Wonder what caused this tread separation

[sxg6]

A member on another forum I visit had some of his tires fail recently, I wonder what you guys think caused it. They look like they had some miles on them, but the wear doesn't look excessive, not like he had driven them down to the cords.

"Turns out my amazon special tires started dying. Tread was becoming detached from the core on the inside. I only noticed because I got a flat and reached around to see if I could feel anything. Giant slit all the way exposing the wires. 3 out of my 4 tires were doing it.
So today was an expensive day. But now I have real tires not some cr*ppy achilles or whatever garbage I had on it. I do know I paid $330 for all 4 of them so I knew they weren't great."

 

[MParr]

Your “member on another forum” got all there was out of those tires. They are extremely worn. They should have been replaced long ago. The coloration of the rubber suggests that the tires are quite old. It appears that those are super low profile tires mounted on oversized rims. That in itself will cause early wear. Sometimes a post does not fairly represent what is really going on.

 

[Egg_Head]

It would be interesting to know the mfg. date, how many miles on tires, tire size relative to the vehicle & wheel, storage, etc. ...

 

[miden851]

retreaded tires most likely; a subprime tire type market business in which they use 80% of an old tire and re-glue new tread on the top of tire for additional 20% of fresh rubber

 

[mrsilv04]

Underinflation, failure to rotate tires in a timely manner, a front end with worn components, stupid modifications to the suspension to attain a "look", a vehicle with previous severe collision damage, more than one of these...

 

[CapriRacer]

Notice that the thickness of the tread at the edge of the separation - virtually none!. While a tread separation (technically a belt-leaving-belt separation) normally causes rapid wear in the area around the separation, that area is usually isolated. Here it extends about an inch down the sidewall - and it is pretty uniform around the circumference. That indicates that the tire was worn into the belt. Usual cause: Misalignment!

 

[Lubener]

retreaded tires most likely; a subprime tire type market business in which they use 80% of an old tire and re-glue new tread on the top of tire for additional 20% of fresh rubber

I thought retreads for passenger car use were basically history. I haven't seen them in many years.

 

[JHZR2]

I thought retreads for passenger car use were basically history. I haven't seen them in many years.

There is an outfit in TX that retreads high end truck tires. I’m likely to buy a set next time. They look legit..

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Never had an issue with retreads or remolds.

The tire in the original picture was run way past its designed life. If it is down to the cords, I think any bets on being a "good" tire from that point on are out.

 

[WylieCoyote]

Wonder if his car looks something like this from behind.

 

[krzyss]

"Turns out my amazon special tires started dying."

After CapriRacer mentioned alignment I had similar to above picture in my mind.

I guess the question becomes: "Did they die or were there murdered?".

And the latter seems to be more likely from presented evidence.

Krzyś

 

[sxg6]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Bad alignment certainly makes sense, putting extra stress on the very edge of the tread. From the other pictures I've seen from him, the car certainly doesn't appear to have any sort of extreme camber, but apparently it could have been off enough to cause issues.

 

[Danno]

On the retreads comments, you may see large truck carcasses on the highway. If you see the belts with the carcass, the tired failed due to under-inflation or a puncture. This is a vast majority of the causes of tire failures. I have yet to see a retread failure in my driving.
A quality retread is a very good tire. Thinking Bandag process.
As a previous fleet manager, we ran Bandags on our trailer tires and tractor traction tires.
Never steer tires.

 

[Malo83]

Too many runs up Mulholland drive.

 

[Kawiguy454]

Misalingnmen not only means physical stress but heat. And as the rubber wears down the temps go up. That looks like plain old de-lamination to me. Other choice could be underinflation, low profile tires will stress on the edge without enough air to support them.

 

[MParr]

“The Look”

 

[krzyss]

This one is abused even without carrying any weight.

Krzyś

 

[bobglaub]

Guy from other forum with the bad tires here. I'll try to answer the questions here.

My pictures are poor, i really only took them to show my friend, then i figured what the hell I'll throw 'em on the internet as a sort of "check your tires" kind of post.

Got the tires in July 2018. I'd say they have 25,000 miles on them according to my logs. I log each time I put gas in the car, and going back to around when i got them i was at 145k and i just hit 170k last week. This i recommend for anybody to do. it's handy and when things like this come up, i have a record. I keep it on a good docs spreadsheet on my phone on my google drive.

Bought them on Amazon. They were Achilles ATR Sport 2. They were stupid cheap. My invoice shows $320 to my door with a $60 shipping fee (thanks Alaska). So $260 for all 4.
I knew they were cheap. I never intended to run them as long as I did. New tires were on my list of things to get in the spring. Discovering what i did just kinda pushed the priority up. And now based on reading through this thread, alignment has also been pushed up.
.

