How common? tire punctured by a stone

[jorton]

Republic Invader Sport

I don't know what I drove over but the tire has a 1 1/4" cut in the middle of the tread. There is no nail or screw in it. The mechanic said it could have been a stone. I was approaching a stop at 20mph on a paved street.

I have had a tire flattened by a small stone before. It was the size of a tooth and it was pointed. That one stayed in the tire.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Long time ago my cord showing bald tire flattened by a smaller finger nail glass.

 

[Rand]

Reminds me again to not buy cheap Chinese tires.

 

[MolaKule]

It can happen if you travel over a road with loose stone or gravel that has a lot of chert or flint.

My son and I were coyote hunting in AZ one time when one of the 35" off road tires on his Jeep was punctured by a piece of sharp chert.

 

[daves87rs]

Happened to a coworker with BFG touring TAs...


Can happen to any tire....

 

[CapriRacer]

Stones tend to penetrate straight in and look like a round hole - star burst perhaps - where other objects tend to cause a slice.

So a 1 and a quarter inch cut sounds like something else.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: Rand
Reminds me again to not buy cheap Chinese tires.


yea I guess my post wasnt fair.. I've seen quite a few rock cuts offroad... usually sidewall/shoulder though.

 

[andyd]

Radial tires are prone to side wall punctures off road Hardcore 4 wheelers prefer bias ply tires for that reason. Sharp brush will puncture a radial tire easily.

 

[e55amgbenz007]

This happened a few months ago on a Michelin LTX that had only 15k on it. Gave me an excuse to upgrade to the '14 Tundra TRD Off Road package rims/tires.

 

[Robenstein]

Considering our ancestors used stones to make axes and knives, yes they can certainly puncture a rubber tire in the right set of circumstances.

 

[Colt45ws]

Seen a brake pad backing plate puncture a tire before. Yeah. I found it inside the tire when I took it off the wheel.

 

[ironman_gq]

I've seen all kinds of stuff in tires, a whole screwdriver, a refrigerator foot, a crescent wrench, lots of small stones.

And I'm not talking on thin car tires, these are E range truck tires with lots of tread left. All it takes is hitting things at the right angles, if it's raining it's even easier to puncture a tire, the water lubes up the object and things happen.

 

[Nick1994]

Can happen to any tire. My dad had 33" Super Swampers on his truck on not that bad of a road and a small rock still punctured the sidewall.

 

[jorton]

First one was a Firestone.

Originally Posted By: Rand
Reminds me again to not buy cheap Chinese tires.

 

[97tbird]

Happened to me (Conti DWS).
Tire had to be replaced

 

[jorton]

Originally Posted By: jorton
Republic Invader Sport

I don't know what I drove over but the tire has a 1 1/4" cut in the middle of the tread. There is no nail or screw in it. The mechanic said it could have been a stone. I was approaching a stop at 20mph on a paved street.

I have had a tire flattened by a small stone before. It was the size of a tooth and it was pointed. That one stayed in the tire.
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Sorry, but I had to test new tinypic.

 

[CapriRacer]

Thanks for the photos.

Yup, that is not likely to have been done by a stone. More likely a piece of metal that was trapped at an angle between the tire and the road and as the tire rolled over top of it, the object moved, causing more damage on the inside than on the outside.

 

[Rhymingmechanic]

I was going to suggest glass, but CapriRacer's idea seems more likely based on the photo. You can see some damage on either side of the center void in addition to the actual puncture,

Regarding chert, I guess it would be an ideal tire flattener considering that's what the people here before us made spear and arrow points from.

When I worked at a tire shop, it was common for ranchers with dually pickups to come in with sidewall punctures from sagebrush. I guess the brush got corralled between the tires and did its work.