Anyone had this happen to a tyre?

[GravelBen]

Was on the way back to Dunedin from Christchurch last night after a fairly big weekend (1200km of driving and a couple days climbing), noticed a vibration about Oamaru which I stopped to check, couldn't find anything but it didn't go away so stopped again half an hour later, still couldn't see anything wrong, but it got really bad just as i arrived in Dunedin, and this time I discovered this:





So anybody here had something similiar happen, and know what caused it? That wheel hasnt hit any rocks or anything as far as I'm aware of, but from about 45 min before I first noticed it the car was the most heavily loaded I've had it (4 people plus boot fairly full of gear), I wondered if the extra weight might have accelerated an existing problem.


The reason I'm wondering this is that I've only done 5500ish km since buying the car (shocking I know), and contemplating whether I could try and get the dealer to pay for a new tyre if it may have already had some unseen internal damage when I bought it?

Any suggestions/ideas welcome...



ps - know of better replacement tyres than the potenza RE88's that are on it? something available in 195/60R15 but would like something with a bit less flex to them.

[Kiwi XTR2]

IMHO after 5,500 km and however many months you've got no show. It would also seem to me that there are other indications of "use" on the surface of the tyre.

Having said that I've never seen the steel come through in some of those places before ?¿?

I'll ask around.

[kylie]

That’s from gravel slides Looks like it has delaminated where the bulge is?. What does the inside of the tyre look like? If it’s got cracks could have had a few punctures and driven flat. Seen the steel belt wire come through on the hubbys old tyres once – we summed it up as been one off quality control issue. Would be interested to know what causes it too. In any case its good reason to get some nice new tyres

[GravelBen]

Its still on the wheel (and still inflated) so I don't know what the inside of the tyre is like. It has been nearly 6 months I guess so they'd probably be unlikely to consider it their responsibility. ahh well.

[Kiwi XTR2]

My mate Phil said:

It's delamination and very close to exploding.

The inner layers of steel are breaking and sticking through the tread layer, basically the tyre was either faulty or was chronically over stressed by sustained speed beyond rating or overloading.

Also possible that at some stage it's been run under-inflated, and then with a higher than normal load (but not necessarily "overloading" ) it's now let go . . . bu66er.

Have you taken the other 3 off to have a good inspection ?

Edited by Kiwi XTR2 on Monday 10th July 05:41

[GravelBen]

Kiwi XTR2 said:

My mate Phil said:

It's delamination and very close to exploding.

The inner layers of steel are breaking and sticking through the tread layer, basically the tyre was either faulty or was chronically over stressed by sustained speed beyond rating or overloading.

Also possible that at some stage it's been run under-inflated, and then with a higher than normal load (but not necessarily "overloading" ) it's now let go . . . bu66er.

Have you taken the other 3 off to have a good inspection ?

Edited by Kiwi XTR2 on Monday 10th July 05:41

I have now, no obvious signs of delamination on the other ones (as far as my untrained eye can see anyway), it does look like theres been a repaired puncture or 2 though.


"chronically overstressed by sustained speed beyond rating or overloading"

- Not caused by either of these, the highest sustained speed during the trip was ~110kph, with the odd blip up to *a bit more* when passing people. And if 4 people with gear is overloading they can give me my money back under the Consumer Guarantees Act, as goods not fit for purpose. I did put an extra pound or 2 in the tyres for the trip back due to the extra weight (up to 33-34psi) but that shouldn't have had much effect.

Your suggestion that it may have been run under-inflated at some stage could be right, and might at least give me something to go question the dealer about as it hasn't been while I've had it. Being the local Subaru agent they may be more helpful if I suggest that I may plan to upgrade to a new one in a couple of years, but we'll see I guess.


I just did some research and found this:

Consumer Guarantees Act said:

Any goods bought from a supplier must:

* be of "acceptable quality", which includes being fit for all purposes that they are normally used for, and being safe and durable (the test is whether a reasonable consumer who is fully aware of the state of the goods, including any hidden defects, would find the goods acceptable)
* be fit for any particular purpose that you tell the supplier you want the goods for, or that the supplier has advertised the goods as being fit for

Which i could quote and say that a 'reasonable consumer' would expect tyres in the condition they were at purchase to last significantly more than 5500km before failing with no apparent outside cause.


