Tire Failure... need your opinion

S

Sandman1962

Contributing Member
Joined
29 July 2007
Messages
150
Location
South Lake Tahoe
the details:
Bridgestone Potenza RE010
3000 mi
Installed by Niello Acura Sacramento October 2007

the scenerio:
Driving back from Sacramento in 107F heat, running smooth as ever... no road debris, no road issues.... going around 70 in the fast lane... I notice smoke in the rear view mirror and immediately slow down, a little shimmy develops from the rear.... I signal and start towards the right shoulder prob going about 30 at this time... the tire separates from the car and spins ahead of the NSX down the freeway... I make it to the shoulder and.....

the pictures:

2834507667_d86d8a23bd_b.jpg


the rest of the tire in the fast lane

2835343630_d734f8c3d9_b.jpg


2834506969_6308a58d26_b.jpg


2835343006_9e53390d84_b.jpg


2834506183_eb06fec066_b.jpg


There only seems to be a bit of damage to the wheel well liner and wheel damage. I feel lucky that I was on a straight stretch of road and that I did not loose control of the car and of course that no one was injured.

I have had flats before but never have I had this degree of tire damage.... I do not think I have ever seen an entire tire like mine on the freeway...

I am just wondering what to do!? Is there a defect in the tires? valve stems? I am actually thinking I have no confidence in the other tires...

anyone seen this before?!

Who do I complain to?!!?

what about the wheel?

Thanks for you help and advice.
 
How old were the tires?

May have been sitting up for awhile before the dealer got them to mount on your car.
 
Wow! That is frightening. :eek:

It is a great thing that you were not in the twisties and that you saw the smoke and were slowing. Count your blessings...

I'd contact Bridgestone and give them the specifics. Even with 3K on them, I would hope and expect that they would want to 'make it right'.

Please let us know how they respond as that will determine if I consider their tires for my NSX in the future.
 
Go back to the dealer and ask them what can be done by them or the manufacturer...

I presume your tire pressures were okay and that you check them regularly?:wink:
 
Looking at your 1st picture, after DOT at the end it says 3906, which would mean the tire was made 39th week of 2006, which means the tire is not very old.
I have exactly the same tire disintegration pattern last year, except mine was a set of Kumho and my driver rear tire just disintegrated just like yours. It was summer, but I don't recall it being particularly hot, and I was in the city, probably going about 30 mph on a straight stretch, and without warning suddenly my car started shaking violently. I pulled over immediately of course and I saw the same thing like yours. I recover the tire later and it has pealed off completely in a perfect circle. it just pealed off right at the sidewall. I asked the tire guys at walmart if they have seen anything like this, and they said every once in a while you have a tire failure like that, well that didn't make me feel any better.!:eek:
 
Same exact thing happened to me with the OEM rear tires with low miles (forget the exact mileage), but RSO took some great pictures. Just be thankful that you're OK and replace the rear tires. My fronts went another set or so of rear tires with no problems. When I had to replace the tires I was up near Watkin's Glen (had gone up for my first of many Kid's Days), the only tire available in our size was the Fuzions. Now running the Goodyear Eagles, l like them more than the OEM Bridgestones.
 
From what I am reading... this is not a totally unheard of event. But what caused it? how do i know it was not a manufacturing defect and more importantly, are my other tires safe?

If this happened maybe 30 minutes later, I could have been in the very twisty roads leading to Lake Tahoe (going faster than I should have), which very well could have ended in disaster.

I will probably try to put a call in to Niello and to Bridgestone.

Is there a registry for tires failure? is this a TIRE failure?

thanks
 
Same thing happened to me with So3's .The tire even out accelerated me just like in your case:eek: I chaulked it up to being overheated from underinflation.I had not been monitering the tire pressures as much as I should have been.Could have been the dealer that did'nt inflate enough,but as pissed as I was and I'm sure you are, to prove any of that ..good luck.I replaced the tire and that was that.
 
not saying this happend to you, but the cause is usually underinflation which causes the tire to have excess heat and come apart. did you retreive the rest of the tire as it would be interesting to see if it has a puncture.
 
