Tyre disintegrated quite badly - any idea?

DJ_26 · Mar 8, 2017

Hi All,

Yesterday my driver side rear tyre essentially disintegrated when I was driving home. Fortunately I had a fully-functional space saver (Thank God) and I replaced the wheel.

This is what I was greeted with as I removed the wheel with the damaged tyre:

Now I have had tyre punctures in the past, but nothing quite like this. I've seen this before on other cars but never understood why it happens. I had the valve replaced two weeks ago on this very wheel. Could this have made an impact (it drove fine for two weeks, so I'm inclined to think not)? I'm not sure what pressure it was pumped up to by the tyre shop, but could a high tyre pressure + motorway driving cause the tyre to "rip" itself like this?

Maybe the fact that the car was still being driven, even after I noticed a slight pulling, just killed the tyre?

It is a shame, was a good tyre, still had 5mm tread.

RAF_S7 · Mar 8, 2017

Make/size/age/miles on tyre?

Ive never seen anything like that on a car tyre - I have seen on used remanufactured commercial tyres, where it de-laminates.

Why the valve change? Was the tyre loosing pressure before? Any sustained rubbing on part of the car/suspension changes?

Id be inclined to go back to the garage that did the valve change, and ask their opinion. I'd then be taking plenty of pictures and sending to the manufacturer for them to follow up - so don't throw away the tyre just yet.

DJ_26 · Mar 8, 2017

RAF_S7 said:
Make/size/age/miles on tyre?

Ive never seen anything like that on a car tyre - I have seen on used remanufactured commercial tyres, where it de-laminates.

Why the valve change? Was the tyre loosing pressure before? Any sustained rubbing on part of the car/suspension changes?

Id be inclined to go back to the garage that did the valve change, and ask their opinion. I'd then be taking plenty of pictures and sending to the manufacturer for them to follow up - so don't throw away the tyre just yet.

Thanks for the reply. I've seen something similar on the front tyre of a bmw, but that was because the inside of the tyre scraped on a snapped spring. In my case, this was on the rear of my car, spring is fine and won't come into contact with the wheel in its normal position. I'm heading to the tyre shop this afternoon hopefully and get their opinion and maybe fit a replacement tyre too. Do you reckon they tyre shop will be bothered to follow-up with the manufacturer on my behalf (I don't think it's the kind of thing they get involved with, especially because i bought they tyre separately from a fairly reputable online site).

Tyre has done probably 25k miles. Fitted it in Sep 2015. Dunlop Sportmaxx RT, 225/40/R18 XL (extra load). The valve was changed two weeks ago, because I stupidly fitted metal dust caps which corroded on and wouldn't come off, so I had to get the wheels re-valved.

SootySport · Mar 8, 2017

The only time I've seen any tyre damage like that was due to vandalism with a Stanley knife or scalpel. Have you upset someone lately?

S3Alex · Mar 8, 2017

SootySport said:
The only time I've seen any tyre damage like that was due to vandalism with a Stanley knife or scalpel. Have you upset someone lately?

I've never seen tyre damage like that either,at least not from natural causes...

I remember on my old A3 3.2 the toe adjustment was so poor initially that it skinned the front tyres down to the fabric on both inner sides,but this looks totally different.

DJ_26 · Mar 8, 2017

SootySport said:
The only time I've seen any tyre damage like that was due to vandalism with a Stanley knife or scalpel. Have you upset someone lately?

Well that's not good. I certainly hope not. It is right the way round the whole tyre though? It was fine on the drive to work in the morning. Perhaps it was so slowly disintegrating during that first journey (30+ miles)?

slizza786 · Mar 8, 2017

hopefully your alright pal and didn't get hurt. nice set of tread left on those tyres too. better safe than sorry.

Ollie2014 · Mar 8, 2017

A couple of photo's of my tyres last year, never got to the bottom of it alignment was ok and balancing was ok

DJ_26 · Mar 8, 2017

Ollie2014 said:
A couple of photo's of my tyres last year, never got to the bottom of it alignment was ok and balancing was ok View attachment 119289 View attachment 119289

Thanks for that, mine was aligned and balanced well too. Got the exact same Dunlop tyre on the other side. That one appears to be fine, but will take a closer look at it tonight.

RAF_S7 · Mar 8, 2017

The more I look at it, the more I think maybe premature wear, especially as its on the inside edge of the tyre.

What throws me however is that it almost looks like its been cut. If it was wear, the cords would be much more exposed.