The rear 2 and passenger front were the one with the separation. driver front, while worn, had no issue i could see.

Highly possible and very likely that it was bad alignment, i haven't gotten one done since i got the car in 2017. She's definitely due for one. It's on my list of things to get done before we embark on our road-trip from Alaska to Maine.

Tires weren't underinflated. they weren't stretched, they were 245's on 8.5" wide wheels. they were 245/40R18 97W.

I'm bad with my tires, i know this. I rotated them once. in 2019 because i rarely drove in 2020. Tires were never stored, they were always on my car. Winters she lives in my heated garage.

I fully accept that I'm the reason they died the way they did. I don't check them as often as i should, but i do check the tire pressure at least once every 2 months. As mentioned, the car does now have 170k miles on it so i would believe the suspension bushings and whatnot are wearing out.

I don't believe the vehicle was ever in any accident, but i don't know, bought it used from a used car dealership.

Any other questions i'd be happy to answer.

 

[CapriRacer]

Guy from other forum with the bad tires here. I'll try to answer the questions here.

My pictures are poor, i really only took them to show my friend, then i figured what the hell I'll throw 'em on the internet as a sort of "check your tires" kind of post.

Got the tires in July 2018. I'd say they have 25,000 miles on them according to my logs. I log each time I put gas in the car, and going back to around when i got them i was at 145k and i just hit 170k last week. This i recommend for anybody to do. it's handy and when things like this come up, i have a record. I keep it on a good docs spreadsheet on my phone on my google drive.

Bought them on Amazon. They were Achilles ATR Sport 2. They were stupid cheap. My invoice shows $320 to my door with a $60 shipping fee (thanks Alaska). So $260 for all 4.
I knew they were cheap. I never intended to run them as long as I did. New tires were on my list of things to get in the spring. Discovering what i did just kinda pushed the priority up. And now based on reading through this thread, alignment has also been pushed up.
.

The rear 2 and passenger front were the one with the separation. driver front, while worn, had no issue i could see.

Highly possible and very likely that it was bad alignment, i haven't gotten one done since i got the car in 2017. She's definitely due for one. It's on my list of things to get done before we embark on our road-trip from Alaska to Maine.

Tires weren't underinflated. they weren't stretched, they were 245's on 8.5" wide wheels. they were 245/40R18 97W.

I'm bad with my tires, i know this. I rotated them once. in 2019 because i rarely drove in 2020. Tires were never stored, they were always on my car. Winters she lives in my heated garage.

I fully accept that I'm the reason they died the way they did. I don't check them as often as i should, but i do check the tire pressure at least once every 2 months. As mentioned, the car does now have 170k miles on it so i would believe the suspension bushings and whatnot are wearing out.

I don't believe the vehicle was ever in any accident, but i don't know, bought it used from a used car dealership.

Any other questions i'd be happy to answer.

Thanks for posting that info.

My experience says that any camber over 1° may lead to wear issues like yours - unless the toe is exactly on spec - which they hardly ever are.

So have the alignment tech dial out as much camber as he can. This may prove difficult as many alignment techs seem to think that if the vehicle manufacturer didn't provide adjustability into the suspension, that it either shouldn't or can't be done. This is far from the truth! You have to ask UPFRONT! It may take a camber plate or an eccentric bolt (Extra cost!!), but it can and should be done!

On the other hand, you have a lot of miles on the vehicle and it's going to need some new suspension parts to get it so that ii is tight enough to hold the alignment. You might not be willing to put so much money into a car whose lifetime is growing short.

 

[bobglaub]

Thanks for that.

This is my forever car. I love this thing. I already dropped in a new short block and fully rebuilt heads in early 2019. I generally do all the work myself, so that saves quit a bit of cash. I have no issues tearing the car apart.

I'll bring her into the shop and say what they say about the alignment. I'll have 'em get her dialed in as best as they can.

I know most people dream about owning an Italian exotic or something unreasonable, I've dreamed about owning this car since i first saw it in 2005. A White Legacy GT Wagon. She came with a standard transmission in 05 only (for the wagon). I saw it, and knew that was the car i was going to own. They're hard to find, so when i did, i bought it. I had actually seen this car around town for a year before it went on sale. used to work at the control tower at the airport and my work took me there frequently. Then it wasn't there. a month later it was for sale at a small used car lot i drove by by pure chance. Bought it that day. So yeah, i'm willing to dump whatever into this car.
For being almost 20 years old, it's in pretty decent condition.

I appreciate all the insight. Thanks everyone.