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Keyword: BF Goodrich Tires
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BF Goodrich Tires
Tire Information World : your friendly
independent source of tire help
 To get a full appreciation of BF Goodrich Tires,
... and to help you sort out some of the confusion which
might arise when discussing this on the internet, let's set
the record straight about the name of this brand. According
to the company's warranty the registered trademark is
BFGoodrich.
This means that, legally speaking, all names like BF
Goodrich tires, or simply BF Goodrich isn't
right. We also see more casual interpretations around, such
as bf goodridge, bf goodwrench, bf tires,
and bfg tires. BFGoodrich is probably what is meant
when these terms are being used or searched for on the
internet.
Another point which might be worth mentioning is that
BFGoodrich ia a brand name owned by Michelin North
America, Inc. even though it started and was run for
many years as an independent, competitor until it was taken
over in the 1988 by Michelin. (See BFG history)
BF Goodrich tire's warranty
To get a full appreciation of what this brand of tires is
all about we can take a look at the BF Goodrich tire's
warranty and dissect it so that you know what you're really
buying when you purchase their products. (You can download
a copy of this from
BFG Warranty --opens a new window.)
WHAT IS COVERED AND FOR HOW LONG
Without getting bogged down in details, the tires you buy
and install on your vehicle are guaranteed for 6 years
after you buy them, unless you wear them out first.
When you bought them is determined by the sales receipt of
the tires, or of the vehicle, if they were on a new
vehicle. If you don't have a receipt, then it's six years
from the date of manufacture which is marked on the tire
sidewall. (Hint:
Keep your receipt.)
What is covered is the workmanship and materials
used in manufacture of the tire, but you are responsible to
maintain the tires and use them according to the
recommendations in the warranty.
Certain models of tire or tread designs are guaranteed to
give you a certain minimum number of miles. The number will
vary depending on the tire but ranges from 40,000 miles for
the lowest, to 80,000 or more for the highest.
Divide tire cost by guaranteed miles to
get cost-per-mile
Generally speaking, there is a direct relationship between
the number of miles service you get and the price you pay,
but it is a good practice to divide the cost of any tire by
it's guaranteed mileage to help you compare different
tires. Sometimes your cost-per-mile can be considerably
lower when you buy a more expensive tire with a much higher
guaranteed mileage.
The mileage guarantee of BF Goodrich tires is similar to
most major tire manufacturer's in that it is a pro rata
guarantee. This practice, I believe, is a fair one, but if
you don't understand it, and are expecting something else,
it might come as a shock when you try to make a claim.
In simple terms the pro rata basis, means that you pay for
what you got from the tire, and the company gives you a
credit, for the part you didn't get.
To help you see what is happening, suppose you purchased a
bus ticket to take you from New York to Los Angeles, but
the bus broke down in Los Vegas. You've already got most of
the journey completed, so you would not expect the bus
company to give you back your money for the part from NY to
Las Vegas and if you purchased another ticket from Las
Vegas, not only to get you to LA, but to return to New
York, the only discount you'd be entitled to would be the
part from Las Vegas to LA, which was incomplete.
This, in a similar sense, is what happens with a pro rated
mileage guarantee. If you buy a tire that should give you
50,000 miles and you only get 40,000, then you get a credit
equal to the 10,000 miles you didn't get on the original
tire, to reduce the price of the next tire you purchase. In
this example you received 40,000/50,000, or 4/5th (80%) of
what you were guaranteed to get, so when you buy a new tire
under this guarantee provision, you would pay only 80% of
the new tire's cost, instead of 100%.
the price of the new tire
To determine what the new tire will cost, you will pay the
current price which that replacement tire is selling for at
the dealer where you make a claim, but if you suspect that
their price may be more than what other dealers are
charging just for the sake of this guarantee adjustment,
you can have the BFGoodrich brand Base Price List value
used, if you find it to your advantage.
In our example the discount you receive on the new tire
might not seem like much, because you really got most of
what you had been guaranteed to get. If, for some unusual
situation, you had only gotten 10,000 miles from a 50,000
mile tire, the discount would have been 80%.
In fact, from my reading to the warranty, it seems to me
that if you had this tire with 10,000 miles wear out in the
first 12 months, that the company would not charge you
anything because a tire which does not last a year and
produces less than 25% of it's guaranteed life is likely to
have some defect it it's manufacture or the materials used.
Of course, my interpretation is not any obligation on
BFGoodrich, but I'd suggest that you might want to ask
about this when you're visiting a dealer, even though it is
highly unlikely that this kind of thing would happen.
You do have some obligations to meet, if you want to make
a claim under this warranty. To read about those, click on
BF Goodrich tires
Warranty Obligations.
Did you know we have a special
place to show-off your favorite wheels?
See the Hot Wheels Show Room
Return to
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home page from BF Goodrich Tires.
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