Coker Tire Problems?

Cokers suck. The radials anyway. I HAD to have a set when they first came out...I made it around 4k miles on them...then the belts broke in one, and on close inspection the tread was seperating on two more. I was 200 or so miles from home at the time, and had to buy a set of cheap radials to get home. Took them back to Coker in person, they offered most of my money back, never offered to replace them or sell me another set. I heard they had around a 70% return rate...then bought a set of diamondbacks...bought the recaps they were selling, and they lasted about 500 miles and the belts in two of them broke. Mr Diamondback offered me a set of the new Daytons he sells at a discount, and I've got about 15k on them. I've got one that is out of round now, but I think that is due to a slighty warped rim I was running. I don't think any of the manufacturers of these expect them to actually be used...like driving all day in the middle of the summer at highway speeds...I think I'll just go back to running portawalls and replace them every few thousand miles ... becuase that's all they will last on radials!

Brian

 

Thanks Tagman for the info. later plmczy

 

Okay. Is this only the radials from coker that suck? I need a good pair of skinny bias-ply whitewalls for my drag car. That means they have to be able to go 120mph and not come apart. If I can't get a decent tire, I'll have to go back to the cracked, hard and ugly 40 year old front runners that I have now, because I know they'll last. Dave

 

This is some info I received today from
a conversation with a coker sales rep.
Coker Classic radial wide whites are rated to 93 m.p.h.
B.F.G. Siverstone radial wide whites are rated to
112 m.p.h.
The Firestone bias plys are rated to 93 m.p.h.
They (Coker ) say the above tires are d.o.t. approved
and this info is available with purchase of tires.
Tires that are for display only will be noted.
Since Coker reps so many mfg'd tires, I only asked
about these, since they were the ones in question.
They also make speed rated and racing tires in radials
and bias. These babys can cost as much as $250 bucks
a pop. Most are Michelin brand.
As far as there warranty....well it pretty much sucks.
The refund price is based on tread wear. So if the white
wall starts to discolor, your refund will be based
on miles used. I think thats a rip. Tire wear has nothing
to do with a mfg. defect. The sales rep also told me
that shipping would be paid for in both directions on
returns. Sounds like b.s. if you read some of the complaints on here..
I'm still waiting for a call from the bigger cheese.
Will see........
---------------------------------------------------------
"OPOSSUM BENDERS"
Central Missouri Chapter

 

I'm running Dayton radial WWW and have not had any problems.
15k so far, no yellowing, out of round or balance issues.
TZ

 

I know the tire problens I mentioned were bias ply,the 475 Stones were so out of round it was a laugh and the two new replacements wern't much better.The rear that was a blow out was a 750 Stone,I was running about 60mph on the fryway and boom the tire was destroyed,not even repairable,the whole thing scares the crap out of me and I'm always edgy when I'm out on a longer trip-TV

 

A year or so ago a buddy sent me a copy of an article about Coker. The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) was investigating Coker because of its aledged monopoly of the "collector" car tire business. I wonder what ever came of this?

 

There should be a class action law suit against Coker to put them out of their misery. If a company can't produce a safe product, they have no business being in business. Any HAMB lawyer want to take this on before someone gets killed with Cokers on their ride?

 

i was told years ago by the motorcycle shop that does my work do not use cokers if you plan on riding.several peple told me about wear problems on their bike stuff.i figured they have the problems with the car tires too.the tires seem to be made for the trailered cars and bikes

 

I have two guys in my club buy radial wide whites for their cars from Coker:
Rocket303 (Bill)
Primered54 (Todd)

They both experienced bubbling/ whitewall separation. Again, this was with radial wide whites from Coker.

I bought mine through White Walls Plus in Oregon- Nice guy, no tax, lower prices, no defects what so ever.

 

Jay,
Is it this place?

http://www.whitewallsplus.com/index.htm

I know that everyone is talking about the white walls, but what about Cokers black wall 17's? I talked to one of the guys a Diamond Back and he said that coker tires are the same ones that are made for "Rickshaws", and are not meant to be driven. Just a little info.

