Thread: Delaminated 2 BFG AT's

Hi mojo,

In all honesty never heard of it on BFG's. I've exclusively used them for the past 20 odd years (AT' MT and RT) and AT's (M+S) will give you well over 80,000km on road, gravel and sand.

Could you give more info please?

You say 7 years old with only 30,000km - how so and what was their condition when not in use (always inflated)?

Do they have "Made in USA" stamped on them? - Apparently ones made elsewhere in the world don't always have the same compound. Not sure of the BFG US relationship with these tyres.

Any environmental "attack" ie sun, cold, concrete floor etc when not in use?

Cheers,

Lou

Steel belted tyres can suffer from delamination caused by rusting of the belt. This is enhanced when the tyres sit outside on soil (instead of bitumen or concrete pavement) for long periods without moving. The rust breaks the bond between the belt and the rubber and when the tyre then gets hot it delaminates and or blows out.

You can usually observe what looks like a blister in the tread or side wall prior to a blow out. This is the reason why tyres are dated and its recommended they are replaced at time intervals not just condition and wear.

The reason for the low k's on the tyres is simply lack of use over the last 3 or 4 years. However, the tyres have always been inflated, and the car always get's taken for a run at least every 2 or 3 weeks - it's not like it has sat stationary for a year or more. It is parked under a car port, so would not have received much in the way of sun damage, and has never sat for extended periods on soil. I can't say I noticed any blisters on the tyre, but I wasn't really looking either.

One thing I have changed recently is the pressures. I always used to run the tyres at around 40psi all around - I'm not even sure where I got this figure from, but that is what I used for years. For some reason I was reading the owners manual recently, and noticed it recommended something along the lines of 28psi front and 46psi rear. I hunted around and found the tyre pressure sticker on the door frame, and it said the same. So for the last few months I have been running at close to these pressures, and both delaminations (one front tyre and one rear tyre) have happened at these pressures. I would be interested to know what pressures others are running.

Cheers
Sean

Hi mojo,

Thanks for that, still very odd as I've never heard of them delaminating before.

The pressures and the change up might have contributed I suppose...

I've only ever owned 90's and I certainly don't run Land Rover's recommended pressures. Empty on my daily drive I run all 4 on 32Psi as a 90 will be very bouncy on higher pressures without load. I'll go up to 40Psi on the rears when she's loaded up with her 500kg payload when travelling, but that would be it.

28Psi seems very low as well, regardless of recommendation... Was it the hard rears or the soft fronts that went?

Learn something new every day as well considering Lotz-A-Landies' post! Never knew they did that, but then I've never done low enough kilometers to let them get that old to have that happen.

Cheers,

Lou

Originally Posted by Loubrey

Hi mojo,

28Psi seems very low as well, regardless of recommendation... Was it the hard rears or the soft fronts that went?

One rear and one front.

I may try to contact BFG - anyone know if they have a warranty against tyres delaminating?

Cheers
Sean

One other question - when I changed the tyre, a perished rubber cap fell onto the ground. I assume it's supposed to go over the hub. Do I need to get a replacement - is it necessary?

Cheers
Sean

My daughter had a rear one explode at 110 kph en-route to my place. Inspection once she arrived revealed the other side was also about to explode, with cracked, bulging tread in a couple of places. Those tyres were the last of an old set. The front ones were then relegated to the trailer as they were also fairly old.

I just rang the dealer who fitted the tyres, and they said that the normal warranty is 5 years. According to him after that the "oil" in the tyre starts to dry out and problems such as cracking and delaminating might happen.

I think I'll ring BFG anyway and see what they say.

Cheers
Sean