Tyre Damage - Road debris or deliberate damage?

[gaz1048]

Hi All

First post and looking for some opinions - I hope I have come to the right place......

Today I had a tyre failure on the motorway (doing 70mph), I heard it give and then the warnings came on the dashboard. Luckily I was on run flats so was able to creep to a tyre shop.

The guy in the tyre shop said it wasnt a normal side wall failure as it was too clean a cut. So it has got me thinking that something else might be up here. I cant upload a pic as I am new member but the cut is in the outside tyre wall and a pretty perfect straight line of 6 cm long.

The car is a 335d on bridgestone RF's.

I think there are two possibilities, 1) it was from road debris that bounced up from the motorway and sliced open the tyre. 2) it was a deliberate act from a blade before I set off. The issue I have with a deliberate act was that I had been driving for 2 hours before the failure.

I would really appreciate any experiences or opinions on this as I might have to start assessing the security of my driveway.

Thanks

G

[Hustle_]

Surely if somebody was going to slash a tyre with a blade they'd 'stab' rather than slice? And they'd probably keep at it until they had punctured the tyre? What you've got is a 6cm long shallow cut. So it's a pretty incompetent attempt with the wrong tool, a retractable craft knife for example with a delicate snap-off blade. On the other hand the tyre could've been 'pinched' by a pothole strike. Have the tyre fitter check if the wheel is still true and doesn't have a flat spot in the outer rim from a pothole.

[gaz1048]

Thanks Hustle
Good points on the length of the cut. It certainly would need to be a sharp shallow knife to do the damage and stabbing seems to the way most vandals do it. This isn't stabbing, its a straight line.

It happened on the M40 so no potholes but it could have happened before I joined the motorway I suppose but had been on there for over an hour. No damage to the rim as I asked the tyre fitter to check this as I had damage on my E91 before I got this my F31.

I will put pothole strike into the mix as possibles though!

G

[budgie smuggler]

Probably a bit of debris on the road, I've had similar and it was from a piece of metal fencing that fell off a van. I swerved and missed the panels but hit some kind of clamp. Looked like somebody had taken a machete to the tyre.

[7 5 7]

If it was a deliberate act, you would not of got onto the motorway, let alone done 2 hours of normal driving - as the tyre would already be flat, in my opinion.

[FMOB]

How old is the tyre i.e. manufacturing date and what does the sidewall look like e.g. smooth or crazed?

https://www.goodyear.eu/en_gb/consumer/learn/how-t...

Also do you know for sure that air is escaping from the split or cut in the sidewall and not elsewhere. I don't know if it possible for the wheel rim to run-over the sidewall after it has deflated which might account for the sidewall damage.

[gaz1048]

Hi 757 - yes thats a good point that it survived that long at 70mph. Thats leaning me towards the road debris damage theory but then it might have been weakened by a vandal and the RFs kept it structural secure until it got worn through.

Hi FMOB - tyre was put on last year, the tyre itself is in good condition. The slash is a perfect cut, with no damage either side of it. It was defo the cause of the damage as the tyre fitter tried to reinflate it to test that idea and the pressure was gushing from there in the water spray and no where else.
All good thoughts and appreciated!
G

[C70R]

gaz1048 said:

Hi 757 - yes thats a good point that it survived that long at 70mph. Thats leaning me towards the road debris damage theory but then it might have been weakened by a vandal and the RFs kept it structural secure until it got worn through.

So a vandal weakened it with a 6-inch long "gash", which lasted two hours at motorway speeds, and then suddenly let go? RFTs are good, but they don't work like that...

It's just implausible. I'd ignore the tyre monkey's observation and try not to force-fit to a conclusion too much, and just work to Occam's razor. The simplest solution is the most likely.

[Hustle_]

Hate to break it to you but 6cm is not 6"

[POIDH]

Ignore the fitters suggestions.

Sh*t happens to tyres occasionally - from debris in the road to finally wearing out.

[Dave.]

It was a ninja with a throwing star..... hth

[pmn3]

On the “deliberate” part, almost every puncture I’ve had over the years was caused by small nails that got stuck in the tyre. Always makes me wonder how exactly could an object like that end up on a road if not by someone deliberately trying to mess with people

[Stick Legs]

Must be a day for it.

M27 this morning about 1000.

I was driving a hire car & ‘pop’ the NSR tyre let go.

As it was abysmal weather with spray & heavy traffic I came off at Whitley.

I didn’t fancy changing a wheel on the hard shoulder, plus if I knackered the alloy it’s not my car. Drove 1/2 a mile on a non run flat flat.

As it was there was no spare, just some goo.
So I knew that wasn’t going to do anything with a blow out, so I’d have been sitting on the hard shoulder for 2 hours waiting for the AA!

No idea what caused it, but could have been debris.

[wyson]

pmn3 said:

On the “deliberate” part, almost every puncture I’ve had over the years was caused by small nails that got stuck in the tyre. Always makes me wonder how exactly could an object like that end up on a road if not by someone deliberately trying to mess with people

I thought it was builders. When the planning laws were changed to give ‘permitted development rights’ everyone suddenly started getting extensions in London, I started getting one or two punctures a year. I saw a builder off load some wood from his pickup truck, dozens of nails fell out of the bed onto the road. Did he stop to pick them up? Did he fk.

After I moved to a less salubrious part of London, with less building work, the punctures stopped. I still reflexively try to avoid parking near building works or a builders van, especially after one of them dropped a bucket of paint on my car.

Edited by wyson on Tuesday 19th December 18:09