Sears and their defective chinese tires. On July 26, 2007, we purchased four new sumitomo htr H4 P215/60hh16 tires for my 16 year old sons 2001 Taurus from sears in Lincoln, Nebraska. On August 12, 2007 he drove approximately 15 miles on the interstate to go to a park with some of his friends. Shortly after pulling into the park, the right front tire went flat. He immediately pulled over and changed the flat tire, replacing it with the donut in his trunk. I had never seen a new tire with less then 300 miles on it in this condition. The flat tire had split open along the sidewall. There was no damage to the tire other then this split. It wasn't scuffed like he had hit a curb and there were no nails or puncture holes in the tires. To me, it just looked to be another defective chinese tire. I have had a terrible time with the employees at sears. They have been extremely uncooperative and we have not yet reached a satisfactory resolution. After several hours of working towards a resolution, they did finally agree that the tire was defective and placed a new tire on the rim. However, they stated that they were too busy to place the wheel back on the car and told my son he would have to do that himself. I expect we will end up in court. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

- Lincoln, NE, USA

Consumer noticed that tires had stress marks and tread separation from the sidewalls. Consumer drove vehicle to dealer, and mechanic determined that all four tires needed to be replaced due to corrosion. Continental, P215/60R16.

- South Lyon, MI, USA

While driving at 70 mph the passenger rear tire blew out. The blowout occurred on the sidewall of the tire, and half of the tire was separated from the tread. It appears that the rim was slightly damaged.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

One of my oem tires (Firestone affinity) suddenly failed without warning. There was no road hazard damage such as nails or screws involved. The tire's outside sidewall failed resulting in a split large enough that a credit card could slide through it. The oem tires had less than 18,000 miles at the time of failure. The pressure had been checked during a routine service visit on all of the tires one month prior to this. After taking the tire to a corporate Firestone store, they blamed the failure as "impact damage". basically they said it was my fault for hitting something and not due to a problem with the tire. If I had actually hit something, then I could accept the problem. But since I did not hit anything when the tire failed, I am now concerned about the other oem Firestone affinity tires on my 2001 Ford Taurus. There were four passengers in my car at the time this tire failed and all would reitterate the fact that nothing in the roadway was struck to cause the sidewall failure. I was only traveling less than 20 mph when the tire failed as I approaced a stop light.

- St. Petersburg, FL, USA

The tire split apart on the sidewall while driving approximately 30mph. I immediatly coasted in to a parking lot of a tire shop. I called middlekauf Ford and explained the situation. No tread wear etc. Middlekauf said they would reimburse me for the price of the tire if I had it replaced. I did so, and upon presenting middlekauff with the tire and the receipt from the tire shop, they refused to honor their agreement. There is no excessive wear on the tire, and I still have it in my possesion if you need it for research.

- Richardson, TX, USA