked, ‘What would make this right?’ I told him: “I want to go home and tell my wife it’s resolved and that there are Michelins on her car.” He said. “How about I give you our best price, plus a $250 credit on these?”
Listened well. No excuses. Problem resolved.
Forty-five minutes later I got in my car and turned on to the access road. Thump-Thump-Thump. I wasn’t angry… just frustrated. So I called the friend who works on our cars, explained the issue and dropped it off at his house. He tested and said the bearings on the front left were bad.
New tires. New bearings. New silence.
From now on: only Michelins… and always, always, always address a problem when it arises.
