[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Because the government is not implementing stringent safety standards or penalizing companies for offering sub standard products.

Govt. is doing it to some extent now, but it's still very less and far from what exists in first world countries.

Very difficult to take any legal action in such cases. Goodyear is a global brand and there is no way you can prove that their tyres are not good. Remember, you cannot argue about "Indian roads"; if you do the blame should automatically be on the roads and subsequently the Government itself!

Ref. what the government does, the customers (read Indians) won't care a damn about danger. We Indians are willing to spend more for mobile phone case and screen guard to protect the handset but we use helmet only to avoid fines.

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

I have found my Creta's JK Ux Royale ..... has been well designed and it indeed turned out so. So some of the Indian brands are not that bad after all.

Cannot comment on JK UX, but my (now sold) XUV500 came with JK Elanzo NXT as OE in 2013. Afetr 45K or so kilometers they appeared OK from outside but when we detach them for a routine wheel alignment I was shocked to see the cracks formed in the inner wallsof all four tires. Replaced them with Michelins.

Quality of JK might have improved a lot since then, also I can't see the Elanzo in their current product lineup. Replaced by Ranger apparently. Still, I'd suggest you to inspect the interior of the tyres once in every 10K.

Ref. quality of Indian brands, my Duster came with Apollo Apterra as OE, did 54K without a single puncture or damage. Honestly, I can't see any dramatic difference between Apollo and the Yokohama Geolanders which replaced them.

Also IMHO anything that's made in India should be considered as Indian regardless of brand in this era of globalization.

Originally Posted by aravind422

Congrats on the new ride.

Since you have purchased an AWD vehicle, you will obviously take on mild offroad tracks. I mean thats the idea right? .... if your XUV700 has a 1,000 km service coming up, I would suggest you get the sidewalls on all four tyres (especially the insides) throughly checked for any possible cuts.

Thanks buddy, yes that was the idea. We just wanted to check a. if it is working or not (it is not a Toyota ) and b. how does it kick in?

The 1K service is coming up. Will definitely talk to the SA and show him/her the pic.

[el lobo 6061]

Your case clearly shows its due to defective tyres. Driving night time and still tyre going bust. Change over to Continental.

Tyres are rated to Max 51 PSI at full load. Mentioned on tyre sidewall.

Major cause of tyre burst in underinflation.

When driving on highway its mandatory to check tyres pressure at cold and fill up to manufacturer recommended figures.

Reducing tyre pressure during driving fearing its going high will actually cause more issue as you are reducing tyre pressure.

[07CR]

Originally Posted by FiatDiesel

I have few queries and seek answers from experts in forum: -

1. While tyres which come with car has only 1 year warranty, the one's available in retail market have unconditional warranty for 2 or 3 years but only till 50% tread wear. Does it mean failure chances of tyre increase after 50% tread wear and we should change the tyres after 50% tread wear?

2. Does being low profile tyres make them susceptible to tyre bursts? Does filling them with Nitrogen helps?

3. Does tyre brand also plays a role here? I never had any puncture in these tyres apart from these tyre burst incidents.

4. Should MG investigate as three tyres from same car have burst / deflated during high-speed runs but within prescribed speed limits of roads? I have already brought this in notice of MG Nagpur service advisors and have sought help from MG Pune as well. MG Nagpur did tell me that burst happened due to impact which I challenged as I have dashcam footage which clearly shows no impact.

5. Now the fourth one remains waiting for its chance to burst . Jokes apart I plan to replace it during this maintenance itself along with impacted two tyres. I assume you will also recommend the same.

I am glad nothing serious happened with you. Also kudos to MG and RSA team for such an excellent service. These guys continue to deliver service that's close to Toyota standards !

About your questions, I may not qualify as an expert, but few inputs from my limited driving experience of 10 years-

1) Failure chance does increase, but obviously immediate replacement isn't needed. I have previously driven till about 20-25% of tread remaining and then replaced the tyres. No bursts yet.

2) Low profile tyres are susceptible to bursts in Indian conditions. However, my experience is a little different. My ecosport S had 205/50/17 tyres which ran perfectly for 4.5 years and 33 K Kms. Never a burst and just two punctures. That said I vigorously followed tyre rotation and wheel alignment and balancing procedures. I replaced them at 33 K with 205/55/17 ceat securadrive as I had an impending 1000+ km Goa trip.

3) No idea here.

4) Tyre burst happens due to various conditions. Can't say MG can do much here.

5) Yes replace it.

Question from my side- I have never been involved in a Tyre burst incident. Looking at the dashcam footage, incase driven under 90 kph, are such situations controllable easily? It's barely noticeable in your video.

