Tire Experts - What's going on with this tire?

Just a random thread for today. A friend/coworker of mine had these Toyos on his Mazda 3 for about 15K miles when he had a blowout. He took the car into the tire shop and lo and behold 3 of the 4 tires look like this.

What's going on here? My first thought is that the tread is separating from the sidewall. I could easily poke through the rubber between the two with a very small pocket knife. The tire shop is trying to get these replaced/refunded by Toyo under warranty.


http://www.vr4rob.com/pictures/Random/tire4.JPG

http://www.vr4rob.com/pictures/Random/tire3.JPG

I am by no means a tire expert, but isn't that an indication of negative camber and under-inflation?

http://www.tire-information-world.co...s-pressure.jpg

Wow... I've never seen wear that sharp on a tire unless the tire failed or unless it was rubbing something.

Definatly looks like its rubbing on something that is way to sharp and isolated of an area to be camber issue

I thought bad alignment and/or incorrect pressure until I inspected the tire myself. I tried to show in the first picture that the wear on the tread is pretty much all even. I also doubt that it's a rubbing issue because it did this to 3 of the 4 tires on the car (completely stock car also)

Is that the inner or outer edge?

If its the inner edge, Could it be making contact with the strut?

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Originally Posted by Alan92RTTT

Is that the inner or outer edge?

If its the inner edge, Could it be making contact with the strut?

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From what I know it's the inner edge of the tire. Again, 3 of the 4 tires from the car did this. I would almost say it's impossible that the tire is rubbing on the strut because the car is a bone stock, original suspension Mazda 3.

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Originally Posted by MeTarzan

Definatly looks like its rubbing on something that is way to sharp and isolated of an area to be camber issue

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Agreed, looks to be hitting the strut perch or something. The angle is just not right for a camber issue unless is hella or something ridiculous.

Is it the stock wheels and tire size? Because it is most definitely rubbing on something.

it could maybe be an alignment issue. looks like that half of the tire is also worn down A LOT more than the other side.

Damn that tire is trashed. Alignment would have to be pretty poor to do that.

Alignment or a loose suspension part. The LF tire on my DD looked exactly like that and it had a very loose wheel bearing.

the lack of marking on the rest of the tire means it has to be a manufacturing defect...stock rims right? and that is the same tyre specs as come on the stock rim?

I’m thinking manufacturer defect also.

Looks like the same marks you would see if you drove on flat tires. Check the inside of the sidewall and see if there are any marks.

Could be too much toe out.

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Originally Posted by drew0u812

Could be too much toe out.

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I drove cars with too much toe out the destroyed tires. That's not toe wear that you'd see without some seriously damaged components.

I think I see the problem... :unsure:

http://i1027.photobucket.com/albums/...4e3fe24f21.jpg

It looks too much like a rub to be anything else, but how in hell could you fail to notice?

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Originally Posted by j2k4

It looks too much like a rub to be anything else, but how in hell could you fail to notice?

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That’s the thing, it would have to be all of them rubbing or front and back being out of line. From the info Rob gave I just don’t see what else it could be other than manufacturer defect. Like he got some Monday tires. People lay out of work hung over and the steel belt machine runs out of belt when making them or a machine malfunctioned and the guy that normally doesn’t run the machine didn’t notice till later. To me it looks like there aren’t any belts in that part of the tire.

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Originally Posted by green-lantern

That’s the thing, it would have to be all of them rubbing or front and back being out of line. From the info Rob gave I just don’t see what else it could be other than manufacturer defect. Like he got some Monday tires. People lay out of work hung over and the steel belt machine runs out of belt when making them or a machine malfunctioned and the guy that normally doesn’t run the machine didn’t notice till later. To me it looks like there aren’t any belts in that part of the tire.

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Could certainly be, but then product assurance is totally horseshit, I think.

99.9% chance that it is rubbing on something inside the fenders. He has 3 out of 4 tires worn EXACTLY the same way?? One real easy way to tell and find if its something other than rubbing is to mount the wheels back up and push the suspension all the way compressed and see if the tire spins.

if it was a defect in the rubber or making of the tire it would have a feathered apperance to the rubber not a perfect concave cut in the tire rubber.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MeTarzan

99.9% chance that it is rubbing on something inside the fenders. He has 3 out of 4 tires worn EXACTLY the same way?? One real easy way to tell and find if its something other than rubbing is to mount the wheels back up and push the suspension all the way compressed and see if the tire spins.

if it was a defect in the rubber or making of the tire it would have a feathered apperance to the rubber not a perfect concave cut in the tire rubber.

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If dude doesn't realize he is rubbing ALL WHEELS! then he needs to give it up. Read Robs posts again, I truly can't believe anybody can rub that long without realizing it.

Then again, I've been shocked by what I've seen before.

It will affect all 4 tires if they've been rotated a few times. Throw it on an alignment rack and get some specs.

I think Toyo was having a recall on a model of their tires.