BLOW OUT!

[Poledriver]

Had a strange (and scary) one last week. Travelling up the A3 at a 'reasonable' pace when I found myself slewing all over the road!
Pulled over and found the NSF tyre had gone flat! I got the can of tyreseal out and strted to re-inflate the tyre, then noticed a lot of white foam appearing from the back. I reached around the wheel and found a hole in the sidewall big enough to get my hand in!!!
My tyre guy has replaced the tyre but says he cannot find any sign of anything having caused a puncture ( the suspicion was that the tyre had gone down and I had been driving it flat!) so it would appear that the sidewall itself had gone? The whole of the inner sidewall appears very weak but the outer one seems fine!
The tyre (Goodyear assymetric) had only been on for about 300 miles.
Has anyone had a similar problem?
Is there any known problem with the Goodyear tyres?

The car is running 18" Spiders with 225/35/18 tyres.

[Gazzab]

Sounds like you were driving on a flat tyre - I did this in my first cerb. The 35 profile tyre wont look flat (especially on a shingle driveway). Mine was caused by a cracked wheel (that TVR replaced with a new set of wheels foc).

[morebeanz]

Firstly, glad you're ok and nothing additional happened to you and yours!

It does sound like you were running on a flat tyre for long enough to do "additional" damage. Perhaps just a coincidence that meant one sidewall was more damaged than the other, or perhaps the camber or a bend had some influence? I've not seen any bad feedback about that tyre...

[Gazzab]

And mine happened twice on the A3 too ! Both time at 80 MPH coming up to the Godalming tunr off heading towards guildford.
First time had the tyre replaced and the tyre place couldnt see any cracks but put some sealant on the wheel. A week later the same thing happened but on the other side !

[Poledriver]

But the tyre had only been on for a couple of weeks, pressure checked after one week and no loss. No evidence of holes anywhere else in tyre (unless the original hole had been in the sidewall, which would be difficult!) and the valve was fine!

[Gazzab]

And the wheel is fine?

[Poledriver]

Gazzab said:

And the wheel is fine?

Whell is perfectly ok! No sharp edges, no sign of leakage, new tyre has been on 3 days, pressure still exactly the same as it was!
Could a knackered shocker have such an extreme effect?

[methodwares]

wasn't there a thread a few years back of someone showing pictures of their goodyears that had a split round the entire inside sidewall .. not all the way through, but through to the first layer of reinforcement?

[morebeanz]

Gazzab said:

And mine happened twice on the A3 too ! Both time at 80 MPH coming up to the Godalming tunr off heading towards guildford.
First time had the tyre replaced and the tyre place couldnt see any cracks but put some sealant on the wheel. A week later the same thing happened but on the other side !

Were yours Goodyear too?

[Gazzab]

No they werent Goodyears.

[Allandwf]

What pressures were you running? I ran mine at 24psi, and when changed had visible marks inside the tyre on the wall, the guy recons they were underinflated, ran the next set at 28. That was Bridgestones.

[Steve_T]

Wasn't there a message re running higher tyre pressures a few years ago?

[Mad Mark]

I have had two Goodyears (rears) where the side wall has developed a crack along the sidewall near the tread. I sent one back and Goodyear said they could find nothing wrong with the tyre and had no other reports but still paid half as a good will gesture!!
I did post some pics on here a few years back. the cracks were on the inside and It was only because I was working under the car I noticed them.
Personally I am not going back to Goodyears again!!!

[s6boy]

2 years ago 2 new GSD3's on the rear 50 miles under them, pulled back in from a spirited overtake and an audible bang followed by heavy pull to one side and slight weaving. Safely stopped and walked back to rough area of 'rapid de-compression' but couldn't find anything untoward (but what ever it was it may have been thrown clear). Tried tyre weld but like the O.P found foam coming out of a 1" split in the inside wall of the tyre.

Replacement fitted and requested 24 psi, as per 4 days previously, got home re-fitted wheel and went stopped to double check pressures all round to find 32psi and 34 psi in the rears!

I had the tyre sent back to Goodyear who couldn't find a manufacturing defect/fault and blamed road debris.

[Poledriver]

My pressures are set to 28 all round!

[gabbro]

To prevent this sort of thing happening - it may be worth taking a look here

Protex UK - tyre sealant - http://www.protex.uk.net/

The high speed stuff can heal anything up to a 6mm penetration automatically and permanently... I've had all my cars done since I saw the demonstration of driving a van over a plank of nails and just carrying on!

[a1rak]

I had exactly the same problem with my Goodyear F1s. The front tyre inner edge wall was virtually completeley detached from the tyre tread face. It can happen very quickly and on 2 seperate occasions.
I think you have almost definatley had a puncture just before the total failure of the tyre. It is possible to completely trash the sidewall of these tyres within minuites of a tyre deflating.
Its can be difficult to spot a very low profile tyre deflating untill its to late and totally trashed the tyre.

[dean_ratpac]

A few years ago this happened to me-due to the recall issue a while back. I used to eat through tyres