outbackmom

Thank you all so much for your input. It has been really helpful. When I brought the minivan to the service station to have the tire replaced, I gave them the punctured tire. They ordered the correct size, but Cooper sent the wrong (smaller) size. The owner realized it and re-ordered from Cooper, but the kid who replaced it accidentally put the wrong sized tire on. The gas station owner admits this much. I have saved all of my receipts, and I think I can get a letter from the Dodge dealer who did the repairs saying that he believes it was the tire that caused all of the damage. I have also found some helpful articles on the Internet re the importance of matching tires w/ AWD cars. It also just seems like too much of a coincidence that within 3 weeks of having the tire replaced, I would need 3 repairs (ABS system, rear differential/axle, and front differential). I am probably headed for small claims court, but am willing to do that. Again, thank you all for your very informative responses!

I am hoping for some information on AWD components. I purchased a Subaru (which I love) last month, because my last car, a Dodge mini-van with AWD, died. The mini-van (114k miles) had been running fine, but got a flat tire in July. The garage put the wrong size tire on -- 215 55 16. The other 3 tires were size 215 65 16. After driving around for 10 days or so, the car began to vibrate badly, and made a rubbing sound. The Dodge dealership I went to (different place than the garage that changed the tire) told me that the rear differential was shot and the rear axle needed to be replaced. I had the rear axle replaced w/ a used one -- very expensive. A week later, the vibration returned w/ a strong burning oil smell. The gear oil from the front differential was black and full of soot. That is when the dealership went looking for the root problem & discovered that the car had one tire of a different size. The dealership recommended that it was not worth the expense to determine the extent of damage to the front differential. The insurance co. for the garage that replaced the tire says that that was not the cause of the damage. The dealership says otherwise. I need to argue w/ the insurance co. Any thoughts? Advice would be much appreciated! Thanks, in advance.