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WTF is going on with my tire?

mofugly13

mofugly13

1 ton bucket of rust
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My k5 has been more or less immobile for the past 6 years. I start it up every two weeks to move it to the other sidr of the street for street cleaning. Literally, I've put 10 miles on it in that time. It's got a set of BFG Mud Terrains on it with about 5000 miles on them, that I bought and installed brand new. The other day I noticed this on my front drivers side tire.



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What is going on here? It looks like a blown out butt hole. What would cause this?

Any chance this is a warranty issue?
 
Looks like the start of tread separation. It may be under warranty, but either way it's unrepairable and I wouldn't drive around the block on it. Hopefully you can get them to warranty it for you.
 
Yeah that sucks man . Who Installed em,did you get a road hazard warranty?
 
Good luck considering that tire is obsolete now. You're gonna be looking at a whole new set to keep them matching.
 
That sort of happened to a friend of mine too.
On his the tread was so soft you could grab it and stretch it like a rubber band.

It was some sort of fault in the rubber.

He got it swapped out under warranty with no problem.
 
I'm going to address something else.

Do you ever run the truck for longer than a couple minutes? You aren't burning off the condensation inside the drivetrain and exhaust, just creating more. :(
 
Looks like dry rotish tire separation. The 5000 miles in what 1-2 years? Your saying 6 years sitting and who knows how old those tires were when you bought them. So lets just add 1 more year from production and distribution to installation, So at least 8-9 yr old tires, I know on my trailer and my RV you don't run a tire more than 5 years due to the lack of use and it sitting on one spot for longer duration's as well as weathered from sun. That spot could of been just something toxic/corrosive on the street one time or it could of been a blem on the tire itself? No way to tell for sure. If your only moving it for street sweeping I would not worry and just watch it. If your not driving it at all I would suggest not buying such a nice tire next time to save some coin. You could try the warranty thing but with this much time lapsed you better have your receipt and proof of those non miles used.
 
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I've got the same tires and mine have been on and off my project for the last 9 yrs mostly outside with a few thousand miles put on at one point on another truck. I try to keep them out of direct sunlight and they were stored in a shed for a while too and mine look perfect. Not sure how old mine are, haven't checked the numbers but my buddy had them in storage for a project before he sold them to me. Tires are supposed to be replaced every three yrs due to age but I only worry about it on trailers or trucks that see alot of weight.
 
One day at my friends shop,two new tires he ordered for a customers car showed up while I was there...

As he was signing the sales slip the delivery guy had,I saw something that looked weird on the sidewall of one of the tires..a lump about 1" long and 3/8" wide..

I pointed that out to my friend,and he took a closer look--and was surprised to see it was a BOLT was imbedded in the sidewall,like one fell into the mold, while the tire was being made!...:eek:..

The delivery driver looked unimpressed and said "yeah--we get a few "blems" like that once in a while !"--like it was no big surprise!..

My friend called the warehouse back,told them what we found,and they said "Huh--OK,we'll send you another tire...oh wait..those were the last pair we had--can you wait till the day after tomorrow when we expect more in ?"..
"Um..NO!..they ended up giving him a pair of tires that were slightly higher cost for the same price,to keep him from cancelling the order..
I couldn't believe no one inspected the new tires before shipping them to a retailer...
 
My guess go to dry rot and deteriation due to non use and out in the elements,I have to replace my trailer tires every 4-5years,not cuz they wore out,they just go bad,re her one time I had a tire completely lay its tread on the ground after 1revolution,still held air though
 
K85 Octane said:
I'm going to address something else.

Do you ever run the truck for longer than a couple minutes? You aren't burning off the condensation inside the drivetrain and exhaust, just creating more. :(
Click to expand...

I do. When I move it, I'll typically let it come up to operating temp before I drive it. Once a month or so, after its warmed uo, I'll run it at 3000 roms or so for a minute or two. I read somewhere that extended high rpm freeway driving is good for burning off carbon on the valves and combustion chamber, Due to rust being the only thing holding the body together, I wont dare take it anywhere near a freeway, or even around the block, but hopefully that minute or two has some effect.
Thanks for all the replies. I have a matching spare I can put on if that one fails. In the mean time, I'll contact BFG and see what they have to say.
 
In places like Las Vegas, NV and Poenix, AZ you can put on a set of new tires...put zero miles on them, and they would would still be dead in 5 to 6 years from dry-rot.
 
sponsoredbydad said:
Looks like dry rotish tire separation. The 5000 miles in what 1-2 years? Your saying 6 years sitting and who knows how old those tires were when you bought them. So lets just add 1 more year from production and distribution to installation, So at least 8-9 yr old tires, I know on my trailer and my RV you don't run a tire more than 5 years due to the lack of use and it sitting on one spot for longer duration's as well as weathered from sun. That spot could of been just something toxic/corrosive on the street one time or it could of been a blem on the tire itself? No way to tell for sure. If your only moving it for street sweeping I would not worry and just watch it. If your not driving it at all I would suggest not buying such a nice tire next time to save some coin. You could try the warranty thing but with this much time lapsed you better have your receipt and proof of those non miles used.
Click to expand...


