Azenis = sh*t?

We went to the Falcons game yesterday in the evo, noticed that what when I applied the brake that there was a slight vibration - never did this before so I thought I might have to get my wheels re-balanced.

This morning I woke up and my room mate told me my front left tire is dead low.

Welp - got my lazy ass off the sofa, jacked up the car and inspected.

A WHOLE FREAKING CHUNK OF MY TIRE IS MISSING!
I was in total awe when I saw that the whole edge was missing a chunk.

Falken Azenis
255/17/40
Aprox 12,500 miles on them
No racing, no autox, nothing - all highway mileage

I then suspected that my Megan Racing Street Coils might have had something to do with it - checked it and nothing, no damage, no signs of damage or tire wear against the suspension parts.

All other 3 tires are perfect
Camber was at like -2 in front and -1 back
Tires are rotated rigorously.

Welp - let the pictures do the rest of the talking...











I'm not complaining - just wondering if this has happened before?
I guess I'm quite satisfied with the life I got out of the tires.

hmm ive never seen that before

As you can see I still have a lot of thread left on the tires.

Going over to my folks house today to go swap back to my MR BBS wheels and stock Advans - they still have some thread left on the to last me until I can get some new tires here.

it was hitting something or you ran something over but it would only be in one place if you ran something over

yeah - this is just like a while chunk that tore off all the way around the inner edge of the wheel.

Looks like the tire just fell apart, that sucks

What are your toe settings? How are the other tires?

I have seen that before. What happened was that your tire was mostly flat and was driven on. Because of the camber setting, it caused the majority of the weight of the car to sit on that wheel, which the inner lip of the wheel pinched the tire as it was driven on, causing the tire to appear "cut."

I think Will is right ... either that or you have a loose/damaged suspension component. Flat tire is way more likely.

damn that sux. hope you get it all resolved.

I've seen this before when road debris is caught in the inner fender i.e. mud / snow& ice etc and the tire rubs against it. Over time it will wear a stip enough that it will just peel off. If it had been your coilover the damage would have been in the sidewall not the tread.

I find the 2d and 3d picture really interesting in that the tread fibers are cleanly cut at an angle and the inner tire looks like it was put in a lathe and "turned down", it's smooth and the same width in all the pictures, if it was a structual failure it would have pulled pieces of rubber away in a non-uniform pattern and you would not have that smooth inner strip and the fibers would be frayed.

I don't think you had a tire failure, I think you got something wedged up in there or something is poking through the wheel well and it has been wearing away a little over time. When the tire wore away enough it either fell off or is still there and the tire is worn enough that it doesn't rub anymore. Most likely only when the suspension compressed over a bump or in a corner.

I also believe you were very lucky you didn't have catrostrophic tire failure while out on the highway.

yeh, looks like a defective tire.

you are defective~! lol

sux man. tires ain't cheap. least you weren't hurt though...

woah, I hope that doesn't happen to me, I just bought a set of RT-615's...so far I like them for the price, plus you can't beat 255's all around...