Chris Nelson
Kansas

 

There also The White Wall Candy Store in So Cal.

http://www.whitewallcandystore.com/

 

Coker Tire Company would like to respond to some of the messages that have been posted recently on this bulletin board. There seems to be some confusion and varying degrees of misinformation circulating on the Internet and we would like to reassure our customers and potential customers of the type of tires we sell, their quality and the conditions of our warranty.


1. Coker Tire sells only top quality products. Every product we sell meets or exceeds every government regulation that is required for that specific product. Our Coker Classic and BFG radials are DOT approved and registered. They have also passed the very stringent ECE testing (European Community) which allows their sale in Europe. They are also U.T.Q.G. (Uniform Tire Quality Grade) tested which is established by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards. The Coker Classic and BFG Silvertown radials are built by Denman Tire in a Michelin licensed plant in Mexico.
2. Our bias ply Firestone and B.F. Goodrich tires are all built in either the original molds or in new molds built from drawings of the original tire. These tires are built with modern materials and techniques. Which means that not only are they authentic, but they perform better than the “original” tires.
3. Our warranty is the best in the industry. We are the only tire company that has a “life of the tread warranty.” I challenge anyone to find a better warranty in the industry. Check the written warranty on the other tire company mentioned in this thread and you find they warrant their tire for only 3 years, and yes, it is a prorated warranty. We do prorate all warranty adjustments. Basically, you pay for the tread wear you used. For example, if you have a tire that cost $100.00 and you have used 25 % of the tread you will get a $75.00 credit. This is standard practice in the tire industry. But consider a related product, your car battery. If you purchase a battery with a 60 month warranty and it fails after 30 months you get a credit for the remaining life of the warranty. But don’t take my word for it, call any other national automotive center and ask them. Also ask them about their tire warranty while you have them on the phone. If a tire is less than a year old we reimburse our customer on all the freight charges. Over one year and we pay the replacement shipping (one way).
4. We are a family owned and operated business. We have been around since 1958. We have over 800 tires sizes for vehicles from the late 1800’s up to 1975. We are collectors and enthusiast ourselves. We are in the hobby just like you and we care about the people and the quality of the products that we sell.
5. Coker Tire is an industry leader. We are always developing new products for the market and constantly improving the ones we have. We developed the first wide white radial and have been selling them for eight years. We are also introducing our new B.F. Goodrich Silvertown radial in a 75 series in the spring on 2004.
6. Coker Tire has the absolute best customer service of any tire company around. We are always willing to go that extra mile to help a customer that has had a problem if given the opportunity. If you have a problem please call us.

The most important aspect of any sale is the service after the sale. Coker Tire Company is in it 45th year of business. It has been our goal to provide the best products, information and service to our customers. Given the opportunity, we always take care of our customers. We appreciate and welcome any questions. Please call us at 1-800-251-6336.

Jess Hoodenpyle
Coker Tire Company
www.Coker.com

 

That is great to hear Jess...
You will have no problem correcting the problems I was taking about then.You can respond to me here, or you can give me your phone ext. #.
At this point there is only so much time I am prepared to spend on this...

 

Thanks Jess
For your response.
Jess can be reached at ext 263

 

Jess H, a very nice song and dance BUT you did NOT address the issue of why Coker has so many problems with their tires. Just because the "government" has rated them safe does not mean squat when word of mouth dictates otherwise. I have seen with my own eyes the condition of too many of your tires after virtually no wear. I personally have too many friends that have horror stories regarding seperating belts, thread spliting and the HASSLE of having to remove the tires, send them back, then wait. SO much cruzn time lost because of the consistant poor quality of Coker tires. WHY would I put myself thru that when I have other CHOICES in the industry. I'll be buying tires for my hot rods thru the coming years and you can bet that Cokers will never be one of them.

But thanks for your input here. We'll all be watching to see if you satisfy Metalshapes or any of the many others here that have had unresovled problems thru the years.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Does that include the Firestones?

