bad tire-why?

[Fire-medic]

I was at my friend's bike shop today & a couple of my firefighter friends came in. One has a harley big twin & he had a tire to replace. It was split down the middle (see pic). I went over to watch the tire changer & the tube (spoked wheel) was melted inside the tire. I took some pics of the tire, I held a piece of white paper inside the wheel circumference, if you look closely, you can see the white sheet thru the split in the tread.

The H-D owner was asking about an adjustment or replacement. Before the tire was dismounted, one of the managers looked at it & told him, "you rode on a flat tire, that's why it split around the tread like it did. We can show the tire to the Dunlop factory rep, he isn't likely to warranty it because you rode it flat."

My friend needs a tire anyway, right? So, he says, "I am going to buy a replacement, please show it to the rep & maybe he'll issue a credit & you can give me a charge-back on the tire."

Well, I am not a mechanic, but I've changed plenty of tires both dirt & street in my time. I never saw one of mine end-up like this! We pulled chunks of the tube out of the tire's inner circumference, melted into gobs.

So, here's a pic, and don't ride on a deflated tire if you want any hope of getting an adjustment. I haven't seen the other pics when I checked my email, I'll upload them when they arrive at the inbox.

 

[CaptainKyle]

That tire had to get really hot for that to hapen. I hate to say after working at a shop for a while I agree with the shop. I would say over 3/4 of the bikes I get thru here the tires are at 15 psi or less.

 

[PATMAX]

Whoa Medic, I would think a tire would hold up better than that even with low/no air in and would think the sidewalls would go first. I know it's hot here in Fla but that shouldn't get that hot. Scary if you ask me. Do you know if it was a radial? I had to cut a tire off an old Max front and was a bitch to cut lengthwise. Glad it didn't result in a high speed failure if high speed is possible for a Hardley style bike. Interesting post. I do check my psi but tires are something I take for granted way more than I should.

 

[DakRatFink]

I was riding with two kids from work. One on a late model CBR600 and another on a 94 Vulcan 1500. The kid with the Vulcan knew he had a slow leak so he checked his PSI pretty faithfully. The guy on the CBR checked his at one stop and his pressure was in the teens. After he topped it off to where it should be he remarked his bike handled a LOT better. Apparently he hadn't had it properly inflated the entire time he owned it.

 

[Fire-medic]

As far as I am aware, it was a bias Dunlop, mounted to an '05 big twin. The inside of the tire had heat blisters around the circumference & the tube pulled off the valvestem & became overheated slag rubber in big chunks stuck by centrifugal force & heat to the inner tire. There was no overheating blistering to the sidewalls. I thought about using a saw to cut the tire circumferentially to examine it.

What is interesting is that we were just discussing in another thread about using a car tire in place of a bike tire. Looks to me as this is a perfect example of what can happen when you stress a tire beyond its design characteristics, whatever the reason. Beware!

I have to agree with the shop, the tire was run-flat & the excessive flexing destroyed the tire & tube. The new Michelin tires w/no air? A whole 'nother era of design. Bet they run really hard, w/poor ride qualities compared to the simple, plentiful easily-applied & monitored (TPMS) use of compressed air. Also, unless those wheels have split rims, would you like to change a set? The radials with their short, stiff sidewalls and low profiles compared to bias-ply tires are hard enough to remove/seat!

 

[06VMAXIMUS]

Could have been an internal failure on the tire...but I doubt it! More likely low air pressure failure. Just like when you see the "alligators" from semi's that litter the highway berms. They are mostly due to overloading/underpressure. I check my bike air pressure every other ride with a gauge, and I at least LOOK at my tires before even climbing aboard for every ride.

 

[SpecOps13]

I agree, the tire had to be flexing to an extreme. Low pressure will do that, the tire flexes toward the middle when it comes to the ground and flexes out when it's not... I check my tires every couple weeks and "Kick" the tires before every ride...

 

[gamorg02]

i hate to admit it but i rode my rear tire for the first 1500 miles this season at like 15 psi hot. wondering why i was getting a weird non-wear pattern in the middle 2 inches. but still, the tire is fine, i don't think splitting down the middle should happen.

 

[alorio1]

I agree the tire was ridden with low pressure, but if a nail or something wasn't found in the tire, there must be another reason for low pressure. I would ask the owner of the bike what kind of rim/chrome cleaner he used , because some chemicals attack rubber made products. The point I am trying to make is he has spoked rims and the chemical/chrome cleaner could have made it's way into the tube area via spokes if it were fluid enough to flow easily. If so he should get an old tube and apply some of his cleaner and see if he gets a chemical reaction over a period of time.

 

[Fire-medic]

I agree the tire was ridden with low pressure, but if a nail or something wasn't found in the tire, there must be another reason for low pressure. I would ask the owner of the bike what kind of rim/chrome cleaner he used , because some chemicals attack rubber made products. The point I am trying to make is he has spoked rims and the chemical/chrome cleaner could have made it's way into the tube area via spokes if it were fluid enough to flow easily. If so he should get an old tube and apply some of his cleaner and see if he gets a chemical reaction over a period of time.

Thanks, I will mention the possibly caustic cleaner to him.

The shop owner who has run the business in the same community for nearly 40 years said 'low pressure/no pressure.' I agree w/him after seeing the comments & speaking w/the other employees. Glad I never had that bad of a failure!

 

[Fire-medic]

more shots of the tire failure