3 all seasons and 1 Blizak
 

My wife and I were on a road trip over the Thanksgiving holiday and picked up a nail in one of my fairly new Pilot Sport A/S tires. Unfortunately the puncture was near the edge and was not repairable. Somewhat miraculously the tire place in a relatively small town in Wisconsin had a replacement 255/35R19 tire. Unfortunately the only thing they had was a Blizzak snow tire. We were 8 hours from home on a Saturday afternoon so this was pretty much our only choice. The total cost was $377 installed and I did get the road hazard coverage so I should be able to get reimbursed. However I have a couple of questions:

1. How bad is it to have 1 snow and 3 all season tires on the car? I'd like to at least leave it there through the winter and get a replacement after the snow melts (and Christmas bills are paid :)).

2. Has anyone ever heard of the road hazard plan covering a second replacement to get back to a matching set? (i.e. replace the relatively new Blizzak with a matching Pilot Sport even though it isn't damaged).

3. Has anyone had any good/bad experience (or have any advice) getting the road hazard reimbursement? I do still have the damaged tire to prove the tread depth and location of the puncture.

4. Is anyone interested in buying a slightly used Blizzak 255/35R19 tire ;)?

No vibrations or chatter with that 1 snow tire and 3 all seasons?

I have the wheel and road hazard coverage but was under the impression that when the incident occurs you have to call them before getting it repaired. Never thought of repairing it first and then asking for reimbursement. I am also not sure if there are limitations on what can be replaced, in other words if you can choose to have one odd ball tire put on and not have all 4 be the same. I would just call them right now and find that info out, I remember they (EasyCare) were pretty helpful when I called and asked about getting aftermarket wheels and tires.

You may be better off getting the all season put on that wheel having them cover that and buying 3 more blizzaks for winter and getting them put on another set for winter wheels.

I wouldn't
 

I have always heard you should have a matched set of tires on quattro at all times.

I would look at the blizzak as the price of a tow home and go get a new pilot A/S ASAP.

I can't say the ride seems any different with the 1 oddball tire. I read the fine print when I got home and you can get it covered after the fact but you need to call right away (which I am doing when I get home this afternoon). As far as matching tire limitations, my only other option at the time was to get a hotel room and wait for a new tire to arrive probably no sooner than Tuesday so I'm hoping I'll get some leeway if there are such restrictions.

I'm figuring they won't give me 2 replacements (cover the blizzak and now replace with new A/S). One other option I'm considering is trying to get the coverage then trying to sell the one snow tire on Craigslist to put towards a new A/S.

As a side note, it is fun to have these performance cars but with stuff like this it is almost too stressful to take them more than 100 miles from home. On my previous BMW 335 I was always worried about the run-flats because the usually can't be repaired and there is no way those are in stock anywhere. "Full size spare" may be my #1 feature requirement on my next car :)

This is great advice. Get a new Pilot A/S + asap. I would have done the same thing in your situation and bought the Blizzak to get you home...it worked and that's great news. But get that tire replaced.

I would also use this opportunity to consider a dedicated set of winter tires.

Right now you have 3 tires with a certain level of traction and a 4th with a different level of traction. This isn't ideal. The car will not handle, especially in emergency situations when you need it to the most, nearly as well as 4 tires that match. This will throw off traction control, ABS and possibly confuse quattro and the sport diff. All of this technology works best when all 4 tires have the same level of available traction. The car is not programed to compensate for the way the car is currently set up.

You should be able to sell the Blizak for at least 1/2 of what you paid.

Agreed.

Just got off the phone with the dealer and the road hazard plan won't even cover the Blizzak (I guess since it does not match) but they are going to cover a new matching replacement.

So, for real now, does anyone need a 255/35R19 Blizzak with < 1000 miles on it? $150 + shipping (or just pick up in the St. Louis area).

Do you not have winter there?
Why not just keep the blizzak, get an extra 3 blizzak (~$950) and buy some cheap OEM wheels from someone that they will fit on (~$700). That way you will have better traction in the winter, and preserve the A/S while you use the winter wheels in the winter.

Unless you would rather lose $150 and call it at that you can definitely sell that blizzak for at least $150 in the classifieds.