[Sen]

The only thing needed to avoid tire bursts is to maintain tyre pressure at recommended or higher PSI, as the sidewall flexing is what actually causes tyre bursts, apart from tires older than 3-4 years where they start developing cracks visibly.

Sidewall flexing example -

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BFAitDXb-0k

As one of the most critical, if not the most critical part that keeps you on the ground and alive and in control, it is of paramount importance that we all recognise brands that are known to do a lot better than others, such as Continental, Bridgestone, Yokohama, and in recent years - MRF, compared to brands like Ceat, Goodyear, Apollo, etc.

There are only a few things in life worth splurging the big bucks on, shoes that you walk your life on in, the mattress you sleep on every day, the chair you spend a quarter of your day working on, and car tires.

Without increasing the length of my post too much, I'd just like to take this time to address some misinformation I've seen in this thread, which most likely might cause the misinformation to increase rather than educate.

1. Nitrogen does absolutely nothing for car tires. It doesn't make them run cooler more than air would. It's the best moneygrab I've seen in recent years in India. Running tires cooler does NOTHING for the tires. Even in a hot country like India.

The important aspect, as I'm sure any industry insider will also attest to, is the fact that tires should NEVER be UNDERINFLATED. Your tires are also not airtight, and within days of filling nitrogen, if you went to the lengths needed to test the air inside your tires, you'd see the air ratio to nitrogen is about normal. Heck, you need to completely deinflate and reinflate the tire multiple times just to remove all the air inside, which is a time and labour intensive process.

Also, manufacturers calculate the sidewall flexing that occurs for a given load rating at given speeds and then understands what tire "will do" for safe use by the general public.

The lack of caution in general regarding tire pressures, and making sure they are consistent before every drive, as well as ensuring there are no sidewall imperfections/bulging/other defects is appalling to see in my day to day life too, especially before long drives. It's what causes these easily-preventable accidents. It's like walking around on ice without checking if you have skates on.

2. As long as the speed rating and load rating for the car you're driving in is met by the tires, it should frankly have zero impact on the car's performance, even in a hot country like ours. Tires can typically handles 65+ degrees in terms of temperature EASILY, to add to my previous point. It's the sidewall flexing that does them in, as well as physical damage, if the road allows for that.

3. The first thing I did once I got my Vento was get rid of the tires straight out of the showroom, knowing the pain that is Goodyear in terms of tire performance and maintenance.

The first thing to consider is making sure you're with a good brand and a speed rating that is at par with the speeds you do. The load rating is also important to consider, since a few suitcases and human beings add up to the kerb weight (car's weight without occupants) and potentially take it over the safe edge.

Just my two cents.

To quote:

Originally Posted by RubberGuru1113

Tyres can reach a temperature around 25~30 degrees higher than the ambient atmospheric temperature. So on a hot day in North India where it can touch 45~47, it can hit 75 degrees without cause for any alarm. Rubber properties start degrading only above 90 degrees which tyres are never going to reach.

Contrary to popular opinion, tyres do not burst due to "high pressure" like a balloon - at least in the passenger vehicle category, where the max pressure the tyre is designed for is 51 PSI, which again nobody in their right mind is going to fill. You might have read reports of many tyre bursts on the Yamuna Expressway when it opened, which would mention that concrete roars induce more heat than tar roads and this is the culprit.

There is a bit more to this - heat by itself is not going to cause a tyre burst - as long as there is no component separation which has already initiated in the tyres - but this is impossible to know because early stages of component separation are rarely visible outside.

High temperatures cause the air inside to expand and the pressure increases by approx 1.5 PSI for every 10 degrees. This means that after, say, an hour of continuous driving, if you are topping up the pressure on your tyres, you should factor this in and inflate it to 3~4 PSI above your normal pressure. When you park your car in the shade for a couple of hours after doing it, the pressure would drop back to normal levels. This is called "cold pressure" and this is what you need to be maintaining. Coming back to the cause of tyre bursts, it is a combination of high speed, high temperatures and lower than normal pressures, which would cause the tread and sidewall to flex at a high frequency and induce separation of the components like belts, tread, etc. If you take care of your pressure and drive at moderate speeds (not excessively high like 140+), you can rest easy. Case in point - Honda recommends a 3 PSI higher pressure if you are driving at high speeds.

Attachment 2350121

So in a nutshell, high pressure is never the problem (unless you are at excessively high pressures like 45+ PSI where you will start losing grip because of the reduced footprint size, and of course also comfort), it is almost always a combo of low pressure and high temperature.

