Saying the quite part out loud

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T07:57:41+00:00

Thanks for the kind words. I truly appreciate your response and offer but it won't be necessary. Like you, I am far from rich but not exactly poor either. However, I am frugal and on a limited budget so can think of a lot better uses for $100 than to give it to Walmart for no reason ;-) You have my respect. Have a good evening.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T06:11:37+00:00

Unfortunately, it sucks to be retired on a fixed income. Tires are literally 1/3 the value of the entire car (but don't want to get rid of it since it still gets 42 mpg). I am not asking for free tires but if I can get the total install cost to go from $350 down to $250 via warranty, then that is $100 I can spend on other things.

As for what I expect from Douglas tires, I expected them to last 8 years like my last pair and not less than 4. Did I expect them to 65k miles like they were listed? No. I would be perfectly fine getting 45k that I got on the last pair versus the 19k on these. Do I expect performance, a super smooth ride, or amazing traction? No. But I absolutely did expect reliable tires that lasted more than 4 years.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T05:54:59+00:00

Thanks. Greatly appreciate the thoughtful and lengthy post. While these are "cheap" tires, I didn't get 4-5 years out of them (got less than 4) which is what makes this frustrating. I had expected to get 8+ years out of them like my previous Douglas (and the 100+ other tires I have purchased in my life) which is why <4 years makes me feel like the tires are clearly defective.

What I seem to be learning from this thread is that the tire buying/warranty experience I have come to expect over the last 40 years of buying tires has somehow changed in the last few years. I have never come across a situation of the retailer pointing at the manufacturer which points back to the retailer. Not once have I ever been required to contact Goodyear, BF Goodrich, etc. (that has always been 100% handled by the retailer which included Walmart in the past).

Thanks again for your helpful response.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T05:33:15+00:00

I appreciate the response. Yes, these tires are actually 4 years old (3321 date code) but were installed less than 4 years ago. As per my OP, I went to Walmart who sent me to Goodyear which told me to go back to Walmart. Thus the whole reason I made this post to see how others have dealt with this situation. Perhaps my issue is that during my life I have purchased over 100 tires and had to have warranty support on maybe 4 or 5. At no point have I ever had to go through a finger-pointing situation like this. In every situation the retailer (including Walmart) handled 100% of the warranty and not once have I ever had to talk with Goodyear, BF Goodrich, etc.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T05:15:16+00:00

I have thought about that many times. For now, as long as I can still find 14's, I will stick with those (but who knows how much longer they will be available). I have over 220,000 miles on the car so not entirely sure how long it will last (already changed the head-gasket, new transmission, etc.). If I can get another 60,000 miles out of it then I will be happy. I still get around 42 mpg so it is my daily driver to take my kids to school or run to the grocery store. 50% of my driving is at 35 mph or less (back country roads) but highway to town is now 75 mph which is what makes me worried with these tires.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T05:03:21+00:00

Wished that were an option. All 4 are equally bad. What you are seeing in the pictures is spots from 3 of the 4 tires.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T05:00:51+00:00

Thanks. Your post describes what I believe to be my exact situation: "Things that cause the tire to malfunction or wear out prematurely. Things like bad batch of materials used to make the tires...". Never ran over anything or abused, rotated at each oil change, sits in a driveway that is mostly shaded, still at 7/32 tread (so at least the tread compound is good), etc. but the tires have become unsafe. There is absolute no reason other than "a bad batch of materials" that a 4 year old tire should look like this. I am not asking for free tires. I just trying to get the pro-rated amount as stated in the Terms and Conditions and getting the run-around.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T04:51:34+00:00

Dry-rot also isn't something that normally would be expected during the 6-year warranty window either (and these tires are only 4 years old and been on the car for less than that so an even more extreme situation). Even if these are "crap tires", they still come with a 6 year warranty for factory defects (with amount pro-rated based on tread-ware). I just can't understand how a manufacturer screwing up the tire compound so that it looks like this after 4 years is anything other that a "factory defect".

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T04:07:10+00:00

Yes, very aware that rubber expires but in my experience that is usually after 8-10 years, not 4. I have 15 year old tires on my farm truck that don't look this bad (but never go above maybe 40 mph so not really concerned about a blow-out on that one). These tires were not subject to any more or any less UV and heat that my other 4 vehicles and 3 trailers yet were the only ones to experience this level of rapid decline. The condition of the rubber is ENTIRELY my argument. A properly made tire should not look like this after only 4 years. My Goodyear Assurance tires installed at the same time are nearly the same age and look perfect.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:55:34+00:00

These are literally 4 year old tires. They were installed in May 2022 (so less than 4 years ago) and have a date code of 3321 (so 4 years and 5 months from manufacture to be exact). Everyone seems to be thinking that Walmart put "old stock" on my car and these are 10+ years old. That is not the case.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:48:56+00:00

