SubOperator Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 The winter tires were Dunlop Winter Sport 3D DSST (run flats). I used them for 2 or 3 seasons already on same rims, this was supposed to be their last year. But... Yesterday early morning (10F outside) I noticed my car was shaking when I left for work, stopped to check tires and sure enough my rear passenger side is low. Got the electric pump out, pumped some air in it, and on my way to office stopped at tire place to let them look at it and fix it. They called me right after the car went on the lift and showed me the tires. It was weird, I have never seen a tire damaged this way, the rear passenger (the one low in the morning) had steel belt out. Needles to say, I ended up getting 4 new REGULAR winter tires installed the same day. Don't want to think how much I overpaid right now, simply happy I found out before I got on a long trip this weekend Now, I had my suspension lowered (Bilstein + Pinks) 4 years ago and these very tires served me well for 2 or 3 seasons, I estimate they have anywhere between 25 and 40K on them. They were wearing evenly and I rotated them every season. Was expecting them to last me this winter as final season. In the same time period I had two different summer tires sets on same suspension, also wearing out evenly. Thus I don't think I had a sudden change in suspension geometry that killed these Dunlops. Put them on about 6 weeks ago and drove as usual. They were getting more loud lately but I thought this was just due to their age. The only explanation I have for what happened is that I used to have 34-36 psi in tires all year long. This year I decided to go to sticker recommended 33 psi front and 32 psi rear to get the ride softer. I *think* this could have been the root cause - if pressure was too low to support the vehicle then instead of just sitting low (this way I could see it and put more air) the stiff walls of DSST tires acted like pizza cutters on the edge of the tire. What's weird is this only happened on the inside, the outside looked normal. Anyway, sharing this with pics to help others avoid the same problem. I decided to not ever buy run-flats again. I am fine with Dunlop Winter Sport 3D themselves - I got a new set of regular, non flat ones for our Tribeca and they were nothing but pure pleasure to have in the winter. It's the run-flat version that I will be staying away from now on. 2005 LGT Wagon Limited 6 MT RBP Stage 2 - 249K 2007 B9 Tribeca Limited DGM - 272K SOLD - 2005 OB Limited 5 MT Silver - 245K SOLD - 2010 OB 6 MT Silver - 205K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmx045 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 that's an obvious alignment issue, not the tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubOperator Posted January 5, 2012 Author Share Posted January 5, 2012 I have the same alignment for last 4 years or so. Plus the tire surface would wear gradually towards the center - this is not the case here. 2005 LGT Wagon Limited 6 MT RBP Stage 2 - 249K 2007 B9 Tribeca Limited DGM - 272K SOLD - 2005 OB Limited 5 MT Silver - 245K SOLD - 2010 OB 6 MT Silver - 205K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmx045 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 the same alignment in 4 years..... you're telling me in 4 years, your alignment is still spot on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citka Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 agreed with bmx....alignment issue. I get an alignment every year. Unless you drive on a race track 100% of the time where there are no 'bumps' in the road, there is zero chance your alignment is the same after 4 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kongzilla Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I also get an alignment once a year. Sometimes two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citka Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Goodyear has a deal for a lifetime alignment. I think it was $124 and you can come back for a free alignment for as long as you own the car, as many times as you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kongzilla Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Goodyear has a deal for a lifetime alignment. I think it was $124 and you can come back for a free alignment for as long as you own the car, as many times as you want. Good to know. Only problem seeing is that they want do any custom settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubOperator Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 umm, not going to argue about the alignment, I know it is not perfect. But still think the pressure drop from 36psi to 32psi was what killed the tires. alignment made the inner side to be destroyed. 