The garage that did the valves would have to take the tyre off to change the valves, and to do that they would put it on that machine that spins the tyre and rim to enable removal. That damage looks like it could have been done on the machine, especially as its so even all the way around the tyre.

I think you have been very, very lucky here. If that had happened at speed, there is no doubt that the tire would have shredded and come off the rim, as effectively there would be no sidewall support.

Ask to see the garage manager, not one of the lads on the floor.

Good Luck!

DJ_26 · Mar 8, 2017

RAF_S7 said:
The more I look at it, the more I think maybe premature wear, especially as its on the inside edge of the tyre.

What throws me however is that it almost looks like its been cut. If it was wear, the cords would be much more exposed.

The garage that did the valves would have to take the tyre off to change the valves, and to do that they would put it on that machine that spins the tyre and rim to enable removal. That damage looks like it could have been done on the machine, especially as its so even all the way around the tyre.

I think you have been very, very lucky here. If that had happened at speed, there is no doubt that the tire would have shredded and come off the rim, as effectively there would be no sidewall support.

Ask to see the garage manager, not one of the lads on the floor.

Good Luck!

Cheers pal, thanks for the advice. I'm on my way shortly to the tyre-fitters! Hopefully they will play ball!

DJ_26 · Mar 8, 2017

Update: Been to tyre shop. My friend there says that the tyre has first lost air through this small metal shard (not quite a nail or screw) and then because the car has been driven on very low pressure, the sidewall has just disintegrated. The first thing he said before all that, was that he sees it all the time. He doesn't reckon the tyre fitting machine would have caused it.

I suppose it depends on the situation. Last year, a similar sort of thing happened to one of my front tyres (conti). It started to get pretty flat, (small hole in the sidewall) but it certainly never ripped itself to pieces like this tyre did (Then again I was quite close to home, so maybe it would have ripped eventually if I drove any longer).

So just fitted a part-worn that had roughly the same tread level as the ruined Dunlop tyre had. So at least I can replace them with a new pair later.

Gazwould · Mar 8, 2017

Makes sense I've seen the inside of a tyre that's been driven with low pressure / slow puncture and it cracks on the inside in that area , totally unnoticeable outside .

Similar but lower is the Kumho incompetence .

Jake 61 · Mar 8, 2017

S3Alex said:
I've never seen tyre damage like that either,at least not from natural causes...

I remember on my old A3 3.2 the toe adjustment was so poor initially that it skinned the front tyres down to the fabric on both inner sides,but this looks totally different.

Had exactly that today when the car was in getting new front discs, shocked at how badly the inside edge of both tyres was.
Goodyear F1's, probably past their best but you would never see it by looking at the treads, one was through to the canvas.

S3Alex · Mar 8, 2017

The tracking on these cars goes out of alignment very quickly sometimes and I've often found mine to be well out after maybe 5-6000 miles.

RPB · Mar 8, 2017

I'm not getting my tracking checked. I've spent enough on ****** geometry tweaks and "well Sir in my opinion garage A are rubbish, you need our settings", then 2 years later, "well Sir, garage B are talking rubbish, give me money and we'll set it to our settings which are the best!"
pmsl. That Subaru cost me thousands

desertstorm · Mar 9, 2017

That looks to me like it's been running flat at high speed. This creates a tremendous amount of heat in the sidewall and will result in a failure.
The pulling you felt was because it was running flat but because it was on the rear it's not as obvious as if it had been on the front.
https://tyres.wordpress.com/category/tyre-safety-maintenance/

tcardio · Mar 9, 2017

funny how it runs the same contour as the wheel. Bet the tire compressed on the wheel lip and split it

audismart · Mar 9, 2017

Lots of twigs and broken bits of branches about after the winds, could have got wedged in between suspension and tyre maybe
???

Jake 61 · Mar 9, 2017

desertstorm said:
That looks to me like it's been running flat at high speed. This creates a tremendous amount of heat in the sidewall and will result in a failure.
The pulling you felt was because it was running flat but because it was on the rear it's not as obvious as if it had been on the front.
https://tyres.wordpress.com/category/tyre-safety-maintenance/

I would have to agree.
As well as the two fronts yesterday, I had a rear go the same way last year. I knew it was soft and got to within 3 miles of pumping it up when it let go properly on a roundabout with no mercy. Same damage to the inside edge but, not as tidy as the O.P. problem.

Tyre disintegrated quite badly - any idea?

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