[iraghava]

It's because of an impact for sure. Could be pothole, could be stone.

[SOUM]

Originally Posted by iraghava

It's because of an impact for sure. Could be pothole, could be stone.

Ishaan, looking back, even I tend to believe that's the only possible reason. Never noticed it before, till I saw the picture so closely.. If you notice the breach, it is next to the yellow marking on the tyre. Is it sheer coincidence or can it contribute to the cause?
All I was trying to mean is had it been any other point, could the tyre have survived the onslaught?

[iraghava]

No, the yellow mark has nothing to do with it. That's purely coincidence & quite a few such marks/lines are made on the tyres during the manufacturing process.

Also, if you notice above the rupture (where it says E-Spec) you can see that even the upper tread has an impact marking/crack.

And no, such an impact on any part of the tyre would normally mean failure. Doesn't matter where you hit it.

[Jaggu]

looks like stone or some sharp object, i had a similar tear in my venturas

[SOUM]

Originally Posted by iraghava

No, the yellow mark has nothing to do with it. That's purely coincidence & quite a few such marks/lines are made on the tyres during the manufacturing process.

Let me reproduce a couple of lines which I noted from "the wheel & tyre bible" - all tyres have a point on the tread which is lighter than the rest of the tyre - a thin spot if you like. It's fractional - you'd never notice it unless you used tyre manufacturing equipment to find it, but its there.
unquote -
The reason why I was trying to argue and understand, had the stone (assumed) hit any other spot on the tyre, could it have survived? This is so because, the rapture might have been caused as it hit the thinnest part of the tyre. Am I sounding idiotic?

[SOUM]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

looks like stone or some sharp object, i had a similar tear in my venturas

Yes Jaggu, looking back, even I have a similar feeling now. One thing that still haunts me is, if you look at the tyre from the front, I am still at a loss as to how it could have hit the sidewall from such an angle so as to cut open the sidewall !!!

[Raccoon]

Strange, the cut seems to be along the radius of the tyre... normally, one would expect a cut made by a sharp object to be approximately along a tangent to the circumference.

Just a thought... perhaps its not a cut in as much that it is a rupture... caused by tyre flex. Which in turn could have happened due weakness in that section...

Btw, its not very clear from the pic, but is that a cut on the tread just above the cut?

[SOUM]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Strange, the cut seems to be along the radius of the tyre... normally, one would expect a cut made by a sharp object to be approximately along a tangent to the circumference.

Just a thought... perhaps its not a cut in as much that it is a rupture... caused by tyre flex. Which in turn could have happened due weakness in that section...?

Raccoon, you seem to have read my mind well. That's exactly what I was fearing.

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Btw, its not very clear from the pic, but is that a cut on the tread just above the cut?

Its not really a cut, but there is definitely a surface scracth on the tread. Not sure how it happened. If the "stone" theory works, then may be, thats the spot where the stone hit first, rolled over, and then hit the sidewalls leaving a scar on the spot.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by SOUM

The reason why I was trying to argue and understand, had the stone (assumed) hit any other spot on the tyre, could it have survived? This is so because, the rapture might have been caused as it hit the thinnest part of the tyre. Am I sounding idiotic?

No, it would not have survived. And why, look at the red circle in the pic below. The impact is such that it has even cut the tread. When the force is such, it doesn't matter whether it hits the heaviest or the lightest part, the result is going to be bad. And anyway, the difference in the heaviest, lightest part is too small for us to feel.

[SOUM]

Thanks Ishaan for the insite and deep dive causal analysis. I am really learning and amazed with the minute details you look at. No wonder people call you a "TYRE GURU".
A final advice from you - Do you feel I should change my ES100 tyres? I have done only 1500 kms on them! How much can I expect out of these used lot? Which tyres to change to? I love pushing my car and would look for good traction and safety on braking, comfort comes second. Pl advise.

[Raccoon]

Why waste money in replacing the other 3 tyres which are good? Unless you are getting a good price for them... which I guess is unlikely.

But if you want to do it anyway, and you probably dont want to go in for Yokos again, Michelins might be your next best choice.

[iraghava]

Stick to them for now, just be a little more careful when driving around bad roads.

[Kevciti]

Get a new tyre and move on. Tats the best you could do rather than replacing the whole set. Take it from me. I lost two brand new venturas at the same time to these dumb concrete slabs lying close to the median. The front and rear tyre sidewalls just ripped. This happened at 11 pm too! However managed to get one repaired later (Cost me 475 bucks) and am using it as a spare now. The other one was totally gone since a local 24 hour punture shop guy cut the mouth and put in a tube so I could drive back home.

[Raccoon]

The other one was totally gone since a local 24 hour punture shop guy cut the mouth and put in a tube so I could drive back home.

Didn't exacty get that... cut the mouth?? You mean he removed the valve, so that you could put a tube in? In that case, you should be able to put in a new valve, and the tyre should be good for use as a tubeless again!

[SOUM]

Originally Posted by iraghava

Stick to them for now, just be a little more careful when driving around bad roads.

Thanks Ishaan for the comfort given. Do you think this tyre can be heat patched and used as a spare or it would be too risky to use such a tyre and cause further incidental damages?