Tyre Wall Failure / Dunlop 275-30-21 / Opinion ?

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I had what appears to be the early signs of this happening on my old set of Goodyear’s AS3, but it was on the outer side.
 
Perhaps it’s because ultra high performance and super low profile are fitted to family cars these days.


I had 4 sets of Dunlop tyres on 3 different cars so far with no issues, but then the tyres' profile my cars is 55 (which is the standard for passenger cars these days).
 
2014 Audi A7 Black Edition, sailed through it's MOT on 11th February with 30k miles.

Less than 2 months and 2k miles later two of the inside edges of the front tyres look like this.
Tyres are dated middle of 2018, plenty of tread on them but walls are separating.

Would appreciate any expert or other opinions on these and any possible cause

View attachment 94287

I know it's highly unlikely, but they look like Retreads to me:eek:
 
This is a serious question - when did people start to retread "performance orientated" tyres.
 
Something I've observed about very low profile tyres.

When the steering is on full lock the caster angle causes the camber to be greatly exaggerated such that the distance between the wheel rim and road surface is no more than half the normal distance. I wonder if this can lead to the sidewall being pinched between the rim and road surface causing the damage being discussed here. If I'm not making sense, just watch a car with low profile tyres on full lock. I actually find it painful to look at as even the lowest drop kerb on to driveways has the rim perilously close to being damaged and I can't see it doing the tyres any good.
 
Difficult to remember that 75 profile were seen as low profile tyres years ago. I really don't understand the UK's obsession with the very low profiles that manufacturers push when we have such terrible road surfaces.

Those tyres (OP's) are awful but whether caused by poor manufacturing or misuse will be difficult to prove; I gave up trying to explain to one person why straddling speedhumps was a bad idea, their view was that that's what they're designed for.
 
Difficult to remember that 75 profile were seen as low profile tyres years ago. I really don't understand the UK's obsession with the very low profiles that manufacturers push when we have such terrible road surfaces.

Those tyres (OP's) are awful but whether caused by poor manufacturing or misuse will be difficult to prove; I gave up trying to explain to one person why straddling speedhumps was a bad idea, their view was that that's what they're designed for.

I was thinking just that.

In the seventies and eighties, passenger cars came as standard with 80 profile tyres, while the Italians always used the then-sporty low-profile 70 tyres.

The invention of the hot hatch in the seventies (Golf GTI, Opel/Vauxhall SR/GTE, Peugeot 206 GTI, Lancia Delta HF, etc etc) saw 'high-performance' 60 profile tyres becoming common on sporty cars, spearheaded by the Pirelli P Zero.... and the rest is history.
 
I was thinking just that.

In the seventies and eighties, passenger cars came as standard with 80 profile tyres, while the Italians always used the then-sporty low-profile 70 tyres.

The invention of the hot hatch in the seventies (Golf GTI, Opel/Vauxhall SR/GTE, Peugeot 206 GTI, Lancia Delta HF, etc etc) saw 'high-performance' 60 profile tyres becoming common on sporty cars, spearheaded by the Pirelli P Zero.... and the rest is history.
My first car was a Vauxhall Nova SR and it had “low profile” 70-profile tyres on the factory steel wheels.

I then bought some Cavalier LXi wheels off the milkman, who had them fitted to his Nova GT/E - which was the same colour grey as mine - and looked amazing. He used to drive it when collecting the money on a Friday evening.

The huuuuge 14-inch wheels looked great on the Nova, even on the SR, because it the boxes where arches. I think they were 185/60 and looked like road rollers at the time, compared to the 155 tyres fitted from the factory. I loved that car.

I now have a car in a very similar colour, with tyres twice as wide. How things have changed!

full
 
Seems we are wasting our time with Dunlop on this one.

They want the tyres returned to the dealer the car was bought from, they then have to return them to where they got the car and so the chain continues till they end up at the supplying tyre fitter who will then return them to Dunlop. :wallbash:

We explained that even without the current circumstances this does not seem practical and we offered to return the tyres direct to them.
This would allow them to check they are genuine, trace who they were sold to and look for any defects in them.