For further reading, there's posts from RubberGuru1113 in this (Bought tyres for my Audi Q5 from Amazon.in)thread which speak about the important stuff regarding tyre bursts and speed ratings. Reading from the first post is recommended!

Drive safe. Get TPMS.

[FiatDiesel]

I picked up my Hector yesterday from MG Nagpur.

I had informed them about my plan to reach showroom by 9 am and to take car back to Pune same day. They were ready with all paperwork, after signature, payment, inspection & test drive I was off to Pune by 10 am. This was my first experience with there service centre outside Pune and it was positive. Additionally car was clean inside out and shining which is usual benchmark of MG service.

Service centre had moved new Conti”s along with new alloy wheel to front and the two Goodyear tyres (including one new from January burst) to the back. They also mentioned that all four wheels are thoroughly reviewed by them (including the remaining oldest Goodyear) and no issues are observed, however I plan to switch the old Goodyear with Conti soon. The relatively newer Goodyear tyre which was bought by me in January without insurance, plan to keep it for 10-15K KMs unless tyre dealer offers some deal for it. All four Continental”s will be peace of mind.

I drove back home to Pune without any mishaps. As already have gone through 3 tyre bursts of Goodyear so I had some stress back of my mind before the drive as two tyres in rear are still Goodyear. Before starting the journey, filled in Nitrogen in all four tyres at 35 PSI. My eyes were glued to TPMS for most of the journey on Samriddhi expressway and drove around 90 Km/hr till Karanja (200 kms from Nagpur where the two bursts had happened) noting every PSI and degree increase of tyres.

Note that I was driving through the day and it was very hot. Eventually observed that temperature of tyres have stabilised maximum around 49 degrees for front and rear around 45. Tyre pressure max reached to 37.6 PSI among all four.

As soon as I got off from Samriddhi to tar roads in Shirdi, I could notice temperatures of tyres reducing, well my speed had also reduced substantially given the vehicular traffic.

Insurance claim:

One alloy and two tires changed, 100% cost covered by insurance and I had to pay 2K as mandatory payment for insurance claim as written in policy. 100% claim approval was positive surprise given vehicle is 2 year old and tyres were 30K run. My car insurance policy through MG has tyre and rim cover included which was saviour. I wish I should have gone for first tyre burst replacement also through claim as anyways NCB is nullified now.

Goodyear quality

I keep a close eye on my cars every vital detail which includes tyres. They didn’t had any bulge on sidewalls, always had manufacturer recommended cold tyre pressure and ride was also smooth. Most of the bursts were either at centre tread of tyre or started or lead to centre.
The only benefit of doubt I can pass on to Goodyear is that car did went through potholes/speed breakers during 30K kms cross country given the way they sometimes suddenly appear. But those cases were not frequent & never led to bulges, punctures or rim bends.

In any case I am done with Goodyear and will recommend folks to change them straight out of showroom.



New alloy & tyre



New tyre



At Nitrogen filling tyre shop



Final Invoice for insurance

Originally Posted by deetee

You can downsize the wheels to 17" and go for 215/60 R17 tyres without any significant changes to ODO/speed readings while getting 10% thicker sidewalls.

Thanks deetee, wish it was an option to either upsize tyre or downsize alloys however my car is under warranty & insurance claim covers same / similar OEM replacement.

Originally Posted by ohaak

These appear to be defective tyres (or) they were used beyond rated capacity of load and speed. Even otherwise, one of my pet peeves is the lack of availability of choice for good tyres in India for the 18inch rims.

I agree ohaak. Well comfort is not compromised in Hector with 18 inch tyres due to its softer suspension however I agree 17 inch would have been better choice for cruiser.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Your case clearly shows its due to defective tyres. Driving night time and still tyre going bust. Change over to Continental.

I would say Goodyears degrade as they get past 50% tread. it’s as bad as defective tyre.

Originally Posted by 07CR

I am glad nothing serious happened with you. Also kudos to MG and RSA team for such an excellent service. These guys continue to deliver service that's close to Toyota standards !

About your questions, I may not qualify as an expert, but few inputs from my limited driving experience of 10 years-

Thanks 07CR for your inputs. For your question, the two incidents of tyre bursts which I have experienced happened with rear tyres and since they are low profile tyres hence tilt experienced was also negligible. At no point during both incidents I felt that car is out of control and slowed down gradually. I think burst in the front tyre and / or with high profile tyres will be different ball game. Please go through the very second post in this thread by GTO where he has provided the link to post on how to handle the tyre bursts for more information.

Originally Posted by Sen

The only thing needed to avoid tire bursts is to maintain tyre pressure at recommended or higher PSI, as the sidewall flexing is what actually causes tyre bursts, apart from tires older than 3-4 years where they start developing cracks visibly.