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I've run Coker Firestones on my cars now for almost 10 years , and driven them all up and down the coast and never had any troubles with them discolouring , spliting or yellowing . Of course these are the Firestone bias-ply tires . I couldnt tell you anything about the radials , but the tires I have gotten from Coker have always ridden well , ballanced well ( static balanced on the inside only ) , and I have always had good customer service . I would buy from them again no problem .

 

I agree with Denise.

Be a good ombudsman and we will sing of your merits.

Investigate the claims against Coker and report back here. If the fault of faulty tread seperations is NOT of the tires but poorly installed or aligned front suspension, let us know. If the problems of bubbling sidewalls, out of round and out of balance tires and faded whitewalls is because of something the user did, report back here. They aired it publicly first, let us know the whole story.

And if the tires were faulty, replace them, refund them, and admit that too. Let us know how Coker intends to prevent it from happening again.

Or, the customers will prevent it from happening again.

If you really want to be viewed as a standup company that genuinely wants to service their customers, I think public communication is the only way to gain trust.

My own Coker experiences?

I've owned 12 Firestone Bias-Ply tires. All furfilled a full life eventually being worn to beyond the tread bars. No quality problems, unusual whitewall bleeding, nothing that would make me alarmed about purchasing more.

I've seen the Coker Radial whitewall tires that an aquantience (James King of Houston) put on his custom '40 Ford. This happened around 1994 or 1995. The car had been painted when the tires were purchased, so the tires were not subjected to painting chemicals. The tires were installed and the assembly process started. The car was in an enclosed garage in Houston. The car sat on the inflated tires during the process and was occasionally rolled to make assembly easier. Assembly was completed within 6 months. At that time the tire sidewalls were severely checked. James showed the car for a few months on those tires before he persued a refund torwards a set of Silvertown radial whitewalls. The Silvertowns were not available from Coker at that time. I don't know what satisfaction James ever received, but I do know that those Coker tires cracked within 8 months of purchase and without use.

I intend to purchase more Firestone Bias-Ply tires in the future.

 

That was my first thought to ryan, but like modernbeat said I wanna know how they are gonna address these issues that have come up?

 

A friend of mine from NYC had one blow out on his way to the Syracuse show in July.He said the tread just blew up.He was doing about 50.Fortunately it was a rear tire.He had to buy a black wall to get going again.

 

I will try and find the bills that came with those tires.
And then I will give Jess a call.
I will report back here, no matter what the outcome. Good, bad or indifferent.

 

Could it be that because we perceive Coker as such a small company and mom and pop family operated business, we expect them to address our needs in a more personal manner? Don't you all think that these issues you are all describing happen with radials from every brand much more commonly?

Low profile tires? What about 24" tires at $350 a tire? I have a few friends running those low profile rubberbands and they too sit around at car meets and express their concerns about bubbled sidewalls, ripped treads, and tire warranties. As an owner of a brand new set of coker's I've been following this thread closely, but I almost feel like because this hobby is such a tightnit group these issues are seeming more common than is normal for any tire company. As long as Coker stands by their product and has a better warranty than everyone else, I'll stand by them. The fact that they posted here says a lot about how much they stand by their product.

Posts on forums about concerns with products are an interesting thing to follow. I have seen pretty serious witchhunts happen, from hundreds of users complaining about customer service, all the way to companies suing those users for slander/libel. I think coker has addressed concerns by providing a personal contact and name to tell your concerns to. Those of you still needing to vent or address concerns should call Jess.

-Dane

 

I noticed something whit my tires .. the rear are goodyears .. the front are Corkers .. the front ones have this WW residue directly around the edge of the rim .. I keep them inflated to the proper preassure and the alignment is good .. why does this happen?... I clean it off and about a week later I notice it again... it kinda freaks me out if the tire is rubbing against the rim cuz I dont want to wear it out to the point its gonnna blow out. I just dont understand why the back ones that arent Corkers dont do the same thing?... anyone else seen this?

