aloisius

I blew out my front tire when riding a little over two weeks ago and decided to replace it with a foldable Continental Gatorskin (700x25) because I use the bike heavily for commuting and San Francisco and Oakland roads tend to be littered with hazards.

I've since replaced the front tire another 5 times each time with a new Gatorskin - most of which lasted only a single day. Each time, I was going downhill and the tire blew out (loud pop) and the damage to the tire was nearly identical, a long horizontal tear on the sidewall of the tire where the two materials meet (see attachment).

I've taken the wheel to two of my local bike shops and each one said it was a manufacturing defect in the tire and gave me a refund. There is no obvious damage to the wheel, the tires were inflated to a little over 100 PSI and everything is taped up nicely. I'm 140 lbs.

Has anyone else had this problem or know anything that might cause this kind of damage other than a manufacturing defect? It has become a problem because I'm having trouble getting to work.

FBinNY 

IME, the number one cause of this type of tire failure is the lip of a worn brake shoe overhanging the top of the rim and touching the tire.

Remove the wheel and check to see if there's a raised overhang on the brake shoe.

This theory is especially supported if all the tires failed on the same side (as mounted) since the odds of you mounting six defective tires with the defect on the same side boggle the mind.

1986raleigh

Looks like your lbs got In a bad batch, try different brand or store, odds of tho stores getting tires from same bad lot of tires would be slim imho

Johnny Mullet

Yup. Sounds like a bad batch. Try another brand (even a cheap one) to see if you have any issues.

1986raleigh

Dang you are right I just assumed he'd eliminated mechanical cause... guess that is what I get for assuming

zacster

You bought 5 more tires of the same type and kept blowing them out??? I'd have given up after the first. I owned ONE Michelin ProRace 2 that ripped after the first week from some glass and I haven't bought another one since. This was 9 years ago. I have Gatorskins on my commuter in the 26x1 1/8 size. So far so good, after about 3 months.

But I'd agree that it isn't a tire problem, more likely mechanical, either the rim or brake.

aloisius

I just checked and it does appear that the brake is slightly overhanging the rim on the side the tear happened on. Oof. I do not know why I did not check that before. It appears the back tire is also misaligned, but maybe the sidewall in that tire is a bit tougher or it isn't misaligned enough to cause the sidewall to tear.

I'll take it to my lbs and get it realigned and maybe the brake pads replaced. Thanks!

1986raleigh

Live and learn, at least the lbs has been trading them out for you,
Well be prepared if they figure out the ones they replaced as defective were caused by bad brake shoe allignment they may hit you up for the cost of trade outs.

FBinNY 

That's an expensive lesson. No need to replace the shoes though. Remove the wheel and use a coarse file or rasp to remove the raised lip down to the level of the rest of the shoe, then reposition so it rides totally on the rim with zero overhang.

If the shoe is too long or wide to eliminate overhang, let it overhang on the inside (to hub) of the rim where it can't hurt anything.


Reposition the so they don

FBinNY 

No, they shouldn't. If they had brains they would have suspected the problem and saved the OP the grief.

Anyone who's turned wrenches for dough more than a short while should recognize this for what it is. I can forgive it once, but twice should have rated some thought and 5 times only shows that not only is the mechanic or store clerk ignorant, but that they have zero intellectual curiosity. Tire defects are fairly rare, multiples to the same person rarer, and 3 times should strain credulity.

1986raleigh

They shouldn't but I'm a pessimist if they can get the dough outta him they likely will. More than likely they will just pass the cost on to distributors as return for defective and distributor will eat it.

I do agree they shoulda caught on, but then again I jumped the little handheld metal object that goes bang too....

FBinNY 

Rule No.7 of diagnostics, ---- distrust coincidence.

1986raleigh

Amen