Rim not damaged after shredded tyre

[BobD]

Last night my wife shredded one of our Continental Cross Contact tyres on GOE 18 inch rims. She doesn't know when the tyre went flat but she heard a funny noise when driving at 100 kph down Row Highway and thought she had better tell me sometime! she finally stopped about 6 km later when she saw smoke in the mirror.

When I got there the tyre consisted of a full ring of steel reinforced tread and then shredded side walls completely separated at the edge of the steel belts. The beads on both sides were still completley anchored in place by the special inner ridge that stops the beads moving inwards so the car was actually just driving on the side walls and beads.

There was absolutely no damage to the GOE rim and for my wife driving at fairly high speeds, no noticable effect on the car's handling or steering. The tyre was on the rear left of the D4.

I previously had a sidewall blow when I hit a loose rock on a Kimberley "road" at about 110 while passing two trucks. In that case also it was a rear tyre and apart from the noise of the air escaping through the 50 mm cut there was no effect on the car. I only stopped because I thought the hissing noise was wire wrapped around the wheel.

These events show how good the D4 suspension and wheel design is and I am especially impressed with the GOE wheel, which follows the LR principle of providing inner ridges to retain the beads. I expected a destroyed wheel, tyre and inner guard when I got the phone call but the only damage was the tyre.

I have now destroyed 3 out of 6 Cross Contacts and a fourth has a plug in a bad place on the corner of the tred and sidewall. I think the end has come for the Cross Contacts!

Bob

[DiscoWeb]

Thanks Bob,

Interesting read.

I have the Cross Contact A/T and have comment a number of times that I felt the side wall was soft.

Whilst they have proven to be a good tire for my use to date I would be reluctant tot use them in remote locations requiring high speed travel on rough tracks. They are fine in slow speed off road work where you can be very selective about placement.

Might also be a good time to invest in a tyre pressure monitoring system. I recall reading people make similar comment that the air suspension sometimes makes it difficult to detect a deflated tyre leading to complete loss of tyre (like your wife who did not notice it and drove for some time) and potential rim damage.

Good to hear that it ended without any real damage.

George

[BMKal]

I had the rear right let go on my first trip up to Kal after buying the D4.

Same thing - the only indication I got that something was wrong was that I started getting error messages on the dash about the suspension compressor overheating as the suspension worked to compensate for the flat tyre. No noticeable effects on the vehicle's handling - and I never heard a thing.

My tyre wasn't as badly damaged as yours - caught it in time to pump it back up and it got me to Kalgoorlie - but the inside wall was sufficiently damaged that I had to replace it next day.

I'm looking at getting a TPMS system and installing as it's an expensive exercise if you lose a tyre without even knowing that there's a problem. The replacement Continental cost me $400 in Kalgoorlie.

[Rich84]

[BobD]

Thanks Bob,


Might also be a good time to invest in a tyre pressure monitoring system. I recall reading people make similar comment that the air suspension sometimes makes it difficult to detect a deflated tyre leading to complete loss of tyre (like your wife who did not notice it and drove for some time) and potential rim damage.

George

My 18 year old son said the same thing about the TPMS last night. I will have to look into it but I would want one that is internal to the rim and not attached to the valve on the outside.

Bob

[BobD]

Rich,

Yours looks minor compared with mine! On mine there is tread then nothing then cut up side wall. It separated all around at the edge of the tread and the entire tread section is still in one piece.

Bob