Flat Tyre On T180 :-(

[sywy]

Just got in, having driven about 20 miles on a flat tyre (rear off-side). I went to the petrol station to try yto blow it up, but you can hear the air coming back out!! Looks like a trip to Mr. T tomorrow. Anyone swapped a wheel on their T180 yet? What was your experience? I'll let you all know how I get on tomorrow.

[sywy]

Not going well for me atm. Been trying to get the tyre replaced since 8:30am.

My local, Burton, do not have stock, and can't get one in until tomorrow. I don't know if it was just the person I spoke to, but I had to explain to him what was supposed to happen with the T180's!! Derby and Tamworth, were equally clueless, and do not know if they have the tyre in stock, which to me means they haven't. They were supposed to ring me back, but it's been an hour. Just tried Derby again, and they can't get hold of the guy that was looking into it atm, but will get him to ring me back!! Just rang Ron Brookes in Ilkeston (where I bought my car), and at least the guy I spoke to was aware of the tyre exchange program, even if he did not know the exact details. He is now checking the details, and stock, and will give me a ring back ...

Just a word of warning. It seems that Toyota is getting rid of the replace the whole wheel program, and training their dealers to be goodyear tyre specialists, and charging the normal (inflated?) rates for a replacement tyre. That is you will not get a free, or subsidised replacement. For example, to repair the tyre will cost £60+VAT, as they reckon it'll take between 1 and 1.5 hours!!

[Manxrav]

Not going well for me atm. Been trying to get the tyre replaced since 8:30am.

My local, Burton, do not have stock, and can't get one in until tomorrow. I don't know if it was just the person I spoke to, but I had to explain to him what was supposed to happen with the T180's!! Derby and Tamworth, were equally clueless, and do not know if they have the tyre in stock, which to me means they haven't. They were supposed to ring me back, but it's been an hour. Just tried Derby again, and they can't get hold of the guy that was looking into it atm, but will get him to ring me back!! Just rang Ron Brookes in Ilkeston (where I bought my car), and at least the guy I spoke to was aware of the tyre exchange program, even if he did not know the exact details. He is now checking the details, and stock, and will give me a ring back ...

Just a word of warning. It seems that Toyota is getting rid of the replace the whole wheel program, and training their dealers to be goodyear tyre specialists, and charging the normal (inflated?) rates for a replacement tyre. That is you will not get a free, or subsidised replacement. For example, to repair the tyre will cost £60+VAT, as they reckon it'll take between 1 and 1.5 hours!!

Hi Sime, had experience of this back in the UK when I first got my T180. My Dealer was West Riding Toyota at Huddersfield and I first rang them and took it n the day after. I did have to explain to the service dept at first cause they wern,t really up to speed with the replacement system. I must admit that once they comprended the situation every thing was OK.The problem I have had has been with the TPMS it has never been right since. OK when left main dealers, but 2 weeks after as I was driving up the M6 to come over to IOM perminantly it started flashing again. Went to main dealer on IOM to get it fixed but unfortunatly they never got it right so TPMS flashes on and off all the time

Interesting what you say about Toyota,s new stance on the exchange. They went overboard saying you had to take it to a main dealer to get xchange wheel and tyre but seems they have now back tracked. Does this mean you could take it to any reputable Tyre dealer to have punture fixed

Clare

[sywy]

Clare, no you still can't take it to any tyre dealer, as they need special equipment, so Toyota have got us by the proverbials.

It was pretty shambolic today, and I am nor RAV-less :(

As I said, Burton could not get a tyre in until tomorrow PM, but they did have a look to see if it was repairable. However, they did advise me not to drive it, because it was punctured, and it was dangerous to do so??? So what is the use of runflats then. I pointed out that runflats were good for something like 50mph and a range of something like 100 miles (or something like that). They still said it was dangerous and would be stating that in the safety inspection report they give you. Derby and Tamworth failed to get back to me, despite ringing both of them twice!! Ron Brookes in Ilkeston were brilliant. They knew all about the wheel exchange scheme, despite it being dropped, and were generally very knowledgable, and even had a tyre in stock. However, it was getting late in the day, and they suggested I leave the car with them, as it would take them about 2 hours to change the tyre, and I also asked if they could service it while it was in. They also gave me a courtesy car, FOC, without me asking for one. However, the tyre will be costing me approx £200 and if there is any damage to the 'donut' inside, then that's another £100!! I feel very agrieved about this, as this is not how the car was sold to me. I did have slight concerns about not having a spare, but was reassured by the salesman about how easy it was to drive into any dealer in the country to get the wheel swapped out. I know if this was any other car, i would have had to fork out for a new tyre, but as I said, it was not how the car was sold to me. Actually, I think I may write a letter of complaint to Toyota. Anyone know how I go about this? I'm also unhappy that a puncture rendered my £27K+ car practically useless for over a day :censor:

