tire warped because of too much psi

[kickflipjr]

Over the past few days I noticed a slight jiggle in my steering wheel but it was nothing major I just figured my wheels needed balanced but it has been getting progressively worse. Today It was really bad on the way to work. I looked at my wheel in the parking lot and my wheel was bulging in one spot. That really freaked me out so I let out tons of air in the wheel. I had to call my dad to put the spare on because I took the spare out last week to lose some weight on the car. Of course right when you do that you need to use it:rolleyes:

I was running 55psi in wheels with a max of 40 psi. Thankfully I didn't have a blowout. I will put a picture up tomorrow.

[SVOboy]

Very interesting. How old/what make was the tire?

[Peakster]

Very interesting. How old/what make was the tire?

Good question.

[kickflipjr]

The tire is a no name (Sigma Tempest). The tires came with the car when I bought it they have decent tread on them, but I don't know the age. 175/70/13. Max 44psi . I was just messing with it and I heard some liquid sloshing around inside. Whats up with that?

[SVOboy]

Liquid in the tire? That's VERY interesting. I don't know what's up with that...where's the buldge? Near the seal with the rim or the tread?

[Peakster]

Yeah, no-name tires are bad. I put the economy Kumho tires on my Fiero and they were severely worn after 30,000km (wore even faster than the front tires that came with the car). It would've been interesting to see the bulge in your tire.

The best bet now is to find some decent name brand tires with 'X' number of warranteed miles that are on sale at some big box store.

[kickflipjr]

It bulged at the tread. Notice how wide the gaps are. The second picture is of the normal tread.

http://www.gassavers.org/garage_images/jpmicvt68kgtm3vqwlug.jpg

http://www.gassavers.org/garage_images/w25syvc3iwmsolyjj7s6.jpg

[kickflipjr]

Wow, the side by side looks really scary.

[SVOboy]

Looks like the belts ripped...I saw that on a few tires when I worked at the shop...pretty nasty stuff. I think those where crappy tires too, but I forget (they were on the car of a co-worker's girlfriend and they had no money so I assume they were crappy, we replaced them with used tires from the shop, :p)

[repete86]

Wow. Kind of scary since I'm at almost 60 psi rear and my max is 35 psi.

[kickflipjr]

It was probably the combination of old cheap tires and me hitting a bump or pothole hard.

Also, I may have put them at 55psi in a cold temperature and the warmth might have raised the psi even more. Is that a possibility?

[SVOboy]

The cold/warm difference is rather larger, I would figure it could be a large factor in this case. I always try to warm up my tires before giving them air for this reason.

[SVOboy]

Erm, if you're going off some max psi limit you've set then check warm; otherwise tire psi is checked cold.
I check mine warm because I would like them to be running at 50 PSI regardless of outside temperature, and it's just easier to actually see where they are running than to play temperature guess work, but that's just me.

[Peakster]

Woah, that's some crazy photos. I'd definitely say those look like cheap-o tires.

[Dynamically Aero]

I was just messing with it and I heard some liquid sloshing around inside. Whats up with that?

Is it clear like water, or is it milky? If milky, it could be a tire sealant used by the previous owner.

[JanGeo]

Hey is it me or are those tire really rounded from sidewall to sidewall?

[rh77]

I had a normally-pressurized Dunlop SP20 fail on me once. 1000 miles on my new '97 Civic DX, 70 on the Interstate, and Ka-Blooey! Had to regain control of the car and pull over.

The tire completely separated into 2 pieces: 3/4 of the tread portion, and 1/4 of the sidewall in a completely even separation. No previous damage, no warning. I investigated it and it looked like a weak manufacturing process where the sidewall met the tread. No warranty coverage - Dunlop Corp. lawyers calling instead of customer service. :mad: It happened on the July 4th weekend, so getting to work, my spare wore-out and I had to buy another tire out-of-pocket when the tire-shop opened, and bought salvage tire/rim for a full-sized spare.

I vowed never to buy Dunlop again, and haven't since.

I sent the tire to them for analysis and never heard back (despite my several calls and threats to report to the BBB, Attorney Genl., etc.) :thumbdown: Pics are documented.

LSS - the tire failed from within: bubbled and weakened at a seam. Water can do it, striking a hard surface/object can, overpressurization. But I've seen many name brand, normal-pressure tires bust belts prematurely as well. It's a crap shoot.

