Can burnouts structurally weaken tires??

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Princess Valiant

Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
Joined
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So on the way to work this morning 6/4, everything was normal and I get on the highway ready for my 45 minute commute, coffee just right and everything seemed nice in the beauty of the very early morning.

I turned into the highway and got up to 65 mph and I come up on a Toyota so off course I have to pass it so I'm not staring at a piece of **** when I have my coffee and snack.

I get in front of the toyota about 10 car lengths because I blasted by it and now I'm at about 78 mph in a 65 zone.

Out of nowhere it sounds like a gun blast and I see smoke and debris flying behind the car and I feel the tire is gone and hear the noises and mayhem.

I ease off and get off the road, still went a ways up the road to slow down safely and all.

Get to the side of the road and get out to confirm the tire blew.

I was a little confused because these are newer tires. Dated late 2017 and I bought them in Jan of 18, even have the paperwork on them. So I didn't expect this at all.

So I changed the tire and of course a few gentlemen stopped to see if I needed help but I really didn't because I have a routine. I appreciate the gesture but I had it under control.

Later in the day it hit me that last week I barked this tire pretty good in a glorious peg leg burnout with a 225 slant six in a 68 dart. I left about 4 car lengths of black mark and a decent amount of smoke.

Now I'm wondering If a really amazing burnout can weaken the sidewalls.

If a burnout caused this, then I better knock it off.

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I did that to a tire once, a very long time ago, doing a burnout, what I didn't know was I had started on a small piece of rebar sticking out of the pavement in the parking lot I was marking, blew out mid smoke show. I doubt that your tire failed as a result of one burnout, I've done probably over 1000 burnouts, and never grenaded another tire. I would take it back to the retailer for warranty, if they decline, I'd consider replacing all the tires, rather than have another hi speed failure
 
I've done my share of burnouts on the same tires repeatedly and they lived a happy lives until they were replaced. that tire looks like it was over inflated and then cut by something you ran over. I'm sure you had 35 psi in it though.
 
That's some scary stuff right there. I'm glad nothing bad happened. Looks to me like the belt gave away and blew right in the center and split the side walls. I'm not a tire expert or anything tho
 
The belt runs 90° to the sidewall. Not a defect. The tread belts do not line up any any spot. Picture a roll of tape. A separation would be like unrolling the tape. The damage shown would be like cutting the tape with a razor blade. The ends of the tape do not line up to a butt splice, neither do steel belts on a tire. There are multiple layers . Just like piston rings don't line up, staggered ends. Looks to be a cut belt/impact failure. The damage could have been done earlier. They don't always fail instantly. Just FYI yes, doing Burnouts, spinning tires and other non-normal driving habits will damage a street DOT tire. Common sense. They were not made to do that. Now " tires designed for drag racing "Were designed for tire spinning and heating the tread. Do your racing on the track, not the street. Luck you didn't damage yours/any body else's car. Glad you know about date codes. Over 5 years old no matter the mileage should not be driven at hi-way speeds. Keep our cars safe.
PS, In the tires warranty booklet it will say specifically that spinning tires will void the warranty on the tires. Always has.
 
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MoparLeo said:
The belt runs 90° to the sidewall. Not a defect. The tread belts do not line up any any spot. Picture a roll of tape. A separation would be like unrolling the tape. The damage shown would be like cutting the tape with a razor blade. The ends of the tape do not line up to a butt splice, neither do steel belts on a tire. There are multiple layers . Just like piston rings don't line up, staggered ends. Looks to be a cut belt/impact failure. The damage could have been done earlier. They don't always fail instantly. Just FYI yes, doing Burnouts, spinning tires and other non-normal driving habits will damage a street DOT tire. Common sense. They were not made to do that. Now " tires designed for drag racing "Were designed for tire spinning and heating the tread. Do your racing on the track, not the street. Luck you didn't damage yours/any body else's car. Glad you know about date codes. Over 5 years old no matter the mileage should not be driven at hi-way speeds. Keep our cars safe.
PS, In the tires warranty booklet it will say specifically that spinning tires will void the warranty on the tires. Always has.
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LOOK again , dont look cut to me --------------------
 
Flex tape! I did a really good burnout some years back drove it about 50 yards and parked it so the tire was still hot. Next morning the whole tread was separated from the carcass.
 
