Coker warranty??

[harmony]

Has anyone had any dealings with Coker as far as warranty goes?   I recently bought a set of the Coker Classics ( bias Ply) tires for my '48 Windsor.  I've put on about 150 miles and I'm noticing that there is a band of brown developing between the whitewall and the black rubber.  I emailed Coker, and sent along this picture, asking if they had a method of removing that browning.  They said they would warranty them.  Which sort of told me that there really isn't a fool proof way of getting rid of the brown colour. 

So of course that's good news,,,,,, sort of.  It's in the middle of the summer.  I'll have to put it up on blocks.  Also they said I have to go through the company I bought them through, since I was in Canada.  Coker is probably 3000 miles away or so.  I'm wondering if any Canadian have had hands on experience with this.  Will they pay for the shipping both ways?  It's probably going to be my cost to have them removed from the rims as well as remounted and rebalanced when I get the 4 replacement tires, which sucks.

[Los_Control]

Just saying

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/what’s-causing-“stringing”-on-my-white-wall-tires.1298278/

[Sam Buchanan]

1 hour ago, harmony said:

Has anyone had any dealings with Coker as far as warranty goes?   I recently bought a set of the Coker Classics ( bias Ply) tires for my '48 Windsor.  I've put on about 150 miles and I'm noticing that there is a band of brown developing between the whitewall and the black rubber.  I emailed Coker, and sent along this picture, asking if they had a method of removing that browning.  They said they would warranty them.  Which sort of told me that there really isn't a fool proof way of getting rid of the brown colour. 

So of course that's good news,,,,,, sort of.  It's in the middle of the summer.  I'll have to put it up on blocks.  Also they said I have to go through the company I bought them through, since I was in Canada.  Coker is probably 3000 miles away or so.  I'm wondering if any Canadian have had hands on experience with this.  Will they pay for the shipping both ways?  It's probably going to be my cost to have them removed from the rims as well as remounted and rebalanced when I get the 4 replacement tires, which sucks.

 

Have you tried getting pretty aggressive with a scrubbing pad? I use a concentrated household cleaner and scrubbing pads from the local Dollar Store for maintaining the whitewalls.

 

Simple Green works pretty good, too. The pads are the fiber ones, not the metal oven pads. My Cokers get a thorough scubbing 3-4 times a year, they still look good after three years of frequent driving.

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by Sam Buchanan

[Ivan_B]

That looks like molecular diffusion to me. You can try rubbing it, to see if it improves a bit, but do not be too aggressive, it is possible to wipe-off the white wall, as far as I know. Have you already tried some white-wall cleaners from the auto store?

When you claim warranty, the customer is usually responsible for all shipping and installation costs. The manufacturer always tries to warrant their liability to the cost of the product itself, especially when the issues are only aesthetic or performance-related.

[harmony]

24 minutes ago, Sam Buchanan said:

 

Have you tried getting pretty aggressive with a scrubbing pad? I use a concentrated household cleaner and scrubbing pads from the local Dollar Store for maintaining the whitewalls.

 

Simple Green works pretty good, too. The pads are the fiber ones, not the metal oven pads. My Cokers get a thorough scubbing 3-4 times a year, they still look good after three years of frequent driving.

 

No I haven't tried anything.  I didn't want to do anything that might void any warranty.  But judging by their willingness to warranty the tires by simply seeing that picture, sort of tells me it's not the first time this has happened.  I would think that from their standpoint, warranting them would be a better option to them, than telling me what will remove the "browning".  

[harmony]

3 minutes ago, Ivan_B said:

That looks like molecular diffusion to me. You can try rubbing it, to see if it improves a bit, but do not be too aggressive, it is possible to wipe-off the white wall, as far as I know. Have you already tried some white-wall cleaners from the auto store?

When you claim warranty, the customer is usually responsible for all shipping and installation costs. The manufacturer always tries to warrant their liability to the cost of the product itself, especially when the issues are only aesthetic or performance-related.

I'll be calling them tomorrow to clarify the international shipping costs. If they are not covered than replacing them simply won't be an option for me. 

But from a business point of view I would think it would be in Coker's best interest to get the tires out of the view of others at whatever the cost.  Especially when I would be repeatedly telling everyone that they are Coker tires and that they are brand new and that they would not cover the shipping fees.

[Ivan_B]

46 minutes ago, harmony said:

But from a business point of view I would think it would be in Coker's best interest to get the tires out of the view of others at whatever the cost.

