Did he lie to me?

[CathyA]

I feel like I'm a pretty good judge of character, and I know when people aren't being truthful to me. This time, though, I'm a little confused.
Last Fall, we bought an electric golf cart from a local guy with a little golf cart shop. He was up front about the age, (4 years old), and said that he added things, lifted it 6", painted it all and put new big rough terrain tires on it.

Its been great. With my bad knees, it really gave me wings on our property.
We bought a Shelter Logic shed for it and that's where its been this winter.

Recently, I noticed that the back 2 tires were flat. I filled them with air and they seemed okay. I noticed that my battery would go down quickly after being charged, and seemed to struggle at times. I called the golf cart guy and asked him about the tires. He said that they might have a couple holes in them, and that they always look good, even when they need air.......which was true. Even when they looked absolutely fine and inflated, they had barely a few pounds pressure in them. He said that could really burn up the wiring with the added resistance, so be sure to get the tires fixed.

I tested them with soapy water and discovered that they did have a couple holes in the tread, but also, one tire had 7 leaks in the sidewalls. One other had several there also.

I took them to the tire store and the man said "These tires have dry rot. They aren't new tires". I then went to the golf cart man's store and he said that was very unusual, that they WERE new tires, but the cart had been sitting in the sun for a long time, the year before we bought it (on his lot). He was very apologetic and is ordering me 4 new tires, at no expense.

I guess its important for me to know the truth. For those of you who know much about tires, could he be telling me the truth? The tires did indeed look new and still have those little tabs on them on the tread. I don't think he would have apologized and offered 4 new tires immediately, had he wanted to screw me over the first time.

Still though.....it makes me a little distrustful of him.
Any thoughts?

[bae]

They might easily have been "new" tires in the sense that they'd never been used, but they might have been sitting on the shelf for a while. Your guy might not even have known that, they might have been on the shelf at his distributor/supplier.

I think the fact that he's just replacing them and making you good indicates he's likely not being a bad guy.

[lhamo]

I agree -- offering to replace them immediately is a major sign that he is being truthful with you. Also, you bought the cart last fall and it sounds like you have gotten good use of it already, so I think he is being overly generous.

lhamo

[CathyA]

Thanks bae and lhamo. I hadn't considered that they may have sat around for awhile, even at the suppliers. That's a good possibility.
I agree that immediately offering me new tires was a good sign. Okay. He's back on my "honest" list. :)

[loosechickens]

he absolutely is likely to be telling you the truth.....UV damage to the sidewalls of tires is a major cause of tire failure.....we have wheel covers for our motorhome that are put on any time the wheels aren't moving, and even fairly new tires, if they've been sitting in the sun can have this happen. Also, even new tires can have been sitting around in a tire store for a long time. Time and UV light are as big a danger to tires as wear.

Incidentally, tires will show when they were manufactured, so when you buy new tires, always check that.

Don't think he's lying to you.....he's very likely to be being honest, and sounds like he is doing right by you as well. More than right if you've been driving it all this time without problems.

[Shari]

Car tires have date codes on them so you can see how old the are - I would assume these would also.

[CathyA]

Thanks for that info Shari. I didn't know that about the dates. I still have 2 of the tires I need to remove and take in to him, so I'll check for the dates. That's a good thing to know in general.

Loosechickens.........I've only really driven it in October and November. So for "new tires" they didn't last long. But one thing I've learned about these big tires........they look completely fine, even when they have very little air in them.

Funny story about them.......when I first started noticing they were getting flat, I would put enough air in them to keep them looking totally inflated. Even when I pushed on them, they didn't give. BUT....when I tried to measure the amount of air in them with a tire pressure gauge, it appeared as though the gauge wasn't working. I even tried a second one.......still wouldn't work. So I called a couple places trying to find a special tire gauge I might need for these tires. Everyone said "No....a regular gauge should work." Well, I finally figured out that even when there wasn't enough air in them to register on the gauge, they were still looking totally fine! The golf cart guy said they can be deceiving.....which is why you need to check them with a gauge all the time.
So..........they've no doubt been low a long time and I didn't know it. In fact, the only thing I noticed was that my battery reserve kept going low all the time, even immediately after charging ti. I thought it might be an old battery problem, but instead, it was being stressed from the low pressures in the tires. (increased resistance).
I'm learning lots about this thing! Anyhow......my point was, the tires were probably "bad" for a long time and didn't show up, except in the high battery usage.

[CathyA]

Thanks for that info Shari. I didn't know that about the dates. I still have 2 of the tires I need to remove and take in to him, so I'll check for the dates. That's a good thing to know in general.

Loosechickens.........I've only really driven it in October and November. So for "new tires" they didn't last long. But one thing I've learned about these big tires........they look completely fine, even when they have very little air in them.

Funny story about them.......when I first started noticing they were getting flat, I would put enough air in them to keep them looking totally inflated. Even when I pushed on them, they didn't give. BUT....when I tried to measure the amount of air in them with a tire pressure gauge, it appeared as though the gauge wasn't working. I even tried a second one.......still wouldn't work. So I called a couple places trying to find a special tire gauge I might need for these tires. Everyone said "No....a regular gauge should work." Well, I finally figured out that even when there wasn't enough air in them to register on the gauge, they were still looking totally fine! The golf cart guy said they can be deceiving.....which is why you need to check them with a gauge all the time.
So..........they've no doubt been low a long time and I didn't know it. In fact, the only thing I noticed was that my battery reserve kept going low all the time, even immediately after charging ti. I thought it might be an old battery problem, but instead, it was being stressed from the low pressures in the tires. (increased resistance).
I'm learning lots about this thing! Anyhow......my point was, the tires were probably "bad" for a long time and didn't show up, except in the high battery usage.