my tyres are hexagonal - how, why - what to do!

[hungry horace]

hi, as above - seeking advice.
briefly my faithful independant has just been in touch with me to go and see my (being serviced) car.
it is up on a ramp with tyres that can only be described as resembling 50-pence pieces.
i am in contact with the manufacturer at present, awaiting some answers.
in the meantime would appreciate some thoughts from you guys on the subject.
my mechanic seems to think that the tyre structure has collapsed - it is not car (suspension / bearing etc) related, rather directly the tyre.
the car is a 5yr old laguna on 197k miles and is used regularly on motorways / commutes - ie, not tracked / driver overly hard.

oh, and further to the tyre snob thread - of which i certianly am - the tyres are opposite an annus horribilis - i am simply staggered!

[Justayellowbadge]

hungry horace said:

the tyres are opposite an annus horribilis

My donkey philately dulce et decorum jackhammer wenslydale.

[y2blade]

wow you have a Laguna that has managed to get to 197k

beers on you mate

[Esseesse]

hungry horace said:

hi, as above - seeking advice.
briefly my faithful independant has just been in touch with me to go and see my (being serviced) car.
it is up on a ramp with tyres that can only be described as resembling 50-pence pieces.
i am in contact with the manufacturer at present, awaiting some answers.
in the meantime would appreciate some thoughts from you guys on the subject.
my mechanic seems to think that the tyre structure has collapsed - it is not car (suspension / bearing etc) related, rather directly the tyre.
the car is a 5yr old laguna on 197k miles and is used regularly on motorways / commutes - ie, not tracked / driver overly hard.

oh, and further to the tyre snob thread - of which i certianly am - the tyres are opposite an annus horribilis - i am simply staggered!

It's pretty common for the rear tyres on a GTV to do this. Most people put it down to slightly worn/some play in the suspension. Most if not all of my rear tyres have gone a bit 50p on the inside edge and my suspension is renewed immediately whenever required! Doesn't seem to affect the car in any way though, so not overly bothered.

[saaby93]

What tyres are they? Had a rear set do this a few years back after a useful lifetime . Tyre place said they'd seen it a few times with that tread pattern. Different tyres no problem.

[Snowboy]

How old are they?
Not just when you bought them, but what does the DOT code say?

Might be unrelated - but I'd be interested to know.

[Major Fallout]

This happened a lot on Rolls Royce and Bentley, if they get parked up for some time.

Flat spots form standing still and short journeys.

Pump the pressures up, and go for a long drive to warm up the rubber.

[hungry horace]

thanks all - the brand of tyres is stated in the latin quip in my op.

i have just spoken with their uk bod who informs me about tyre wear, tracking etc etc.

already starting to feel fobbed off!

hard to represent in an image but the below does show the flats and dips in the surface.



with reference to the dot code what would i be looking for?

help!

edit - last point totally understood and agreed but my tr7 is stood all winter and does not do this, and the pressures on the renault are normally kept quite high / monitored with the onboard system?

[saaby93]

hungry horace said:

thanks all - the brand of tyres is stated in the latin quip in my op.

not sure what you mean but yes the tread pattern is same
eta understood
and yes they are
If you check, the tread patern repeats a similar number of times around the tyre

Edited by saaby93 on Wednesday 2nd November 14:20

[RobCrezz]

Im so impressed a Laguna made it to 197k!!

[Snowboy]

All euro (and American?) tyres have a code on the side that tells you when they were made.
This is the dot code.

If you google it all will be explained.

[y2blade]

RobCrezz said:

Im so impressed a Laguna made it to 197k!!

me too shocking isn't it...it must be a Friday afternoon car they rushed it through and forgot to put all the reliability problems into it

[300bhp/ton]

hungry horace said:

hi, as above - seeking advice.
briefly my faithful independant has just been in touch with me to go and see my (being serviced) car.
it is up on a ramp with tyres that can only be described as resembling 50-pence pieces.
i am in contact with the manufacturer at present, awaiting some answers.
in the meantime would appreciate some thoughts from you guys on the subject.
my mechanic seems to think that the tyre structure has collapsed - it is not car (suspension / bearing etc) related, rather directly the tyre.
the car is a 5yr old laguna on 197k miles and is used regularly on motorways / commutes - ie, not tracked / driver overly hard.

oh, and further to the tyre snob thread - of which i certianly am - the tyres are opposite an annus horribilis - i am simply staggered!

Any you didn't notice there was something wrong with the tyres or is that why it's at the garage?

[hungry horace]

yeah 197k honestly. christmas tree-like dashboard warnigns though! and if only you knew how much capital it has taken to get it thus far! my aim was 200k, not long now...

so from the above it appears not to be unique - was just curious (and horrified) at first, guess i'll stump up some more for replacements. the manufacturer, Annus horribilis, would like them returned, will analyse, etc, but will only make a gesture / offer based on remaining tread depth. seems a lot of faff for not even a guaranteed result. onwards to another brand.

is at garage for service, "rear bearing noises" (now known to be tyre related). in a dark arch this is not noticed, but is clear when on jack / tyre in isolation.

[BadgerBill]

My 9-5 had/has this problem. Not noticeable under normal driving, but when they were visably ready to be changed I was shocked to see how bad a state they were in. General wisdom has it that the cause is down to badgered suspension bushes around the rear. Especially the big ones that connect the trailing arms to the chassis. Mine were fine though.

I just bought a new set and put it down to experience as they were out of tread anyway.

BB

Ps they were GY F1 ASYMMETRICS.

[saaby93]

hungry horace said:

is at garage for service, "rear bearing noises" (now known to be tyre related). in a dark arch this is not noticed, but is clear when on jack / tyre in isolation.

It's like winding the clock back a few years
The tyre place said some garages would try changing the rear wheel bearings but all it needed was a change of tyres.
Regular thrugging noise on the right type of tarmac

[hungry horace]

bb and saaby - cheers, yes to both.
eagle gsd3, checked DOT code they were made last summer.
the only discernable difference is a thrub or boom on the "right" (or wrong) type of road surface.

cheers to all posters / contributors - yes, one for experience i think.

[russell_ram]

This is extremely common and certainly certainly not restricted to 200k old Lagunas. I think it's something to do with the wide, and hence less flexible, block patterns on 'modern lower profile tyres. taller, smaller blocked tyres do not exhibit the same wear patterns. As Saaby says, it usually only gets noticed when it gets so bad that the tyre noise starts to sound like a knackered wheel bearing. Fortunately (or un-fortunately, most non PH drivers are very insenstive to NVH issues and so it mostly goes un-noticed.

[E30M3SE]

Had this with the rears on a Saab 9-3, running Michelin Pilot HP's all round, DOT coded XX07 so not terribly old. Did not really cause any issues except driving at 25mph it sounded like there was a 'humm' from a rear wheel bearing.