2005 LGT Wagon Limited 6 MT RBP Stage 2 - 249K 2007 B9 Tribeca Limited DGM - 272K SOLD - 2005 OB Limited 5 MT Silver - 245K SOLD - 2010 OB 6 MT Silver - 205K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmx045 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 usually low psi wears inner and outer edges of the tire, this is completely inner. snow tires have a softer compound so seeing quicker wear is not uncommon. a slightly off alignment can prose this type of wear especially on a snow tire compared to other tire types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BAC5.2 Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Either an alignment issue, or the tire was rubbing the fender. One thing is for sure, alignments are DEFINITELY a twice-a-year deal. Those Goodyear lifetime alignments are usually garbage, but they are better than not doing anything. It's easy to make the machine lie, and convince someone that "performance" tires should only last a year or two. [URL="http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/proper-flip-key-interesti-159894.html"]Flip Key Development Thread[/URL] "Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped." - E. Hubbard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citka Posted January 6, 2012 Share Posted January 6, 2012 Typically, if there is wear on one portion of the tires due to over inflation, it's the inner portion of the tires. BMX is accurate in his statement regarding the lower pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubOperator Posted January 6, 2012 Author Share Posted January 6, 2012 Either an alignment issue, or the tire was rubbing the fender. There wasn't any rubbing, and all 4 tires had same thing happen to them - inner side edge worn in non-typical manner. Just look at the edge on the pics. These tires served me well for 2 or 3 seasons prior, so I blame the 4 psi lower pressure I ran them at this time. I only put them on the car 5-6 weeks ago, and the edges were fine. However imperfect, I don't think the alignment went so bad during the last 5-6 weeks I had these tires on the car. Where I agree with bmx is that the much softer compound on winters made them more prone to wear, and stiffer DSST tire wall finished the job without enough pressure in the tire to support it; due to overdue alignment the inner edge took all the load on it. Damn. I got the 4W alignment done on new tires already, but since new ones are not run flats, I won't be able to compare. 2005 LGT Wagon Limited 6 MT RBP Stage 2 - 249K 2007 B9 Tribeca Limited DGM - 272K SOLD - 2005 OB Limited 5 MT Silver - 245K SOLD - 2010 OB 6 MT Silver - 205K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subie909 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I had this same thing happen to my front passenger Bridgestone stock RE-92 tire. 37,000 miles. 2008 legacy gt (suspension stock). After doing some research I figured the radial belt was separating from the tire which cause my tire to look exactly like SubOperator's Dunlops. Clearly it was a defective tire. After taking my car to a Bridgestone corporate store, (firestone complete auto care) they agreed with me. The most upsetting part was because of the manufacture date, the tire didn't fall under bridgestone's Platinum Pact Limited Warranty, but New RE-92 do though, hmm funny....... Anyway they gave me such a good deal on a set of re-760 sports I couldn't pass it up. The price they gave me on the new tires made up for the prorate money I would have gotten on the defective tire if under warranty. Bridgestone doesn't give any warranty on their summer performance type tires , so my fingers are crossed this doesn't happen again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNVAR Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 33/32? I don't think that's what the sticker recommends. Sticker says 35/33, no? I run 36/34 all year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubOperator Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 33/32? I don't think that's what the sticker recommends. Sticker says 35/33, no? I run 36/34 all year. Yes it does. I screwed up and killed the tires. Damn it. I ran them fine for 3 season when I was running 36psi. 2005 LGT Wagon Limited 6 MT RBP Stage 2 - 249K 2007 B9 Tribeca Limited DGM - 272K SOLD - 2005 OB Limited 5 MT Silver - 245K SOLD - 2010 OB 6 MT Silver - 205K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iNVAR Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 That's only 2 less in front, 1 in back, I really don't think you killed your tires from doing that. 2/1 PSI is easily made up for in temperature changes and driving aggressiveness variations. Unless your gauge is way off, or you took the reading when the car was hot. Is your car garaged in a warm place? Sometimes people don't realize that when you check the pressure, your car is supposed to have been sitting out overnight in the freezing cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cseagle08 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 My Camaro has 143,000 miles on it, never been aligned. Just for fun I got the tire place to just 'check' the alignment...it was still within spec, 10 years later and no alignments. I do always try to avoid massive pot-holes whenever possible though. Anyways, I can't imagine a pound or two of air making that much of a difference over a relatively short distance. Doesn't heat in the tires add like ~4lbs? What about the rubber getting old & hard and just chunking out? Could just be a bad batch of Dunlops maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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