Front Tire Tribulations

[ARtraveler]

opcorn:opcorn:

 

[sinkhole]

Bob, I didn't know that you were a Raymond Loewy fan.
:2thumbs:

 

[zbunker]

Bum Tires

Hey guys!

So, I went out on an errand run the other day (a 150km run for milk and bread ). The steering felt a little washy and needed more force in the turns. I pulled over for a closer look. The tire treads were fine, no nails, so I looked further to the side wall where I noticed some cracks… lots!!

On looking closer at what looked like dry rot cracks… wasn't, couldn't be. I ride everyday, so these tires haven't been siting for longer then a couple days, ever. They had just over 11,000km on them, but only the front right tire had the issue.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the trunk and splashed some down the side wall looking for a leak. Down on one knee with my ear close to the tire I heard some hissing and loads of tiny bubbles from from all of the 8-10 cracks!! You know that sinking feeling in your stomach when you know something is wrong… yeah, big time!

Not thinking I needed a tow just yet, I started towards the nearest gas station with an air pump. Precious air pressure was escaping with every rotation and bump I hit. I knew with every sharp swerve and turn that leaned on my right front tire the cracks grew a size or two.

Easing through the downtown core at near rush hour I finally found a gas station that didn't have an "out or order" sign taped to it. Tire pressure is between 15+/- 2 psi by spec, and I've always run on the higher end at 17psi. I blasted it up to spec at 17psi and motored towards home along a route with other stations along the way.

I had Ride-On in both tires, it didn't even get a chance to work since it only works on the treaded parts of the tires, not damaged side walls as in this case. In the end I had both front tires replaced with new ones as a set, even though it was only the right front tire (with 11,000km on each) that had the cracking issue. I have no idea what caused the cracking and the tire was not covered underway warranty. I hear tires are simply not covered, period.

(Image of a few of the cracks attached - note the gold dots on the tire is a marker dot - me tracking the expansion of the crack)

All ok now with new front tires! :thumbup:

Geez, that's a bummer to have a tire go like that. :yikes:
Two things: Does your geographical location cause premature wear on tires in general?
Too bad you got rid of your old tires. On the side wall, there is some sort of cryptic code that can tell you what week and year the tire was manufactured. It is quite possible you had 'old' tires.
I used to know the code, :banghead: but proceeded to forget it. You should be able to have a tire store guy read the code for you.
Ron