tire defect?

[Raphaël Rochette]

As anyone observed something similar to this:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a377/r_rochette/IMG_3836.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a377/r_rochette/IMG_3835.jpg

This is the second set of tires that does this. The first time we saw this was in Detroit and we thought that it happened during the transport but now I'm starting to think its from the tire itself...

Any suggestions?

Raphaël Rochette
Laval University
http://www.gmc.ulaval.ca/fsae

[Raphaël Rochette]

As anyone observed something similar to this:

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a377/r_rochette/IMG_3836.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a377/r_rochette/IMG_3835.jpg

This is the second set of tires that does this. The first time we saw this was in Detroit and we thought that it happened during the transport but now I'm starting to think its from the tire itself...

Any suggestions?

Raphaël Rochette
Laval University
http://www.gmc.ulaval.ca/fsae

[Denny Trimble]

See "Mounting Directions" (http://www.racegoodyear.com/sae-tirecare.html)

Goodyears are directional, and it appears you've run one backwards. I think every team has done it.

[Buckingham]

Even if you did run it the correct direction, it is possible for that to still happen. The "split" may continue to grow in length, but it shouldn't grow in width. Don't be afraid to keep driving on em, they are still perfectly good.

[SD]

We had a similar thing appear on 3 of our tires after the Autocross at the competition this year. I showed the Goodyear rep and confirmed that we mounted and scrubbed them in correctly. We got 3 new tires and our old ones were to be inspected for a possible fault during manufacture (they were all from the same batch).

[jack]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v318/phatcat0227/ShreddedTire.jpg

this is bad?? http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[GTmule]

We had that happen to some Formula Mazda tires, Our Goodyear rep replaced 'em (we being where I work). Ours were the old chilean ones, not the new US ones.

[Stevo_J]

Our 2004 car runs 10" dunlop slicks and seems to have had exactly the same problem.Does anyone know it the dunlop slicks are directional. If so what is the mounting pattern?

[ben]

I was going to say it looked like the tread splice, and Denny's link confirms that.

AFAIK Dunlop 10s aren't directional but I work on funny things with 2 wheels so don't take that as gospel.

I'd say that if they're directional and you put them on the wrong way around - tough, but if there was no specific advice to that effect and you still got this problem I'd assume a manufacturing error and ask for a replacement. Sounds like Goodyear are operaing on that policy already from the comments.

Ben

[nick roberts]

If you mount that tire correctly and get it up to temp it is possible to almost completely get rid of that tear. Weve had tires that looked much worse re-mounted and then run for a while come out great.
The Goodyear Mounting page states that after a couple heat cycles its ok to move the tire to any point on the car; this has proven to only be somewhat true for us. Our tires seem to fair better if we just leave them mounted in the correct direction. When we have moved them in the past they have usually torn very quickly unless they are almost completely worn.

-nick

[Jarrod]

Stevo, the dunlop fitment guide is here, i believe it applies to all dunlop motorsport tyres.

http://www.dunloptyres.co.uk/ourTyres/motorsport

we always fitted ours (13's) according to this chart, and never had an issue.

Call Stuckey in Melbourne or Garys motorsport tyres in Sydney if you want more information on dunlops, those guys are usually pretty helpful.

[Raphaël Rochette]

Thanks for the info guys. We thought that the mounting directions could be the explanation but weren't sure. At least it's good to know that we're not the first ones to have done this mistake