Tyre failure - opinions on why please

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I have diagnosed this tyre as 'profoundly dead'. That's not the question though.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what caused this? It's a virtually new winter, spiked tyre which has done about 30km or so. (It's not my bike and I can't readily get any better photos.) Thanks.

 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
Severe under inflation? Brake block damage?


One of these........................
 

Broadside

Guru
Location
Fleet, Hants
Was it really tight when you first put it on and did you persevere and push it on with your thumbs? I have wrecked a new tyre by forcing on using my thumbs before, it only became evident after a few rides with eventual damage to the tyre bead.

The answer is to use a lubricant such as talcum powder to get it on the rim the first time.
 
I'm assured it was within the sidewall inflation limits. I did wonder about brake block damage, though last time I saw the bike, I am pretty confident they weren't rubbing.

I think the question is: is that what brake block contact damage looks like (which I realise could be down to under inflation)? Sounds as if the answer is 'yes'.
 
Was it really tight when you first put it on and did you persevere and push it on with your thumbs? I have wrecked a new tyre by forcing on using my thumbs before, it only became evident after a few rides with eventual damage to the tyre bead.
It was. It's a Schwalbe winter spiked Marathon and 'not easy' to get on, even with talcum powder. I certainly can't be certain I didn't damage it in the process.
If it's vitually new I'd be wanting to talk to someone about the warranty. I think if you contacted the manufacturer they are likely to want that back for inspection.
That was my initial thought. I'll not be doing that 'til I've had a chance to look at it myself and eliminated user (my) error though, hence the thread.

Thanks for all the input. I'll examine the damage first hand this weekend and see if I can blame myself for it ;-)
 
It was. It's a Schwalbe winter spiked Marathon and 'not easy' to get on, even with talcum powder. I certainly can't be certain I didn't damage it in the process.
Ah! I've done the same thing with my thumbs fitting a new 16" Marathon+ tyre. The damage was obvious immediately and I was still in the establishment that hold sold me the tyre, I got an immediate refund.

Last M+ I ever bought, you won't be surprised to hear.
 
The damage was obvious immediately
That is (sort of) encouraging since the damage wasn't immediately apparent, and I did check it as carefully as I could since I was aware of the possibility.

I'm leaning towards under inflation since I don't think the bike's been used since I fitted the tyre a couple of months ago, until today. The trouble with that is that I was not there to see the pressure not being checked when it was selected as the commuting bike on this frosty morning .... ;-)
 
Have Schwalbe had a bit of a problem with sidewall failure recently?
mine was in 2013.
 
The last time a tyre did that to me, I couldn't work out what had caused it, at first. Through a process of elimination, I worked out that ( given it was a snow tyre, being used in snow and slush) that the tyre had become brittle at the bead / rim interface, then effectively cracked when I leaned over in a sharp corner. Lesson learned the hard way, if riding in snow / slush, don't lean over as much as usual.
 
I had something very similar happen to a front Conti GP4000. Caused a nasty blow-out on a descent too. I put it down to brake block damage on closer inspection but it too was on a tyre with only about 50km on the clock. Was it a front or a rear? Obviously, if you're like me then having it go on the front correlates with the extra brake usage too.
 
D

Deleted member 1258

Guest
How far round the tyre does the failure go? From the picture it looks like a simple sidewall failure, rare I think but it does happen, I can't see anything on the picture that would make me think something had been rubbing, and if the brakes had been misaligned you should be able to see that by looking at the brakes.
 
The brake blocks are not misaligned. With a different wheel now on the bike, the pad position is fine, I'm told. There is apparently no sign of rubbing over the rest of the circumference of the tyre, and the damage is around 1/16 of the tyre.

Sooo..... simple and catastrophic sidewall failure; not something I'd previously have imagined happening on a new tyre. Thanks for all the comments. Particularly good to know that tyres /can/ fail like that, even if it's rare.
 
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