Thank you Sen, your post is very helpful and informative.

[javageek]

Thank God that you and your family were able to get out of the mishap of tyre burst unscathed and kudos to keeping cool when it happened and the way you steered gently to safe stop. Also the kind of support that you got from MG RSA is something difficult to expect in these days, especially in our country.
I would have bought a Hector just for the RSA support
My cars are humble ones and came with humble shoes - Apollo for both WagonR [2011] and Tiago [2018] The OE on WagonR lasted 5 years without much degradation ( visible cracks etc.) while the ones came on Tiago have been with fine cracks since 2021- even though its only 12.5 K on odo since it has mostly remained parked due to pandemic. I upgraded Wagon R stock tyres 155/65 R14 to Yokohama 165/65 R14 in 2021 and it was a world of difference in terms of grip, braking performance and tyre noise. The reason I am saying all this is because I am no expert on Tyres but the below video from Top Gear in 2013 opened my eyes on the money that I was wasting on filling Nitrogen in the tyres. Please see for yourself and draw conclusion.

https://youtu.be/kmnZ4-EUbIk

I also invested in TPMS on both cars that transmits pressure and temeperature at real time - something that is a must have for safety while driving on concrete roads.
I hope that your car TPMS also provides data individually for all the tyres in real time.
Happy Safe Driving.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by javageek

I am no expert on Tyres but the below video from Top Gear in 2013 opened my eyes on the money that I was wasting on filling Nitrogen in the tyres. Please see for yourself and draw conclusion.

Nitrogen filling is another scam. I stopped doing it back in 2016. Plus gauges at petrol pump are never accurate. Also driving a few kms to petrol bunk bumps up the tyre pressure by 1-2 PSI.

Purchased a Goodyear Tyre Inflator and use it once every 14 days to top up tyres. Also helped in long drive when you face a puncture and need to top up air to reach nearest puncture repair shop.

Technically Air is 78% Nitrogen. So eventually you are filling in N2 over a period of time.

Tyre Inflator + TPMS = Best combo for tyre safety during touring.

[Purple patch]

Tyre pressure gauge at petrol pumps and smaller puncture shops are highly unreliable. Have had multitude issues of under/over inflation (10 to 51) at various such shops in the past few months,resulting in poor driving conditions. Nowadays, I only check/fill air every 10 days at the nearest tyre dealer, with an electronic insufflator to 35 psi.
And regarding nitrogen, my tyre dealer agrees that it doesn't make much difference and not much improvement can be felt compared to normal air

[FiatDiesel]

Originally Posted by javageek

Thank God that you and your family were able to get out of the mishap of tyre burst unscathed and kudos to keeping cool when it happened and the way you steered gently to safe stop. Also the kind of support that you got from MG RSA is something difficult to expect in these days, especially in our country.
I would have bought a Hector just for the RSA support
I hope that your car TPMS also provides data individually for all the tyres in real time.
Happy Safe Driving.

Thank you javageek. Your WagonR tyre experience is similar to my experience with Wagon R tyres back in 2010. I also switched from MRF’s to Yoko’s and it brought in positive difference in all possible attributes related to tyre.

Yes, after two incidents, I really thank my stars to have opted for MG RSA and kind of excellent service they provide. While talking to MG RSA team at the time of incident they also mentioned that just in case of flatbed arriving late to pick up vehicle, they will arrange a custodian for vehicle to whom we can handover the vehicle and proceed to destination in taxi. I liked the way they brainstormed all possibilities while handling the incident, keeping me posted almost every 15-20 minutes with updates and adhering to time commitment.

I think I paid 50K for MG Shield for 5 years which includes RSA and vehicle service cost’s including consumables for 5 years/ 75K kms. While I get Rs 0 invoices for every service, I had never thought RSA will be also professionally managed with Rs 0 cost to me with no cap on distances.

Yes TPMS provides data for all 4 tyres individually, post these incidents have switched to better tyres for good.

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Nitrogen filling is another scam. I stopped doing it back in 2016. Plus gauges at petrol pump are never accurate. Also driving a few kms to petrol bunk bumps up the tyre pressure by 1-2 PSI.

Tyre Inflator + TPMS = Best combo for tyre safety during touring.

Thank you, I already have them in car, root cause seems to be defective tyre as TPMS never signalled warning.

Originally Posted by Purple patch

Tyre pressure gauge at petrol pumps and smaller puncture shops are highly unreliable

Due to unreliable tyre pressure gauges with puncture shops, I recommend to buy tyre inflator. It helps to maintain correct cold tyre pressure.

