Bubble in brand new tire??? Nokian

So this isn't for my taco, but I just had 4 new Nokian tires put on my girlfriends Hyundai Elantra 9 days ago. 300-400 miles later, a bubble has developed in the back right tire. I wasn't initially worried, since they came with a 75k mile warranty and are brand spanken new. But so far the company and their dealers are not exactly jumping to help me. They're telling me that it's most likely my fault, and that I hit a pot hole..... I can remember every bit of driving i've put on these tires since mounting them and I haven't hit anything out of the ordinary.

Any experience with this guys? They want me to take it to one of their dealers so they can "take a better look". How do I know if the guy isn't screwing with me if he tells me "oh, you clearly hit a Moby Dick sized pot hole here"....?

 

I had a set of Cooper tires warrantied and was instructed to have the shop 'take a look', document it, send the info to Cooper, then I got the decision back that it'll be warrantied. Every company will be different but either way a shop will have to verify that it is a manufacturing defect so you get it replaced. Hopefully you don't get screwed, good luck!

Also, have you tried contacting Nokian directly?

 

Yeah, I spoke to a rep. He gave me the phone number to a warranty specific rep. Probably going to call him soon.

Hopefully my experience goes similar to yours. It's just a little complicated since I got the tires on one side of the country, and i'm mid-drive to another part of the country. Luckily I'm staying with family, not a motel or something.

The funny thing is, I wish I was dealing with Tread Wright instead. I have a feeling it would have been resolved in one phone call lol.

 

Well to revisit this, Nokian replaced the tire under warranty free of charge.

I will say that, aside from the bubble, these tires are pretty good for 99 a piece and 75k tread warranty. They stick well on wet pavement and are very quiet. My only complaint would be they're a little rough/stiff over imperfect pavement.