It depends. Nothing personal, it is just business. Their point of view is probably something like: "we are in the business of selling tires to make money, so if the potential reputation damage from x unhappy customers is less than the cost of remedying the applicable issues, we are not going to do anything". There are known cases where some auto manufacturers did not tell people about things like a brake cylinder defect, rendering them inoperable, assessing the potential lawsuits settlement damages to be less than the cost of the nation-wide recall. Without knowing their specific policies, the fact that they agreed to warranty these is somewhat unusual, in my opinion. I would've expected that visual imperfections like these are probably treated as acceptable by the manufacturer. I am a consumer myself, don't get me wrong here, but I would probably not be too much upset about something like this. Your opinion could be different, of course, so go for it. I suspect that they will agree to replace these under warranty but, at the same time, kindly advise you that they are very sorry but according to their standard policy you'll be responsible for all the associated expenses. In response, you'll probably decide not to proceed with the warranty claim, because it is not cost-effective from your perspective, since the tires probably still perform as they should. I'll be really surprised if they cover anything else but the tires themselves. Otherwise, I'll definitely buy my next set of tires from them

In any event, let me know how it works out.

[harmony]

17 minutes ago, Ivan_B said:

It depends. Nothing personal, it is just business. Their point of view is probably something like: "we are in the business of selling tires to make money, so if the potential reputation damage from x unhappy customers is less than the cost of remedying the applicable issues, we are not going to do anything". There are known cases where some auto manufacturers did not tell people about things like a brake cylinder defect, rendering them inoperable, assessing the potential lawsuits settlement damages to be less than the cost of the nation-wide recall. Without knowing their specific policies, the fact that they agreed to warranty these is somewhat unusual, in my opinion. I would've expected that visual imperfections like these are probably treated as acceptable by the manufacturer. I am a consumer myself, don't get me wrong here, but I would probably not be too much upset about something like this. Your opinion could be different, of course, so go for it. I suspect that they will agree to replace these under warranty but, at the same time, kindly advise you that they are very sorry but according to their standard policy you'll be responsible for all the associated expenses. In response, you'll probably decide not to proceed with the warranty claim, because it is not cost-effective from your perspective, since the tires probably still perform as they should. I'll be really surprised if they cover anything else but the tires themselves. Otherwise, I'll definitely buy my next set of tires from them

In any event, let me know how it works out.

I definitely see the point of view that you are presenting.  I mean look at the country of China and the products that they produce.  I suspect their overall attitude in how the rest of the world views their quality control as "so what".

 

I'm just a retired old fart on a pension and in the last year I bought 9 new tires from them.  To Coker, that's peanuts.  To me that's a lot of change.  But I also realize it's not the 60's anymore.  I remember when doctors would make house calls and then personally phone back the next day to see if Mom's little boy was feeling better.  Those were the days when there was a certain amount of pride in making sure that the customer was happy no matter what. 

 

One set of tires I recently purchased from them, which required tubes, a Coker employee picked the wrong tubes.  I needed straight stems and they send offset stems.  One letter difference in the part number.  They were eager to replace them at no cost.  But I explained that the car was up in the air, the wheels were already off and the old tires and tubes removed.  I knew it would take about 10 days to get them across the continent and into Canada.  I asked them to ship them express air.  Which they did and I got them in 2 days, but,,,,, I had to pay the shipping.  

Edited August 17, 2023 by harmony

[Sam Buchanan]

1 hour ago, harmony said:

No I haven't tried anything.  I didn't want to do anything that might void any warranty.  But judging by their willingness to warranty the tires by simply seeing that picture, sort of tells me it's not the first time this has happened.  I would think that from their standpoint, warranting them would be a better option to them, than telling me what will remove the "browning".  

I still think you will be surprised by how well the white will clean up. I’ve seen similar when I waited too long between cleaning but it has always come back with some scrubbing with a fiber pad and good cleaner.

[harmony]

11 minutes ago, Sam Buchanan said:

I still think you will be surprised by how well the white will clean up. I’ve seen similar when I waited too long between cleaning but it has always come back with some scrubbing with a fiber pad and good cleaner.

That's probably going to be my reluctant choice.   However, here in Canada, by the time you're cruising down the road, the investment is about 2 grand for a set of new tires.  For that price you shouldn't have to get on your knees scrubbing them to try and make them look like the ones in the pictures.   I can't imagine what the people in Europe or Australia do for nice looking tires. 

