Tyre problems

[Wulfkind]

Hi Guys,

Long time no post, I know. Been extremely busy with that horrible thing called life...

Anyhow, heres the issue. 12 months ago I bought a set of Pirelli Dragons for my Aurion, loved them entirely fore the first 8 months or so and then lost my trust in them when the drivers side front developed blistering in the sidewall. I replaced that tyre and moved it to the back, about a month later, travelling down the F3 I had just aired up (they were down on air about 1psi, but it was a cold day too) the tyres at the twin servos and checked them over (used my own pressure guage too), left the servo and hit 110 on the freeway, about 5 minutes later the drivers front (same one again!) decided it didn't want its inner sidewall anymore... I managed to pull the car over safely (it was amazingly, still smooth to drive)

At that time, I replaced the two front tyres with a pair of cheapo bridgestones (couldn't afford anything fancy, sadly), now about a week ago I had the same issue again, the inner sidewall seperated from the tyre at 110 on the highway. I'm not sure if this is just coicidence, but I'm a little concerned that the tyre on the drivers front has always been the one experiencing these failures, I don't drive like a lunatic, in fact, this last 5 months or so has been mostly country driving (avoiding potholes etc)

Now I can rule out an alignment issue, as the car has been regularly aligned as well as aligned each time I replaced tyres, the tyres have also been fitted by different tyre stores and each inspect the rim each time (different rims involved in all incidents though)

Could this still be a driving style issue? bad luck? mechanical issue that hasn't been picked up? I really don't feel safe driving the aurion at highway speeds at the moment so any advice would be appreciated.

Edited October 22, 2010 by Wulfkind

[phat_azn]

Hi Guys,

Long time no post, I know. Been extremely busy with that horrible thing called life...

Anyhow, heres the issue. 12 months ago I bought a set of Pirelli Dragons for my Aurion, loved them entirely fore the first 8 months or so and then lost my trust in them when the drivers side front developed blistering in the sidewall. I replaced that tyre and moved it to the back, about a month later, travelling down the F3 I had just aired up (they were down on air about 1psi, but it was a cold day too) the tyres at the twin servos and checked them over (used my own pressure guage too), left the servo and hit 110 on the freeway, about 5 minutes later the drivers front (same one again!) decided it didn't want its inner sidewall anymore... I managed to pull the car over safely (it was amazingly, still smooth to drive)

At that time, I replaced the two front tyres with a pair of cheapo bridgestones (couldn't afford anything fancy, sadly), now about a week ago I had the same issue again, the inner sidewall seperated from the tyre at 110 on the highway. I'm not sure if this is just coincidence, but I'm a little concerned that the tyre on the drivers front has always been the one experiencing these failures, I don't drive like a lunatic, in fact, this last 5 months or so has been mostly country driving (avoiding potholes etc)

Now I can rule out an alignment issue, as the car has been regularly aligned as well as aligned each time I replaced tyres, the tyres have also been fitted by different tyre stores and each inspect the rim each time (different rims involved in all incidents though)

Could this still be a driving style issue? bad luck? mechanical issue that hasn't been picked up? I really don't feel safe driving the aurion at highway speeds at the moment so any advice would be appreciated.

Im in a similar boat to you.My front passenger tyre always drops about 5psi compared to the rest when i check my tyres.Ive rotated them twice and it only seem like my front passenger tyre is the one loosing pressure.It Doesnt bother me as much as i check them every second refill at the servo.Cant figure it out.

[SuperDave]

Is the load rating correct?

[e240]

What tyre pressures are you running?

[Wulfkind]

I run 32 psi (235/40R18's) they are correctly load rated, as I said, I only have problems with that one corner.

[Buff Hamster]

I run 32 psi (235/40R18's) they are correctly load rated, as I said, I only have problems with that one corner.

32psi is too low for an ultra low profile tyre. You should be using 40+psi for that size. This explains why you have sidewall problems with your tyres.

Edited October 23, 2010 by A Buff Hamster

[DJKOR]

I run 32 psi (235/40R18's) they are correctly load rated, as I said, I only have problems with that one corner.

32psi is too low for an ultra low profile tyre. You should be using 40+psi for that size. This explains why you have sidewall problems with your tyres.

Actually, about 35 PSI would be a good starting point. I wouldn't be going all the way up to 40 PSI unless it was just for doing a long highway drive or if you are going on the track etc.

But yeah, 32 PSI is a little on the low side. That's what created blisters in the sidewalls of my last pair of low profile tires.