Just got home from work. Stopped at the petrol station to get some bits, all fine, hadn't noticed anything weird on the way home - my commute is about 11 miles.

Drove half a mile from petrol station to mine and noticed that I was picking up loads of gravel, thought I must have a puncture or something.

Parked up and checked the front tyres as the noise was coming from the OSF tyre - this is what I found :confused:

The NSF tyre is completely normal and not warm to touch. The OSF looks as if it's overheated seriously and has grained up!

The car wasn't pulling to either side, steering felt normal and the tyre pressure is 32psi. The alloy isn't hot to touch, and the brake disc isn't either.

I don't remember doing a massive burn out or driving over hot coals...

WTF!111!1

is it actually parts of the tyre that are doing that, as to me it looks as if maybe youve gone through a patchs of sticky silt/dirt or even grease/patch of bitumen (i think thats how its spelt) which has stuck to the tyre and is picking up the crap, see if the bits are actually from the tyre itself.

Not sure, definitely didn't drive through any puddles of stuff - will have a proper look.

have you driven through some contaminant, looks like it could also be some oilly **** from the petrol station, mixture of oil and mud,

can you pull any bits off,

damn beaten to it,

I agree - looks more "Stuck on" than Rubbed/burnt off

looks like oil icked up rather than melted tyre, pick some off and have a look at it, god only know what sort of crap gets spilt at the petrol station

just had a closer look.

and I'm not sure

it looks on closer inspection (to me) that something has attacked the surface of the tyre. I can pull little bits of it off and it feels rubbery.

when I parked up in the petrol station I didn't park up at one of the pumps

might drive up and have a look - but feck driving in there.

weird.

Has anything flicked up the side of your car, that looks the same as whats on your tyre?

alrite m8 looks like where they've laid new tarmac down thats still not dry and just stuck on ya tyre nothing to worry about as soon as you drive and normal roads should come off

Rolling burnout should sort that out.

It looks like you're down to about 3mm anyway - time to think about some new boots.

Rolling burnout should sort that out.

That was what I was going to suggest

im thinking something on the lines of war of the worlds

burning,tearing up the roads, sleep with one eye open i would

and get some new rubber you may need a quick escape

It looks like you're down to about 3mm anyway - time to think about some new boots.

3mm my **** lol theres about 5mm left on them

Aye they were nigh on brand new when I got it and have done about 9k in 4 months - I don't tank around so they have lots of meat on them.

Anyway...worked it out, and is quite strange.

Walked from mine to the petrol station and saw nothing on the road I could have driven through. Checked the forecourt and got some weird looks and also nothing.

Then....remembered I followed an articulated truck for about 3-4 miles before my fuel stop.

One of the wheels on his trailer was dragging and smoking pretty bad - I hung back because the stench from the tyre smoke was pretty nasty and was leaving a huge black line on the road.

Basically his dragging tyre had left a whole load of skid mark and hot rubber on the road - I'd picked up his "marbles". crazy.

One wheelspin down the retail park later and it's more or less fine just a few bits stuck on.

Won't know for sure for 3 weeks as I'm running around in demonstrators for the duration - free fuel and mileage, it's all good! But the car is driving as it should and was perfect from Hemel to Ware and back again on Thursday night.

Can't believe I'd not even considered it but thinking about it, it's all I can think of.

3mm my **** lol theres about 5mm left on them

The markers are 1.6mm, so you tell me where you think the tyre depth is?

they aren't as low as the pic makes out, seriously.