[rav4t180]

I'm afraid that I have a worse sob story. I noticed that my T180 (only 1000 miles on the clock) had a screw in the tyre about 3 weeks ago and still haven't had the tyre changed. My local Toyota dealer have now had my car for a week and the whole thing has been a comedy of errors.

First of all they admitted that they had no one trained to use the new tyre machine, then the machine was broken, then it was working but they got my wheel stuck on the machine! They had to get an engineer from Bridgestone in to get my wheel off the machine but now the wheel itself is damaged!

So....now I'm watiing for a new wheel to arrive and to be fitted!

My advice is...if you buy a T180 then install concrete tyres because you REALLY don't want to get a puncture!

Oh yeah, the best quote I had from the dealer was, "We don't expect our new customers to have such problems with their vehicles"! It seems that new vehicles are exempt from the laws of physics!

[sywy]

Sorry to hear that ravt180. If I was in your position, I would insist that they swap a wheel from one of their demos or s/h car.

For info, are you having to pay for your tyre, as I am? Just want to confirm the subsidised wheel exchange scheme is really over.

BTW, your 1st post. Welcome to TOC

[Parts-King]

The T180 tyres are the Bridgestone run flat tyres. The reason an exchange scheme was put in place was that you cannot change the tyre with normal wheel fitting gear, it needs a special tyre fitting machine. Cost? have a guess, go on dare you!......wait for it......drum roll.......£20,000 Yes, 20K, now you might all cough a bit at that, but as you can see, not many dealers were up to spending 20K on a tyre machine. Toyota have now had a re-think and dealers can lease one at a subsidised rate, we have a new machine installed, and it takes up a full working bay! The exchange is still in place, as far as I know. This is a Bridgestone idea, not a Toyota one, although Toyota have opted to fit these tyres to top of the range models, I don't think they realised how awkward a scheme it would be to run, and you wonder why labour rates are so high! Maybe have a smidgeing of sympathy with your dealer on this one, pleeeeease Kingo

[Manxrav]

The T180 tyres are the Bridgestone run flat tyres. The reason an exchange scheme was put in place was that you cannot change the tyre with normal wheel fitting gear, it needs a special tyre fitting machine. Cost? have a guess, go on dare you!......wait for it......drum roll.......£20,000 Yes, 20K, now you might all cough a bit at that, but as you can see, not many dealers were up to spending 20K on a tyre machine. Toyota have now had a re-think and dealers can lease one at a subsidised rate, we have a new machine installed, and it takes up a full working bay! The exchange is still in place, as far as I know. This is a Bridgestone idea, not a Toyota one, although Toyota have opted to fit these tyres to top of the range models, I don't think they realised how awkward a scheme it would be to run, and you wonder why labour rates are so high! Maybe have a smidgeing of sympathy with your dealer on this one, pleeeeease Kingo

Parts-king, not wishing to appear rude are you something to do with a Toyota main dealer? maybe from your location Lindop Bros?

Please don,t take offence it,s just you were well clued up on the tyre situation!!

Clare

[rav4t180]

Sorry to hear that ravt180. If I was in your position, I would insist that they swap a wheel from one of their demos or s/h car.

For info, are you having to pay for your tyre, as I am? Just want to confirm the subsidised wheel exchange scheme is really over.

BTW, your 1st post. Welcome to TOC

Just had some "good" news. My car is now finished. The "bad" news is that I've had to pay £250 before they would bring it back!

I'm told that this was subject to a "substantial" discount due to the hassle that I've been put through which makes me slightly concerned about the next time I get a flat!

[sywy]

Yeah, mine was £200+VAT. :o

Parts-King. I was told that the wheel exchange is only in force at dealers who still have not got the machines, and that there wern't many of them left. I tried 4 different dealers, and 3 of them didn't even know of a wheel exchange scheme!!

