Tire Separation

[RoundUp]

Anyone heard of any issues with tire separation? I just got a call from the bf. He's in Quebec right now with my Vibe and the right front tire blew while he was on the highway. The way he described the incident, he saw the tire flying away in the rear view mirror. There is not much of the tire left on the steel rim. He was able to stop safely and change into the spare before continuing on. It happened while he was traveling between Ottawa and Quebec City, about 100 km into his trip.I have an '03 AWD Vibe with the Eagle RSA's. Steel wheels. I just took my vehicle into the dealership at the end of July. I had a right front clunking noise while going over potholes or street car tracks. The dealer reported no trouble found. The tires were rotated at the same time. Right now, there are over 43,000 km's on the vehicle. I checked the tire pressures before he left Toronto the other day and they were okay then. Anyone hear of any tire separation issues like this?

[AKLGT]

holy crap! glad he's ok!i've not heard of anyone with this problem. as in the tire actually shredding... similiar to what happened w/ the tires on the ford explorers?

[ragingfish]

Eeeek!That's scary!I had RS-A's and never had any problems with them...but when they wore out, I switched to Kumhos.Glad he's ok -- I don't supposed by any chance he went back and grabbed the tire remains so it could be more closely examined to see if a cause can be determined?

[RoundUp]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »I don't supposed by any chance he went back and grabbed the tire remains so it could be more closely examined to see if a cause can be determined?It was kinda hard to do. He just has what was left on the steel rim.

[ragingfish]

Well, it's something.I'm curious to hear if the tire shop he ends at can hypothesize on what might have gone wrong...

[nismo]

Yeah, that's not coo. Hope everything is coo.Inder Singh

[JohnC]

Tire seperation can be caused by a number of things...first and least likely is a manufacturing defect, more likely is running under inflated (for whatever reason, slow leak etc.) and hitting road debris like rocks, potholes, speedbumps etc. Anything that overflexes the tread or sidewall. Some times it may take many miles for full seperation, alot of time a lump in the sidewall or tread will apear first.

[Mavrik]

the tire can easily shred as well if its driven on flat with the driver unaware that it is and the rim cuts into the tire and shreds it. Now that the tire is completely in pieces, its hard to prove exactly what happened now.glad your bf is ok, and that th Vibe is to

[ToolGuy]

Gald he is OK and the car seems fine too. I picked up a nail a 70 MPH, pulled over quick enough and saved the rear tire. It made very little noise while going down, patched from the inside and all is fine. In your case I really doubt it was a defect. Depending on how new the tires are or mileage, a defect probably would have happened earlier in the life of the tire. Something may have happend along his commute. Your car is an 03 telling me they are not brand new tires.

[futseal04]

Make sure the tires are properly inflated. My brother was driving my Cobra and made a lane change on an underinflated rear tire. The result was the rim cutting through the sidewall, and it sure looked like tread seperation at first.

[RoundUp]

The sad part is that I am actually pretty paranoid about tire pressures already, especially on long trips. I have been in 6 separate incidents in which there was a flat in the vehicle I was traveling in. I was driving on only 2 occassions and each time it was a separate cause (nail, slow leak, low tire pressure, tire defect, you name it). The boyfriend was with me on 3 of those occasions and he has had 2 other flats on his own. So that makes 5 separate incidents for him. Because of this, I check my tire pressures regularly and made sure that it was okay before he left Toronto for Ottawa. I don't know what happened to the car while he stayed in Ottawa for a few days. I think I am just cursed and it has rubbed off on him.

[futseal04]

I only have flats on my motorcycle. I replaced 3 rear tires within 1500 miles at $200 a pop. Bad thing about cycle tires is that I wouldn't recommend patching/plugging them, so you have to replace it every time you pick up a nail.

[JohnC]

Roundup; just a shot in the dark here, but it sure seems like you are associated with more than average tire failares.When I used to work at a service station, there were several customers that were always getting flat repairs. On one of them it was always the right side tires, turns out he had a habit of driving at the far right side of the road where all the debris gets kicked over to. His wife volunteer this info to us after we asked about his bad tire luck.

[RoundUp]

John, the freaky thing is that I can see no pattern whatsoever with all of these incidents other than the fact that I've been in these vehicles. As I mentioned before, I didn't drive most of them. Here is a list of all the incidents. I'll let you be the judge:My incidents:1. My dad's Astrovan RWD: Right rear. Came back from lunch and found it was flat in the restaurant parking lot. I think it was a nail. My dad was driving. I did not drive that vehicle ever before that incident.2. My friend's Ford Tempo FWD: Right front. I never drove that vehicle either. He had a slow leak while we were driving between Buffalo to Toronto. 3. My Civic (first time) FWD: Left rear. I was the driver. I actually drove this car in the past, but my brother had inherited the car by then and was driving it regularly. Came back to a flat after visiting my grandmother. Did not notice any unusual noises or vibration on the way there. I think that was a nail. The boyfriend was in the same car. 4. My Civic (second time) FWD: Left front. I was the driver, but this was the first time I had driven that car in over a year. My brother had been driving it regularly. The incident occurred at around 90 km/hr on a highway. I noticed that there was a lot of vibration. When I pulled into a service station, the tire was nearly flat. This was was due to low tire pressure. The boyfriend was in the same car.5. My boyfriend's dad's Minivan FWD: Right rear. The car was 2 days old. Came back from a church ceremony and noticed that the tire was flat. Thought to be a tire defect. The boyfriend was there.6. Company car 4WD: Right front. A co-worker was driving this pick up truck which we borrowed for a trip across town to see a vendor. After leaving the vendor's parking lot, I noticed a periodic ticking noise. I mentioned to my co-worker that I had not heard that on our way there. We got on the highway and drove for maybe 5 km before we heard a loud pop. Thought to be a nail.Boyfriend's Separate Incidents (I wasn't there):1. Rental car FWD: I don't know which tire. Happened after driving on the highway for 350 km. I think it was a nail. It was patchable.2. My Vibe AWD: Right front. The most recent incident. I drive this car 99% of the time. He just took the car for his trip.

[JohnC]

Wow...must just be bad luck. Plz stay away from my tires

[sensfanrk]

I read a Dealer Recall in Canada saying that aluminum wheels on the '03 Vibes actually came off the axle! Their fix was to just take it back to the dealer for tightening. Other than that, I haven't heard of anything else about the actual rubber itself... I'm glad to hear he's ok though! If you ever want to check out a recall for any vehicle, http://www.tc.gc.ca/roadsafety...e.asp(Transport Canada's Website) orhttp://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/c...h.cfm(US DOT)