Tires: kelly navigator gold tire warranty, fallon nv, tire warranty

Question
I purchased a full set of 4 Kelly Navigator Gold All-Season Radial ties March 2004.  I have had them rotated every 5,000 miles and have only put a little less than 18,000 miles on these tires to this date - Sept. 11, 2006. Some friends borrowed my car to go to Las Vegas and had a flat tire on the return trip - the tire was entirely shredded from the treads. They drove with the dummy spare for about 200 miles to find a shop open and finally found a Walmart in Fallon, NV at 10:30 a.m. on that Sunday morning. Walmart sold them a Douglas Touring tire and installed it. Tuesday morning I contacted the shop who sold me the tire under warranty and they said they could only warranty the tire if I could provide the actual tire - my friends did not bring the tire with them since it was destroyed, the trunk was full, and they were unaware of the warranty issues. (We live in Redding, CA - about 250+ miles from Fallon, NV). I have contacted the Walmart to see if the tire was still there and could possibly be shipped  to Redding. I know that someone should honor my warranty, but I don't know who to contact. Walmart now says they can't find the tire and asked what I expected for the warranty. All I know is that I bought a tire with a 70,000 mile warranty and only got 18,000 miles out of it - not to mention it failed while traveling 70-75 mph in the desert! Who is responsible for the warranty refund, who do I need to contact about it, and how much warranty refund should I receive.  The Douglas tire is on the left rear of my front wheel drive vehicle and I would much rather get a rim and install this tire as a spare and get a matching Navigator Gold for the left rear.  Is there a phone number for Kelly that I can call?  Will I even be able to get a refund since the tire is missing and supposedly cannot be found?  I paid $80 for the tire new in 2004.  Please help and thank you for having this site available.

Answer
First,  based on what you said, the tire is probably not covered by the warrnaty unless tht tire had road hazard coverage.  The way to tell is the warranty booklet that you got when you purchased the tires.  That ought to have the phone number as well.

If you didn't get a warranty booklet, then go to where you bought the tires and get one and be sure you have a receipt for the tires thats shows when they were purchased.  There may also be a time limit to the warranty.