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Have been away so I haven't had a chance to catch up on comments.
These are not run-flat tires from looking at the specs. I've had the tires for about 3-4 years. 50K miles on them. This one was the rear.
I don't have TPMS sensors on these aftermarket wheels since I've got them along with the tires. But funny enough, not long before this happened, I actually bought some. So once these tires are replaced, I'll be putting the TPMS sensors on.
Everything was good up until that morning that it happened. I typically pay attention to my tires and the pressures have been good. I'd say I last filled them to 38 psi about a month or two before the incident. That morning I was driving, I noticed right away something odd. As I mentioned above, accelerating would veer one way and letting go of the pedal would veer the other way. But this was quite subtle at the beginning of the drive. But still easily noticeable since the car has always drove perfectly straight with good alignment. I drove like that for 25 miles before swapping. It started to feel worse as I was getting on and off a couple exits, but the veering was only obvious when I pressed or let go of the gas pedal. Once I was cruising on the highway, I couldn't really tell, there wasn't a wobble or much of a sound that I recall. Once I had to slow down for traffic and then get going again, that's where I REALLY started to feel it and instantly pulled over.
I have mixed feelings about TPMS doing much other than allowing you to keep track of pressures over long periods of times. In a situation like this, TPMS or not, I was heading to work. So the hope was to make it or change to a spare and go home. I can quickly feel the change of a low pressure tire, don't need TPMS to tell me that. In this case, it was extra obvious. I do my own pressure checking every few months. And I'm always peeking over at the tires when I'm filling up gas. So I'd notice if something is off. In this case, I'm sure if I checked, I would have noticed. But TPMS light wouldn't have stopped me from going to work. Though it probably would have made me stop at a Wawa near home to fill up the tires, so maybe I would have noticed. But with this tear, it's just odd, and it being on the inside made it hard to notice or realize anything.
It's just interesting to me seeing a tire tear like that, it's a first for me. I guess the low pressures or old age caused a crack somewhere on the side and then that crack continued to expand and tear?
Thanks all for the feedback! Glad the wheel didn't take damage as that would have sucked.
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