I just found out that my third, yes third set of tires is seperating!! First was a set of BFG All-Terrains with about 30k on them(2 tires were seperating), then a set of Yokohamas Geolander AT's with less that 20k(2 of them were seperating), and now one of my Michellins are seperating. This last set has 45k on them and have been babied to the max!!! I don't know if it's the vehicle or I'm just extremely unlucky.

I think from now on I'm going to the no name guys and getting cheap tires. If they last for 20k and I can get them for half price I will feel like I'm ahead of the game. I'm soooo disapointed, I thought the Michellins were supposed to be better tires! :cry:

 

my wild country M/Ts are awesome they are made by cooper i think.

 

Sounds like weather rot...? Mine were cracking a little bit until they eventually just got nickel sized holes between the tread... it was from the previous owner just letting it sit. Tires get dry if they sit for too long, but if they're driven, there's a special chemical in the rubber that keeps them moist to resist cracking.

 

What do you mean by seperating?
It would be statistically impossible to have that many tires w/ manufacturer's defects on one vehicle.
Do you have any pics?

 

I mean internat seperating. I am convinced that the first set of BFG's were bad from day one. Both me and my dad bought a set of these and we both had problems. Many, many problems and the place that sold them to us would do nothing about it. I ended up at Sears and they took care of the problem, same with the Yoko's.

Nope, no pics and the longest any of them have sat is 5 days. I love to drive and do it alot! The set of Michellins I have on right now are 2 years and 1 month old and have 45k on them.

It's just frustrating having these problems because I'm not buying cheap tires. I put the extra money into the Michellins because they were supposed to go for 60k+ miles. Now I'm stuck wondering what to do.

 

Might be a tire pressure issue. If you tend to run your tires on the soft side, that can cause excessive heat build up in the tire and can be a cause of premature belt separation.

 

You stole my post word for word !!!

Well, technically, I had not posted mine yet but you get the point

David

 

32 psi all the way around and checked all the time, probobly about twice if not more per week. And terryjmatthew, in my short life I have found that nothing is statistically impossible. As far as I'm concerned anything is possible, I have seen too much for impossible to be in my vocabulary.

 

What kind of tire dressing do you use? What do you clean them with? How often?

 

That's freaky, maybe buy them new next time? If it happens again, sell the rig and ride a bike...

Fink

 

I only use tire dressing about twice a year, I usually just clean them with a brush and some soapy water. What does that have to do with an internal seperation?

And to Fink, come on man! All of the above mentioned tires were bought brand new with the Road Hazzard waranty crap. I usually get that for the free balance and rotation.

 

My bad man, I pulled an all-nighter last night for my Mech. Engineer midterm and I misread your post, I thought you said they had those miles on them when you bought em.

In that case, that is VERY strange!

Fink

 

Starting to reach a bit here, but I gotta ask.... On the first two sets I believe you said you had problems with two of the four tires. Was there any pattern to which two failed ( both fronts, both rears, or both left or rights?).

Did you follow any specific rotation pattern? Do you do a lot of rough road driving or HD 4-wheeling in rocky areas?

I can understand terryjmatthew suggesting the statistical improbablilty of what you are experiencing. It does seem a little bizzarre to me. In all the years I have been driving and all the vehicles I have bought different makes and types of tires for, I have only had one truely bad set of tires. They were a set of Sears Roadhandlers I put on my wifes Accord. They handled alright, but within 30K I had three of the original four fail due to belt separation. Sears replaced the first two no charge, but they pro-rated the third because of time, about three years. Then when one of the replacement tires also failed, I pulled them all off and replaced them with Yokohamas.

I think there must be a logical mechanical reason for all your failures we haven't been able to nail down yet. Either that or you are one very unlucky dude.

 

As far as a pattern I have no idea. I try very hard to balance and rotate every 5K, especially the Michellins. I paid a lot for these tires and I want them to last a long time.

And as far as off road action I did a lot more of the first two sets, but almost all of the Michellin's life has been on the pavement. Even when I do go off-road I don't drive this vehicle hard at all. When I was younger I had a '77 FJ40, and I beat the crap out of it. Now I just take it easy. I just don't get it, I really don't think the highways are any worse here than anywhere else in the US. I think I'm just on the unlucky side of life on this one.

 

Yeah, thats just plain weird...you've got me baffled!

Fink

 

Some tire dressing do "dry out" the tire but you have a point about this being an internal issue.
Have you had this truck since it was new? Do you know if it has ever been wrecked?

 

Nope, bought it used with about 56k on it. It now has 163k, and I know it was wrecked in the back before I bought it.

 

I suppose there could be some type of frame damage from the wreck that might be contributing to the tire problem. But, I would think that if this were the case, you would also be having unusual tire wear problems. About how much tread was left on the tires when the belts let go? Have you ever had a full front/rear alignment done?

 

Yep, alignment has been done three times since I have owned it. There was quite a bit of tread left on the first two sets and this last set of Michellin's has I believe 7/32" left. Plenty of life left in the tire.

BTW, thanks for all of the help guys! I really appreciate everyone trying to help me out with this problem.