Edited August 17, 2023 by harmony

[Sam Buchanan]

34 minutes ago, harmony said:

That's probably going to be my reluctant choice.   However, here in Canada, by the time you're cruising down the road, the investment is about 2 grand for a set of new tires.  For that price you shouldn't have to get on your knees scrubbing them to try and make them look like the ones in the pictures.   I can't imagine what the people in Europe or Australia do for nice looking tires. 

Whitewalls are high maintenance if you want them to look “white”, they will discolor otherwise. I remember how much scrubbing my dad enforced on us to keep the family’s ride whitewalls looking nice. If someone doesn’t want to put out that effort blackwalls are probably a better option.

[andyd]

I bought a set of Coker Classic Whitewall Radials for my 1941 Plymouth, 195/75x15 and 235/75x15,  here in Australia they were over $400.00 Oz each, this was around 12 yrs ago, now they would easily be 50% more......they were on the car for about 3yrs when I sold it, I used a whitewall tyre cleaner every few months & they seemed fine without that brow stain........my Oz 2 cents worth..........andyd   

[harmony]

4 hours ago, andyd said:

I bought a set of Coker Classic Whitewall Radials for my 1941 Plymouth, 195/75x15 and 235/75x15,  here in Australia they were over $400.00 Oz each, this was around 12 yrs ago, now they would easily be 50% more......they were on the car for about 3yrs when I sold it, I used a whitewall tyre cleaner every few months & they seemed fine without that brow stain........my Oz 2 cents worth..........andyd   

When you purchased your tires, were you dealing with the head office in Tennessee USA  or did they have a depot or branch office there in Oz?

[Sniper]

Not a new issue not isolated to Coker tires, the BFG Radial T/A crowd has the same issues.  Odds are good your new tires will do the same.

 

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/263180-new-tires-whitewalls-turns-brown-what-to-do/

[Ivan_B]

For next time, could be more convenient to slap a set of flippers on it. If they get dirty, you just throw them away ?

@andyd I must've seen those coupe pictures in at least ~10 different topics, already. Give it up, you've sold it, it's time to let go ?

Edited August 17, 2023 by Ivan_B

[harmony]

Maybe it's all about marketing.  Maybe I should resell these tires ( asking twice what I paid for them of course ) to guys building Rat Rods.  As the new "patina" look tires. Guaranteed to get more and more "patina" as the years go by.  ?

[desoto1939]

I have heard that the Coker tire company is no longer owned by the Coker family and it was sold and also the name.  Also have heard that they are having issues with the tires.  I use Universal Tire Company for all my tires for my 39 Desoto.

Do your research on the tires that you want on your car since these things are not cheap.  I clean my tires with Simple Green.

 

Rich Hartung

[Sam Buchanan]

53 minutes ago, harmony said:

Maybe it's all about marketing.  Maybe I should resell these tires ( asking twice what I paid for them of course ) to guys building Rat Rods.  As the new "patina" look tires. Guaranteed to get more and more "patina" as the years go by.  ?

 

I am amazed that you are thinking about selling tires and apparently you haven't tried cleaning them yet................time for a few deep breaths.

 

I'll repeat....I've seen similar discoloration and it cleans off the sidewall with about 90 seconds of effort and a scrubbing pad. Compared to the efforts I go to keeping the P15 in top mechanical shape cleaning sidewalls gets lost in the noise....

Edited August 17, 2023 by Sam Buchanan

[harmony]

34 minutes ago, Sam Buchanan said:

 

I am amazed that you are thinking about selling tires and apparently you haven't tried cleaning them yet................time for a few deep breaths.

 

I'll repeat....I've seen similar discoloration and it cleans off the sidewall with about 90 seconds of effort and a scrubbing pad. Compared to the efforts I go to keeping the P15 in top mechanical shape cleaning sidewalls gets lost in the noise....

Yes but think of the profit margin.  I can see a lucrative business opportunity here.  Buy a selection of Coker tires, sit on them until the whitewalls go brown,  were talking days probably lol,  then sell them as Patina tires at twice the retail price.  I'm thinking I'll need a warehouse and perhaps a dozen employees just to keep up.  ?