[wooka]

Apollo HP is what you want for good highway performance.

Also, I either use my own air pump (remote locations). Or nitrogen at a decent pump / tyre shop.

I run a tyre shop too, so I speak =)
Ceat is terrible! Barring the Czar AT on the Thar I have as yet to see a decent tyre of theirs. Also, I generally monitor tyres every couple of hours since I have 12 - 14 hour runs routinely and the thar tyres go through a lot.

[Pequod]

@FiatDiesel, glad that you came out unscathed from the incident, and also had a hassle free RSA experience.

I am driving on the Samruddhi Expressway with family - all the way from Nagpur to Aurangabad - on 21st of this month. My Virtus has stock Goodyear tyres, and this thread is getting me worried. I have done the alignment and rotation at 10k kms, and regularly check cold tyre pressure with my own Black and Decker inflator.

If it’s a thing with the road surface and high temperatures coupled with less than satisfactory tyre quality, what can we do?

[bobbyblr]

Now the RTO has started banning entry of vehicles with worn-out tyres on the expressway.

“On Thursday, three vehicles — MH27 BZ 5004, DL9 CAU 8389 and MH30 AZ 1652 — were not allowed to enter the Samruddhi Expressway after we found their tyres worn out. All the three four-wheelers were sent back,” said officiating RTO (Nagpur rural) Vijay Chavhan

Source:
https://m.timesofindia.com/city/nagp...w/99305826.cms

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Nitrogen filling is another scam. I stopped doing it back in 2016. Plus gauges at petrol pump are never accurate. Also driving a few kms to petrol bunk bumps up the tyre pressure by 1-2 PSI.

Purchased a Goodyear Tyre Inflator and use it once every 14 days to top up tyres. Also helped in long drive when you face a puncture and need to top up air to reach nearest puncture repair shop.

Technically Air is 78% Nitrogen. So eventually you are filling in N2 over a period of time.

Tyre Inflator + TPMS = Best combo for tyre safety during touring.

If I remember correctly, the point is not about having nitrogen in there but rather, not having oxygen and moisture which is what leads to higher pressure buildup when running on under-inflated tyres. But it is impossible to prevent moisture or oxygen completely unless your tyres are mounted in a vacuum which is unrealistic.

Either way, it's just 10rs per tyre so I can't really bring myself to care enough to research it. It's about the same I would tip a gas station attendant to fill my tyres with regular air anyway.

[R2D2]

I am so glad you and you family are safe. A blowout at highway speeds can be dangerous.

I kind of agree with MG that this is result of impact damage to tyres. A newly constructed expressway can have construction and other debris on the surface barely visible to the eye whilst at highway speeds. This was compounded by the hard rubber on GY tyres (I don't like em, seriously, especially the OEM fitted ones) and eventual contact with debris just made the rubber chip/flake off and combined with low puncture resistance and low profile resulted in the tyres giving way. I am so glad that you guys got away unscathed.

Since tyre damage is not covered under warranty I'd recommend replacing the set with tyres of better quality. My personal fav is Michelin for ride comfort but if you are ok with harder compound check Bridgestone, Yoko or Continental. Stick to OEM size when the car is under warranty. No upsizing please as it can invalidate warranty cover on your suspension components. Don't risk it.

[GuyBurnsFuel]

I live near NH444 which is a concrete highway constructed in 2021 and use it daily. Initially it was very coarse and tyres made a lot of noise but now after almost 1.5 years of heavy usage you can feel that the surface has smoothened out completely and you can see the pebbles in the concrete. It's like grinding marble, once properly grinded the marble is smooth and slippery. Now it's a bliss to drive on.

IMO i don't find goodyear tyres very well suited for our roads, they don't age very well. I think MRF and Apollo has good knowledge of Indian road conditions and their tyres, although hard, perform very well in our conditions.

Whenever I drive on a concrete highway in summers, i make it a priority to take a break after 1.5-2 hours to let the car cool off and check tyre pressure manually.(I learnt this from a seasoned driver who has driven for 1Million+ kms in all types of terrain)

In your case, TPMS should have shown if tyre pressure were high before burst.
If you drive for longer duration then i would suggest go for Apollo/MRFs, they make some sound but perform very well on highway once they heat up. Continental UC6 are great tyres too.

On the sidenote, we own machines that drives our souls so it's important to have safety in mind always and control that adrenaline rush while driving on these expressways.

But hats off to government for making these highways, once i was driving on trans Haryana expressway which doesn't have much traffic early in morning and i was not looking at the odometer suddenly my friend asked me to slow down and then i realised i was doing 140-145