RH77

[Erdrick]

Wow.. that is pretty crazy. It is also enough to keep me from messing with my pressures at all. I am not even sure WHAT the brand of my tires is. I can only guess that they are the cheapest money can buy. A $4000 (new) car has to cut corners somewhere... or rather everywhere in the case of my car.

[Snax]

This is one of those things where you really do get what you pay for most of the time. The speed rating of the tire is going to tell you the most about it's overall durability.

That doesn't mean that one needs so called 'high performance' tires, but given what appear to be similar tires in every other respect, the tire with the higher speed rating is probably going to hold up to other abuses better. The cheapest brand at the store is priced that way for a reason!

[Bill in Houston]

Speed rating may indicate ruggedness of the carcass but is not a good indicator of tread life.

Kickfilpjr, wow, that is crazy. Glad you and your car didn't have a blowout...

[zpiloto]

Wow, the side by side looks really scary.

Glad you're OK. How many miles on them at the over inflated pressures and was it separated all the way around or just that 12 inch section or so?

I'll take the weight penalty over no spare any day.

[BeeUU]

I had a set of cheapo tires fail miserably years ago and were relatively few miles. The sidewall and tread separated (very large bulges) on 3 of the 4 tires, inflated normally. I dont remember the name and have not seen it since.

I also had one (1) Pirelli fail in a similar fashion, but it has many thousands of miles and was toast anyway. It produced a vibration in the car.

The failed tire is crazy looking, dang.

[kickflipjr]

Glad you're OK. How many miles on them at the over inflated pressures and was it separated all the way around or just that 12 inch section or so?

I'll take the weight penalty over no spare any day.


It only happened in the section where I the picture was taken. I probably had the tires at that high of pressure for 500-750 miles.

[BeeUU]

Look at this as an opportunity to get a much better set of tires!! :cool:

I am glad you are OK!!

[Hockey4mnhs]

did you snap a band it looks alot like when my friend broke his

[VetteOwner]

alot of these cheapo tires you speak of are produced from the same factory on the same machines as these big name places. when they make the sidewwall they just put a different manufacturers nameplate in the mold and pour away. so price/or manf doesnt really matter.

this is one of the reasons i dont have my tires aired up over 5 over the sidewall limit.

[JanGeo]

The sidewall max pressure is for max weight load as well and cold pressure so it should be ok to run that much pressure i.e. 44psi typically. Now going higher than that is going to cause a failure sooner or later more likely sooner and I think that is what we are seeing. Now does the pressure increase when warmed MORE pounds if you are starting at a higher pressure . . . hummm sounds like another test. I like the idea of checking the pressure hot when running a lot higher pressure.

[Lug_Nut]

I've seen (had my own) similar episodes. The inner tire surface wasn't air tight. The air within the tire eventually migrated from the inside of the tire (32 psi) and pressurized the minute gaps between the belts to the same 32 psi. The tread has little pressure retention capacity and it began to bulge out from 32 psi underneath.
I was able to catch the developing separation fairly early. I punctured the "blister" from the tread side to deflate the bubble between the carcass and tread. Now I have a slow leak that took several days to drop 10 psi, but no blister and no further separation of tread. I continued to top off the pressure until I had a chance to remove the tire.
Note: The blister from this type of separation will exist when the tire is deflated. If the bulge in the tread dissipates as the tire is deflated, then the cords and belting are compromised and the tire is unsafe for further use other than as a swing in a tree.
I coated the inside of the tire in the area of the blister/bubble with rubber cement to make a new air tight skin. I reinflated the tire and had no other issues with it until the car died several months later.

[red91sit]

Hmm, weird! I"m also running the el cheapo tires, at 50-60 psi haha, had to for autocrossing, and they've been working great. My extremely old, dry rotted front tires just developed their first leak. Not as bad as i was expecting though.

[psyshack]

That tire looks just like the mex. retreads we use to buy on the west coast for burn out comps.

[davidjh72]

The cold/warm difference is rather larger, I would figure it could be a large factor in this case. I always try to warm up my tires before giving them air for this reason.

Ditto on checking tires warm when exceeding the car manufacturer's recommended PSI!

I checked my tires after work (sitting "cold" all day). Expecting to see 45 PSI on all four tires. Nope! 50! I backed them down to 44 PSI per the sidewall notation. I checked the tires shortly after I got home from my 74-mile commute and the tires were all an even 45 PSI warm.

I don't want to risk a tire like in that picture above. Yikes!