What brand of tire is that? Low cost tires are known to be weaker and not up to standards (Sunny, Geostar, etc).

Excessive heat usually shortens the lifespan of a lot of things. While it’s possible your one tire fire burnout weakened the tire, perhaps you also drove over something and the combination of both lead to the tire failure. Probably difficult to prove if it was one or multiple factors.

I put over 400 miles on this tire on the rear end of a Hellcat. It suffered from many unintentional smoke shows while coming out of a 90 degree corner under heavy acceleration onto a straightaway. It’s a name brand tire (Goodyear) high performance tire but it failed. The mechanics at the track don’t see many tire failures but this was one. No way to know for sure what caused it but it could have been as simple as a defect that or a combination of things (defect, heat and driving over something).

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Glad you made it thru unscathed Rani. You didn't mention having to fight like hell to keep the car headed straight, so it must have been a rear tire. I'm quite sure the gentlemen that stopped to try and assist didn't expect to see a nicely dressed young lady to be changing a tire like The Rainbow Warriors! LOL
 
I worked at a tire distributor for almost 15 years and that tire in the first post looks like an “impact break” meaning you may have hit something on the road, front tire could have kicked it up and when the rear tire hit it BAM! Or have you hit any big potholes recently? Could have damaged the belts....then later on with the higher speed it let go....I don’t believe that’s related to any burnout. Plus, tire quality is getting cheaper and cheaper, be careful where you buy tires and what country they come from. never buy tires from a big box store like Walmart, even brand name ones are lesser quality there...that’s how they can sell them so cheap...but a good year from there and it’s “good for a year” lol
 
So modern tires only last 5 years? So much for the classic car tire industry where guys put 1-2K a year on their garage queens and in 5 years the tires are no good? "Over 5 years old no matter the mileage should not be driven at hi-way speeds. Keep our cars safe"..yikes, That's some cost of ownership bullshit! Rani, I'd take it back and have them at least look at it for road hazard warranty. Tire places seem to be pretty good at making things right around here, jut a liability issue I guess.
 
"Over 5 years old no matter the mileage should not be driven at hi-way speeds". This is not necessarily true.

From an article at Edmunds.com:

How Long Does a Tire Last?
Carmakers, tiremakers and rubber manufacturers differ in their opinions about the lifespan of a tire. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has no specific guidelines on tire aging and defers to the recommendations of carmakers and tire manufacturers.

Many automakers, including Ford, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz, tell owners to replace tires six years after their production date, regardless of tread life. Tire manufacturers such as Continental and Michelin say a tire can last up to 10 years provided you get annual tire inspections after the fifth year.

The Rubber Manufacturers Association said there is no way to put a date on when a tire "expires" because such factors as heat, storage, underinflation and conditions of use can dramatically reduce the life of a tire. Here's more on each of these factors:

Heat: NHTSA research has found that tires age more quickly in warmer climates. NHTSA also found that environmental conditions, such as exposure to sunlight and coastal climates, can hasten the aging process. People who live in coastal states and other areas with warm weather should keep this in mind when deciding whether they should retire a tire.

Storage: This applies to spare tires and tires that are sitting in a garage or shop. A tire that has not been mounted and is just sitting in a tire shop or your garage will age more slowly than one that has been put into service on a car. But it ages nonetheless.

Spares: They usually don't see the light of day, but they're still degrading with time. If the tire has been inflated and mounted on a wheel, it is considered to be "in service," even if it's never been used. And if a truck's spare is mounted underneath the vehicle, it's exposed to heat, dirt and weather — all reasons to plan on replacement.

Conditions of use: This refers to how the tire is treated. Is it properly inflated? Underinflation causes more tire wear. Has it hit the curb too many times? Has it ever been repaired for a puncture? Tires on a car that's only driven on the weekends will age differently from those on a car that's driven daily on the highway. All these factors contribute to how quickly or slowly a tire wears out.

