Great news for Tesla Model 3 owners with Pirelli PZEROs!

[BadTrainDriver]

I’d add a note that if you encounter a pothole on a California highway that is maintained by CalTrans - which is almost all of them - then you can file a claim to be reimbursed for any damages.

Submit Damage Claim | Caltrans

State of California

dot.ca.gov

Why Caltrans refused to pay for our pothole damage: Roadshow

Daughter stands by three-second rule before proceeding through the intersection as father taught her as a teen.

www.mercurynews.com

Good luck with that!

 

[focher]

Why Caltrans refused to pay for our pothole damage: Roadshow

Daughter stands by three-second rule before proceeding through the intersection as father taught her as a teen.

www.mercurynews.com

Good luck with that!

So someone filed a claim without any photographic evidence of the pothole and you cite that as proof that CalTrans doesn’t pay out such claims? Strange. Maybe some of us just are smarter when gathering evidence and submitting it with a claim. Oh well.

 

[ODWms]

I’m sure all municipalities handle things differently. But I had two incidents, decades apart, with potholes in Florida; one in Miami, and the other in the Tampa Bay Area where I now reside. In both cases I submitted my claim and information without a police report, or pictures, and the appropriate authorities reimbursed me in full for my damages.

 

[BadTrainDriver]

So someone filed a claim without any photographic evidence of the pothole and you cite that as proof that CalTrans doesn’t pay out such claims? Strange. Maybe some of us just are smarter when gathering evidence and submitting it with a claim. Oh well.

About five years ago, my wife hit a pothole on I71 going south into Columbus Ohio, immediately blowing out both her right side tires. She made it safely off the road, called me, then called 911. By the time the police showed up, two other cars were stopped with wheel/tire damage. There was a police report, with pictures of the road and her car, and neither ODOT or the city of Columbus would do anything to help financially.

My "good luck" respond was due to #1. First hand experience with this type of incident, and #2. The comment in the article about the low percentage of claims that get paid.

What happened with your specific incident?

 

[focher]

About five years ago, my wife hit a pothole on I71 going south into Columbus Ohio, immediately blowing out both her right side tires. She made it safely off the road, called me, then called 911. By the time the police showed up, two other cars were stopped with wheel/tire damage. There was a police report, with pictures of the road and her car, and neither ODOT or the city of Columbus would do anything to help financially.

My "good luck" respond was due to #1. First hand experience with this type of incident, and #2. The comment in the article about the low percentage of claims that get paid.

What happened with your specific incident?

What happened isn’t really relevant. Where it happened was. I’m not really understanding what Ohio has to do with California regulations unless you can cite an equivalent resource that Ohio has a similar rule.

The OP is in California which is why I linked to a specific place they can file a claim.

 

[BadTrainDriver]

What happened isn’t really relevant. Where it happened was. I’m not really understanding what Ohio has to do with California regulations unless you can cite an equivalent resource that Ohio has a similar rule.

The OP is in California which is why I linked to a specific place they can file a claim.

Most states have similar laws, Ohio included. Most claims go unpayed, regardless of where it happens.

 

[focher]

Most states have similar laws, Ohio included. Most claims go unpayed, regardless of where it happens.

Ah, now we have definitive evidence that most claims go unpaid in all states. With a citation of evidence, even. Oh. Wait. Nevermind.

Just drop the shovel.

 

[BadTrainDriver]

A: Appeal, but it is a long shot. Caltrans typically receives 4,000-plus claims a year, but fewer than 1 in 10 are upheld. No fee is required to file a claim for $10,000 or less. The state pays out nearly $1.2 million for road-related damages under $5,000, but it received roughly $200 million in claims over roughly the same period. It’s difficult to say how many are upheld because many are turned over to contractors and those are not tracked.

Do you have evidence to suggest that the majority do get paid?

I stand by my initial comment, "good luck."

 

[DatWhiteM3P]

Will it work for my rear POS Pirelli`s?? I feel sad when going from a 2020 M3P with Michelins to a 2021 M3P with less grip, and poor bonding between the rubber layers.

 

[EVolv3d]

Took advantage of Pirelli's warranty at America's tire. My rear passenger tire had an impact bubble from my wife going through another pothole

However, I wasn't as lucky as the OP. My America's Tire store wasn't familiar with Pirelli's road hazard replacement warranty and it required some haggling with the "senior" store manager and having Pirelli call him directly. He then had to call and receive approval from his regional manager. Even after that, the store didn't replace the tire for free like the OP.

I'm still happy though as I only paid ~$100 in total for the replacement. America's Tire still charged me for installation/balancing, state tire fee, and pro-rated cost (based on the % of of original tread remaining and tire msrp). The tire itself ended up costing around ~$80 with their pro-rated amount. This is still a great deal considering the OEM Tesla Pirelli PZERO PZ4 msrp is $294 at America's Tire and $400 at Tesla. It's ~1/5th what we paid when we had to call Tesla's road side service for our last tire sidewall blowout ($490). So if you have the option of taking the time of finding an authorized Pirelli retailer and are able to get your car (or at least tire) to the store, then I highly recommend taking advantage of the warranty.

Like the OP stated, the tire must be within the first 2/32" of tread. We've owned the car for ~4 months and 2500 miles. We were already at the minimum tread cutoff limit for the warranty (7/32" vs 9/32" when new). The store does have to ship the tire back to Pirelli for verification and inspection.

If you really feel like battling with the tire store and want the replacement for completely free, be sure to point out this clause in the Pirelli Road Hazard Warranty to them since our tires are equipped with PNCS & sensors. My local tire store may have confused it with Pirelli's standard pro-rata warranty or they just wanted to make some money out of the process since it is a bit of a hassle for them.

