Thread: URGENT! Fellow Landy owner needs help in Horsham

UPDATE:
This morning I went to my local Cooper dealer, who had a look at the tyres, and then rang the Cooper Rep. The Rep had a look at them also, and immediately rang the Cooper Distributor here in Australia, Exclusive Tyres, in QLD. The Rep is looking into the problem further.

At approximately 12:15 I was contacted through my site by Exclusive.

I called them and went into a conference call with John Pfeffer, who is the General Manager of Exclusive. He was very helpful on the phone, and we have organised for him to receive the photos I have taken of the damage.

So far, I am impressed with the speed of Cooper/Exclusive's response, and will keep you all posted as things progress.

UPDATE:

Spent about 30 minutes on the phone to John Pfeffer, at Exclusive Tyre Distributors (07)3255 6595.

The main tyre, which caused the damage, is being sent to the US for the lab to determine the cause of the failure. John said to me that he has found what appears to be impact damage on the bead, and "buttress" cracking near the bead. He said that buttress cracking is caused either by "high load or high heat".

The spare tyre has had 2 plug repairs done on it, so is not going to be warranted at all.

At this stage he has suggested my insurance company talk to him, as I am lodging a warranty claim for the tyre, and that the insurance company issue a letter of demand with a view to recouping their costs. This will prevent any change to my insurance policy, IF Cooper find that the problem was caused in the factory, and was not an "environmental issue".

I spoke to him further on the topic of the remaining 3 Cooper ST's still on the vehicle. I explained to him that the presence of the 3 ST's is of serious concern to me (having had these problems, and another tyre replaced because of a deep split in the entire sidewall near the bead) and that I feel it would be fair for Exclusive to provide me with a pro rata refund on all 5 ST's. In doing so, they could credit this refund to a Cooper dealer which would allow me to chose tyres of a different make.

He nicely, but categorically refused to provide any refund on the 3 remaining tyres (remember that the spare has been repaired, so it's warranty is automatically void), because he does not feel that there is necessarily anything wrong with them. I don't know if there is anything wrong with them either, but then again I'M the one who has them on the front of the vehicle, so I'M the one that's very worried about them failing with very likely far worse consquences than previously.

At this stage, prior to hearing from the Cooper lab, John has offered me a 50% discount on the replacement of 1 tyre only, as a goodwill gesture.

I am disappointed with this initial offer, but as John and I agreed, there are 2 separate issues involved:

1. The repair costs to the vehicle
2. Replacement of the tyres.

Hopefully some appropriate resolution can be reached, that takes into account all that is at stake for both parties...

It will be interesting to see the outcome of Cooper Tires lab investigations...!

As always, I will continue to update this and other forums on the issue.