Proper maintenance is the best thing a person can do to ensure a long tire life. It is important to maintain proper air pressure in tires, rotate them regularly and get routine inspections.


How to Determine the Age of a Tire
The sidewall of a tire is covered in numbers and letters. They all mean something, but deciphering them can be a challenge. This Edmunds article about reading a tire's sidewall goes into greater detail. But to determine the age of a tire, you simply need to know its U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) number.

Tires made after 2000 have a four-digit DOT code. The first two numbers represent the week in which the tire was made. The second two represent the year. A tire with a DOT code of 1116 was made in the 11th week of 2016.

Tires made before 2000 have a three-digit code that is trickier to decode. The first two digits still indicate the week, but the third digit tells you the year in the decade that the tire was created. The hard part is knowing what decade that was. Some tires made in the 1990s (but not all) have a triangle after the DOT code, denoting that decade. But for tires without that, a code of "328" could be from the 32nd week of 1988 — or 1978. Really, you can ignore all that: If you see a DOT number ending in three digits, the tire was made in the last century and needs to be replaced as soon as possible.

Clearly, these DOT numbers weren't designed with everyday buyers in mind. They were originally put on tires to make it easier for NHTSA to recall tires and keep track of their manufacturing date.

To make matters worse, you might not always find the full DOT number on the outer side of the tire. Because of the way a tire is made, it is actually safer for the technician operating the mold to imprint information on the inner side of the tire, so some manufacturers will opt to put the number there. It is still possible to check the DOT code, but you might have to jack the car up to see it. Keep the visibility of the DOT number in mind the next time you are at a tire shop and the installer asks if you want the tires to be mounted with the raised lettering facing in.

After checking out a tire's birthdate, give the rubber a visual inspection. Some of the best advice on such an inspection comes from the British Tyre Manufacturers' Association. It recommends that consumers check tires regularly for any sign of aging, such as tread distortion or large or small hairline cracks in the sidewall. Vibrations or a change in the dynamic properties of the tire could also be an indicator of aging problems, the association said. It recommends replacing the tire immediately if such symptoms appear.
 
Sorry, more hijacking here... (at least you get a bump)
If tires really "expired" at 5 years, the roads would be littered with cars with blown tires. I think most cars have tires that are older than that.
Tires have gotten better over the years. Used to be, it wasn't uncommon to see a flat being changed. I hardly see anyone doing it now. Matter of fact, people don't even know how anymore. "Call AAA, I have a flat and I'm clueless."
 
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Ive done my fair share of burnouts over the past 30 years and never had an issue like the OP has.....
Hmm, come to think of it... Carlisle is just around the corner. Perfect time to do some burnouts while cruising the local hotel scene...... lol
 
Glad you and the Dart are okay.
Discount and Big O won't touch tires that are older than 7 years.
 
moparmarks said:
Glad you and the Dart are okay.
Discount and Big O won't touch tires that are older than 7 years.
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That’s cause it come down to the liability. And they sure don’t want that. I have magnum 500s/road wheels with trim rings and new tires that came with my duster 1999. They have 500 miles on them. Stored in the basement since I got the car. Still look brand new. Kim
 
If a Slant can hurt a tire like that I'm Like Skywalker.

I'm running around on 19 year old tires on one of my pickups. Not scared.

I did find that when hauling bulk potatoes at 30000 lbs over the legal load limit that a tires age and air pressure matter.

BTW the Millennium Falcon is gassed up and ready to fly Tonite...
 
I'd agree that is probably an impact damage matter. Never had one with that damage fail catastrophically across the tread and down the sidewalls like yours, but gradually failing. Were there and vibrations on the road for the last few days or weeks? Sure would like to know the brand.....

BTW, a brief burnout can indeed effect the tire. Any excess heating will harden the rubber. Tires rubber is never completely 'cured'; the vulcanization process is carried to a certain point in the manufacturing process and then stopped. The rubber softness is partially set by that. As it ages, the vulcanization slooowly proceeds through the years and the rubber gets harder and harder.

