I10 tires disappointing terribly! Frequent Bursts

[talkingpebbles]

hi Guys,

isnt that a surprise? I am surprised too. I picked up the I10 Magna for my brother in law in December. From then on, it had two major accidents and one minor because the tire getting burst for no apparent reason! I just cant believe it. First time when the accident took place in Kerala, I thought it was because of the lack of experience in driving of my brother in law. The car had a bad accident and the door and even the steering column had to be replaced. Car came back in January and in three days time it had the next accident due to tyre bursting just because it went over some small stones lying on the side of the road for road repair work. Again the car went for repair and service. It came back last friday and my in laws came to Bangalore on it. This morning while they took the car out to return to kerala, again the tyre got punctured for no apparent reason! Tubless tyre! I just cant believe it! Already in two months flat we have shelled out around 50K for repair work on a brand new car! Unbelievable! Any I10 users had similar experiences? would love to hear. thanks.

[rks]

Originally Posted by talkingpebbles

isnt that a surprise? I am surprised too. I picked up the I10 Magna for my brother in law in December. From then on, it had two major accidents and one minor because the tire getting burst for no apparent reason!

I assume you are on stock rims and tyres. I think the i10 comes with Bridgestone B250 tubeless tyres (155/80 R13). These are supposed to be good tyres. Make sure you set tyre pressures at or slightly above the recommended levels. If you are driving some distnace to bunk before setting the pressures, you can keep them 2 psi above recommended levels. And for high-speed driving over long distances, I would recommend setting them even higher. Tyre bursting normally happens due to low tyre pressures and this is what you need to attend to first. Bunk gauges are notoriously inaccurate and I suggest you use your own accurate gauge, if possible.

I personally set my tyre pressures at 35 psi (cold, first thing in the morning with my own accurate gauge), very high because of my weekly high-speed drives to Mumbai and back. I have never had any problems with my tubeless tyres (either S322 or Turanza ER-60). You also need to inspect your tyres frequently for any damage (sidewall bulge, flat spots) and also for any nails/screws stuck in. With tubeless tyres, you will not know about these without an inspection and once you find them, drive straight to the tyre shop without removing the nails/screws.

And make sure that the tubeless tyres are properly mounted to the rims. This has to be done by skilled tyre shop mechanics, do not leave it to authorized dealers or road-side shops. Check the condition of the rims also; do they have any bends or other damage? If so, get them repaired.

Other than this I would suggest you and your brother-in-law take care and initially, do not drive at high speeds till you are confident and experienced enough with the i10.

[snaronikar]

. Did you claim insurance for this or not ? Atleast for Steering column, door etc?

As far as the tyre is concerned, what was the tyre pressure recommended and what did you fill in it? Can you give some data pls.

[jkdas]

Originally Posted by rks

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And make sure that the tubeless tyres are properly mounted to the rims. This has to be done by skilled tyre shop mechanics, do not leave it to authorized dealers or road-side shops. Check the condition of the rims also; do they have any bends or other damage? If so, get them repaired.

Should be a tyre issue. Did the burst occur at same spot?

[kpzen]

Does your i10 have Bridgestone B250 or MRF ZEC..?

[talkingpebbles]

hi folks, thanks for the questions.
1. I had filled the correct tyre pressure according to the manual. I dont remember exactly the number. I believe it was 32.
2. I10 has Bridgestone tyres.

the surprising fact was that in both the accidents the wheel rim got bent. So i do not think it was a tyre issue exactly. And I find no reason for the rim to get bent on both the accidents. first one was while climbing a slop at a speed of max.10kms/hr. second was on a straight good road at around 35 kms/hr.

[talkingpebbles]

And yes. we did claim the insurance. otherwise it would have been a disaster.

[rks]

Originally Posted by talkingpebbles

hi folks, thanks for the questions.
1. I had filled the correct tyre pressure according to the manual. I dont remember exactly the number. I believe it was 32.

If you don't remember the recommended tyre pressures, that means you are either relying on the bunk attendants or you are not checking your tyre pressures frequently enough. Especially since you may have rim bends, I would suggest you keep a close watch on your tyre pressues, say, at least once a week initially, apart from daily visual inspections. Quite possible that you may be setting tyre pressures correctly, but the tyre(s) may be losing air due to various reasons (valve leaks are one possibility).

