Interesting Tyre Damage.

[WelshGas]

So I had my Annual MOT and Service today, on my 2014 180 Biturbo on 118745 miles, which according to some should have blown up 60,000 miles ago.
Major Service, oil , filters etc:
Brake Fluid, DSG and Haldex.
Rear Disks, severe lipping after 118k miles, and brake pads including front( my decision) although still had 50% left.

S.Hereford VW do a video survey showing underside of vehicle, tyre tread depths etc.
It showed a corrosion hole in the outer skin of exhaust ( no leak so MOT pass ). ALL the tyre treads measured between 3.1 to 4mm across all tyres ( tyres have covered about 24,000 miles ).

However, on the inside wall of the front N/S tyre there was a off-white line all around the tyre wall that looked like the tyre canvas. It would have been a MOT failure. However the garage replaced that wheel with the spare steel wheel spare and removed the tyre from the alloy wheel so it couldn’t be used. I believe if a vehicle has a spare wheel/tyre it must be legal. This one wasn’t.
The garage couldn’t explain this by general wear. The tyre treads were fine and it was just this one tyre and on the side wall, as if something had rubbed the side wall.

The only thing I can think of is that on my travels in Norway a bridge was closed and the 30km detour was a deeply rutted, very coarse gravelled, forestry road mainly used by HGVs . The road had steep ditches either side, single track and one way. I remember mostly driving with the Passenger side wheels in the rut and Drivers side on the crown as the ruts produced by the HGVs were too wide for the California.
The garage tyre man thought that was a distinct possibility as the rubber covering the side wall is relatively thin compared with the tread area.

Anyway, all sorted. MOT passed and Cali booked in for 4 new Michelin Cross Climate 2’s next week.

 

[sidepod]

Blimey! Hard to tell from that image. Was the white line canvas or not? It doesn’t look as though it runs a full 360deg so unlikely to be anything rubbing?
Very odd a garage would go to the extent of removing/swapping your wheel and then removing the tyre???

 

[soulstyledevon]

I can’t get the video to play…

 

[WelshGas]

Blimey! Hard to tell from that image. Was the white line canvas or not? It doesn’t look as though it runs a full 360deg so unlikely to be anything rubbing?
Very odd a garage would go to the extent of removing/swapping your wheel and then removing the tyre???

Shot taken from their inspection video. It runs all around the tyre, on the inside.

 

[WelshGas]

I can’t get the video to play…

Sorry. It’s a screen shot from the video on my phone. It runs all around the tyre on the sidewall not involving the tread.

 

[kurienp]

WG, are you able to share the video? That looks like a scrape, but if was a scraping noise, I am sure you would've heard it when driving or turning. That sure looks dangerous.

 

[WelshGas]

WG, are you able to share the video? That looks like a scrape, but if was a scraping noise, I am sure you would've heard it when driving or turning. That sure looks dangerous.

I wish i could. I’ve tried copying it but failed. It’s a strange format. The link only worked on my phone, not the iPad or my iMac or a Windows laptop.
If it happened, as I believe , on this 30km forestry track I very much doubt if I would have heard anything travelling at 50kph between 2 HGVs.
When I say a gravel track the gravel was 5 to 20cm diameter, more like small rocks. Not a problem for the HGVs.

Anyway all sorted. The garage tyre man did say, although the tyre would fail the MOT inspection it probably would not have been that unsafe as the underlying canvas did not appear to be damaged just the thin, black rubber on the sidewall

 

[pjm-84]

Looks like wire showing. Had it on a few BMW at the rear, and the same on my Cali on the front. Inside edge on OSF and outside edge on the NSR. Roundabouts!

 

[Velma's Dad]

The "wrong kind of gravel" certainly can utterly shred front tyres in just a few miles if the tracking isn't perfect (as I know to my cost) and even more so on a FWD or AWD vehicle.

However the inside edges then tend to get mullered as a pair not just one side as with WG's. So I'd guess a manufacturing fault. From that pic it kind of looks like the sidewall is parting company.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Star garage for not failing the MOT and having the common sense to swap wheels ! Nice one!

 

[WelshGas]

Looks like wire showing. Had it on a few BMW at the rear, and the same on my Cali on the front. Inside edge on OSF and outside edge on the NSR. Roundabouts!

No wire. Just a smooth off-white line around the sidewall below the tread line, looks and feels like canvas.

 

[WelshGas]

The "wrong kind of gravel" certainly can utterly shred front tyres in just a few miles if the tracking isn't perfect (as I know to my cost) and even more so on a FWD or AWD vehicle.

