I was forced to cut a corner out of the Countdown car-park on to the main road yesterday, went off the curb with my back passenger wheel and there was a broken section around a drain cover which made a nice *bang* as I rode off it.

On later inspection I found I had dinged my alloy (again. Sheesh) and taken a flap out of the side wall of the tyre at the point where it meets the rim. The flap of rubber has held on to the tyre and the overall size of the damage would be slightly bigger than a $2 coin but irregular in both shape and depth.

I took it to the workshop where I got my tyres and where I have tyre cover/insurance. The mechanic tested the area with some spray or other and said it was fine to drive on but if I experienced any slow pressure loss to come back and they would replace under cover.

I subsequently did some online research which led me to seeking a second (and third and fourth opinion) from two independent tyre centres in different locales as well as from my local VTNZ.

The VTNZ guy said it would fail a WOF no questions asked and both mechanics advised it would fail a WOF and in their opinion was dangerous to drive as the inner layer was just visible and over time it would weaken and could cause a blow-out.

I then went back to the original store, expressed my displeasure and they are now ordering and replacing the tyre under the cover that I have. The mechanic was pretty blase about it and seemed puzzled by my anger that he would let me drive away on something which others had advised was dangerous and that would have caused me to fail my next WOF in January. His comment was that "he had sprayed the testing solution on it and there was no indication of anything to worry about, but given that VTNZ had advised it would fail a test, they would replace it"

I am going to wait until it has been replaced before further action but:

1) They have certainly lost my repeat custom for next time

2) How upset should I be? Should I report to HO and make more of a fuss or should I just take the replacement tyre and go on with my life?

I am not looking for handouts, but I am concerned that this workshop would make the wrong call on something that could be dangerous?

What would you guys do?