Tire failure - near thing

[Glenfield]

Curious if anyone’s had a similar failure to what I copped on Sunday.

Yoko Advan A052s with about 3 years and 5k miles on them. On 9x16” Fuchs.

Driving on highway at 70mph and there’s a shudder and seconds after, violent shaking and instability. I see a tire flying across highway. I’m able to get on brakes gently and slowly bring it into shoulder. Thankfully passengers and passers by all safe.

The failure here is interesting. Tread separated from sidewall and remained totally in tact. As if someone sliced it off with a straight blade. No signs of puncture on tread.

The “what ifs” here are vexing. High speed corner or front tire and it could be catastrophic.

* Will post photos once i figure out why browser won’t let me post images all of the sudden.

[Glenfield]

[carreradpt]

Holy crap. That is frightening. Glad it turned out well.

[Synchro Joe]

Wow! That's terrible and puzzling at only 3 years and 5k! I'd be taking it to a dealer and/or get on the phone to Yokohama customer service now. Did you 'register' the tires at the time or purchase or maybe the selling dealer did that on your behalf? If they jerk you around you could consider doing a report to NHTSA depending upon Yoko response.

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#tire

[Glenfield]

Car was remarkably stable. Very thankfully, no one hit the tire or had to swerve suddenly. Good reminder to always assume the worst on highways and keep space.

Thanks for the suggestion. Don’t recall registering but will get on horn to Yoko tomorrow.

[hadokenny]

That's wild. Glad to hear you were unharmed.

Not sure if it has anything to do with it but have you ever driven the car in freezing temp with those tires since you are from chicago?... or drove around with tire deflated?

[pmax]

Good to hear everyone's a-OK.

I have Yokohamas on the DD. The sidewalls on these always seem "soft" and flexible across the range of tire pressures.

[fanaudical]

WOW! I have never seen a tire failure like that.

[ChrisHamilton]

Are there Chinese counterfeits of tires? That is what comes to mind seeing that. Some sort of gross manufacturing error.

[Bill Douglas]

How Bizarre. Thankfully you + passengers + car are OK.

[Mike Andrew]

Holy crap! Luckily no damage or injuries.

Where did this happen?

[nickelplated5s]

What was the outside air temp and weight of passengers and yourself? I've lost G rated tires on a horse trailer due to heat build up. I self limit to <65 MPH with that rig now.

[phelix]

Scary stuff; glad it didn’t end worse.

What size tire and wheel?

[Glenfield]

Thanks for the well wishes. Was a fright but car actually behaved well. Felt like it drove on 3 wheels for a good distance before it settled and was dragging on fourth. By that point I was on shoulder.

Rear tires were 245/45ZR-16 on 9x16 Fuchs USA repos. They’d never seen winter temps and always lived in a conditioned garage.

Happened in I94E bound before the 43 exit. Was coming back from Zuffengruppe in Wisconsin (which was excellent btw) and was passed by a lot of Porsches making the same journey back to Chicago. Good news is I found some excellent driving roads north of Burlington WI for next year.

[Duc Hunter]

Had the exact same thing happen to be at 80 mph on I-4 headed into Orlando on my 3.2 Carrera. Car was very stable as well. In my case it was a 6 year old Continental. Car didn't feel any different into the tire let go. I did notice a slight change in sound for a few miles, even weaved the car in my lane a little bit and it felt perfect. That car has a noisy wheel bearing, so I thought thats what it was. The exhaust isn't loud either (Full Fabspeed system with their quiet muffler and only one tip).

When I got towed into a tire shop they said they see A LOT of that kind of failure on Continentals. People say after 5 years replaced your tires, and most think if the tread is good and there is no cracking....don't worry. He said on Michelin's etc sure, don't worry. On Conti's CHANGE THEM AFTER 5 YEARS NO MATTER WHAT. He also commented they always separate at the tread/sidewall interface.

I had another tire do that ages ago to me on a different car....turns out the pressure was too low. I think I had a slow puncture on that car, didn't know it and drove on a low tired for a while on that road trip before it finally gave out. We found a nail in that tire. That car, nor my Carrera felt any different until the tire let go.

[E Sully]

I have seen similar perhaps 3 times over 7 years at my friends shop. It was due to the car being driven while the tire was flat and the rim cutting through the sidewall.

[rwest]

Wow, glad everything worked out safely.

Any chance that your fender to tire clearance is too close and the fender lip has been cutting the tire?

[Glenfield]

The tire / fender clearance should be ok. No signs of blistering or damage to lip. Car is euro height.

Tow truck driver said puncture. Gets to a low enough air level and then whips, catches and cuts. Quite possible that I picked up some debris but I combed over the tread and couldn’t see any signs of a puncture. Also driving in convoy with a car behind me at the time who might have spotted that if I didn’t feel it.

It’s enticing to believe no puncture and blame a tire failure but I’ll go back over it and see.

[pmax]

Originally Posted by Glenfield

...

Curious what's the clearance at the lowest part of the exhaust, I suppose that would be the plate shielding the cat , with one wheel resting on its rim like that ?

[Crow911]

I had a similar issue but when mine failed i was able to stop before the rim cut the tread off. Cause of my failure was not a tire defect but rather a sudden air loss due to valve stem failure. My Fuchs had been polished and the valve stem supports were removed. Clearly the supports are needed if you drive your Porsche at high speeds because they prevent the stem from bending at high speed due to centrifugal forces. They are available online.