Wheel bearing? How wrong I was.....

[alex_e3]

I've recently had a noise developing at the front that sounded like a typical wheel bearing about to let go. However, as the miles went on the car started to get louder and louder and the noise was really resonating through the car.

So I decided to investigate. This is what I found to my horror.....

The o/s front tyre has 3 (yes 3!!) huge bulges on the inside tyre wall. A bit worrying to say the least. The car is on Nexen tyres at the moment, as the previous owner ran these and I was just keeping the tyres alike until I went back to 17's. The tyre has plenty of tread left and had no cracking on the tyre wall. I've not hit anything, nor do I particularly give it death round the corners at every opportunity.

Quite scary that this could've let go at 70mph on the dual carriageway on the way to work.

Moral of the story is that I will never EVER be buying Nexen tyres again! To be fair they had next to no grip anyway, and was going to replace soon, as they just couldn't cope after my remap.

Ordered 2 Uniroyal Rainsport 2's to be fitted asap, then will get 2 more next month to replace the lot. Hopefully it will also solve the age old pulling to the left issue as well. Running on my spare until these arrive....

[devonutopia]

That's pretty scary. Obviously a failure of the carcasse of the tyre inside, and all that seems to be keeping the air in those bits is the rubber alone!

At least the repair is less work than a wheel bearing although I suppose a pair of tyres isn't cheap.

[Steve Neate]

Bet it was caused by a pot hole.

SN

[Huskoda]

Had a very similar scary thing with the Polo. For weeks it was making a strange noise which a 'mechanic' said was a bearing. Took the wheel off and saw something much like that. Immediately thought how lucky SWMBO was to not have had it blow out on the motorway.

[booke23]

I've had this happen twice in the 17 years I've been driving.

First time I had a slow puncture on a long motorway trip. The left rear tyre pressure was at about 10 psi when I discovered it....I had driven probably 100 miles on it like that at 60 mph. The only reason it didn't blow out was that it was a winter night, and it was pouring with rain....so the tyre stayed quite cool. When I re-inflated it there was a lot of vibration and when I looked closer the carcass had failed on about 1/4 of the tyre, and the tread was bulging up like yours.

Second time was in my last car.....A Chrysler Voyager. I hit a horrendous pot hole about 2 years ago during that bad winter when the roads were all trashed. That caused the Goodyear NCT 5 on the front to bulge very slightly......I didn't notice it straight away, as there was only slight vibration which I put down to balance going out...luckily the front tyres were just about worn out anyway........suppose I was lucky the alloy wasn't dented too.

[rover220]

jeez thats nasty. ive had a tyre bulge but never like that!

id get a lottery ticket if i were you heh!

[James I]

The outcome could have been very bad if you hadn't looked for the noise/vibration.

I haven't come across Nexen, do they belong under the "Ditch Finder" tyre category or are they decent? )bulbous one excluded in that question)

[999spender]

Don't blame the tyre, it could happen to any make - speed humps are the main culprit - I had the same on a Pirelli

[Alex_fabia]

Had this on my old car, thought the wheels where out of balance, turned out to be a bulge.

Was running Avon zz3's, on 40mm profile put it down to pot holes!

[alex_e3]

I've had this happen twice in the 17 years I've been driving.

First time I had a slow puncture on a long motorway trip. The left rear tyre pressure was at about 10 psi when I discovered it....I had driven probably 100 miles on it like that at 60 mph. The only reason it didn't blow out was that it was a winter night, and it was pouring with rain....so the tyre stayed quite cool. When I re-inflated it there was a lot of vibration and when I looked closer the carcass had failed on about 1/4 of the tyre, and the tread was bulging up like yours.

Second time was in my last car.....A Chrysler Voyager. I hit a horrendous pot hole about 2 years ago during that bad winter when the roads were all trashed. That caused the Goodyear NCT 5 on the front to bulge very slightly......I didn't notice it straight away, as there was only slight vibration which I put down to balance going out...luckily the front tyres were just about worn out anyway........suppose I was lucky the alloy wasn't dented too.

To tell the truth I think what happened is a similar reason to this. I had Spiders on the car a while back, and had my OE alloys in storage for about a year. When I put them back on, a couple of them were losing pressure very slowly - probably due to moisture build up around the seal. Since then I've been having to top the air up on a weekly basis. I reckon that as the pressure's got a bit low, the tyre wall has weakened, eventually leading to this. That's my theory anyway!

The outcome could have been very bad if you hadn't looked for the noise/vibration.

I haven't come across Nexen, do they belong under the "Ditch Finder" tyre category or are they decent? )bulbous one excluded in that question)

To be honest they've been awful tyres. Wish I'd have changed them sooner, but I was planning on 17's so didn't bother. However, I need to change them now, so might as well keep them as winter wheels... Might as well get them re-furbed now too. The tyres just seem to have very little grip or feel in any condition. They're particularly bad in the wet. The effects have just compounded now that I've had it remapped :-/ I won't be buying again. Rainsports have now been ordered :-)

[James I]

You all seem to be saying that the damage is a result of speed bumps or pot holes, is this a common issue on low side walls? I will have to have a look around our Fabia as that is on low profiles and passes over the block type speed bumps quite frequently.

[booke23]

I don't think you have too much to worry about on speed bumps, or most potholes.

The pothole that damaged the tyre on my Voyager was really bad....like driving over a manhole with no manhole cover on it!......the impact was horrendous....in fact so bad, that at first I was sure the lower arm was bent. Luckily it wasn't. (Lower arms are very pricey on Voyagers!)

[kotlewski69]

You shouldn't really be posting photos of your bulge on here..... people might get jealous!! lol

Had that once on a tyre before, except it popped!! Had to change the tyre in a Burgerking car park!!

[Sirbendy]

Ooh, nasty. I hit a pothole in my Astra a few years back - was stickign to the far left of the road, as there were schoolkids on the right. Lots of puddles everywhere...then BANG, BANG..

2 bent steelies, 2 burst tyres, a mile drive home on the rims. That was fun, not. Council paid for that little lot.