It occurred a couple of blocks from home, but the car felt wobbly just before I got off the freeway a few minutes earlier. Except for having to wait until the spare tire was cool enough to handle, I had fun learning how to change my tire for the first time, but I had to drive home with by trunk partially up due to the tire width. I did notice that an air pressure gauge is part of the tire changing kit. However, it did not work as well as my other gauge.
The damage: the inside sidewall of the tire separated from the wearing tread surface along 70% of the entire tire circumference. There were two gouges in the sidewall. The tires are on their last few thousand miles or so, but are far from being shot. I could not figure out if the gouges occurred first then caused the sidewall to separate when the tire went flat, or if the sidewall failed first and the gouges were caused when the tire went flat. I was traveling about 35 mile per hour.
Note: Earlier on my Sunday drive from Sierra Madre to PCH to Malibu Cnyn Rd to the 101 to 210, I traveled slowly over some accident debris which could have cut the tire, but that occurred in Culver City about a quarter through the drive. In addition, one would think that tire damage from debris would more likely affect the wearing surface of the tire, but there was no obvious damage. On the other hand, the cut may have started out small and worsened during the trip. The more likely cause of the damage was unfinished man hole covers along PCH that did not have asphalt flush to the edge of the cover leaving a relatively sharp edge. If the tire hits the cover straight on, no likely damage, but if the tire hits the edge of the cover, where it is parallel to the tire, it could very likely cut the tire. I did recall hitting the edge of the cover a few times. However, how could I prove that to Cal Trans or who ever was resurfacing PCH, that the unfinished asphalt paving cause the tire damage. I guess I can thank my lucky stars that the blowout did not occur along Malibu Canyon Drive or on the freeway at speed!
Oh well, off to the tire shop for some new rear tires. I wanted to move up in tire quality and performance, but my front tires have too many miles left in them. For now I’ll just wait, and lastly my apologies for the long discussion.
Regards,
Mario
The damage: the inside sidewall of the tire separated from the wearing tread surface along 70% of the entire tire circumference. There were two gouges in the sidewall. The tires are on their last few thousand miles or so, but are far from being shot. I could not figure out if the gouges occurred first then caused the sidewall to separate when the tire went flat, or if the sidewall failed first and the gouges were caused when the tire went flat. I was traveling about 35 mile per hour.
Note: Earlier on my Sunday drive from Sierra Madre to PCH to Malibu Cnyn Rd to the 101 to 210, I traveled slowly over some accident debris which could have cut the tire, but that occurred in Culver City about a quarter through the drive. In addition, one would think that tire damage from debris would more likely affect the wearing surface of the tire, but there was no obvious damage. On the other hand, the cut may have started out small and worsened during the trip. The more likely cause of the damage was unfinished man hole covers along PCH that did not have asphalt flush to the edge of the cover leaving a relatively sharp edge. If the tire hits the cover straight on, no likely damage, but if the tire hits the edge of the cover, where it is parallel to the tire, it could very likely cut the tire. I did recall hitting the edge of the cover a few times. However, how could I prove that to Cal Trans or who ever was resurfacing PCH, that the unfinished asphalt paving cause the tire damage. I guess I can thank my lucky stars that the blowout did not occur along Malibu Canyon Drive or on the freeway at speed!
Oh well, off to the tire shop for some new rear tires. I wanted to move up in tire quality and performance, but my front tires have too many miles left in them. For now I’ll just wait, and lastly my apologies for the long discussion.
Regards,
Mario
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