Saturday: air-filter dissolves | Sunday: tire blowout

[Osiris_x11]

Interesting weekend for moi!

Perhaps this can help & guide others in the future...

Saturday, I was doing my engine oil+filter change & air-filter service (I do both at the same time, about 2x a year or every ~6,250 miles; 5w30 synthetic w/ a "tall" oil-filter & Uni-filter foam air-element clean/charge). I keep a spare, pre cleaned/charged Uni-filter foam air-element in an airtight zip-lock bag (away from moisture/light/heat) to drop'in so there's no down-time when I'm waiting for the other recently used one to dry from the cleaning/rinsing. Well, looky what happened to my spare one (<5 years old & perhaps 15k'ish miles):

straight from the baggie...

after a lil' shake, rattle, and roll...

Sunday, I was out-of-town. The NSX was outside, temp's were in the 30's (F) overnight. Next morning (still slightly chilly- relatively speaking), I was heading home & the ride-quality felt- hmmm, weird. I assumed it may have been the ECU/throttle-body self-correcting as I had sprayed some throttle-body cleaner into the throttle-body the previous day. Also, being a somewhat cool morning, I thought the tires needed to warm-up. I generally keep my rear tire air-pressure at ~40psi, which I check every oil-change (read above). Well, I didn't check the previous day (Saturday) as I got side-tracked due to the Uni-filter foam air-element rotting (had to hastily clean the existing Uni-filter foam air-element & then dry w/ a table/shop fan). I had Bridgestone Potenza RE050A Pole Positions, about 7.5k - 8k spirited miles w/ negligible camber-wear (still decent tread, but pending replacement within 1k - 1.5k miles). Well, fast-forward 5-10 minutes into my drive on the highway & looky what happened...

like whoa, a blowout...

inner-sidewall f-a-i-l...

I decided not to drive, service, or even look at the NSX on Monday (MLK holiday)...


Take'home lessons...

(!) keep Uni-filter foam air-elements in not just dry, dark, sealed storage- but also cool/temperature-control area... not on a garage shelf in Central Texas!

(!) check/refill your tire air-pressure every 1,000 miles (or every 4 fuel fill'ups), whether you daily-drive or leisurely/seasonally drive... and this is even more important if you have aged/worn tires!

 

[biscuits]

You need to check you alignment...that's what hellaflush gets ya.

 

[nis350]

You must have used the wrong chemical for the uni-filter. I don't see how temperature would break the filter element into pieces like that as the engine compartment is fairly hot.

 

[Osiris_x11]

sometimes being full of hot'air is... good!

You need to check you alignment...that's what hellaflush gets ya.

Alignment's as-per updated '93+ specs., done ~7.5k miles ago. I got 17/18 (215/40R17 & 265/35R18) setup w/ Tein-RA coilovers & likely a 1.0" - 1.25" drop in the rear. No hellaflush...

Lesson-to-be-learned was to be more vigilant on tire air-pressure, especially w/ temperature changes & aged tires. It was first time in years that the NSX wasn't garaged indoors overnight, due to myself being out-of-town! Add-in old tires, un-checked air-pressure as I haven't been driving the NSX much as of late... a boom-boom!

 

[shawn110975]

if you were driving your NSX with that bald of tires your insane.

that tire should have been thrown out years ago.

a tire that bald is why I get wrecked NSX's for so cheap.

and since your NSX is not AWD your asking for a spin-out-of-control-wreck

please do your self and other NSX owners a favor and change your tires months before it gets to that point we are looking out for your safety:smile:

" its a track tire " I dont think so. LOL

As for the unifilter are they pre sprayed with oil or did you spray it then put it on the shelf? oil will eat thru anything if you give it enough time.
I only use Fresh from the dealer air filters. that filter you had looked like a petri dish with ebola virus growing in it
I hope that wasnt in your car. how much of it was sucked into the pistons. better get things checked out.

yikes

 

[EdinKali]

The uni looks like it was exposed to solvent at some point in its life.

As far as the tire goes, make sure you don't have a spring perch or something rubbing on the tire. I've seen similar pics with the Bilsteins that have the lower perch incorrectly installed.

 

[alum04org]

As always, Osiris, good write-up and superb photos.

Biscuits, don't believe that Osiris is a h*llflush guy, at all.

Here in Michigan, in transition seasons (spring/fall), tire pressures need checked weekly if not more often.

That's one h*ck of a sidewall blowout. I have a set of Dunlop Z1 Star-Specs on now that are similar. 7,500 miles and "going fast" (rears). Nursing into spring. Your post gives me pause...

 

[davidf]

I also keep a spare unifilter on hand, but keep in my locker at work which is always climate controlled. I can't imagine what would cause that, even setting in your garage.

