OpticonBill
Active Member
Think of the tire as an inverse suspension bridge. The sidewall forming the cables that suspend the roadway. Now imaging a suspension bridge where three or four adjacent cables severely damaged or broken at a single point on the bridge and separated from the roadway. How long are you willing to continue driving across that bridge along with heavy tractor trailers?
Furthermore, the screw in the first photo is in the shoulder near the belt package edge under the tread. Which in my opinion is in the worst possible place, even worse than a sidewall puncture. It looks near enough to the edge of the belt package which includes the steel belt, which is a woven steel fabric belt mesh with wires that crisscross under the tread from one shoulder to the other. Normally, the ends of these wires are held in place in various ways (depending on the manufacturer) to prevent them from rubbing each other as the tread flexes on contact with the road surface. Should these wires start to touch each other, it would be like rubbing to stick together to make a fire. While a fire is not likely, there will be heat and heat is detrimental to the rubber around the wire ends. The rubber begins to break up along the belt edge until the belt comes completely free of the tire. This is not the same as re-treads separating from the tire. In the case of re-tread separation while still not good, it's only the tread rubber that separates. In the case describe above it's both the tread rubber and the steel belt that separates causing catastrophic loss of tire.
Furthermore, the screw in the first photo is in the shoulder near the belt package edge under the tread. Which in my opinion is in the worst possible place, even worse than a sidewall puncture. It looks near enough to the edge of the belt package which includes the steel belt, which is a woven steel fabric belt mesh with wires that crisscross under the tread from one shoulder to the other. Normally, the ends of these wires are held in place in various ways (depending on the manufacturer) to prevent them from rubbing each other as the tread flexes on contact with the road surface. Should these wires start to touch each other, it would be like rubbing to stick together to make a fire. While a fire is not likely, there will be heat and heat is detrimental to the rubber around the wire ends. The rubber begins to break up along the belt edge until the belt comes completely free of the tire. This is not the same as re-treads separating from the tire. In the case of re-tread separation while still not good, it's only the tread rubber that separates. In the case describe above it's both the tread rubber and the steel belt that separates causing catastrophic loss of tire.