It all depends whether its worth the hassle, I'm heading away again the next couple of weekends so will need to have 2 new tyres on it at least by friday night, one way or the other.

[Kiwi XTR2]

Maybe asking them "what they would suggest" and giving them the chance to offer a hefty discount on two replacements might be a more realistic target . . . buy one get one free

Do you have a "full" spare or a suicide-saver ?

[GravelBen]

Just a pathetic little space saver unfortunately - though at least its black rather than yellow.

I'm expecting to have to reach some form of compromise with them rather than a complete freebie, will try and talk to them tomorrow but it's looking pretty busy.

[cptsideways]

I bet those tyres are older than 5 years, on an import by any chance?

On the sidewall is usually a datestamp, like 5203 means 52nd week of 03, easy enough to check. Cars probably been parked up a long time.

[GravelBen]

cptsideways said:

I bet those tyres are older than 5 years, on an import by any chance?

On the sidewall is usually a datestamp, like 5203 means 52nd week of 03, easy enough to check. Cars probably been parked up a long time.

Its and import, was first registered in NZ in October 04 with 27,500km on it (made in 1997), then traded in end of Jan 06 with 42,000km at the dealer where I bought it about a month later. The car has only done 47,500km in its 9 years so I guess the tyres are pretty old, and they're made in Japan so may have been fitted there, but can't really be sure.


stamped into the side (apart from the basic brand/size stuff - Bridgestone Potenza RE88 195/60R15 88H) are these letter/number combinations:

ELCB CFB207 T9103 E88 C2

But I'm not sure what they mean, the 9103 can't be a date in the form you mention because there aren't 91 weeks in a year. Any ideas?

[speedy_thrills]

We had a similar thing happen to a tire we had on a trailer (The only difference was that we couldn’t see any re-enforcing wire), company gave us a new tire.

[carwebs]

Sometimes the reputable tyre importer will accept some liability, but it is always limited to the wear on the tyre. 1/2 worn = 1/2 price off new tyre. Looking at the pics and the cracks in the tread etc and the fact it was not purchased in NZ and the fact that anything could have happened in a past life in Japan, you won't have a show in any recompence. I would definatly replace the others tyres!!

[jamieheasman]

I can thoroughly recommend a nice set of Toyos T1-S or T1-Rs. I think they may have gone up in price recently but they are still a bargain.

I've got them on the TVR and they're top notch and a full set cost less than a pair of Bridgies for the front. I was so impressed I put them on my wife's Legnum VR4 and they transformed the ride and handling on that car. I'm just waiting for the lower spec' Toyos to wear out on the WRX so I can upgrade to T1-Rs!

[GravelBen]

Ah well got it sorted, didn't get anything for free but have put 2 nice new directional tyres on at the dealer's trade price (would have been good to replace all 4 but they still have a fair bit of tread left and my cashflow wouldn't like it), the tyre guy reckoned the fault in the tyre might have been caused by a previous puncture repair letting in water which rusted/weakened the steel in the tyre.

So a reasonably positive outcome I guess, thanks for the help/suggestions etc.

[Dan M]

I had a similar thing on a car back in England. I had a banging noise that got progressively worse over a motorway journey. I stopped but couldn't find anything. It was only when I got home that I found a section of tread was lifting off the carcass of a rear tyre. When I inspected the other tyres I found small bulges on the inner sidewalls of the front 2.

The reason:
The previous week the car had been joy-ridden and dumped just 2 miles away. I got it back with what appeared to be no damage apart from a bust door lock and ignition barrel. The little bar-stewards must have driven over a curb or two and snapped the reinforcing cords. I ended up paying for 4 new tyres but was thankful in a way - it could have ended a lot worse on the M40 at 85mph.

I will check my imported Impreza tyres carefully tomorrow.