[alanbradley]

Tyre pressure monitoring systems and run-flats are the work of the devil. Its the only possible explanation. In fact, its one of the reasons my father bought a Jag XJ instead of another 5-series BMW.

Here's hoping my Mum's T180 doesn't get a puncture in the near future....

A

[rav4t180]

Yeah, mine was £200+VAT. :o

Parts-King. I was told that the wheel exchange is only in force at dealers who still have not got the machines, and that there wern't many of them left. I tried 4 different dealers, and 3 of them didn't even know of a wheel exchange scheme!!

Got my car back, yay!

The invoice says that I was charged £124 for the tyre and £90 for a Support Ring (whatever that is)...both excluding VAT.

Funny thing was that the delivery driver said "Wow, a tyre change shouldn't take that long!"

Discovered something else too...the clutch on my T180 is as stiff as a board compared with the one on the XTR that I've had the last week!

[shcm]

Maybe Mr T should have gone for these puppies

Tweel

The story I heard about these (probably apocryphal) was that although they claim to meet the normal requirements of a tyre, so far, joe public is not convinced, because they look, er, er different.

As an Engineer (not chassis or tyre I hasten to add!), they struck me as a neat solution. Of course, despite what the motor industry would have you believe, they are mainly a conservative lot (and who can blame them as it's ££££££ for them to pay out if anything should go wrong), so I expect there would need to be a massive amount of testing and convincing before any major VM like Mr T took these on.

Anyway, you T180 owners (and perhaps XTR?) have my sympathy. IMHO, this is not really on for a £27K vehicle (heck, even the Yaris has a skinny) and I think the whole spare wheel issue needs a rethink. This is one of the reasons why I didn't even take a T180 test drive, as I'm quite certain that engine would have made the temptation too great (No, I'm not gloating - just probably slightly jealous!) and I didn't want the spare wheel in the boot or not have one.

Cheers

[anchorman]

I think I would be looking for a set of bog standard wheels and tyres if I had a T180.

[chatman]

Yeah, mine was £200+VAT. :o

Parts-King. I was told that the wheel exchange is only in force at dealers who still have not got the machines, and that there wern't many of them left. I tried 4 different dealers, and 3 of them didn't even know of a wheel exchange scheme!!

Got my car back, yay!

The invoice says that I was charged £124 for the tyre and £90 for a Support Ring (whatever that is)...both excluding VAT.

Funny thing was that the delivery driver said "Wow, a tyre change shouldn't take that long!"

Discovered something else too...the clutch on my T180 is as stiff as a board compared with the one on the XTR that I've had the last week!

:eek: O my god....just for one trye.....What happens if you happen to get two, miles from anywhere.....I was once looking at our new (now old moved on) house on a building site....got back to car and found two punctures.....RAC came to rescue.... :D

But what a fiasco to get one tyre fixed...surely Toyota dont expect you to fork out this every flat tyre you may have the missfortune to encounter....... :help:

[anchorman]

The T180 tyres are the Bridgestone run flat tyres. The reason an exchange scheme was put in place was that you cannot change the tyre with normal wheel fitting gear, it needs a special tyre fitting machine. Cost? have a guess, go on dare you!......wait for it......drum roll.......£20,000 Yes, 20K, now you might all cough a bit at that, but as you can see, not many dealers were up to spending 20K on a tyre machine. Toyota have now had a re-think and dealers can lease one at a subsidised rate, we have a new machine installed, and it takes up a full working bay! The exchange is still in place, as far as I know. This is a Bridgestone idea, not a Toyota one, although Toyota have opted to fit these tyres to top of the range models, I don't think they realised how awkward a scheme it would be to run, and you wonder why labour rates are so high! Maybe have a smidgeing of sympathy with your dealer on this one, pleeeeease Kingo

Sorry mate, if they are going to sell these things to trusting customers they should be fully equiped to deal with consumable items like tyres - especially if they specify a consumable item that is not widely available.

