First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Friday night I experenced my first flat tire on my new '06 HCH. The flat was on the rear passenger side. I promptly pulled over to change the tire and install the douhgtnut. The scissor jack that comes with the car had no problem lifting the car but was very slow and a pain to use. Once the car was lifted I got the tire on and was back on the road in a min. On Saturday night I took the flat tire out of my car to inspect the damage and try to repair the tire. After about 20 min. of looking for a nail or screw or other forgien object nothing was found in the tread or the sidewall. Now being that I do not have a working air compressor to check for the leak I took the car up the street to National Tire and Battery. NTB found a very very small puncture to the sidewall of the tire which is unrepairable, so I have to buy a brand new tire. At first NTB said that they did not stock my tire. Then went to order the tire and get a price and then they told me that they could not even order the tire. What a bummer. I called another place and they couldn't get the tire either. I will call a few more places tomorrow. I also looked on the internet and no luck there. The tire is made by Dunlop, I went to their website and they didn't even have the tire listed there with the other tires. I know that this is a special tire being a low rolling resistance tire but It shouldn't be this hard to find. I hope that I do not have to go to the dealer for it because they will bend me over. I wil let everyone know my outcome.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Here is a link at TireRack.com ...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/OETire...cleSearch=true

$68 per tire, about $33 for the road hazard ;) . If you have a hard time with the stock jack, you can always buy a hydraulic one at a relatively decent price at a parts store. Just make sure you buy one that will go low enough!!! I didn't pay attention once and I had purchased it to more easily get the car up for oil changes. I had to jack the car up to get the jack under it (I gave the it to someone with a higher vehicle :P ) Hope this helps!!!

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Your Honda dealer doesn't stock the tires?

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Thanks for the link for the tires. If I can't find it anywhere around my house for that price I will buy from tire rack. $16.00 to ship a tire, not bad. The road hazzard is $33 but you have to buy all four tires to get it. I was already planning to buy a new jack just haddn't done it yet. I just thought that I told everyone else that it was slow to use.

As far as the dealer having the tires in stock I am sure that they do, but I don't want to go there unless I have too because I know they will marked up in price at the dealer.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Now that you know the Tire Rack price, it doesn't hurt to call the dealer to ask. You might be surprised. The price difference may be less than the extra cost of shipping an internet order. The dealers know which items you can easily comparison shop, and they won't gouge you on those usually.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Thats true, I'll call them too tomorrow.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

You can also buy the road hazard warranty (Certificate) from Discount Tire. We did that on my Pilot and the Sub...haven't gotten around on the Ody yet, but at 30K miles, I probably won't. It saved me on both the Pilot and the Sub. The Sub tires were about $130 each...I paid about $80 for the Certificates. On the Pilot, I had two tires become damaged beyond repair. Certificates cost me about $100 (including the two replacement tires), and each tire had a retail value of around $80.

The other good thing that Discount has done for us is if the tire is not in stock, they will mount a loaner tire of equivalent size so that you can get the spare off the car in case another tire goes bad.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

lol **** how did you blow your tire? i don t even have a spare on mine ;S

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

In making a buying decision like that I usually ask myself two questions: (a) how much $$ do I make an hour? (b) how much $$ do I then "spend" by using lots of hours looking around to beat a pre-existing price by a few dollars?

That's not to say that you can't save some serious bucks by shopping around (I usually do that online with a quick price compare any time I buy a new gizmo, consider shipping charges and delivery time vs. state sales tax, etc., or in-stock here or wait there, for a better price) but it's also easy to drive right past the exit called "Diminishing Returns" and not get off the freeway ;)

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

There isn't any factory warranty on the tire from Dunlop? If I recall correctly, the Michelins that came with my '02 Acura TL were covered for 1 year, free replacement.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

I just wanted to give an update about finding a tire. I decided to call Honda yesterday to see if the tire was in stock and find out the price. Honda did not have one in stock and they had to call me back with the price. When they did I was told $104 just for the tire and about 5 days to get it in stock. So know that Tire rack was $68.00 with $16.00 shipping and delivered in 2 days I decided to look around. I went to sears, no luck and they could even order it or give a price. I called Mr. Tire, Merchants tire, Pep Boys and a mom and pop tire shop all no luck. Then a went to a Goodyear store because Goodyear owns Dunlop and I figured that if anybody had it it would be them. No luck either, the guy at Goodyear never even heard of the tire. He looked in the computer to see if they had it at any other Goodyear anywhere, and guess what no luck. He also called three tire distributors and they all didn't have it. I of them said they would get it in, in about a month. So, I decided to order from tire rack yesterday. The tire was already shipped and I should have it tomorrow. This seems to be a very hard to find tire. The way it sounded from the guy at Goodyear is because the tire is so new to the market its not even out yet. I don't know what tire is on the HCH I's, but that sound about right to me. Hopefully they will be more plentiful in a few months.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Having read this entire thread, I'm a little confused... Isn't there some kind of warranty on the '06 HCH tires, especially since the car is almost brand new? Forgive me if I've missed something obvious.

Don

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

You may want to try Sears, or contact Dunlop directly. When I was looking to see if they had replacements for my Dunlop SP20 (stock on 2003 HCH), I could not find them anywhere (not even on the Dunlop site). When I contacted them, they said Sears carried them. Wound up buying another brand however (needed 4 anyway).

Update: Oops - didn't read your last update. Sorry! I ordered my new wheels from TireRack - had a great experience with them. They shipped the wrong caps - sent me replacements for everything free of charge and very prompt.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

I sorry, I keep forgetting to answer this. There is a warranty on the tires however, it only comes workmanship on the tires. The tire damage is considered road hazzard damage. It would only be covered if I bought the optional wheel and tire hazzard warranty for $900 from Honda.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

The reason it's so hard to fine the Dunlop SP37 A/S is because it's an OEM tire, which means it's only used as original equipment on cars but is not actually sold at any tire shop anywhere (well, except Tire Rack). The SP40 A/S are non-OEM and those would be much easier to find... but neither tire is really that good.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

The tire I was looking for was Dunlop SP31 A/S. I have found other OEM tires no problem. Alll of the stores had plenty of SP40's even though they are not OEM! These tires have a very different tread pattern. Three of the places I went to told me how unsual the tread pattern was oon the tire. There is not much of a demand for this type of tire...until the HCH'II or anyother vehicle wanting better fuel economy.

Also, just to say that in the small driving I have done with my spare the mileage has drastically dropped. Thats okay because I am driving the truck till I get a new tire.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Finally got the tire today! I will mount and balance it tomorrow and I will be back on the road.

Re: First Flat Tire '06 HCH
 

Glad to hear you got the tire so quickly. I have used Tirerack in the past and have found their reviews on tires very helpful. Their price ain't bad either!!:)