Road Hazard Coverage for Run Flat, Pirelli Noise Cancelling System (PNCS), and sensorized tires
Pirelli provides road hazard coverage on Pirelli Original Equipment Tires and Replacement Tires
that are sensorized or manufactured with Pirelli Run Flat and/or PNCS technology.

If a Pirelli Run Flat, PNCS or sensorized tire becomes unserviceable due to road hazard
damage within the first year from the date of purchase, or within the first 2/32” of the original
usable tread, whichever occurs first, the Pirelli tire will be replaced with an identical or
comparable tire at no charge for the tire to the owner.

Here was the response from Pirelli when I first contacted them about the warranty:

We are sorry to hear that you are experiencing trouble with your tire. America's Tire is an authorized Pirelli dealer and is very familiar with our warranty. You shouldn't need any forms or paperwork prior to arriving at the dealer. As long as the tire measures within the first 2/32" of tread, they should be able to process a warranty claim for you and have a replacement tire installed.

Thank you,

Pirelli Consumer Affairs
[email protected]
1-800-PIRELLI (option 2)

Clearly my America's Tire store wasn't familiar with their warranty. It's located less than 5 miles from the Tesla dealership so I'm assuming not many people are familiar with Pirelli's road hazard warranty to take advantage of it.

We will eventually purchase a set of lighter, smaller diameter rims with PS4S tires for some more sidewall. The 20x9.0" wheels paired with the stretched/skinny 235 width Pirelli tires leads to far too many headaches if you have any potholes in your area. You can understand why by just looking at the sidewall (or lack thereof) at the bottom of the wheel. The rim looks like it's practically sitting on the ground. While the 235/35R20 tire is rated with a sidewall of 3.2" (unloaded), the actual rim is < 2" from the ground once the tire is installed on the car, loaded with the vehicle's weight, and the sidewall angle is accounted for due to stretched nature of the narrower tire on a wider wheel (235mm tire on 9.0" wheel).

 

[.Slug]

Took advantage of Pirelli's warranty at America's tire. My rear passenger tire had an impact bubble from my wife going through another pothole

Glad someone elsee was able to take advantage.

An update to my damage... turns out the Uber wheels did take part of the impact and the last time I wash the car, the two rims on the side that hit the pot hole had the finish blow off in a circular impact pattern at the point of impact. I was able to use a combonation of a mixture of matt black and bronze spray paints to create a matching finish to touch up the areas. You can't notice unless you're about 6" from the rim. So I guess crisis averted.

I did have to educate America's Tire a bit as well. They did also attempt to upcharge me to get some fees out of me, but I argued those. They tried to at first tell me that I couldn't do it unless I bought the NEW hazard warranty on the new ones they were putting on. It would have cost about $100 for both. They had to escalate to a manager to get that "waived" as optional. So not THAT straight forward. But got it done none the less.

 

[AlexVCo]

My front right tire formed bubbles and I can confirm that Tesla wouldn’t cover the hazard warranty at the time. I used them throughout the winter of 2021, so I’m not blameless here. The pictures below are from April 2021. I could not wait to find a place that knew the Pirelli warranty well enough, so I had no choice but to go through Tesla. $494 later, I had a brand new front right tire, and three tires with just under 4,000 miles on them.

 

[Birdsfan]

My front right tire formed bubbles and I can confirm that Tesla wouldn’t cover the hazard warranty at the time. I used them throughout the winter of 2021, so I’m not blameless here. The pictures below are from April 2021. I could not wait to find a place that knew the Pirelli warranty well enough, so I had no choice but to go through Tesla. $494 later, I had a brand new front right tire, and three tires with just under 4,000 miles on them.

View attachment 772974View attachment 772975View attachment 772976

I don't know where Hudson Valley is but you need to clean up those rims STAT....you'll get kicked out of the club with rims that bad

 

[TomT]

I’d add a note that if you encounter a pothole on a California highway that is maintained by CalTrans - which is almost all of them - then you can file a claim to be reimbursed for any damages.

Likewise in the city of L.A. I had two tires and rims destroyed on my BMW M3 by a pothill in L.A. and the city paid for everything.

 

[maxb456]

I hate to rain on the parade, but Pirelli no longer warranties these tires as of June 1, 2022. I picked up my brand new M3P yesterday and when I got home, I found a nail in the sidewall. Tesla is charging me $475 and Pirelli said they just updated their warranty on 6/1 to no longer cover these tires...

 

[ODWms]

Yikes!!! Yeah, that’s some bad luck right there. Sorry that happened.

 

[davewill]

FYI, The Discount Tire vs America's Tire is strictly a Los Angeles thing. In LA market, the name Discount Tire was already taken, so the national chain "Discount Tire" is called "America's Tire" there. The Discount Tire stores in Los Angeles are not "sister stores."

 

[Candleflame]

BMW and the like are just thieves when it comes to ancillary items for their cars. Absolute thieves. I once had a sun visor catch snap in my Audi...they wanted $75 for the small piece of plastic...I didn't even want them to install it, I could do that...unbelievable. Never again with a German car.

Back on topic...great find for those with Pirelli tires! Thanks for digging into it!

tesla has a policy to make spare parts not for profit (though the service centre does charge a high hourly rate). This has been consistent with a few repairs i had done which were surprisingly cheap (rear windscreen, R rear fender cover)

 

[Kandiru]

why would you go to tesla re: tires anyway. way too expensive to get them changed. They charge exorbitant $/hr.

Also if you buy wheel tire sets mandatory service center delivery. I love the aeros both for looks and efficiency with the caps, that is why I ordered a set of takeoffs with caps and BT sensors off Ebay, and VikingContacts to install on them at my local shop.

 

[Level8Drummer]

Amazing post. Thank you so much!

L8d