 

I just got of the phone with Jess.
He took both problems serious, and they are being corrected right now.
He gave me his word that he is going to take a good honest look at my tires, when they come back. He even took the time to expain to me exactly how they will be tested.
I agree with Ryan, the way this guy reacted is impressive.
I had already walked away from the situation, and cut my losses, so I did not expect this kind of result.
Even though my front rims have already been checked by 2 different tire stores, if for some reason they turn out to be the problem afterall, I will post that here too, to keep this thing from being one sided.
Like I told Jess, I'm not trying to get something for nothing.

 

I see a few people have noticed small slashes in the sidewalls of the Widewhites, Can anyone confirm if this problem has gone on to cause a failure? It's just that my wifes model A runs them and I have noticed some tiny "slashes" in the side wall and she drives this car with my daughter. I was going to get some firestone blackwalls today for my 38 but noticed on the chart that no speed rating was advertised so I am getting Avon Turbo speeds rated at 150. channeled413a you might want to look at these for your dragster, also Dunlop do one the RS5 which has a good rating 130. I do not know about availability in the U.S.A though.

http://www.vintagetyres.com/vintageindex.htm

 

i had a fairly new tire seperate. they repsonded quickly and i sent it back. they sent me a new one no questions asked, which i think is great.

well couple of months later the other tire seperates. pull them both and notice the one they sent back is the wrong size and caused the other to wear out. after reading this post i decided that it was not worth the hassle to get another tire and had planned on going w/ someone else, BUT i am totally impressed that they responded to our little community and i am willing to try again.

hopefully i can get a replacement that is correct.

 

[ QUOTE ]

The most important aspect of any sale is the service after the sale. Coker Tire Company is in it 45th year of business. It has been our goal to provide the best products, information and service to our customers. Given the opportunity, we always take care of our customers. We appreciate and welcome any questions.


[/ QUOTE ]

Well that is fine and dandy, but Wallace Wade gave me the run around and blamed it all on your company and the time I contacted you I got nothing but static and your comments really don't fly with me. Why don't you look up in your records (I doubt you keep any on this) and find my name (Byron Crump, Texas) and explain to me why I was left holding the bag because you guys and Wallace Wade would not take back two brand new tires that sat for about nine months in the packing stuff they came in that were so out of round when I tried to mount them I threw them away about five or six years ago. Oh, and every set of Silvertowns and Cokers I have had have turned yellow, would you like to see the set on my 50 merc some time? They are pretty dang yellow and I have not "ruined them with cleaning products" or any other such nonsense I have gotten from you guys about them. I have taken care of them and they do not have that many miles on them. In fact, I never put tire shine or anything on them so that is not the cause. I can also name several people who have had bad luck with you tires (some of these being magazine cars) and switched to the Silvertowns because the Coker Classics split and turned yellow. The Wade people told them to get the Silvertowns. In fact, one somewhat infamous case in Dallas resulted in Wallace Wade giving someone a set of Silvertowns to replace some crud Cokers and inclueded a comment about how they could not handle the kind of miles the guy put on them and that they were "show" tires. Im sorry, but I have issues with you big time and I do not believe you take care of you customers. I have Slivertowns on my merc now, when they wear out I probably will put on Dimondbacks because I have yet to have these problems with them. The proof is on the wheels of my merc right now in fab yellow/brown and I really do not know how you can explain what the set on my old 51 Ford did to the new owner..the tread was comming off all four big time in less than a year. It is one thing to say what you are saying, I have seen little proof.

One of your customers, the one out some money on your tires.

Merc 50 or Byron Crump...take your pick.

 

Hey Jess.
When I contacted you by phone and informed you
about the Jalopy Journal and the H.A.M.B. and
the problems members were having with the Coker
tires, your comment was "Thanks so much for bringing
this to my attention."
As I said to you on the phone, please reply,
sign up and deal with us.
That You have done, but I hope you are still
reading this thread.
We need more answers to the issues on your
Companys tires.
Mike (visor)
------------------------------------------------------
"OPOSSUM BENDERS"
Central Missouri chapter