They (Toyota) never thought this one through. A flat tyre should be no more of an issue to a T180 owner as it is for any other car owner and to be in this pathetic state is unbelievable. We are not talking about a piece of specialised anylising gear that will be used once in a blue moon we are talking about a simple demonstration of customer care and this is just not good enough. Every single dealer that has supplied ONE T180 should have either an exchange wheel and tyre or a tyre and the kit to fit it in stock from the first day that car goes out on the road OR Toyota should have made sure that every "fast fit" centre was able to deal with a puncture.

When potential customers read these posts and decide to buy something else they deserve everything they get. They just make owning one prohibitive and :censor: to them.

Angry from Derbyshire.

[Manxrav]

Yeah, mine was £200+VAT. :o

Parts-King. I was told that the wheel exchange is only in force at dealers who still have not got the machines, and that there wern't many of them left. I tried 4 different dealers, and 3 of them didn't even know of a wheel exchange scheme!!

Got my car back, yay!

The invoice says that I was charged £124 for the tyre and £90 for a Support Ring (whatever that is)...both excluding VAT.

Funny thing was that the delivery driver said "Wow, a tyre change shouldn't take that long!"

Discovered something else too...the clutch on my T180 is as stiff as a board compared with the one on the XTR that I've had the last week!

:eek: O my god....just for one trye.....What happens if you happen to get two, miles from anywhere.....I was once looking at our new (now old moved on) house on a building site....got back to car and found two punctures.....RAC came to rescue.... :D

But what a fiasco to get one tyre fixed...surely Toyota dont expect you to fork out this every flat tyre you may have the missfortune to encounter....... :help:

After reading all the posts on this subject, loads in the last few hours, I really do feel p*** off with this senario. It,s about time someone got their finger out at Mr T and came clean about this stitch up of T180 owners. I,m Going to ring my main dealer here on the Island to see what his stance is on the situation!!!

Sorry about that little outburst

Clare :censor:

[dave.m]

Mmmmm,

Just my 2p's worth, but, as it would seem Mr T has abandoned all you T180 owners when it comes

to punctures have you any thoughts about alternatives ? I guess you are gonna have to pay some

one for a tyre repair I think if it was me I would speak to my local BMW/ MINI dealer. Never heard

many complaints about their run flats. It would be good to get the average market price for a repair

to these tyres before considering what to do next.

Anchorman may also have a point about changing wheels / tyres to regular ones. Mr T should be

offering an exchange programme if he is doing an about turn on the free exchange for punctured

wheel. This issue looks like it could get messy

Good luck,

Dave

[Sussex_Paul]

Yes, Mr T

Another rather concerned T180 owner here.

Sort out this issue please, it's certainly not something I would file in the drawer marked "Good Customer Service".

Are we all panicking over nothing, or has the T180 tyre/wheel exchange process that you sold to us when we paid you £27k now been cancelled due to lack of forethought??

At £200 per puncture, I'll be pretty f@@@ed off and looking at another car in the not too distant future if thats the case.

For a manufacturer of Toyota's status it aint good enough.

[druand]

I started a thread on this subject December 2006, "T180 Run Flat Tyres". I was told then about exchange scheme when testing T180. I was not too happy about possible problems. I drive many miles in north scotland at weekends to motorsport events (some off road) and 200 - 300 miles home afterwards. You can see my concern.

One reply to my question was "when did you last have a puncture"

I think current topics have verified my concerns.

[alanbradley]

Mmmmm,

Just my 2p's worth, but, as it would seem Mr T has abandoned all you T180 owners when it comes

to punctures have you any thoughts about alternatives ? I guess you are gonna have to pay some

one for a tyre repair I think if it was me I would speak to my local BMW/ MINI dealer. Never heard

many complaints about their run flats. It would be good to get the average market price for a repair

to these tyres before considering what to do next.

Anchorman may also have a point about changing wheels / tyres to regular ones. Mr T should be

offering an exchange programme if he is doing an about turn on the free exchange for punctured

wheel. This issue looks like it could get messy

Good luck,

Dave

Dave, its a different system on the BMWs - they just a have a mega-stiff sidewall whereas the T180s have a solid (rubber? - some sort of polymer I guess) ring around the wheel rim inside the tyre.

Further to what I said above, if I were to buy a T180 (either Auris or RAV - and not an inconceivable event) I would be swapping the wheels and tyres for aftermarket ones and a can of Tyreweld...

