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Tire steel belt separation-second time it's happened to me
4 1/2 yrs ago on 9 Dec 2021 while driving south on the interstate, I had a steel belt separation, at least that's what I think it is/was. The steering wheel started vibrating real bad and I pulled into the far right lane and got off I45 on the very next exit. Thankfully there was a nice service station with plenty of room for me to remove the bad tire (front, driver's side) and get the spare on. Here are some pictures of the tire:
In December 2021, these Goodyear tires were about 4 yrs old and had maybe 20K miles on them.
I had Discount Tire mount up 4 new Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires since I no longer trusted the Goodyears.
Yesterday, driving north on I45. the steering wheel started vibrating. I exited the interstate and pulled into a parking lot and noticed that my passenger front tire had a steel belt separation like what happened to the Goodyear tire 4 1/2yrs earlier. I had my family with me and it is the middle of the summer here in Houston so I decided to limp the truck home, avoiding the interstate and driving 35mph with the hazard lights on. 12 miles later and we successfully made it home without the tire blowing out on us.
It's raining now and kinda dark outside so it is very difficult to take a decent picture of the bad Cooper tire still on the truck. Here are some pictures:
Like the first time this happened with the Goodyear tire, these Coopers have maybe 20K miles on them.
It's much harder to see the deformed, steel belt separation in this tire but I assure you, it is there. Not near as bad as the Goodyear tire but it is definitely deformed.
My wife was able to see the deformation when we were in the parking lot yesterday. Easier to see in person vs these pictures.
Now that this has happened to me a second time, I'm hoping to get some feedback on what is causing this. Last time it was the driver's side front and this time it's the passenger side front. I keep the tires aired up to about 70-75psi and rotate the tires about every 5-7K miles. I know these trucks are heavy and that has to be causing it, right? BTW, the truck is a single rear wheel, 2-wheel drive and all of my driving is street/highway driving. No dirt roads or offroading.
I tried to do a search on this 7.3L PSD forum and didn't find much.
Hmmm. That's a good question. It's possible that I plugged a nail hole in that tire but I'm not sure. Combine that with the fact that the tires have been rotated and I really don't know if that particular tire has been plugged.
What is the date code on the tire? Want to get an idea of how long they sat on the shelf before they sold them to you, and it's overall age. In that first picture, I'm seeing some cracking in the tread grooves that might point to aging or heat-cooked dried out rubber that might result in enough weakness to allow belts to slip.
Impact damage from a very rough road/potholes and high heat/high speed running with a heavy load can cause belt separation. If it was a manufacturing defect, I think you'd see this separation early in the tire's life.
I'll try to get the date code off the current, Cooper tires.
It is hotter than hades here in Houston in the summer. I took a good look at the picture (#2) where you can see the cracking in the tread groove and that looks to be where the tire was severely deformed due to the steel belt separation. The grooves to the right, away from the deformation appear to be crack free. I think that the deformation caused the cracks in the groove.
No potholes and I haven't hit anything with the tires. The roads are terrible in the middle of Houston but I rarely drive there as I live about 1 hr north of the center of the city. My roads are much better up here.
What load range tires are those and what is their maximum pressure rating? When is the last time the truck got an alignment? What dampers are you running and how old are those? What about the springs?
Goodyear bought Cooper in 2021, so depending on his build date they could be pre Goodyear, no that it matters. I used to like Coopers but when they got bought out I switched out to Falkens on my last set.
I can tell you that running tire pressure monitors on my truck that the pressure can change 5 psi just sitting when in the sun here in the high desert, I have seen them climb almost 10 psi driving, so 70-75 psi seems a little high to me unless your truck has a heavy load all the time. I don't know if that would contribute to your issue but it seems your running them just below max loaded pressure which is probably harder on them and would make for a rougher ride without a load.
What load range tires are those and what is their maximum pressure rating? When is the last time the truck got an alignment? What dampers are you running and how old are those? What about the springs?
Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires:
Load Range: E
Max Pressure: 80psi cold
Alignment: never since I bought the truck in Jan 2012. It has always had a very slight pull to the right. I do my own front end alignments on my cars but this truck is very different from what I'm used to.
Dampers: GABRIEL G63622 Nothing special, installed late January 2022
Springs: Factory springs from 2001
so 70-75 psi seems a little high to me unless your truck has a heavy load all the time. I don't know if that would contribute to your issue but it seems your running them just below max loaded pressure which is probably harder on them and would make for a rougher ride without a load.
I'm with you. That sounds like a lot of air for a pretty light truck.
To the OP, as you posted 80 psi is MAX pressure cold, that would be for a weight loaded tire and not for a tire with only vehicle weight on it (based on my training and experience, opinions of others may vary).
As for alignments on these, if you have the equipment and knowledge, which sounds like you do, they are really not that different. Camber is a bushing on the upper ball joint and Caster is springs mount angles(on 4wd, not sure on the 2wd) and toe is the tie rods. Pretty simple really and based on your slight pull your toe is probably slightly off. That all being said your tire separation issue should have nothing to do with your alignment.
Goodyear bought Cooper in 2021, so depending on his build date they could be pre Goodyear, no that it matters. I used to like Coopers but when they got bought out I switched out to Falkens on my last set.
I can tell you that running tire pressure monitors on my truck that the pressure can change 5 psi just sitting when in the sun here in the high desert, I have seen them climb almost 10 psi driving, so 70-75 psi seems a little high to me unless your truck has a heavy load all the time. I don't know if that would contribute to your issue but it seems your running them just below max loaded pressure which is probably harder on them and would make for a rougher ride without a load.
I think that I found the build date on the damaged tire. It says, "1921." I'm thinking that is the 19th week of 2021, right? The other three tires have 4521, 4821 and 4821. I had these four Coopers installed 21 December 2021.
The max pressure on the tire says 80psi cold. I do realize that the pressure is going to increase when the tire gets hot from driving or the sun hitting it. I usually run the front right tire at about 75psi cold and all the other tires at about 70psi cold. I run just a bit more pressure in the right front tire because the truck pulls slightly to the right and a bit more pressure seems to counteract that some. I never let the pressure get below 65psi cold on any of the tires even in the winter time. If they are that low, which a couple of them were last winter, I'd air them back up to my normal range. I check air pressure on my tires about every 4 months.
Just for info I run my tires approximately 65psi cold unless I put a load in the bed, I will lower them for extended off road travel (I have onboard air). Depending on the load I may go to max (80 psi), mainly in the rears and slightly more on the fronts if the load is say a cabover camper. Mine is a '02 4D LB 4x4 SRW.
To the OP, as you posted 80 psi is MAX pressure cold, that would be for a weight loaded tire and not for a tire with only vehicle weight on it (based on my training and experience, opinions of others may vary).
As for alignments on these, if you have the equipment and knowledge, which sounds like you do, they are really not that different. Camber is a bushing on the upper ball joint and Caster is springs mount angles(on 4wd, not sure on the 2wd) and toe is the tie rods. Pretty simple really and based on your slight pull your toe is probably slightly off. That all being said your tire separation issue should have nothing to do with your alignment.
Okay. So it sounds like I should be running less air pressure than I've been running. What air pressure do you guys recommend?
The camber bushing has me a bit confused. It looks like it would take the appropiate one of these: MOOG K8972 Here is another that is 2 degrees: MEVOTECH MK8978
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