Nasty surprise

davemercedes

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It will be very interesting if the real cause can ever be identified. With the general state of our roads atm it's almost impossible to avoid the odd pothole - and some of 'em are ginormous!
 
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AMGeed

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Cancelled my tyre order from Tyreleader and money returned to debit card this afternoon. I can't wait up to a week for another tyre to turn up and arrange fitting.
Got one ordered from a local fitter to be done first thing Tuesday. Paying £17 more but its worth it to get it fixed quickly.
 

Submariner1

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I took the wheels off the E55 today to repaint the hubs with Hammerite and on taking off the o/s/r wheel I found this on the inside rim. View attachment 42991 View attachment 42992

More than likely caused by a pothole,not one but two splits in the wall. Its lucky its been spotted now as I dread to think of that failing at high speed.
Got a new one ordered from Tyreleader at £104.75
https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/falken/ziex-ze914/265-35-r18-97w-430407

on the top picture there is a bit of slight damage by the split, but to split twice and that much looks like some kind of quality failure.
I think I will stick to GY. Despite not have the Assy 3 out in my size.
Never seen a quality brand. GY, Michelin, Continental or Pirelli split like that.
I would rather pay the extra £60.
 
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AMGeed

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Your choice Sub and I'm surprised it split. Also, not sure what you are seeing but the split was the only damage, nothing else.I would also class a Falken tyre as a quality brand in spite of this.
Got a new one fitted this morning and the fitter was of the opinion it was done straddling speed bumps. Apparently he has seen a few of them and some owners actually had tyres blow straddling the humps!

I would have considered changing brand (GY F1's) but as the tyre was pretty new I wanted to keep the same brand and tyre pattern on the axle. Should I get damage on another I would change.
 

JBell

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on the top picture there is a bit of slight damage by the split, but to split twice and that much looks like some kind of quality failure.

It is not split it has been cut by something, a split would be less uniform along the tyre, looks like it has happened when the tyre was under load so the sidewall was compressed, a pot hole or speed bump is the likely culprit.

Seen it many times before on all brands, just the parless state of our roads these days.

Falken are great quality and a well respected manufacturer these days. I was at MB West London at the weekend and most of the cars in the showroom were on Hankook tyres apart from the SL63, C63 x2 and the brand new CLS which were on Conti SC6.
 

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The fitter was of the opinion it was done straddling speed bumps.

You should always put one tyre over the centre of the hump and the other through the gap, straddling them ruins your alignment
 
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You should always put one tyre over the centre of the hump and the other through the gap, straddling them ruins your alignment

I found that out the expensive way.:(
I deliberately took another route this morning to avoid that road on my way to the tyre fitters.
 

JBell

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I found that out the expensive way.:(

Lesson learnt, I watch cars straddling speed bumps and wince at how out their alignment must be
 

Rotorhead500

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Lesson learnt, I watch cars straddling speed bumps and wince at how out their alignment must be

Same here. Just been out and have a few sets of those crappy little square speed bumps... I always put one side square over the top, and slow right down, much to the delight of impatient mums behind me!
 
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Submariner1

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Your choice Sub and I'm surprised it split. Also, not sure what you are seeing but the split was the only damage, nothing else.I would also class a Falken tyre as a quality brand in spite of this.
Got a new one fitted this morning and the fitter was of the opinion it was done straddling speed bumps. Apparently he has seen a few of them and some owners actually had tyres blow straddling the humps!

I would have considered changing brand (GY F1's) but as the tyre was pretty new I wanted to keep the same brand and tyre pattern on the axle. Should I get damage on another I would change.

Appreciate your logic, I too like to have have the same tyres all around, hence my delay waiting for the GY Eagle F1 Assy 3s for the back .... looks like they wont make them in my size.
 

dubburke

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That could have been a total disaster, scary in fact.
 

Craiglxviii

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You should always put one tyre over the centre of the hump and the other through the gap, straddling them ruins your alignment
And can also totally destroy your engine under covers...
 

L John

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How old was the tyre, you said it was fairly new. Surely there should be some sort of guarantee?
I guess the old one is disposed of now but the manufacturer should have been made aware of this defect.
looks to me like the tyre has had a small cut and it has run.
What pressure were you running it at?
Is the W rating of that tyre enough for an E55?
The rating is not just for the top speed which is likely limited to 155 mph, it's also for the amount of torque the tyre has to transfer to the road.
Your car unrestricted would be faster than the rating of the tyre.
I'm assuming the tyre was on the E55?

• S 180km/h or 112mph
• T 190km/h or 118mph
•U 200km/h or 125mph
• H 210km/h or 130mph
• V 240km/h or 149mph
•W(ZR) 270km/h or 168mph
• Y(ZR) 300km/h or 186mph
• ZR Above 240km/h or 149mph
 
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AMGeed

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^ I'll try to answer everything here.
I don't think a tyre is guaranteed if damage is caused by incorrectly manouvering over speed humps or pothole damage.
I don't know how old the tyre was, but it was bought in Nov 17 and when the damage was noticed had minimal wear to the tread.
. The tyre pressure was slightly under at 32psi (35 psi is recommended)
. The tyre is rated W and suitable for a stock E55. I am unaware of tyres being rated for torque which is a new one on me.
The fact I'm unlikely to push the car to 168+mph on our roads makes me double certain the tyre was suitable for use on my car.
. Yes the tyre was on my E55.
https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/falken/ziex-ze914/265-35-r18-97w-430407

I think I was unfortunate and maybe caused the damage by straddling the speed humps on a particular route I often use.
Lesson learned, check the inside walls of your tyres regularly, and don't straddle speed humps.
 

L John

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The tyre is rated W and suitable for a stock E55. I am unaware of tyres being rated for torque which is a new one on me.

I'd be happy to be proved wrong but if it's just for the speed then the S rated tyre would be suitable for all cars driven on UK roads.
The speed rating, I believe is just to put tyres in a category of performance rating to be at least the minimum requirement for the car.
Like I said, happy to get info to either confirm or prove wrong my current way of thinking.
 

vtaylor78

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Just had my wheels off to get the alloys powder coated, 3 of the 4 tyres had splits in the same place as yours.
They are by no means as long as yours but splits all the same, so it’s turned out to be an expensive job in the end.
Glad you found the damage before it turned into something Much worse.
Tyre fitter thinks they have been caused by straddling speed humps ?
 

malcolm E53 AMG

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I traverse speed bumps at no more than 20mph and even then it makes me wince as you can’t always run one wheel over the centre
 

John Laidlaw

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AFAIK only speed not torque is considered with tyre ratings. Increased torque (which we see in a lot of AMG’s) doesn’t come with it a necessity to have a different tyre speed rating- torque not transferring properly after all will shred a tyre through extreme tread wear, so there are few other signifiant loads.
Load rating could be a different thing and may affect a tyre by a splitting failure probably.
 

John Laidlaw

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Just had my wheels off to get the alloys powder coated, 3 of the 4 tyres had splits in the same place as yours.
They are by no means as long as yours but splits all the same, so it’s turned out to be an expensive job in the end.
Glad you found the damage before it turned into something Much worse.
Tyre fitter thinks they have been caused by straddling speed humps ?
This seems to be the consensus for sure....
 

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