[kishinoa]

I thought I'd pass along my experience with the dealer-offered Tire and Wheel warranty. I have seen a couple of posts on this and I don't how widely offered it is. It has worked out OK so far, so in fairness I thought I should share this plus a few learnings. Anyway, here it is:

I bought my 2005 MCS in late 2004, and the dealer Momentum Mini in Houston, pushed the Tire and Wheel Warranty with the pitch that one run-flat puncture+rim bending would justify it, and I , in the post-purchase daze/euphoria, bought it for $595. The covergae is for 5 years, wheels and tires.

Initially I was kind of upset that I had gone for this, and then alter as well after the runflats wore out and I replaced them with regular BF Goodrich g-Force Sport tires. I had those one for a few thousand miles and I hit this huge pothole in the road, hard enough to smack my teeth together. A quick look showed no damage to the rims, but the driver's side tires both started to go flat; I took it to Discount Tire and it turned out that both rims were bent on the inside.
Now, the warranty says you have to have a authorization number etc before any work starts but of course Discount Tire won't buy OEM Mini rims for you, so I called the warranty people ( IAP Warranty in Leander, Texas ) and they said I could go buy the rims. I also went to their website and filed first as well which probably helped. I should have gotten an authorization number from them on the phone though. So, I went and bought the rims, for $225 each.
Anyway, back at Discount Tire, they said the tires were fine and re-mounted both tires and balanced them on the new rims for $32, and I had the Discount guy call the warranty people before he did it. They were giving him some grief about the rims and said they would call me, but they never did. So, I sent the receipts in expecting somewhat of a hassle, but sure enough a check for $482 showed up about week later! My faith was renewed.

Lessons and things learned while looking into this:

a. The Mini rims also had another previous dent in them; apparently these bend fairly easily especially with low profile tires. Check your rims if you have any vibrations, or if you have hit taken a big hit.
b. If you have this warranty and you don't want to test it or you regret buying it, you can get a time pro-rated refund. I figured that if they stiffed me for my claim, I would get the refund which would be 60% of the $595. If you really think you made a mistake on the warranty , cash it in.
c. It does appear to cover things beyond the original tires.
d. As above, if I was doing this again I would have demanded an authorization number from the person I talked to on the phone in case there was a debate. Definitely go to their website first so there is a record of you starting the process.
e. If I didn't have the warranty, I would have looked into rim straightening - probably $75 ea vs. $225 for new ones.
f. The warranty does not cover curb contact ( just something I read in the fine print ). Mine had damage on the insides of both rims so there was no debate there.
g. The warranty people wanted to know if the tires were losing air, so this may be a requirement for a claim.
h. I was skeptical of the value of the warranty, but now seeing how easily these bend, and that the company responded well, I am OK with it.

Ashley

[Houston]

Hi, I am a newbee. I have an 06 S. I took the car in today for what I thought was an alignment problem. After looking at the car, the service advisor told me all my tires were low and the tire on driver side was flat and the other front tire was barely in specs. The warranty would not cover replacement since I was negligent. The last time I checked tire pressure was three weeks ago. The first free factory service was performed in August. The warning light was not on.
I was told that I should check my tire pressure weekly. This really sounds strange to me. I never had to check tire pressure on any cars this frequently.
Bought two new tires that set me back $491.

[freshcut]

I don't recall this warranty being offered when I bought my '06 S back in May. I would however be curious if it's available after purchase, or if this is one of those add-ons that need to be bought at the time of delivery.

[minibiscuit]

When I went to Momentum a year ago with complaints that it sounded like the wheel was going to fall off in a right turn, they told me they'd have to charge me the alignment fee to look at it, so I left with the expectation of taking it to another mechanic. Turns out, both front tires were flat and the indicator light never came on, which the service rep told me is because all the tires were losing pressure, so the sensor didn't recognize the difference in the front tires -- they were at 5 to 0 psi, shouldn't that be noticable? That was a year ago. I continued to have tire pressure issues, but was brushed off by the service rep each time I brought it up, so I thought I was just an incompetent girl.

I took my car back to Momentum for an oil leak (which they told me I didn't have, but it turns out I did), and they told me that I had suspension damage, needed to repair a bent rim, struts, bushings, and re-alignment, in addition to new tires all totaling $2,200. I went to a different mechanic that same day who saw nothing wrong with alignment, struts, bushings, etc. and also noticed that they had never taken the wheels off my car to even look at them -- lug nuts were pristine and shiny, never touched with a wrench -- so how could they identify a bent rim without putting the tire on a balance (confirmed by Discount Tire manager as well). Mechanic (confirmed by Discount Tire) did find, however, that I had an impact bubble on the front driver side (the one I complained about a year ago and was told it was alignment). Wow -- glad to know that before the tire exploded damaging at least my car, at most myself and others driving around me.

Needless to say, I bought new, regular tires from Discount Tire. So much for the Wheel and Tire Package I paid for. I have lost any confidence in Momentum's service department.

[Houston]

I am used to servicing my cars every 3k-5k mile intervals. Mini has included the service which only comes every 12k-15k miles or longer. If I want oil and filter change sooner than that, I am told by the dealer that it will cost around $80. Does this sound reasonable? Any one in Houston area gets their service done at a place other than Mini dealers?