VegasJen

in the last two weeks i have had two tires that had complete tread separation. both were cooper discovery A/T, purchased at the same time and with just less than half the tread remaining.
obviously, these were not on the vette. they're on my work truck but if any of you have a truck or SUV that you drive, or more importantly, your family drives/rides in, you need to check for these tires. this is the same problem that firestone got such a bad wrap about.
fortunately, my truck sustained no damage from it but i can tell you that it is a rather violent action. in my case, both tires were on the rear and the truck is a dually so fortunately, i had another tire on that axle to carry the load.
just prior to the separation, maybe about 1/2-1 mile i began to notice a slight vibration in the rear that got more significant very rapidly, then BOOM! in both instances, the entire tread surface completely separated from the inner 'tube' which was still inflated.
incidentally, i also had two continentals that also failed in the last two weeks. yes, your math is right, that's four (count 'em FOUR) tires that have failed in the last two weeks. it's really freaking hot out here. i'm constantly passing cars and trucks on the side of the road with blown tires.
in the case of the conties, it was never as bad as the coopers. they began to separate and even lost some good size chunks but the tread surface never came off the tire. on the one that separated yesterday, you can see some of the steel belts have broken and fraid and you can see a definite shift in the tire core. it started to vibrate the truck like all hell but it didn't fail completely like the coopers did.
just a warning and a reminder to check your tires. in the long run it's what keeps you and your family on the road.

BTW, just so you know, the pressures were checked earlier in the week of the initial tire failures and even afterward, they continued to hold pressure so tire pressure was not a factor in the failures.


[Modified by clutchdust, 11:38 PM 7/11/2003]

88'Cubka

Geez, and I am moving to Vegas in the next couple years.........

David

Jim Shea

Have you notified NHTSA? I think you can do it from their websight. They look for safety related problems that could be a trend. Glad to hear that you didn't suffer any physical or material damage. I had a neighbor boy that was killed in a Vette when a Firestone 500 tire failed back in the late 70s.

Master Ho

I used to flag down drivers at red lights, that a tire(s) was low on air. They'd usually wave and say, "Yeah, I know; it has a slow leak..." and then drive on :smash:

Last weekend, the S-I-L and her 3yo came to visit in the SUV. I noticed the left rear (GY RT/S) was very low on air and pointed it out to her. "Oh, yeah it has a slow leak; I guess I need to check it...", like it was an inconvenience.
I told her I'd check all of them the next morning, when they'd be cold(or cooler, since daytime air temps were mid-90s).

The next morning, I put the gauge to the tire and it had all of 15 pounds :nonod: and the rest were around 30. I brought them all up to 35, according to GMC's specs.

The thing that bugs me is, my S-I-L obviously loves her son and would kill anyone who'd harm him, yet she's willing to drive 3.5 hours on underinflated tires in the summer heat :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad :mad

Hello, McFly??
:rant:

Dalannex

I thing tire tread separation is due to underinflation every time. If those tires have 35 PSI for a passenger car or light truck load, 50 for loaded trailers and pickups/suv's pulling trailers or loads, the tire separation doesn't happen. I think the Firestone/Ford thing is Fords fault for not inflating the tires. A friend of mine bought a new Ford Ranger and the first day I looked at it I noticed the tires were low, so we pumped them up from just under 20 to 35. Every time he took it to the dealership after that for an oil change it came back with 18 or 19 PSI of air in the tires. My father in law has had a couple of new Ford Expeditions and the dealership where he bought them told him the tires are supposed to be inflated to 22 PSI so that they get the ride they are looking for. IMO that's too low.

-Justin

LAvetteman

I had a work truck that blew the factory tires with 6k miles on them. The problem was the truck was overloaded for the tires that were on it, went to a higher ply tire, no more problems.

Desertdawg

Lots of highway alligators around here lately too.

CD, I keep my dually tires at 65 PSI year around, And I run Michelin. I haven't had a problem with them yet.

mrvette

Over the years I have had tread separations on Goodyear tires too....within a year's time 4 of them went.....about 1/2 worn.....never bought goodyear since.....

IMO, steel belted radials are much overtouted, and the steel is not necessary, you can use synthetics the same way like the did for a breif period of time when radials first became popular....better tire, smoother riding...

GENE

VegasJen

Dawg, i hear ya. been running over bits of tread for weeks now. ironically the two oldest tires haven't blown, both are michelins. the two i just bought are also michelins. now i just need to buy the other two and i'll have a complete set of michelins and should be good for a few more years.
i've been running the pressure at 75psi. they are rated at 80 but the thing rides so damn hard with the HD springs, i can launch poopie out the bed going over some of these **** poor roads they build here.

Desertdawg

60 to 65 without a load is all you need. This is my second set of Michelin's. I wore the first set out. And I don't think I will ever buy another brand for my truck. I also use it to tow my 5th wheel (12,000 pounds full), and I have towed it in this heat without any tire worry's....