Author Topic: Chopped Spots on Tires  (Read 2160 times)

Offline Giuseppe

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Chopped Spots on Tires
« on: April 09, 2016, 02:53:47 am »
Good Day everybody,

I would like to ask for your help in diagnosing the issue of chopped spots in the tires of my Hyundai Santa Fe 2008 as you see in the attached photos, Recently I started to find them on the surface of the front tires only (the back two tires are ok), I wonder if this is a critical issue and need to be resolved, should I get rid of those tires and get new ones ? or, would a normal tires rotation with the back tires might solve the issue ? the tires are made in 2014, so they are less than 2 years old, I work in construction sites so I park my car sometimes on a rough ground but I don't go inside the construction sites in it, so it's not prone to rough surfaces all the time, also my mechanic recently recommended me to change the shock absorbers , I'm not sure if this is related to the chopped spots appearance.

Thank you very much!
« Last Edit: April 09, 2016, 02:57:59 am by Giuseppe »

Offline capriracer

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Re: Chopped Spots on Tires
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2016, 09:37:56 am »
This looks to me like a street tire being used on unimproved roads. 

I note that the tread pattern seems to point to "Street Only".  It might be nice if we knew the actual brand and tire line to help us diagnose that part of it.

The second part is the comment about working construction sites.  Some construction sites can be "paved" with gravel or small stones - and not only would those be fresh and still sharp-edged, the road itself might be bumpy, which would add to the condition.

Front tires?  Could be from sharp turns or hard braking.

I should note that I have seen this condition on tires used on aggressively paved roads, where the aggregate is kind of sharp-edged.  I've also seen this on tires that have low rolling resistance, such as OE tires.

Do you need to remove the tires?  No! - at least not until the chunking starts to reach below the tread pattern and into the undertread.  If it starts to reach the steel belt (or the nylon cap ply) replace the tires immediately.

Rotate tires?  That will likely help even the process out, but since the cause is the road surfaces (if I am right about that), then it will not eliminate the condition.

I note you are in Italy, and the one thing I noticed while I was there was the use of basalt rock as a paver - not only in a cube form, like brick pavers, but also as crushed stone in bituminous pavement.  Basalt is extremely hard, which makes for a good wearing road surface, but it can chew up tires when new, and takes a long time to wear the sharp edged off - and then it gets slippery when wet.

The other thing I noticed was that straight roads are almost non-existent.  If you normally make lots of turns, this will make the situation worse.

Ultimately, you need a tire better suited for your conditions.
 
« Last Edit: April 09, 2016, 09:46:40 am by capriracer »
CapriRacer

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Offline Giuseppe

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Re: Chopped Spots on Tires
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2016, 12:20:42 pm »
Thank you very much, Mr.Capriracer, what a fantastic review, thank you for your time in writing back, you are right indeed, the basalt roads can be really sharp and bumpy for the car, but where I stay there are not so many of them.
The car tires are by korean NEXEN ROADIAN, am not sure if you have this brand in Canada, I like that you said it's not a dangerous issue, I was about to get new tires, I think I will postpone this till next year, and buy a non street tires

Offline capriracer

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Re: Chopped Spots on Tires
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2016, 03:50:43 pm »
Actually, I live in the US, but visit this website because it deals with tires.

Nexen Roadian?  According to Tire Rack, a very popular online distributor of tires in the US (Canada too?), there are 2 Roadians: CT8HL, and HTX RH5.  Tire Rack doesn't have a photo for the first one, and the photo they have for the second one doesn't match the tread pattern.

I see from a quick google, there are quite a few Roadians.  I see one that looks like it might be it - the 581.  Nexen doesn't list it on their US website, but I did see where a large US tire dealer has it as discontinued.  It might be that it has been discontinued worldwide because of the very issue you have.

But be careful here.  The tire itself may be the problem and not because it is a street only type of tire.  You'll need to judge how bad your roads are and how much the construction is affecting things.  Then talk to a local tire dealer to get on the right track.  It just might be that other tires of the street variety would work, where this one doesn't.

Offline Giuseppe

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Re: Chopped Spots on Tires
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2016, 02:21:25 am »
You are totally right, I looked at it and it's Roadian 581. I think it's just a bad brand and bad rubber quality, it cost me 500$ for the 4 tires at the time I bought'em, another substitution was a brand called TOYO, which is quite popular here, I think I should have went with that one, it was a bit more expensive, but would have worth it.
I will try to keep my car shoes for a while until something happen... before those tires I had KUMHO Tires, and they lasted for 5 years!

Offline capriracer

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Re: Chopped Spots on Tires
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2016, 08:36:31 am »
And just so everyone who reads this thread understands, the problem isn't related to the brand of the tire.  Nor is the problem confined to a handful of brands.  It is related to the combination of the tread compound and the road pavement - and every tire manufacturer has encountered this problem somewhere/sometime!