So last night the owner of the dealership I work for took a group of us out to dinner. On the way home car felt a bit bouncy going down the road. It was quite late and dark so I figured I'd take it easy on the ten mile drive home and investigate the issue in the daylight this weekend. I get about three miles from home and suddenly a loud bang and shudder followed by a repeated hammering noise. I live in the boonies so I coast off the side of the road to investigate, fearing I'm going to find a broken driveshaft. I find my light and do a cursory search around the car. As I near the right rear of the car I hear a hissing noise. I bend down to look at the tire and discover that the tread is completely gone. The tire was loosing air slowly so I removed the hunk of steel wedged in the wheel well and limped home on the cords at about ten mph. The damage was pretty much contained with in the wheel well. One large piece of steel was torn loose from somewhere and forcefully thrust through the wheel well near the top and wedged in by the tire. Some large hunks of material are missing from the inner wheel well and a smalll dent outward now tops off my quarter panel. I have learned a valuable lesson about trusting tires that you are unsure of the age of! The tires were on the car when I got it, and did not appear to be badly dry rotted. I am posting this as a warning to not trust tires that you are unfamiliar with! I now will be out not only the cost of four new tires, but also the time and hassle of repairing the damage that the tire caused to my car. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Next time it feels like there is something wrong with a tire,stop and look at em...Might save you some grief....Just sayin!!
I am not sure. They were on the car when I bought it. It wouldn't surprise me though looking at how the tread completely separated from the carcass of the tire.
Had that happen to me on ym O/T Oldsmobile when I had some Kirkland Signature tires. Scary when it happens on the freeway! Inspect your tires, especially the tread/sidewall interface!
Look on the sidewall of the tire, there will be an area that is indented with a DOT mark before it. In the indented area will be a four digit number (1003) The four digits stand for the week it was made and the year it was made. In this case the tenth week of 03. If the tire is over six years old, get rid of it no matter what the tread looks like.
Lots of the china tires peel off the center like a re-cap. Those steel belted radials can do alot of damage to a car when they shred. I had a freind who lost a rear fender on his 46 caddi that way.
That six-year "rule" is a good idea IF you have a vehicle that spends most or all of its time OUTSIDE and not in a garage (carports don't count, that is outside, too). The biggest destroyer of rubber of all kinds is OZONE, which the Sun causes when it hits rubber that is exposed to the sunshine. Under- and over-inflation, plus overloading contribute a bunch, as well, regardless of the age of the tire. I've had radial tires last 18 years on vehicles that spend every non-driving moment inside my shop, that has only one covered window. When you see tires that have any kind of weather-checking, cracking, or bulging, that should immediately illuminate the clue light to potential problems in the very near future!
I had an old tire on my 1938 Ford that was worn out but I was trying to squeeze a few extra miles out of it. The treads torn off of the wheel. The tire Ballooned which grab an edge of the fender. Bent the fender in half and popped. All on the freeway... That was a stupid mistake by me to try and save $100.
On an o/t car years ago I felt something & stopped & looked, a knot the size of a golf ball sticking out of the sidewall. Let the airpressure way down & limped home.
I had Goodrich T/A Radials start to separate on my daily back in '78. I bought the tires new and only had 20K miles on them.