 

Cleaning might work.  Although it might not work too.  The 3" wide whitewalls that I retired to replace with the new ones had brown-walls.  Since I had already decided to replace them due to sidewall cracks, I tried a number of methods already mentioned here.  I even tried more aggressive procedures.  Such as 100 grit sandpaper and spray 9 ( which in my opinion is way more effective than Simple Green as a cleaner).  Still didn't remove the brown. So Simple Green is not necessarily a slam dunk.

 

But I'm thinking you are overlooking the real issue here.  Let me put it to you in another light Sam.

Suppose you just had your car repainted at a cost of $20 Grand or so ( average price in these parts)  When you received the car, there were a number of paint runs in the finish.  Would you go to the store and buy a number of really fine grit wet/dry paper and a polishing wheel, a number of various buffing pads and a number of polishing compounds to try and get the paint runs out?  Not to mention many hours of your time, and the possibility of making it worse.

 

[Sam Buchanan]

I'm not overlooking anything.

 

You have already stated that shipping cost makes returning the tires impractical in addition to you paying for demount/mounting along with dealing with a third party and you don't expect Coker to ship you a new ship pre-paid. So your choice is to either keep the tires or try to sell them at a significant loss.

 

All I'm advocating is that before doing something drastic........just try cleaning the tires! Is that an unreasonable suggestion????

 

Personally, I couldn't care less what you decide to do, I'm just perplexed as to why you haven't tried the most sensible and practical option first. But my dog ain't in this hunt.......best wishes for a satisfactory resolution.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Sam Buchanan

[harmony]

34 minutes ago, Sam Buchanan said:

I'm not overlooking anything.

 

You have already stated that shipping cost makes returning the tires impractical in addition to you paying for demount/mounting along with dealing with a third party and you don't expect Coker to ship you a new ship pre-paid. So your choice is to either keep the tires or try to sell them at a significant loss.

 

All I'm advocating is that before doing something drastic........just try cleaning the tires! Is that an unreasonable suggestion????

 

Personally, I couldn't care less what you decide to do, I'm just perplexed as to why you haven't tried the most sensible and practical option first. But my dog ain't in this hunt.......best wishes for a satisfactory resolution.

Haha!  I'm guessing you were not in line when they were handing out "sense of humours" .  So I guess I'll spell it out to you.  Not only was I joking about selling the tires, but I can't see any logical explanation as to why someone would think that I was serious about that.  ????  Or perhaps you're perplexed as to why I would charge twice the retail price for them.  ?

[Eneto-55]

Like Sam, I clearly recall the time we spent as kids cleaning the whitewalls on the family car.  But I also got the joke about "patina", which is a sort of joke in itself.  I have also seen rubber that changes color - from the inside out, like something in the black rubber is permeating the white rubber.  I kinda' suspect that the artificial (or what ever the right word is) rubber that is in use now is not as long-lasting as natural rubber.  (Like trying to patch a bicycle tube - nothing sticks.  But this was in Brazil, so maybe what they use here is different.  It seemed to be a sort of plastic substance.  And they even have lots of rubber threes there - seen them myself, out in the Amazon.)

[Sniper]

2 minutes ago, Eneto-55 said:

Like Sam, I clearly recall the time we spent as kids cleaning the whitewalls on the family car. 

 

Same here, every weekend I washed the car, used an SOS pad to clean the whitewalls.  Got waxed once a month.

[Plymouthy Adams]

33 minutes ago, Eneto-55 said:

Like Sam, I clearly recall the time we spent as kids cleaning the whitewalls on the family car.  But I also got the joke about "patina", which is a sort of joke in itself.  I have also seen rubber that changes color - from the inside out, like something in the black rubber is permeating the white rubber.  I kinda' suspect that the artificial (or what ever the right word is) rubber that is in use now is not as long-lasting as natural rubber.  (Like trying to patch a bicycle tube - nothing sticks.  But this was in Brazil, so maybe what they use here is different.  It seemed to be a sort of plastic substance.  And they even have lots of rubber threes there - seen them myself, out in the Amazon.)

rubber trees could not be good for replenishing oxygen..?..........I banish myself to the shop for another hour or so of blocking out primer before I award myself another rest and cool down break.  

[andyd]

Harmony....I bought the tyres from what I remember was/is the Oz importers, they have ben in this business for a while, 20-30 yrs........ as others have mentioned I would expect that giving the tyres a clean every so often will remove that brown stain...........lol........its like most things in life, generally we have to do a little ourselves.........I'm assuming that you do use the car......therefore some things will show wear or dirt or the effects of use..........andyd,