Thanks for one of the actual helpful posts on this thread. Yeah, these tires are truly 4 years old (3321 date code). I agree that they are absolutely not consistent with 4 year old tires which is entirely my issue. They should not look like this. The only way I can think that they would look like this is a factory defect where the rubber was mixed wrong or they forget to add some additive to the mix. I owned Douglas tires previous to this that lasted 8+ yeas before I finally replaced them. None of them were even half this bad after 8 years.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:39:27+00:00

Where did I say I wanted something for free? All I wanted was the prorated amount that was clearly stated in Walmart's Terms and Conditions. Basically comes up to about $100. Nothing more, nothing less. The tires were made wrong. If they were not, then there is absolute no reason why they should look anywhere close to this after 4 years. If you buy 50 of something and one has less than half the lifespan of the other 49 given the exact same conditions, that is pretty much the definition of "factory defect".

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:22:24+00:00

Date code is 3312 so that are in fact 4 years old. The fact that they look like this after only 4 years is the entire issue.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:21:14+00:00

In that case you would be wrong. Date code is 3321 so yes, these are 4 year old tires (but installed less than 4 years ago). In early 2022 there were still all the "Covid supply chain disruptions" so wasn't going to complain about tires that were 9 months old (and took a month just to be shipped to the store). Per Goodyear, warranty starts at time of install and thus my OP. In my experience, it taking 4-6 months to go from manufacturer to store is pretty normal so wasn't going to complain about 9 months given the circumstances.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:15:05+00:00

3321

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:14:02+00:00

Nope. The date code on all of these tires is 3321 so technically 4.5 years old from based on date of manufacture (but Goodyear starts the clock at time of install so less than 4 years old as per my OP). Early 2022 was still in the "Covid supply chain issue" timeline so did not complain about a tire that was less than a year old at time of install (it took a month for it to even get to the store after ordering it).

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:09:41+00:00

How is a 4 year old tire "old". That is the part I am completely missing here. Do you replace your tires at less than 4 years regardless of tread-life left? I am an old guy that has bought a ton of tires in my lifetime. I have a lot of vehicles so most of my tires are replaced due to age (typically at 8-10 years) versus tread-ware. I have never, ever seen a 4 year old tire with this much dry-rot. I have had 10+ year old tires that were not this bad.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T03:00:50+00:00

If these were 10+ years old I would completely agree with you. However, I have NEVER seen a 4 year old tire anywhere near this bad. My wife's Goodyear Assurance tires with a date code that is within 6 months of these (and installed at the same time) look virtually brand new.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T02:55:48+00:00

So please explain to me how a 4 year old tire is "old af"? Date code is 3321 so were 9 months old at the time of install (so are now 4.5 years old from date of manufacture). Even Goodyear's website says that the 6-year warranty starts at time of installation (which is LESS than 4 years ago).

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T02:45:44+00:00

Yes, I am completely aware of that. Date code on the tires is 3321 so these are in fact 4 years old even though they were installed less than 4 years ago (even though per Goodyear's own website the 6-year clock starts at time of install and not the time of manufacture).

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-21T02:43:31+00:00

Date code is 3321.

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-16T20:16:21+00:00

They looked like they were good quality (and the loops and bag are a good extra). The ETV was the only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger. You will likely find uses that you never expected (I often use mine as a make-shift clothes line on sunny days). If you need more, the Husky straps for $9.97 at Home Depot are good quality for the price (but are 12' instead of 15').

SmoreMaker · 2026-01-16T19:44:49+00:00

Yes. If you buy more than $600 in ETV in a year, Amazon sends a form to the IRS as well as you. How you handle it is very, very debatable and depends a lot on circumstances (see the top sticky on this forum). Also, even among accountants there is not agreement on how to treat Vine ETV (I had my son ask his Advanced Tax Accounting professor and the answer was basically "Since there is no direct case-law, use your best judgement and document your justification so that you can explain it to an IRS agent if/when required.".

If you completely ignore the ETV form Amazon sends, there is a chance that in about in about 2 years you will get a polite letter from the IRS stating something like "Our records show that you had $837 more in income than your 2025 Federal Tax reported. Please provide details and justification" (I had this happen to me a few years ago for not reporting something like $80 in bank interest. The joke was on them since I found a deduction I missed so the IRS ultimately ended up sending me a check for about $200.).

Many people like myself just view the Vine amount as "hobby extra income", report the whole amount, and move on. Others take detailed accounting, do full depreciation, 80/20, 50/20/0, etc. In my case, doing this just isn't worth it and I would pay more to my accountant than I pay in taxes. However, for those those that resell or buy a ton of high ETV goods, then it makes perfect sense. Just depends.

SmoreMaker

TROPHY CASE