I have a tire question, can someone help?

Question

Last night when i was driving, someone moved into my lane, almost hitting my car, I swerved, and hit the curb, badly damaging the rims on the passenger side of the car. i stopped immediatly, and had my car towed to a tire shop.
this morning when they opened, they called me and told me they took the car into the shop, and looked at it and told me that it needed hundreds of dollars worth of work.
I took my husband (who is a mechanic of 10 years) with me when he got off work, to the garage, he asked if they aired the tires up at all to move it, the guy said "NO, we drove slowly"
when I left my car last night, there was still air in the tires, and both the police officer, and the tow truck driver told me there was still air in the tires, which seeped out through the night. the tires were not damaged last night. but now, since they drove it, my husband said there is sidewall damage. and we have to replace the tires.
I would like to know if it is ok to call the garage and tell them I

think that since they drove on the flat tires, they should replace them! i had 3 people inspect the tires last night and they were fine. now they are not.

any tire peeps out there that can tell me if its ok to drive the car about 40 feet on 2 totally flat tires?

any help would be appreciated!

This shop also told me that i need to replace the control arm, and probably have the suspension worked on, and a couple thing i cant remember.... the only thing it really needs is an alignment, and even that is not to bad, we put 2 spares (borrowed) on it to get it home...

I know i did damage, i saw the rims....i used to sell tires... but in our shop,, we had to either air up the tires before they moved the car, or did the work outside!

If it wasn't for the damaged rims... the tired could have easily been reinflated last night, and driven home, hitting the curb didn't damage, or pop the tires, these tires are less than 6 months old!!!! i didn't drive the car an inch because i KNEW better. i had to talk to people all the time that had driven a short distance on flats, who were upset that they had to buy a new tire.....
I want to know if i have the right to push them to pay for the tires, and should i tell them i have the officer, and truck drivers opinion, and am going to take them to court, like someone suggested?

Answer 1

Absolutely... they need to replace your tires, since 40 feet is in fact far enough to damage your sidewalls. You need to seriously question the mechanical ability of a technician who would do a thing like that. They know better. Since you have the opinion of the officer and tow driver on your side, you could tell the garage you're considering a lawsuit. When and if you get paid for your damaged tires, I would strongly suggest taking your car to a different shop for an allignment. Chances are, they're going to end up trying to convince you that you need more front end parts, when in fact you probably don't need any and the car can be alligned fine as-is.

Answer 2

Driving a flat tire a few dozen feet into the service bay will not damage them. I have seen this done oh, a few hundred times and the tires were not damaged from this. However, you did sideswipe a curb with enough force to damage the wheels and other parts. The tires hit that curb too. Just because they still had air in them immediately after the impact does not mean they were not damaged. I would be shocked for example if, after airing back up they didn't have impact bulges in them, a cut bead, or gouges in the sidewal.

Answer 3

i own a repair shop,and if they were up ,last time you seen them,and now there down they told you right on the damage part of it,,they will loose air slowly but i doubt that its really going to do any good ,,because you have to remember..you did hit a curve real hard with it,,and i know its had to have done some damage to the rims,and the tires,it probably wont do any good to call them ,but you can try it,,the curve probably did more damage than you could see in the dark,,but they still shouldn't have drove it on 2 flats,,that was wrong of them,,you can call and find out,,good luck,i hope this help,s.

Answer 4

i'm an expert with accidents....the shop should have tried to make the effort to save your tires knowing they would probably make enough money from your business on car repairs they should have tried to air it up 1st...2nd if the tires were wasted they should have told you so as could be expected from a curb but not always as sometimes you have rim damage & tires can be salvaged at least save money on the tire(s) but they should have checked 1st before driving.without checking 1st you'll never know and it's too late now so you might as well consider the tires were damaged from last night and move on...moving on do you want to deal with this shop? they might do great service just knuckle heads pulled it in to the mechanic to get checked as the mechanic probably didn't pull it in himself...he wouldn't want to lose work through stupid negligence as these type of repairs range in expense from balljoints to tie rods to shocks basically suspension problems to steering problems which would clearly render your vehicle unsafe even if it's just the tires...so get an estimate if it's expensive & talk to the manager with your husband about the service, they'll tell you now the tires were already ruined as they might have been anyway....remember get 3 estimates on repairs before you authorize the work...goodluck

Answer 5

properly the guidelines have replaced very last twelve months besides, in spite of the undeniable fact that the the answer is honest competition. Goodyear and NASCAR made a deal some decrease back to provide any such vast quantity of tire in line with race and Goodyear has been waiting to grant. On an aspect be conscious the communities now no longer purchase the tires from Goodyear. they rather lease the tires from NASCAR in the course of the race weekend. After the race they ought to go back all tires, and could be fined and free factors in the adventure that they don't.

Answer 6

well to answer your quesion no its not good unlss you have a run flat and even then it ould be pushing it what happens is the side wallwill get week and you could have a blow out causeing you to lose control of the car and if they are new tires the shop that drove it would be resopncible if something happend if you have it on the report that it had air in the tires if i was you i would see if your husband could take the tire off and look inside it and see if their is a black powder inside the tire and yes i would call and tell them and if they dont take your word feel free to have them email me cause i can tell you not many people are certified tire techs

Answer 7

I think you might have to eat this one.

If the tires/wheels were fine, they wouldn't have lost air. They probably should have put air in the tires to move it, but it's going to be difficult to prove that they weren't already damaged, air or no air.

At any rate, let them do what they need to do, and then take them to court. You won't have anything to lose.

Answer 8

Next time let the other car hit you. They'll get the ticket and their insurance will pay for the damage.