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Hi all,
Here's my story:  I recently had a blowout on a right rear tire (my car is an 85 Cavalier).  I drove on it for about 1 mile to get to a safe place and was worried the rim had been damaged.  Anyway, I had it towed in to a major retailer (don't want to name the name here).  I decided to go ahead and buy four new tires, thought it was probably time for new ones and didn't want to have one new and 3 old that didn't match.  I told the repair guy to be sure and look for any damage to the car or rim because it was a pretty ugly blow out, with tred flapping around under there until  I could get it stopped.  After they put on new tires (Futura brand), I drove home (about 3-4 miles).

To my fear and concern, when going at slower speeds (5-10 mph thru a residential area),
the new right rear tire was bumping, almost like a flat.  At higher speeds, it seemed to smooth out.  When I got home, I looked at the tire and it had already lost the rubbery little tred things....the three other tires looked fine.  But this one tire had clearly gotten rubbed or worn just in the drive home.  I didn't like the look of that and decided best not to drive it until I could take it immediately back to the store.  When I told them the problem, they pulled off all the tires and rims and told me  I needed new rims on both right and left rear tires, as both were warped. I said, "why wasn't this discovered  when the new tires were put on?" (i.e. inspection of rims or any alignment problem.)  The guy mumbled and fumbled and said "it sounds like a subtle problem that wasn't seen at the time".  Then they put it through an alignment diagnostic and I was told the front end was somewhat misaligned but  the back end was fine (Again, why wasn't this discovered when I took the car in for new tires?)  They recommended a front end alignment to try to fix the "bump bump" on the right rear tire.

I had that done, but it has only somewhat helped it.  But here's the mystery....I asked the guy what would have accounted for the wear on a new tire driving just 3 miles home.  He couldn't explain it....saying, "that's very odd".  So, does anyone have an idea of what's going on with this right rear tire?  The other three look fine. This is the area where the other tire blew.  Is it an alignment problem?  Is it getting uneven wear?  Is it dangerous to drive? That tire is clearly getting more wear, even in a very short distance.  If I get the rim fixed, will this problem stop?  Thanks for any info on this!  

do you self a favor..

take it to another shop for an inspection and an estimate...   tell them NOT a repair at this time...

ask the service writer for a senior tech to do the inspection..  


if you have AAA .. and live in a major city.. some of their offices offer vehicle inspections... where they look deep into the problems and write you a detailed report..   i am NOT talking about a AAA approved shop.. i am talking a AAA operated inspection bay with lifts... some offices offer mobile vans to do the inspections...   yep.. its going to cost you around 100 bucks..

you can also find in the yellow pages. under wheel alignment and frame services .. several shops hopefully .. that are NOT tire shops.. but specialist wheel alignment shops...  or specialist frame shops that really don't do body work...

what.. a frame shop that does not do body work.. yep...  let me tell you they do work for other shops... they are good enough they don't need to do body work..    the wheel alignment specialist shops are also the best..   slowly they have been vanishing as chain stores sell tires and alignments where they just match one side to the other..  send it out.. quick..  

I agree with Wayne - you need to go to a specialist.

Major retailers are in the business of handling simple problems - and you don't have one.  In particular, you have quite of few potential problems that a major retailer could overlook - and apparently did.

The questions that you asked have to be answered by someone who actually looks at the car and knows what he is looking at - not by someone who is relying on a description from who doesn't know cars very well.  Diagnosing car problems over the internet is not a sport for amateurs.