They rejected this and insisted they have to go through the above chain. :mad:
 
Classic obfuscation and denial routine.

Pass all the info to the DVSA and ask them to take it up.

I've dealt with the DVSA before on a known Citroen fault (all lights fail) and they just sided with the manufacturer "no known fault". Seems they don't know how to do a google search.

If I had the time I would but I'll just chalk it up and move Dunlop to the not approved supplier category. ;)
 
I've dealt with the DVSA before on a known Citroen fault (all lights fail) and they just sided with the manufacturer "no known fault". Seems they don't know how to do a google search.
As useless as the DVSA can be, I’d still raise a case with them. Partly in the (perhaps vain) hope that they do actually follow it up properly, but also because it’s the right thing to do from a moral standpoint.

On the matter of Dunlop tyres in general, they’ve been on my “avoid list” for decades.
 
Seems we are wasting our time with Dunlop on this one.

They want the tyres returned to the dealer the car was bought from, they then have to return them to where they got the car and so the chain continues till they end up at the supplying tyre fitter who will then return them to Dunlop. :wallbash:

We explained that even without the current circumstances this does not seem practical and we offered to return the tyres direct to them.
This would allow them to check they are genuine, trace who they were sold to and look for any defects in them.

They rejected this and insisted they have to go through the above chain. :mad:


This is not uncommon, done to protect the manufacturer's official distribution channel against 'grey' imports.

That said, they are pushing their own trade issues into the consumers.

This is wrong for a whole range of reasons, not the least of which because it leaves the consumer high and dry if the shop/retailer they bought the goods from closed down.

You may very well have a case directly againat the manufacturer under the Consumer Right Act, and/or based on the manufacturer's published warranty.

Even if you can't prove the date of purchase, the tyre will have the date of manufacture stamped on it (though without proof of date of purchase you 'lose-out' in the time the tyre was in the distribution chain until it was sold).

Consumer advice or Trading Standards might be able to help.
 
We've sent pictures and a copy of the invoice for the new tyres through to the dealer the car was bought from.
Salesman agrees that tyres should not have been required so soon and that the tyres are downright dangerous.

He has sent a credit/allowance through to his finance department so waiting for that to be approved. :thumb:

Will raise on online DVSA report in the meantime too.
 
As an aside, the only modern tyre I've had an issue with was a Goodyear Efficient Grip (Goodyear & Dunlop are brands from the same manufacturer). As a new tyre it required so much weight to bring it into balance that one quadrant of the rim had barely enough room for the weights. The fitter initially told me that he thought putting 200+ grams of weight on the rim to balance it was OK, so I had to disabuse him of that notion. After a stern discussion (the tyres were supplied through Blackcircles, so were pre-paid) he agreed to raise a claim for a replacement that was subsequently supplied.

I did run Goodyear Asymmetric 3's on my E63 that were really good, but I wouldn't normally touch either Dunlop or Goodyear with a bargepole.
 
My first car was a Vauxhall Nova SR and it had “low profile” 70-profile tyres on the factory steel wheels.

I then bought some Cavalier LXi wheels off the milkman, who had them fitted to his Nova GT/E - which was the same colour grey as mine - and looked amazing. He used to drive it when collecting the money on a Friday evening.

The huuuuge 14-inch wheels looked great on the Nova, even on the SR, because it the boxes where arches. I think they were 185/60 and looked like road rollers at the time, compared to the 155 tyres fitted from the factory. I loved that car.

I now have a car in a very similar colour, with tyres twice as wide. How things have changed!

full

I had two Novas. A 1.2 then 6 months later a GTE. I loved that car.
 
On the matter of Dunlop tyres in general, they’ve been on my “avoid list” for decades.
Which Dunlop do you mean though?
Dunlop as a company ceased trading when they went into administration in 1985. All Dunlop is now is a name which various companies around the world buy the rights to use and stamp on their own tyres, and the rights to use the name has been bought and sold many times since 1985 and will continue to do so.
 

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