My folks' local dealer (Struans of Perth btw) assured my father they would always have at least one wheel in stock. For there sakes, here's hoping they do should something happen - he's too good a customer to loose over something as silly as a tyre.

A

PS I also notice that you (Dave) live just up the road from me ;-)

[dave.m]

Dave, its a different system on the BMWs - they just a have a mega-stiff sidewall whereas the T180s have a solid (rubber? - some sort of polymer I guess) ring around the wheel rim inside the tyre.

A

PS I also notice that you (Dave) live just up the road from me ;-)

Hi Alan, see your point on above, but would still be interested in cost and repair method used. Personally in the unlikely event of me ever

buying a T180 I think I would tell MrT to stuff his runflats and fit standard wheels/tyres and give me discount (presumably the runflats are

a lot more expensive).

I had not noticed that you were from "The Law" as we locals call it. There does not appear to be many members from this neck of the woods

well not in Rav 4 section anyway. There is one member called Bothwell Buyer but I dont know if he is from the local village which is rife with

footballers and millionaires or it is a reference to Bothwell street in Glasgow.

Cheers,

Dave

[duncerduncs]

Hi everyone, first post!

The wife and I collected our T180 on Saturday, and so far we've been very happy with it

This morning though, the TPMS light came on when the wife was driving to work (we live in Reading, she works near Oxford), having read this forum I told her to check the tyre pressures later and let me know.

In the meantime, I rang my local dealer in Reading to enquire what to do if it was a puncture, and was told that the nearest dealer that had the equipment to repair/replace run flat tyres was.... SLOUGH (19 miles away) :censor:

So if you live near Reading, hope you never get a puncture!

If I did replace the run-flat tyres with 'normal' ones, would this affect my warranty? (It does with BMW)

[anchorman]

I started a thread on this subject December 2006, "T180 Run Flat Tyres". I was told then about exchange scheme when testing T180. I was not too happy about possible problems. I drive many miles in north scotland at weekends to motorsport events (some off road) and 200 - 300 miles home afterwards. You can see my concern.

One reply to my question was "when did you last have a puncture"

I think current topics have verified my concerns.

Andy

I have always advocated that statistically the chances of getting a puncture are low and I may have been one of those that made this comment (I can't remember) but what is emerging here is a nightmare scenario where having a puncture is as big of an issue as having an obscure ECU go. Nobody has the kit to sort it out so the vehicle is rendered unuseable then when they do eventually fix it you are faced with an unreasonable bill.

I do remember saying that I wouldn't object to not carrying a spare wheel on the back door but that was on the grounds that getting a puncture sorted out was a relatively painless issue and not a Toyota inflicted nightmare.

If I were in the process of buying one I would say "yes I will have it when you put a set of standard 18" wheels and tyres on and disable that TPMS system".

I only carry junk in the boot so I would whip that box out and carry a spare in there.

Regards

[Manxrav]

I started a thread on this subject December 2006, "T180 Run Flat Tyres". I was told then about exchange scheme when testing T180. I was not too happy about possible problems. I drive many miles in north scotland at weekends to motorsport events (some off road) and 200 - 300 miles home afterwards. You can see my concern.

One reply to my question was "when did you last have a puncture"

I think current topics have verified my concerns.

Andy

I have always advocated that statistically the chances of getting a puncture are low and I may have been one of those that made this comment (I can't remember) but what is emerging here is a nightmare scenario where having a puncture is as big of an issue as having an obscure ECU go. Nobody has the kit to sort it out so the vehicle is rendered unuseable then when they do eventually fix it you are faced with an unreasonable bill.

I do remember saying that I wouldn't object to not carrying a spare wheel on the back door but that was on the grounds that getting a puncture sorted out was a relatively painless issue and not a Toyota inflicted nightmare.

If I were in the process of buying one I would say "yes I will have it when you put a set of standard 18" wheels and tyres on and disable that TPMS system".

I only carry junk in the boot so I would whip that box out and carry a spare in there.

Regards

Have rung my Toyota Dealer this morning ( Caledonian Toyoya in Douglas) and they do carry spare wheel + tyre as the norm. But later this month they are instaling the tyre machine to repair the tyres on site and it is chargeable for this service.Probably the reasoning behind this is that they are selling a lot more T180 Rav,s and Auris models and realise that they can,t cope with the tyre/wheel exchange system.

Clare