-
Beware- 365 Tread Separation
-
In April 2018, I swapped in 4 new drive axle tires that aged out. All tires had 11/32” (new is 17/32) tread left on. All were in good shape with no evidence of weathering or anything else except the right side inner. It had excessive wear on the inner most tread, and between the inner shoulder and the first inner groove was what appeared to be a perfect circumferential cut as if it had rubbed on something sharp down to the belt. I never lost air pressure and did not know it was there, but it peels back like in the pic above. So I was lucky. Michelins.
But luck paid me back this week as a rock came of a dump truck that I was not behind and cracked the Porsche windshield.
-
What rotten luck!!
-
Bill, I have not had this happen to me, and perhaps George or Corey can elaborate on if there was any early indication of problems.
But from looking at the tire it was clear that where the sidewall adjoins the tread there was a separation. The way the tire is made the tread is bonded to the casing at that point and then all the way across the tire. The failure was not all around the tire but localized into several inches of the circumference and the sidewall outer portion was clearly separating from the casing.
My inspections are now going to involve a look around the tire circumference where the tread joins the sidewall and I will look deep into the tread grooves to look for cracking. Since the tire I saw had a very unusual tread wear between two of the treads I don’t know if that was related or not, but I intend to continue to run my hand around the tire treads to feel for uneven tread wear. I think the tread wear pattern I saw on the tire was called “rivering”.
At this point I am hoping our members pay close attention to their tires and specifically the 365 tires. If issues are detected I am hoping photos can be posted and that tires with problems can be inspected by Michelin or professionals so we all can be informed of potential problems, how to detect them, and what we should do.
-
Usually I can see a little bulge in the sidewall near the tread area. Then in the first groove on the tire you can see separation which usually opens up pretty good with no real pressure from your fingers
-
we never saw anything as bad as the picture in the original post. both of ours started chunking out on the first tread rib adjacent to the sidewall. Not wanting ever to deal with tire issues on the road, we just replaced them. this was two different occurences almost 3 yrs apart. Geo.
-
There are two important points in what George posted above.
First, his clue was he noticed chunking and apparently no separation at the sidewall. That suggests the tire damage progressed rapidly from when he first noticed the chunking.
The second important take away from what we are learning is that if the chunking was on the inner part of the tire it might not had been noticed at all which is a strong indication we may have to give as much attention to the inner part of the tire, maybe by looking beneath the coach or running our hands across the tread and feeling for chunking or any unusual bulges or damage.
-
I had two of these 365 tread separations. One in 2016 and same steer in 2017. I got lucky and noticed when the evidence was just a small bulge and separation in outside tread about 3” long. These were left with the installing tire dealer for the Michelin rep to examine. Follow up phone calls to each dealer were worthless. No michelin help at all.
-
If Michelin comes through with some relief – what about the two I replaced in May this year??
The tires that were replaced were installed by Liberty in May 2015.
The shoulders of the tires appeared to be wearing in an unusual manner. My priority was to avoid a blowout on the steers – so replacements was a no brainer. In addition to the unusal wearing I felt a fibration and noise at very slow speeds. Troubling after having seen what can happen with a front blowout.
-
Based on some feedback in this thread it appears Michelin has two problems. The first is a pattern of tire failures on the 365’s with sidewall/tread separation.
The second problem is it seems owners with failed tires are not getting the customer support they need when the problem does not seem to be caused by the owners.
Everyone that has had the type 365 failure described in this thread please post as much information here as possible. Age of tire when it failed, any early warning signs such as a sidewall bulge or unusual tread wear and anything else you can think of. Also please state what financial consideration you got from Michelin.
I will summarize all of the responses and make sure Michelin is aware of the scope of the problem.
-
Any side loads will cause that too, I had one to do the same thing, turning sharp into a campsite, on concrete. Just happened to see it upon leaving. You could fold it back easily with your hand. Date code was 2012, and it happened a year ago this November.
I drove home 300 miles on a Sunday at 50 mph, and it did not come apart. Could not find a tire anywhere.
-
I hope we can put enough examples of this type of failure together and that Michelin can determine the cause. I know they do tire failure forensics and have the ability to find failure causes.
-
Might want to add front axle weight to that list, if it’s known.
-
NOT TO HIJACK THIS SITE–THIS FITS IN.
CONTINENTAL HAS RECALLED 315 TIRES FOR TIRE FAILURE. IF YOU HAVE ANY CONTACT A CONTINENTAL DEALER AND GET THE TIRES OFF. THIS WAS ON THE FMCA WEBSITE.
-
Wonder if some of these tires are built in China or have anything to do with Chinese parts and pieces in them.
-
I am fairly certain that the country of origin for tires is unimportant. I don’t want to get too complacent about checking tires just because my tires were produced in the US. The tires on our coaches can be made anywhere in the world, to the exact same standards if they are the name brands we are familiar with.
Log in to reply.