 

[Aluminsx]

The foam being sucked into the engine was exactly what I was thinking when I saw a picture of the filter. That would make a mess.

if you were driving your NSX with that bald of tires your insane.

that tire should have been thrown out years ago.

a tire that bald is why I get wrecked NSX's for so cheap.

and since your NSX is not AWD your asking for a spin-out-of-control-wreck

please do your self and other NSX owners a favor and change your tires months before it gets to that point we are looking out for your safety:smile:

" its a track tire " I dont think so. LOL

As for the unifilter are they pre sprayed with oil or did you spray it then put it on the shelf? oil will eat thru anything if you give it enough time.
I only use Fresh from the dealer air filters. that filter you had looked like a petri dish with ebola virus growing in it
I hope that wasnt in your car. how much of it was sucked into the pistons. better get things checked out.

yikes

 

[stevieray122854]

As for the unifilter are they pre sprayed with oil or did you spray it then put it on the shelf? oil will eat thru anything if you give it enough time.
I only use Fresh from the dealer air filters. that filter you had looked like a petri dish with ebola virus growing in it.

bwhahaha Shawn, you do have a way with words.

 

[biscuits]

As always, Osiris, good write-up and superb photos.

Biscuits, don't believe that Osiris is a h*llflush guy, at all.

Here in Michigan, in transition seasons (spring/fall), tire pressures need checked weekly if not more often.

That's one h*ck of a sidewall blowout. I have a set of Dunlop Z1 Star-Specs on now that are similar. 7,500 miles and "going fast" (rears). Nursing into spring. Your post gives me pause...

Oh he may not be but that tire was clearly down to cords on the inside edge long b4 it blew. Something rubbed through the tire or his alignment is way off. Nevermind the fact the tires are dangerously worn anyway. He needs to find out what caused that wear and fix it. 5 year tire tech here. I've seen that b4.

 

[biscuits]

Another point, his alignment maybe setup as Manu recommends but it does not mean its setup best for his wheel tire suspension package. Remember manufactur specs assume stock tire width and height. He's not using all the surface of that tire effectively at that alignment setting if he's wearing like that. That is if it was not rubbing anything.

 

[Osiris_x11]

all on me...

As-per comments in the posts in this thread...

- sometime early last year, the Uni-filter foam air-element was cleaned/dried & charged/oiled using the Uni cleaner+oil kit, placed in an air-tight zip-lock bag then wrapped in a grocery-bag, and stored in the garage. Garage temps. are easily 100F+ continually at times for months (past summer was hottest summer ever on record). When I pulled out the filter, it seemed sunken & the foam was a bit mushy. I squeezed it w/ my palm & it started to sheer & scrunch up. The 1st pic was after I pushed-down w/ my hand all-around the foam's surface (and it broke-apart). The 2nd pic was after I turned the filter over (all the foam fell off). I am w/ the thought that the excessively hot storage conditions in the garage may have caused the foam to rot. As noted, it wasn't a new filter & gave ~5 years of use in demanding conditions (dry/dusty/hot).

- the rear tire actually wore evenly across it's tread-width (camber is acceptable, toe-in is not aggressive), as well as giving ~8k+ miles of tread-life till it mechanically failed. I passed state inspection w/ it last month (accepted minimum tread-depth is 3/32"), and they always over-scrutinize the tires on the NSX in past years when inspecting as well as this time (as they justifiably should). Being a max. performance summer tire (Bridgestone Potenza RE050A PP), a tread-life of 9k - 10k miles seems to be norm on NSX-applications. What apparently happened was an as-is severely under-inflated tire along w/ cooler/colder weather, being driven at highway speeds, thus increasing the likelihood of sidewall failure as that was the only component of the tire actually supporting the vehicle. The pics above were not the most insightful (the cords/belting seen are from the sidewall coming off), I'll see if I can get to the tire again & snap another pic or two. Mea culpa on me for having sub-par images for review.




EDIT:

Moar pics of the tire, as-per aforementioned...

click'able large-thumbnails (to enlarge image):

 

[Miner]

if you were driving your NSX with that bald of tires your insane.

that tire should have been thrown out years ago.

a tire that bald is why I get wrecked NSX's for so cheap.


please do your self and other NSX owners a favor and change your tires months before it gets to that point we are looking out for your safety:smile:

" its a track tire " I dont think so. LOL

yikes

You've never met Osiris. He maintains one very nice NSX.

An interesting tire failure. I had a similar (although not as catastrophic) failure on my TL's Yokahama tires. The tires went from good to running on the inside cords in a few weeks. Of course I do drive about 70 miles a day, but it happened really fast.

Miner

 

[shawn110975]

the better pics of the tires confirm they were still drivable LOL

I never let mine get that low. after sliding my NSX a few times promply changed the tires the next day.

 

[Ko-nsx]

Umar-rion!! If you need a new filter PM me.:smile: