Inner tyre walls split

[bennytheball]

I was having my front brake pads replaced the other day and ‘my’ mechanic called to say that both front and one rear tyre had badly split inner sidewalls. The splits are several inches long in places and the inner plies are visible in places. It’s clearly a manufacturing fault and a rather worrying one – we’d just got back from a trip to the Dordogne, travelling for hours at 80mph+. I’m a typical PHer so I’m confident that I could handle a tyre blow-out at speed but I’m glad I didn’t have to…

All four tyres were all fitted in June 2020. They’re Nexen N Fera SU4s. Not exactly a premium tyre, but a solid mid-market brand and they were chosen based on good tyre test and review results at the time. I’m a bit of a tyre-nerd so I chose with care. I run winter tyres on the car December to March so these Nexens have only had around 18 months wear – probably around 18,000 miles – and they are evenly worn, with plenty of tread depth remaining.

Never known this problem before and I’m curious to know if it’s happened with this brand/tyre to anyone else.

[paintman]

How old are the tyres - the date they were made, not when they were fitted?

ETA First subject on googling 'nexen tyre walls cracking' that came up is:
www.chaliklaw.com/blog/nexen-tires-are-failing-con...

Edited by paintman on Thursday 8th September 13:47

[bennytheball]

paintman said:

How old are the tyres - the date they were made, not when they were fitted?

ETA First subject on googling 'nexen tyre walls cracking' that came up is:
www.chaliklaw.com/blog/nexen-tires-are-failing-con...

Edited by paintman on Thursday 8th September 13:47

Thanks for looking - that link is interesting. The mechanic said he'd seen the same on Nexen tyres before so I may take this further.

The tyres were all manufactured 9th week of 2020, so around five months before they were fitted and still only around 2.5 years' old.

[neenoy]

The other major cause of tyre damage are our roads themselves. Are you sure it isn't a result of impact damage from potholes, etc. Are the tyres particularly low profile? Is there any visible damage to the wheel rims.

[bennytheball]

neenoy said:

The other major cause of tyre damage are our roads themselves. Are you sure it isn't a result of impact damage from potholes, etc. Are the tyres particularly low profile? Is there any visible damage to the wheel rims.

No visible damage to the rims. I try and avoid potholes as my suspension (Legacy spec B) is relatively unforgiving. The tyres, 215/45/R18, are not particularly low-profile either. It's odd because the splits are in the same location on all the tyres - i.e. about halfway up the inner sidewall so away from road contact and not on the external sidewall, where you might expect to see damage too if it was caused by potholes.

[aterribleusername]

Do you regularly drive over those pillow speed bumps that you can straddle? That can cause what you have very quickly.

[bennytheball]

aterribleusername said:

Do you regularly drive over those pillow speed bumps that you can straddle? That can cause what you have very quickly.

Only occasionally as I in rural Suffolk so not many speed bumps locally... Good point though.

[neenoy]

bennytheball said:

It's odd because the splits are in the same location on all the tyres - i.e. about halfway up the inner sidewall so away from road contact and not on the external sidewall, where you might expect to see damage too if it was caused by potholes.

I'm no expert but that describes probably the weakest part of a tyre and exactly where it would "fold" when forced to deform excessively.

[wolf1]

I see it a lot on Nexen tyres when carrying out Mots. Always tends to be on the front inner sidewalls.

[bennytheball]

wolf1 said:

I see it a lot on Nexen tyres when carrying out Mots. Always tends to be on the front inner sidewalls.

Interesting - thank you. I rotate the tyres, front to back, every year (when I switch from winter to summer tyres) so it could sell be that the splits on the rear were caused when those tyres were at the front, where I assume the loads on the tyres would be greater.

[tapkaJohnD]

Seen this on Dunlops - almost the same scenario, but at a tyre fitters, as one had blown out, at low speed luckily.

The car was less than six months old, don't know about the tyres. Fitter arranged for a new set, courtesy of Dunlop, but the car dealer was completely uninterested in the event. I didn't blame them, but thought they might want to take it up with the manufacturer for a recall, but no. Dunlop fixed your tyres, sir? That's fine then, good morning!
JOhn

[bennytheball]

Thanks for the feedback/suggestions, all.

I'll take this up with Nexen. Their website offers a guarantee but it appears to based on using their approved dealers. I bought the tyres online and had them fitted by my local garage so they may reject any claim. However, it will be interesting to see how they respond, if at all, to evidence of a possible manufacturing fault.

[PhilF329]

It used to be the case that tyres could be sent off to a tyre ombudsman, I remember a local tyre company sending off some Pirelli’s where the sidewall failed prematurely and getting me a 50% credit based on wear

[stevemcs]

We don't tend to see it on Nexens but do on some budgets and Goodyears, also on things like VW vans where people run stupidly size wheels or where people run them under inflated.

We sell a lot of Nexens budget brand roadstone and never have any issues with splits - cracking in the tread sometimes but never splits.

Good luck with any form of warranty, you normally have to buy a set of tyres, the supplier then sends them off the manufacture then comes back with nothing wrong, wrong type of car, wrong tyre pressures, driven on tuesdays but these tyres were on supposed to be used on wednesdays etc ...

[Pica-Pica]

bennytheball said:

aterribleusername said:

Do you regularly drive over those pillow speed bumps that you can straddle? That can cause what you have very quickly.

Only occasionally as I in rural Suffolk so not many speed bumps locally... Good point though.

It’s best to drive with one wheel FULLY on the centre of the hump, rather than straddle. Those sharp edged ones (Nottingham, are you listening?) are the worst.

[bennytheball]

stevemcs said:

Good luck with any form of warranty, you normally have to buy a set of tyres, the supplier then sends them off the manufacture then comes back with nothing wrong, wrong type of car, wrong tyre pressures, driven on tuesdays but these tyres were on supposed to be used on wednesdays etc ...

...and I bought them online and got my local garage to fit them so raising the issue with an 'Approved Nexen Dealer' (as their guarantee stipulates) isn't a possibility. I think life's too short to go down the Sale of Goods Act route with this. I shall just suck it up and replace all four tyres. Needless to say they won't be Nexen.

[stevemcs]

I don't think we have ever had a warranty claim approved by Staps,