What could cause this damage to a tyre?
Discussion
The car is now long gone, but i was sorting through some photos and I've always wondered what could have caused it.
The car was a 2005 Mondeo TDci ST, approx 55,000 miles.
It was serviced and MOTd at the main dealers about 3 weeks before this was spotted
I said faulty tyre, tyre place said tracking issues.
Suspension/tracking was checked and alledgedly no fault found.
The car was a 2005 Mondeo TDci ST, approx 55,000 miles.
It was serviced and MOTd at the main dealers about 3 weeks before this was spotted
I said faulty tyre, tyre place said tracking issues.
Suspension/tracking was checked and alledgedly no fault found.
wolf1 said:
Bottom portion of front spring will have broken off and the remaining bit will have rotated round a bit so that the sharp end is just catching the edge of the tyre. Seen quite a few like this and some worse when the spring has gone further and dug right into the tyre.
That'd be my guess too, it looks like something has rubbed on it rather than a tracking/alignment issue. If the spring had broken near the bottom, you probably wouldnt even notice the difference in ride height. If it was alignment or a worn bush, you'd surely notice the car steering very strangely.The tread has separated from the casing, probably due to an ingress of moisture / water. I would think the uneven wear and other damage is coincidental and may have occurred after the initial issue. If not then I would have thought you would have noticed severe imbalance through the steering for some time before this failure.
A small puncture or abrasion would allow the water / moister to enter between the casing and tread and over a period of time tis would cause the separation.
If nothing else this just demonstrates how vital it is to have a quick check of your tyres before you drive off every time and a more thorough check at least once a week!
A small puncture or abrasion would allow the water / moister to enter between the casing and tread and over a period of time tis would cause the separation.
If nothing else this just demonstrates how vital it is to have a quick check of your tyres before you drive off every time and a more thorough check at least once a week!
Tyre pressure too low. I had this happen to 8 (YES EIGHT) front tyres over the last 18 months. Some only lasted 2-3k miles. The scary thing is that even while keeping your eye on them (I checked twice weekly) this happens pretty suddenly. One day the tyre looks fine, next it is gone. Luckily I only had one actual blowout and it was on a quiet road. The other times I've caught it before losing a tyre at speed. I had everything checked, rubbing, bushes, suspension, camber/toe/4wd etc... At the cost of £hundreds and found nothing wrong - plus the cost of tyres that went kaput before finding the problem. I've now done over 20k miles on my current fronts with the extra pressure. Tyre fitters were quoting 32psi. My car actually needed 38psi!
Offside front ? My Mondeo ST TDCI 2006 did this to 3 of its front tyres within 2 years
Garage put it down to tyre faults, geometry of the front suspension and under deflation, but I have been known to check the tyres regularly because on 18" alloys, they "look" flat all the time !!!...
Garage put it down to tyre faults, geometry of the front suspension and under deflation, but I have been known to check the tyres regularly because on 18" alloys, they "look" flat all the time !!!...
nanafagis said:
Tyre pressure too low. I had this happen to 8 (YES EIGHT) front tyres over the last 18 months. Some only lasted 2-3k miles.
JVaughan said:
Offside front ? My Mondeo ST TDCI 2006 did this to 3 of its front tyres within 2 years
Garage put it down to tyre faults, geometry of the front suspension and under deflation, but I have been known to check the tyres regularly because on 18" alloys, they "look" flat all the time !!!...
I actually think this is the most likely reason!Garage put it down to tyre faults, geometry of the front suspension and under deflation, but I have been known to check the tyres regularly because on 18" alloys, they "look" flat all the time !!!...
Previous user of the company car used to park by touch, so all 4 wheels were near enough square and constantly losing pressure.
I managed to get 4 new wheels, and even with the new wheels I was sick of constantly checking the pressures, they'd always lose 10-12 psi over a few days.
The wheels has stupid bolt in steel valves, rather than the traditional rubber valves that "pulled" through the valve hole and always leaked from there.
once new valves were fitted, it solved the problem.
sim16v said:
The wheels has stupid bolt in steel valves, rather than the traditional rubber valves that "pulled" through the valve hole and always leaked from there.
This - combined with the weird geometry of the Mondeo (and X-Type) that causes them to wear the inside edge of the tyres like that.The steel valve stems fitted to ST and Zetec-S was a crazy idea - they cause sacrificial corrosion of the wheels around the valve holes because when they are tightened up they scrape the protective lacquer which means you then have a more reactive metal (alloy wheel) coming into direct contact with a less reactive one (stainless steel valve). Then the rubber o-ring on the inside flange of the stem (inside the wheel rim) eventually perishes and the air starts to escape through the external thread on the valve.
You assume you have a puncture so go looking for holes in the tyre, but only the more observant tyre repairers will spot the air coming out from halfway up the valve stem.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff