Certified Pre Owned Questions - Tire Depth Confusion

[confuego]

Hello all... I just purchased a Certified Pre Owned 2011 Edge Sport from my local dealer, and have a couple of questions regarding CPO minimum standards. Any info that you may have would be appreciated.

 

A bit of backstory... I found a great low mileage CPO 2011 Sport at the local dealer... just what I had been looking for, especially with FoMoCo 1.9% financing incentive.

 

Overall I am extremely pleased with the vehicle... looks great, drives great and has all of the bells and whistles that I wanted in a new car.

 

When inspecting the car on the lot, I noticed a couple of items that had been overlooked during the inspection process... a couple of noticeable scrapes on the front rims (including some red paint that I asked the dealer to have buffed out before delivery.)... and a misaligned lower body panel. At that time I mentioned to the sales rep that the front tires looked sort of worn... and he assured me that they had been inspected and would have been replaced if they did not meet CPO standards.... which he said was 75% remaining (wrong, it's 50%)

 

After getting the vehicle home and inspecting it more closely, I felt like the front tires were really not up to what I would have expected for a CPO vehicle of this price.

 

I researched the tread depth info online, and in several places found the original tire depth to be 11/32nds. I took the truck to a local tire shop, and asked them to measure the tread.

 

I was told that they measured 4/32nds... which is below the CPO minimum of at least 50% tread remaining.

 

So, I went back to the dealer to discuss the situation... my sales rep brought another guy outside to make a decision. Not sure who he was, but obviously someone who was responsible for CPO vehicle qualification.

 

I was surprised by his attitude... not, "hey I know you just bought a really expensive car from us, and I want to do all that I can to make sure you are as happy with your purchase as possible"...

Instead, he quickly looked at the tires and said, they looked fine to him... I requested that he measure the tread depth... which he did in one spot, one one tire, and said he measured between 5.5 and 6/32nds. I asked him to measure the other tire... and he said it had 5/32nds left. He also measured the tire on the outside tread, and not the center... where most of the wear takes place.

 

I said that according to my info, that meant the tires did not meet the Ford minimum... and basically he argued with me, said that 5/32nds was at least 50% of 11/32nds (?)... and told me that the car had been inspected by trained professionals, and so it must be right. (Keep in mind that I had already found several items that had been overlooked by his so called professionals)... and I forgot to mention I had also looked at another CPO car on the lot that had several exterior scrapes and dings that were obviously not CPO quality.

 

I was not satisfied with his evaluation, and so me and my sales guy went to the local tire shop that handles the dealer's tire work.

Again, the so called professionals, looked at the tires and proclaimed them pretty good... I said I am not interested in your opinion... I want them measured... this is a matter of data, not opinion.

 

So, again we go thru the measure the tread process... and the tire shop numbers are different than both previous measurements... surprisingly, the tire shop did not measure the tire in several places, until I told them that was the correct way to measure tread depth.

 

When trying to determine what 50% meant, I asked the tire shop for the new tire depth.

 

Strangely, the tire shop showed the new tread depth to be 10/32nds... and not 11/32 like everyplace I had researched online.

 

The dealer offered to split the cost of a set of new tires... which I was not happy with, but agreed to do because it seemed like the best deal I was going to get.

 

Here's where the story gets interesting: The next day I go back to the tire shop to have my 2 new tires installed... And the guy at the tire store says... "you know, after you left yesterday, I pulled our paperwork from the inspection of that car... and WE RECOMMENDED TO THE DEALER THAT THEY REPLACE THE FRONT TIRES.... But for some reason they decided not to do it.

 

What? You mean the tire professionals recommended replacing the tires according to their understanding of the CPO guidelines... but someone at the dealer vetoed that.

 

So... any advice on this? I just dropped $330 on one tire that should have probably been replaced.

 

And now, all I can think about is... what other parts of the CPO inspection did they hedge on?

 

Should I contact a FoMoCo corp representative?

 

One last question: A couple of the rims have obvious scratches... looks like they were rubbed on a curb... Should those have been replaced to qualify as CPO? I have looked everywhere for CPO details... but can only find brief descriptions of the minimum requirements to pass inspection.

 

thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

Scott