I had 2 of 4 do exactly the same, only problem was they were brand new white lines, made by Bridgestone in Turkey. These were on a 63 1/2 Galaxie 500XL. The moral really is you never know. I don't believe age of tyre necessarily means it will fall apart, it is about quality and exposure to sunlight (UV in particular). There's my 2 bobs worth
From what I can figure out those tires were made the 23rd and 45th week of 1987 making them 25 years old. I used this page to figure that out as the 1990's had a triangle behind the number to separate it from the 1980's tires http://www.cheaprvlivingforum.com/post/Tire-date-codes-and-your-safety-6098051
Folks need to remember check the air pressure often, while you are there check the tire too. Run your hand along the tread around the tire and feel for uneven tread or belts sticking out..you will know when the belt is sticking out. Uneven tread means a blown belt. If you drive on tires with low air pressure they will over heat, separate a belt, loose the tread, damage the car and cause major safety problems. I see folks all the time driving on low air pressure...with a suv filled with kids...a rollover waiting to happen. I don't care how old or new a tire is if it is run with low pressure especially at speed and in heat it will fail....foreign tires or not. Trailer tires are also a major concern..they don't wear out but I have had them get old and blow a belt sitting still....old tires do that. I replace my tires every 6 years worn out or not. Tires on sale are sometimes old tires. Check the dates. Never buy used tires. Your results may vary.
I had a tire of unknown age lose all its tread, right down to the steel belts just like that in an OT car almost 30 years ago. I was going way too fast on the highway, but other than the loud bang & some wheel well damage, all was well. It even held air till the next day. I didn't know if mine had been a retread or not either, but I don't think it was. Glad you & the car both made it through ok.
I just check out my car whenever I'm cleaning, polishing or washing. You're already with the car and you're usually not in a hurry. It only adds 30 minutes to what you're doing.
Had that happen with my daily on I-75, running about 65 m.p.h. In rush hour traffic! The truck never lost control, the tire just popped. I looked back and no one swerved and I made it to the next off ramp. Those tires were only about 4 years old at the time; needless to say, it got four new ones regardless. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I had one swell up and the tread flew into the wheel well, killed my brake line then continued to grab my fuel line and kink it to where i was still getting fuel but it was leaking pretty heavily (yes it was attached to the frame tightly but that tire didn't give a shit) then i pulled over i pinched the brake line and changed the tire... 10 miles down the road i lost power and found my way on a 15 mile walk home, i noticed a gas smell but i was too focused on the brake line to worry. Now i pay more attention but i would of never learned if it wasn't for the hard way out... It could of always ended up worse.
My wife had a brand new Cooper radial blow out on our old o/t '89 Dodge van in 1998 - with my dad riding shotgun and my then-four-year-old son in the van with! She was doing 70 on the Kansas Turnpike when the right front simply disintegrated, and all that was left of the tire was about three inches of torn sidewall inside and outside. Those tires had just over 650 miles on them. And, yes, the van went straight back to the tire store, where they gave us a pretty significant tire upgrade (nearly $80/tire!) for all four for no charge, PLUS a new spare for free, too! Pretty righteous of the manager, I thought! Sometimes, gang, a tire is just plain bad from the plant. No amount of care (or lack of) will save it from self-destruction.
I guess that event was like the "Old Days" (30's 40's and 50's)... You experienced a "Blow Out"! Back in the days, both my dad and I suffered those, more that a few times.
The radials on my 55 Ford will be 7 years old this year so they will definately be replaced before the next trip to Daytona,I just hope they last until I park it for the winter and will replace in the spring.
Family vacation this week, 2000 miles so far..you cannot imagine the amount of shredded tires on this country's highways. Saw 5 tire failures in the last 24 hours, 4 of which were on trailers including the spectacular disintigration of one on a horse trailer that passed me doing 80+ yesterday evening. Luckily (for me, anyway) the 18-wheeler ahead of me swallowed up the gator hide and spit it out on the shoulder, leaving just the smaller bits to dodge. Last thing I need is having that try to come through the floor 800 miles from home. Fool kept on going, but at least he cut it back to about 70 Like was mentioned earlier, trailer tires are often the worst offenders, few think to replace tires on them since they see little use. Every used trailer I've called on was quoted by the owner to have "great tread on the tires", but none knew (or would admit) how old they were.
The op pic was steel belted radial,I seem to remember that steel belts used to shed often and most went to fabric(nylon,rayon???) belts and there weren't as many problems with them.Anyone remeber this? Is my memory bad on this too???!!!
The Jalopy Journal
