Tire Wear Problems

[shadymilkman]

So as I was driving down the freeway I quickly noticed that my left rear tire had gone flat. Upon further inspection I found out that the interior tire wall (the one closest to the inside of the car) had failed and completely ripped apart.

Now, the tires are reletively new; probably less than 5,000 miles on them and they have a considerable amount of tread left. They were originally put on as a complete set and were aligned and balanced at that time.

What makes me believe it's a suspension/camber probem is that about 3 months ago, that same tire went flat- and in the same way. The first tire was also brand new and showed no signs of being punctured; nor is there any sign of anything rubbing against the tire in the wheelwell...

So, any idea's what's broken today??

 

[Kirby]

Wow...that's weird. I have never heard of an alignment problem causing a tire to actually blow out a tire sidewall. It would have to generate ALOT of stress/heat to do so, and that amount of stress should show up as really bad handling and/or noise.

How long have you owned the car? What about previous sets of tires? Any problems? What brand of tires?

I am thinking the following possibilities:
- Two defective tires (seems highly unlikely, but is possible)
- Wrong tire size for the rim, causing sidewall stress during installation and/or driving

 

[Bradley_Wint]

There is a rear chance that both tires were defective. Pay special attention to the walls around the tires because there may be excessive wearing that is causing the damage. there is very tiny chance the tires are at fault. check your manual as well to make sure tires are on the correct rim or else there could be damage as said before. cheers.

 

[shadymilkman]

I've owned the car for quite some time and have gone through several sets of tires and this is the first time

Both tires were 235/45-YR17 Dunlop SP 2000 E's. I believe they're the OEM tires for the car. I've used them in the past without any problems; although they're not my favorite tires. They don't offer any spectacular performance benefits, however they typically do last for a loooooong time.

I got my tires replaced yesterday and they (the people who installed them) didnt see any problems or reasons as to why the tires would fail prematurely. I just have a hard time believing that two new tires would fail in the exact same way coincidentally.

 

[rcgils]

I've been in the tire business since 1988. Did the tire that failed look like " the sidewall just blew completely off!" ?

 

[CosmosBlack]

Do you smell a rat?
Could it be a sabotage by any chance?

 

[bahnstormer]

have u been trying out the "gutter technique"
? =]

 

[bimmerguy]

Definitely alignment issue here

Have your car check for alignment, who did your last 4 wheel alignment? And how long have you got the car. Do you know the history of this car.

Alex