If you heat a tire up too much, that vulcanization process will be accelerated... just like if you stuck the tires back into the hot molds for a few moments. I pushed a set of cheap low profile performance tires really hard on a mountain road once and overheated them. As they got hot, they lost a lot of grip... and they never had the prior grip after they cooled. All hardened up. Just like any race car tire being used up.. push too hard into the corner and you overheat and harden the rubber on the fronts, and then push. Too much torque and wheel slippage out of the corners and the rears overheat, harden, and lose rear grip.
 
Dang, that explains the plastic like "Pos-a-traction' tires on my first 65 back in '85. That 340 would light those 10" wide tires up in a heartbeat. Couldn't tell you how old those were, we used to get burner tires from Pick-a-part!
 
The hi-ways do get littered with tread from the Motor homes and boat trailers that see very little mileage per year. Edmunds is just telling you that there is no consistent opinions among manufacturers, not that there is no problem. A tire is a combination of several chemicals, very little actual rubber. Once the tire is "cooked" or " Vulcanized" the mixture starts to breakdown. Just think of food expiration dates. Depends on storage conditions like temperature, humidity, exposure to Ozone, ultraviolet, airborne chemicals etc... There has always been a standard for things that don't have a precise definition called " rule of thumb". The time limit that I gave of 5 years is just experience. You can't teach experience or get it from a book. I try to be conservative. The higher the speed the mkore stresses are put on the tire assembly. Centrifugal force is trying to peel the tread/belts off of the tires body. When the "rubber" gets hard, becoming less flexible it generates heat. The more heat, the more likely the tire failure. Don't take a chance on the damage that a disintegrating tire can do to your cars body/fenders just because it looks good.You can't see inside a tire. Or a hose, engine block etc... When it fails, you usually get very little warning. I was in the tire/auto repair industry in the 70's, 80's, 90's into the early 2000's. Have seen tens of thousands of failed tires from all sorts of reasons. Defects, damage, etc.. Number one cause of tire failure is improper inflation, mostly underinflated. Tires are subject to damage caused by a million different things on the road like pot holes, road debris etc... The most important item on a car that generally gets the least attention until it goes flat. Then it is always the tires fault, must be defective... Check your date codes and your air pressure. Check the air more often than you check your oil. In the old days when we had "service stations" an attendant would do that for you at every gas up. They are long gone and you need to know how to do that your self. And get an air gauge for your car and keep it there. Don't rely on gauges on the air hoses. Never accurate.
 
Princess Valiant said:
So on the way to work this morning 6/4, everything was normal and I get on the highway ready for my 45 minute commute, coffee just right and everything seemed nice in the beauty of the very early morning.

I turned into the highway and got up to 65 mph and I come up on a Toyota so off course I have to pass it so I'm not staring at a piece of **** when I have my coffee and snack.

I get in front of the toyota about 10 car lengths because I blasted by it and now I'm at about 78 mph in a 65 zone.

Out of nowhere it sounds like a gun blast and I see smoke and debris flying behind the car and I feel the tire is gone and hear the noises and mayhem.

I ease off and get off the road, still went a ways up the road to slow down safely and all.

Get to the side of the road and get out to confirm the tire blew.

I was a little confused because these are newer tires. Dated late 2017 and I bought them in Jan of 18, even have the paperwork on them. So I didn't expect this at all.

So I changed the tire and of course a few gentlemen stopped to see if I needed help but I really didn't because I have a routine. I appreciate the gesture but I had it under control.

Later in the day it hit me that last week I barked this tire pretty good in a glorious peg leg burnout with a 225 slant six in a 68 dart. I left about 4 car lengths of black mark and a decent amount of smoke.

Now I'm wondering If a really amazing burnout can weaken the sidewalls.

If a burnout caused this, then I better knock it off.

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Who's the tire manufacturer?
If it is some of those cheap Chinese tire anything can happen, just Google it.
I would take it back to the tire dealer you got it from and let them make a determination.
Who knows maybe you will get a free tire.
 
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