Had a blowout last night - what do you guys make of this tire?

[Christien]

Something faulty with the tire, or is this just the way they disintergrate? I had to cross 6 lanes of traffic to get to a safe place to stop on the shoulder. It's a Toyo R888 (225/50 15), bought brand new in April 2011.





The worst part is the damage the quarter panel took:

[ossiblue]

My opinion only with no technical support.

Deflated tire, low profile, driven across traffic with rim cutting into the sidewall could produce that exact result. Doesn't look suspicious to me.

[DRACO A5OG]

Well, looking at the treads, it looks like you tried to milk it down to the threads. There is a reason why there are "wear" bars on those tires. Also when was it manufactured, check the date on the tire. You may have bought it in 2011 but it may have been made earlier, old new stock??? How many miles on them before blow out, how does the other tires look?

Want kind of use does your baby get, just street or???

Ouch, that looks like a repaint will be due, but before that try rubbing compound, it may lessen the severity of the damage.

J

[CCM911]

Can't you just put a plug in that tire and be on your way?

Seriously, that tire looks really old. Nothing at all points to a manufacturing defect.

[Flieger]

You should be able to drive those to the cords without that happening. But it looks like your fender may have been rubbing it in the turns?

[Christien]

Ok, thanks for the feedback guys. Just so there's no confusion, the Dunlop tire that's mounted on the car in the shots of the body damage is an ancient spare. It won't hold air for more than a few minutes, but I can use it to move the car around so I don't damage the rim, which is what I did last night. There's plenty of tread left on the R888 - as Flieger said you can run them down to nothing. I've done that in the past with RA1s (the R888's predecessor). They're currently at maybe half-tread.

Looks like there's no damage to the rim at all, which I'm super grateful for!

[Christien]

Originally Posted by Flieger

But it looks like your fender may have been rubbing it in the turns?

I used to get some slight fender rubbing at the track with my old Pirellis, but the lower profile R888s don't rub at all.

[Arne2]

My prior career was in tires. Nothing unusual there, the sidewall damage is what happened before you could get it stopped and off the road. Odds are that if you search the tread area closely, you'll find some sort of damage that caused pressure loss that led to the failure.

[Porchdog]

Agreeing with Arne - That looks normal for continueing to drive when the tire is low on pressure to flat.

By the way - it seems like newer tires don't telegragh low pressure to the driver nearly as well as older tires did.

I'm not in the business, but I've seen at least 5 tires like that in the last year - all of them otherwise in good shape, some had punctures I could find, two hit significant potholes. All got shredded before the driver pulled over.

I'm thinking it might have to do with stiffer sidewalls.

[Dr J]

Also agree with Arnie. For my low profile tires I put a TPMS system to better monitor tire pressure.

[theiceman]

Christien

Let me know if you need a set of wheels for the fall run.

Not sure if my SC wheels will fit your Longhood tho.

[Steve W]

You corded it out at the inner edge, and continued to drive on it, which cut through, esp with 2+ degrees negative camber. Also, R888s are not like the old RA1s. The compound is different once you hit the wear bars and there is no grip. Since the tire starts at 6/32s, and is useless by the time you hit 3/32nds, it's a crap tire for the money.

[jittsl]

My only experience with R888s when we used to run them as the spec tire in specBoxster. For racing I disagree completely with Steve W. We usually ran them till they were slicks and they were usable all the way to the cords. Never ran them as a street tire.

On the original subject. Like others have said that looks like a deflation failure to me. Went flat and **** the bed.

[gtrp]

I run R888s on my GTR... but switch them out every year or so. I couldnt imagine driving on the same R888 for 3 years.

They are awesome tires but the newer recent Nittos grip just as good and last ALOT longer and are way more comfortable.

[Christien]

Originally Posted by gtrp

the newer recent Nittos grip just as good and last ALOT longer and are way more comfortable.

Details?

[NoLift911]

Nitto's NT01 - my next tire.

[gtrp]

Yea NT01 or NT05 are nice but not sure if they have them in your size.

[boxster03]

What ! No targeted tire sale adds on this string from Pelican - WTF ! Wayne where are you ???

[Chrisdmm]

oh man, that totally blows...literally. When were the tired manufactured?

[bill's911]

Not to hi-jack the thread, but can you explain the + 2 negative camber. I had the same inner tire wear after driving from South Carolina to Newfoundland but thought the tire shop said too much negative camber. IS that +2 is too much negative or -2 is too much negative?? Double negative is positive?