long story short...

90+ MPH for about 35mph on 2/32 Azenis on the road with 11,500 miles with 1500 mile rotations... ran em hot measurement up front 33psi and rear 34psi hot since beginning, checked regularly. felt a un natural wheel vibration, then I slowed to 65. it went away, I should have realized it was heat. I should have pulled over... well sure enough about 5 minutes later it felt fine and 3 minutes or so later I am doing 80 again. Next thing I know... BAM!! THUDA THUDA THUDA THUDA THUDA I lost my drivers side front tire to the fates. I kept the car under control as it started to dance a bit. I got it over to the shoulder before the rim was completely F-ed. there is actually almost NO TIRE on there. A thin outer ring and some inner ring is all that remains. Actually, the rim can be cleaned up with some paper and some metal polish for sure. NO BIGGIE. I feel happy that I only scuffed my corner panel, however my GSR bodykit midskirt facia is damaged toward the inside edge in the wheelwell... time for some fiberglass repair. other than that, I left the car on the side of the road. I didnt have my:

SPARE
WHEEL KEY
LUG WRENCH
JACK

so... I drove the car into the shoulder and nestled it between a roadsign girder and some brush. there is no means of getting a towtruck in there to flatbed the car out.
I'll have to move it. Nice thing is that the officer on duty came out and knows the situ and will be on until 6am. I left a note with the car, disabled the coil, fuel pump and starter relay. I was beginning to feel insanity brush by... good thing I didnt have tools I would have started to make art from random car parts.

I had to wait in my car for about 5 hours... went to dennys with my boy mark and his fam... he drove me home... now I get to drive 1'20" to the car, put ion a do-nut and come home... all this for a freebie video/photo gig for friends of mine playing a show. I was 20 minutes from them and they were "spent" they offered to come get me, but I was like thats cool and all... but I dont want to leave the car alone too long... not to mention... I still have to get my wheel key which is 158 mi round trip... catch you next time guys...

those of mention:

D
ITRChris
1qwikcrx
ILUVTEC
Peeduh
Mark T

tomorrow the search begins for an adequate tire. I will be thinking long and hard on this one. 195/50/15 (wide for a 195) S03s or more AZENIS ... hmmm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
tomorrow the search begins for an adequate tire. I will be thinking long and hard on this one. 195/50/15 (wide for a 195) S03s or more AZENIS ... hmmm</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry to hear about that. It's odd though because I drove across the country on nearly bald Azenis. I averaged around 73.5 mph for over 2500 miles. Maybe it was a quirk?

As for the S-03's though, tire rack doesn't have them in that size anymore... I hope they still make them. If you want to try another tire, I would reccomend the new Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">tomorrow the search begins for an adequate tire. I will be thinking long and hard on this one. 195/50/15 (wide for a 195) S03s or more AZENIS ... hmmm</TD></TR></TABLE>

I hope you or anyone who is reading this thread will not look down on the Azenis. Driving on any bald tires is asking for trouble. One tiny rock or nail in the road can cause an easy blowout.

I'm quite happy to hear that this didn't turn into a horror story. Glad to hear your safe and sound. Last thing we need is someone dying in an ITR and the media jumps on it and blames it on street racing.

Good Luck, and get some new tires!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">90+ MPH for about 35mph</TD></TR></TABLE>

What is it, 90+ mph or 35 mph? Or did you go 90+ mph for 35 miles?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">90+ MPH for about 35mph on 2/32 Azenis on the road with 11,500 miles with 1500 mile rotations... ran em hot measurement up front 33psi and rear 34psi hot since beginning, checked regularly.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Azenis (and any other tire) should not blow out at 2/32" tread depth. They could have been improperly inflated, or they could have been defective.

If you were running them measuring them hot 33F/34R, what were the cold pressures? It's possible they were underinflated, if the cold pressures were too low. And this could have contributed to too much sidewall flex, resulting in the blowout. One possibility.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I didnt have my:

SPARE
WHEEL KEY
LUG WRENCH
JACK</TD></TR></TABLE>

Are you going to keep those with you from now on?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">now I get to drive 1'20" to the car</TD></TR></TABLE>

You were one foot 20 inches away from the car, and you had to drive there?

 

yea this was one crazy experience. thanks guys for responding, I am fine and things worked out I just got home and showered up now. I am sporting 2 XGT-V4s 4-6/32s" from when my car was new... and 2 of my better Azenis which were on the right side proper of the car. I was iffy about bringing the right front Azeni' to the Left rear so I could run the used V4s on the front. I have the XGT-V4s on the left and Azenis on the right. It just so happens that the right side tires arent nearly as bad as the left were, so I retired the LR Azeni' and put it in storage for a rainy day. I had the V4s in my storage unit, right next door is a Big10 tire, I was out the door mounted and balanced for $21 and change. my cold tire pressures were running about 29.5/30psi FYI, rotated often. we were able to find the rest of the tire and more closely identify the damage. it tore from the inner and outer walls completely around in one peice with the sidewalls still attached to the rim. im going to cut it and mount it on the wall of my garage vertically for funzies. yes, I know its not ideal to run two types of tire... but hey its better than a donut. the last time I aligned the car was about 35K ago and have always had some premature inner tire wear. my toe isnt perfect, moreso on the drivers side. I always ran the RE730s before the Azenis and I could run them hard and corded and never blew one out as luck would have it Rule of thumb for me running this tire will be to align properly and replace at 2/32s... im going to get an alignment done before I get tires... nice little 13hour ordeal... EgAd... fortunately enough I didnt damage my rim blowing out at 80mph and having to brake hard and get over...

thanks to:

ILUVTEC who gave me a ride back to my car
Mark T who picked my *** up from exit 180 on I-95 in the middle of podunk, fl
in the middle of the night and drove me home

FYI: yes I was driving fast for a while... about 35 minutes solid above 90mph. I was asking for it, and I got what I asked for... I love these tires for those that are waiting for me to start flaming this product. That is something I cannot do. I am posting this as a caution to anyone that stretches the limit on thier tires. This could have ended up much differently.