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I was tempted to get the tire from the fast lane.... but thought better of it.
I do not believe that the tire was underinflated, as the other tires were fine when I checked.

I was on the road for maybe 35 minutes (the car was parked for several hours) when this occurred.

Underinflation seems to be a common theme, but in this case, I really do not think it is the culprit.

I am planning a couple calls to Niello, Bridgestone, and Tirerack (I think this is where Niello got the tires) to see what if anything can be done.

I will keep you posted!
 
Wow! Glad that has never happened to me but does look like the tire picked up some debris, developed a fairly small leak, lost enough pressure that started overheating badly and self-destructed. If the object doesn't make the tire go flat quickly, this can be the result without the driver even realizing it.
 
Due to the stiff side walls on the performance tires they could look inflated but in fact need air. Get a good tire pressure gage and check them regularly. Its cheep insurance
 
I've seen many incidents like this at work and the reason is low tire pressure. Most, if not all, that come in like that have a puncture in the tire somewhere while driving on the highway. Driving at high speeds like that and with the tire hot, pressure is lost faster. Before you know it, the tire is running on the sidewalls and after a while the chords start breaking apart.

Glad to hear nobody got hurt!
 
I recently had a tire failure, but mine appeared to be the result of cuts from manhole cover. Although I had road hazard insurance, the tire was too old to take advantage of the insurance. Glad to see you are OK! I was real lucky. See my thread:

http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108562
 
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I got a nail in a read Yoko and didn't notice it until it was very low, maybe half pressure. I drove the car to the dealer at very low speed with my blinkers on. The car felt fine but I was glad I lived downtown about 1/2 kilometer from the Acura dealer.
 
How low of tire pressure are we talking about here?

5 pounds?

10 ?
 
Sandman1962 said:
I was tempted to get the tire from the fast lane.... but thought better of it.
I do not believe that the tire was underinflated, as the other tires were fine when I checked.

I was on the road for maybe 35 minutes (the car was parked for several hours) when this occurred.

Underinflation seems to be a common theme, but in this case, I really do not think it is the culprit.

I am planning a couple calls to Niello, Bridgestone, and Tirerack (I think this is where Niello got the tires) to see what if anything can be done.

I will keep you posted!
Click to expand...

I actually retrieved mine afterwards, and i didn't find any puncture nails or anything
 
DRIFTER said:
Due to the stiff side walls on the performance tires they could look inflated but in fact need air. Get a good tire pressure gage and check them regularly. Its cheep insurance
Click to expand...

An under inflated low-profile performance tire will not handle too poorly in the conditions that you (the OP) were driving under: in a straight line, at moderate speed. This has happened to me. You could have easily picked up a bit of road debris that caused a slow leak during your drive. Just because the other tires were fine doesn't mean that all the tires were in good shape. It happens all the time. My vote goes to a slow leak from a screw/nail/other debris.
 
Well. The tires were purchased from Tirerack by Niello. I dealt with customer service from Tirerack and emailed a picture of the damage. The CS rep agreed with most of the posters here... that low inflation pressure caused the wheel to run on the sidewall and eventually disintegrate.

This unfortunately is not a 'warranty-able' issue and the CS rep thought that Bridgestone would not replace the tire.

They did offer a tire for a 15% discount off... which I took.

Well... thanks for all the input. Lesson? check tire pressures frequently and dont run over any nails.
 
I check them every time I wash the car with a very accurate gauge but that is not going to help if if I pick up a nail along the way and drive on it for an extended time. As someone already mentioned, harder to tell the inflation is low on a low profile tire when you're just traveling along in a straight line. Think this was just one of those things that I'm not sure you can avoid and have to be happy that all it cost you was a tire and that everyone (and the car of course :D ) was safe.
 


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