2. I10 has Bridgestone tyres.

the surprising fact was that in both the accidents the wheel rim got bent. So i do not think it was a tyre issue exactly. And I find no reason for the rim to get bent on both the accidents. first one was while climbing a slop at a speed of max.10kms/hr. second was on a straight good road at around 35 kms/hr.

At those speeds you (or whoever the driver was) should not have had any accidents, tyre burst or no tyre burst.

Normally rims will get bent if you hit potholes or stones/kerbs at some speed. But I suspect in this case your rim(s) may have gotten bent because you tyre(s) went flat and you may have run flat for some distance. In that case, I strongly suggest that:

(a) get your rims straightened out at a well-equipped tyre shop (there are machines for this purpose). If damage is severe, replace the rim(s).
(b) Get your tyres inspected very carefully before using them again. If they have run flat, there is a good possiblity that you have damaged your tyres. If necessary replace tyres.
(c) Never ever let your tyre pressures drop substantially; inspect your wheels/tyres and check tyre pressures frequently.

[talkingpebbles]

Originally Posted by rks

If you don't remember the recommended tyre pressures, that means you are either relying on the bunk attendants or you are not checking your tyre pressures frequently enough. Especially since you may have rim bends, I would suggest you keep a close watch on your tyre pressues, say, at least once a week initially, apart from daily visual inspections. Quite possible that you may be setting tyre pressures correctly, but the tyre(s) may be losing air due to various reasons (valve leaks are one possibility).

At those speeds you (or whoever the driver was) should not have had any accidents, tyre burst or no tyre burst.

Normally rims will get bent if you hit potholes or stones/kerbs at some speed. But I suspect in this case your rim(s) may have gotten bent because you tyre(s) went flat and you may have run flat for some distance. In that case, I strongly suggest that:

(a) get your rims straightened out at a well-equipped tyre shop (there are machines for this purpose). If damage is severe, replace the rim(s).
(b) Get your tyres inspected very carefully before using them again. If they have run flat, there is a good possiblity that you have damaged your tyres. If necessary replace tyres.
(c) Never ever let your tyre pressures drop substantially; inspect your wheels/tyres and check tyre pressures frequently.

Thank you very much for the suggestions.
Regarding me not remembering the tyre pressure, I do not use the car myself. Its my brother in law who uses it. However, I had kept a close watch on the car and the way it is handled in the initial days when it had the first two accidents. And I was very particular about the tire pressure because I do keep checking my tyre pressure in my Fiesta every time I am at a bunk. I am very sure the tyre pressures were right. However, I will ask him to keep a watch on the tyre pressure. And remember, the car never ran continuously for a full week without an accident. First accident took place within the first week of the car being brought. It went for repair and came back in about 3 weeks and within the next one week the next accident took place. It came back on last friday and today the tyre goes flat again! I am clueless!

[amohit]

OT:

Sorry for going off topic...but @rks got me really worried.
I generally set the tyre pressure on my esteem to 30psi(even for long distance high speed(say arnd 90kmph) drives).
Do i need to change this practice?or its ok.

Regards,

[finneyp]

I think the stock tyres are the culprit, change over to Michelins asap!

[Technocrat]

rks: I don't agree with the statement that low pressure causes tire burst but a higher tire pressure will certainly cause a burst if its too high

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

rks: I don't agree with the statement that low pressure causes tire burst but a higher tire pressure will certainly cause a burst if its too high

I believe in the same as well.

[tsk1979]

If your manual says 30PSI, you should have 32PSI cold pressure if you are going to do high speeds.
Low tire pressure causes standing wave formation, which leads to tire burst.
But then 35kmph cannot cause standing wave even if tire pressure is low.

[Alfa_Kilo]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

rks: I don't agree with the statement that low pressure causes tire burst but a higher tire pressure will certainly cause a burst if its too high

Extended running at low pressure may cause delamination (different layers in the tyre carcas seperate due to high heat generation and internal shear forces) and tyre failure. It may feel like a tyre burst (ie sudden loss of pressure) to some drivers.