However the inside edges then tend to get mullered as a pair not just one side as with WG's. So I'd guess a manufacturing fault. From that pic it kind of looks like the sidewall is parting company.

Could be, but there is no delaminating of rubber , just a smooth transition as if something was rubbing on a rotating tyre and had rubbed the black rubber away.

 

[Brian S]

Was there any sign of wear on the back tyre. This would have been in the same rut as the front one ?

 

[WelshGas]

Was there any sign of wear on the back tyre. This would have been in the same rut as the front one ?

No, all the other tyres were fine.

 

[sidepod]

If all the others are fine then it probably rules out a manufacturer’s defect as they probably all came from the same batch.

My guess is you’ve driven over something long enough and sharp enough to slice the rubber from the carcass ?

Anyway, the main thing is you/the van are still on one piece.

 

[WelshGas]

If all the others are fine then it probably rules out a manufacturer’s defect as they probably all came from the same batch.

My guess is you’ve driven over something long enough and sharp enough to slice the rubber from the carcass ?

Anyway, the main thing is you/the van are still on one piece.

Close examination of the suspension strut , after cleaning the dirt off shows a scratch. My hypothesis is that something got caught between wheel and strut. It rubbed the rubber off in a ring and then dropped off.
Anyway, all sorted. Steel spare wheel needs a lick of hammerite before disappearing into spare wheel cradle, hopefully for another 8 yrs.

 

[Velma's Dad]

Close examination of the suspension strut , after cleaning the dirt off shows a scratch. My hypothesis is that something got caught between wheel and strut. It rubbed the rubber off in a ring and then dropped off.

Sounds quite plausible.

 

[Hawthorn37]

Close examination of the suspension strut , after cleaning the dirt off shows a scratch. My hypothesis is that something got caught between wheel and strut. It rubbed the rubber off in a ring and then dropped off.
Anyway, all sorted. Steel spare wheel needs a lick of hammerite before disappearing into spare wheel cradle, hopefully for another 8 yrs.

I recall driving my Golf van back in the 1980’s ( yes - pre Caddy!) and each time I drove round a L/H corner, the screeching sound was incredible. Started when going on rough roads in the Lakes. The “twig/ or stone” finally fell out, and peace was regained. Happy days - camping up in the Langdales, with pub lock-ins and folk music, and a 2 man tent.

 

[Anthony1]

So I had my Annual MOT and Service today, on my 2014 180 Biturbo on 118745 miles, which according to some should have blown up 60,000 miles ago.
Major Service, oil , filters etc:
Brake Fluid, DSG and Haldex.
Rear Disks, severe lipping after 118k miles, and brake pads including front( my decision) although still had 50% left.

S.Hereford VW do a video survey showing underside of vehicle, tyre tread depths etc.
It showed a corrosion hole in the outer skin of exhaust ( no leak so MOT pass ). ALL the tyre treads measured between 3.1 to 4mm across all tyres ( tyres have covered about 24,000 miles ).

However, on the inside wall of the front N/S tyre there was a off-white line all around the tyre wall that looked like the tyre canvas. It would have been a MOT failure. However the garage replaced that wheel with the spare steel wheel spare and removed the tyre from the alloy wheel so it couldn’t be used. I believe if a vehicle has a spare wheel/tyre it must be legal. This one wasn’t.
The garage couldn’t explain this by general wear. The tyre treads were fine and it was just this one tyre and on the side wall, as if something had rubbed the side wall.

The only thing I can think of is that on my travels in Norway a bridge was closed and the 30km detour was a deeply rutted, very coarse gravelled, forestry road mainly used by HGVs . The road had steep ditches either side, single track and one way. I remember mostly driving with the Passenger side wheels in the rut and Drivers side on the crown as the ruts produced by the HGVs were too wide for the California.
The garage tyre man thought that was a distinct possibility as the rubber covering the side wall is relatively thin compared with the tread area.

Anyway, all sorted. MOT passed and Cali booked in for 4 new Michelin Cross Climate 2’s next week.

View attachment 101606

How much was that service? Nice to see a relatively high mileage California doing well.

 

[Chris Greaves]

Had something very similar on a BMW Z4, turned out to be a broken coil spring which then rubbed on the inner wall of the tyre. Your theory of an object being stuck between coil spring and tyre sounds more than plausible to me.

 

[WelshGas]

How much was that service? Nice to see a relatively high mileage California doing well.

£1345.