 

sorry to hear about your story...
when i had azenis on my stock gsr rims.. it was lower so there was a lil camber
wear...i drove 20k i would say...with them..no real problems. heavy tires tho..

 

damn, 2/32" tread thats pretty low. Not as low as 1/16 tread though. Glad your okay.

 

2/32=1/16

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by highrpmek &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">damn, 2/32" tread thats pretty low. Not as low as 1/16 tread though. Glad your okay.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

LOL


1' 20" is another way to say ONE HOUR and 20 MIN.

Sounds like the tires were under inflated. I think the Azenis are rated to 50 or 55 PSI MAX I usually run about 45-50 in mine although I just got mine a couple of months ago that tire pressure is working just fine fo me. Most likely a fluke cuse if it was normal I think that we would hear about more mishaps like this as it seems nearly 1/2 of the H-T population are using the Falkens.

Glad everything is okay

 

everything is ok, damn that learning curve, tru it is a heavy tire

 

What size azenis and what size rim?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SoCal ITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

As for the S-03's though, tire rack doesn't have them in that size anymore... I hope they still make them. If you want to try another tire, I would reccomend the new Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3's.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Damn, this is the first I've heard of this - guess I'll be picking out a new tire next year. They are still listing them on the site though...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...ark=1

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Philly_NBP_R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Damn, this is the first I've heard of this - guess I'll be picking out a new tire next year. They are still listing them on the site though...
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/...ark=1 </TD></TR></TABLE>

You're right... for a while they didn't have them listed on the site, which is the initial reason I went with the Goodyears. Not to mention that the entire country was on backorder for Azenis at that time as well. I guess they are still making the 195/50 S-03's though.

 

GSR 98-01 wheels 205/50/15s

 

The 25-30lbs you save without the spare didn't seem so attractive then did it?


Sorry to hear of your problems, but I doubt it was just a heat buildup. Sounds like you had a small puncture that was leaking air. When it got low enough you picked up vibrations, then eventually they overheated.

 

that was pretty witty!

yea man that 30 whole pounds put me in the 12s, no doubt.
I really dont know why it went, Im not looking for an answer
as to why it did. I only posted this here so someone could benefit
from my catharsis in some way

 

damn Mike! Sorry to hear about what happened.

I am glad you are OK physically and didnt get hurt!

 

My azenis are cording. I dont have $$ for new tires though so i dont really have much of a choice but to keep driving on these.

 

I dont know how yours are cording and mine just went on me like that... damn "car"ma, I swear.

 

They didn't blow out from being too low on tread. First of all, tires run cooler when there is less tread. They blew out either because your pressures were too low, causing massive tire flex, and hence overheating, or you punctured the tire.

Warren

 

drive down the street, charge tire to 33psi drive away. after 1'20" of above 80mph I am sure there is more heat in the tire. there was no leak, I checked my tires often as were they rotated. that 33 I am sure was 35 once fully heated. I had checked my readings a 2 days before this trip... excessively low...? I think no...
something odd must have happened. I found the tread that separated in one solid sheet, there was no physical sign of puncture... but where the middle of my tread was maybe 2-3/32 and 3-4/32s on the outside edge of the block... at the inside of the blocks there was a strip of 1/2"-3/4" of tire worn smooth. this is definately due to my crappy toe after my lower ball joints being removed about 3 times since my last alignment...

1.) longblock swap 8/02
2.) repair of 3-4 synchro sleeve/hub 4/03
3.) clutch 7/03

so chances are... I need a damn alignment

 

Once a tire is that badly damaged it is difficult to know what happened. NEW TIRE and a Blow out on the highway. by the time the car stopped the tire was shredded. Was it a faulty tire or was it some damage on the road that occured. Once the tire pressure lessened the heat increased and therefore the damage increased.

There was something in the road as there were several other cars that hit the same thing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">GSR 98-01 wheels 205/50/15s</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wonder if that could have been part of the problem, or just added to what problems were already there.

A 6" rim will pinch the tire down and your contact won't be as wide with say--a 7" wheel. More heat in a smaller space of tread. Dunno, but just a thought.

 

i have less then 2/32 and im at the treadwear marker, and i also have azenis, and i took a trip up to a carmeet/bbq this weekend, 4 hour drive both ways, and even went to do a lil racing after i got back and my Azenis are holding up fine, and a few times i did get behind the pack of cars i was with so i had to get up to about a 100mph to catch up. i plan to get new tires soon, just not sure if im going to get azenis again. although i must say this tire is in a world of its own., got about 16,000 out of my azenis and thats with racing thru the canyons and ive only rotated my tires once,lol, never had an alignment either

 

I dont know how to process that statement. as far as the GSR wheel being 6", the original size on the ITR is 195 also... isnt that a 15x6" rim also&gt;? If it is, then every 15" honda wheel with Azenis would have trouble. Its possible that I might have hit something in the road guys. I remember a thump when I changed lanes once and after that the problem came on. I havent made mention of it since I felt it was unrelated, chances are it did puncture or weaken the tire. the only thing that still baffles me is the fact there is no sign of such puncture in the tread that I found.