The tires should have a date code on them, if you really wanna know how old they are. :dunno:
 
My last set of BFG AT's started to exhibit tiny cracks at the base of the tread blocks which I noticed at about 8 years, which leaked air very, very slowly, but nothing like what is pictured.

Mine never really saw sunlight, but was stored outside.

Mileage is meaningless anymore, if they are low mileage tires dry rot will get them. They aren't kidding when they say you need to be looking at replacements around 6 years. Makes it hard to invest in tires you know will fail while they still look brand new. :(
 
dyeager535 said:
Mileage is meaningless anymore, if they are low mileage tires dry rot will get them. They aren't kidding when they say you need to be looking at replacements around 6 years. Makes it hard to invest in tires you know will fail while they still look brand new. :(
Click to expand...

Any ideas why? I have several tires in use that are old enough to have 3-digit date codes (instead of 4) that are holding up to cracking & dry rot much better than my newer tires. And my rigs have all been sitting outside.

Pretty sad when the 20+ year old tires are in better shape than my 2010 Coopers (5 yrs & 15,000 miles and they're throwing chunks of rubber off badly enough to no longer be balanced).

I've repeated these results with several sets of tires. My DD's tires from last spring are already showing cracks, for cryin' out loud. :doah:

Has rubber quality cheapened a bunch in the last decade? :dunno:
 
I suspect it probably is the rubber compounds used, but not being a scientist no idea if maybe there are higher concentrations of things like ozone now too, which affects rubber. We expect a lot from tires today (as with anything vehicular), and we aren't willing to pay for quality, generally, anymore either. Newer compounds are I'm sure better able to grip the road or handle flex than old tires, surely at the cost of long-term durability. Little incentive to make tires that last 10-15 years...the market for low-mileage, long-life truck tires is probably pretty small. :)

I dealt with vehicles that had older bias ply tires, and those things never seemed to dry rot. Maybe they were being changed when I didn't know it, or I never looked close enough, but they also might have been different rubber compounds.

Until I had that set of BFG AT's start to leak, I thought the 6-8 year replacement statement was just a way for them to sell you new tires for no reason. The cracks that were developing weren't even in the sidewall, so very hard to see until I knew what I was looking for, and when I put soapy water on them.
 
I recently put a spare tire back on my van,that was on it when I bought it in 1990...(its sitting unregistered,so no fears of it failing on the street--I just want 4 non-flat tires to move it around in the yard)..

It is a "Tribune" brand,which I found was one of the cheapest tires available back then,"made in China" is cast right into the rubber..
This tire sat on the rim,fully inflated,lying on the ground for years,then one day I decided to clean up the yard,and I rolled it in my shed..
A good ten years later,I put it on the van,because the left front tire kept losing air due to bead leaks,and I got sick of having to drag out the compressor to pump it up every time I wanted to move the van..(bad enough I had to put a battery in it and rig up a small gas tank to the fuel pump !)..

This tire has never lost a pound of air,has very little tread left,and the rubber shows no signs of dry rot..it appears to have ground up glass mixed in with the rubber,and its a hard compound compared to most tires..when I first got the van in 1990 and drove it with that tire on it,it took a long time to wear the tread down..so I guess not every rubber thing made in China is crap..

I have had several Michelin truck tires,load range E,develop severe cracks in both the tread area and sidewalls in a short time,and though none of them failed,I took them off in fear they would grenade !..my friend who ran a tire shop for 18 years told me the most expensive tires seemed to be the ones most likely to dry rot the fastest..probably because the tread life is 60K miles,they want to be sure you'll need new tires before they wear out....trailer tires start cracking the day you mount them,in my experience too...

I have several old bias plys in my shed that look nice still,including some studded snows "D-78-14" that were made in the late 70's that still look great,no cracking anywhere..too bad they are useless as far as being put on anything that has radial tires,I tried mixing bias plys with radials and found out the hard way it'll make the rear end pass you without any warning when it hits a certain speed on slick roads!..

As far as the law they want to pass forcing you to buy new tires once they are 6 years old,good luck with that...most of my vehicles since I got my licence in 1977,were lucky to have a tire ONLY 6 years old on them...and I had relatively few blowouts and dry rot issues with them..like many things,I guess they "dont make em like they used too"..
 
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