Wheel & Tire Inspections
Possible causes of tread detachments include fatigue failures such as under inflation, overloading, excessive speed, defective repairs, impacts, mounting damage, tire age and manufacturing flaws. Tread separation is a potentially hazardous condition where the tread of the tire separates from the carcass. When the tread separates or becomes excessively worn, it greatly increases the risk of blowouts and crashes. Tread separations are the most common tire failures that cause loss-of-control crashes. Tread separations may or may not result in rapid deflation of a tire because tread separation throws the failed tire out of balance and applies a lateral force to the vehicle. A rapid deflation of the tire is not required to cause a loss of vehicle control. A typical manufacturing flaw occurs when something goes wrong in the chemical processes during the manufacturing and the tread and belts do not properly bond to the tire carcass properly. Over a period of time, usually not very long, a defective tire will begin to exhibit signs of an extreme out of balance condition. Then a bump can form in the tread area. This bump is the first visual indicator that the tread is going to separate. The expansion of this bubble will increase until tire failure occurs. Our experts can examine the damage to the tire, wheel and related vehicle components and determine if the failure was caused by a manufacturing flaw and if verified, we can assist with the subrogation process against the manufacturer. If the tire or wheel-off failure was caused by some other problem, we can also confirm and document the cause of the failure, the extent of the damage and aid in the subrogation process where needed.