Hoosiers radically "deformed"

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:20 am

For the first time ever I decided to drive to/from the autocross this weekend on R comps - getting too old to change tires in the hot sun. Wow, was that a mistake! I've never heard of or seen anything like this, but my (very old) Hoosier A3S04s had some sort of internal rupture issue, resulting in a very strange deformity at the corners of my front tires. See the photo below. Both shoulders of each tire ballooned outward, with one shoulder significantly worse than the other. This caused the car to pull very hard to the right the entire 100+ mile ride home - my arms and the car's flashers definitely got a workout as I had to reduce speed to well under the 70 mph speed limit to keep the car from shaking excessively. I kept thinking of the scene in the movie Vacation when Clark Griswold picks up his "repaired" family truckster with wobbly tires after airing it over a huge jump - I could relate. By the time I reached Cary sporting a full set of white knuckles, I was relegated to 25 mph maximum. Thankfully, I did make it home, but what an experience. Definitely learned my lesson about driving to/from events on R comps.

Anyone seen or heard of this type of thing before?

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:25 am

I haven't had *that* happen, but I have a set of Toyo R-888s that make the rear of my Mustang feel like the panhard bar is missing...even when drving in a straight line! It feels like the axle is literally walking back and forth. Very scary feeling indeed.

Glad you made it home OK.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:29 am

Could it be that those tires are at best 9 years old?

Remember too that the A3S04 was the first R compound that they put a layer of steel belts in (A3S03 had fiberglass belts only) and a lot of people had strange issues with them, especially rapid wear. That was replaced with the A3S05 in around 2005 and that was a much better tire. - AB

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 2:32 pm

Thanks, Vincent. BTW, it was great catching up this weekend.

Aaron - you've seen or heard of this before with old tires?

Of course, I knew installing 9 year old tires wasn't a preferred choice, but it was my only option for this event - sure didn't see this issue coming. Live and learn, I guess.

Scott Johnson · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 3:29 pm

that's pretty crazy. I guess you will be changing tires at the next event, there's no way you should drive to the event on those - but I see no problem actually autocrossing on them

Did they ever start to grip?

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 3:49 pm

Keith Quistorff wrote:

Aaron - you've seen or heard of this before with old tires?

The A3S04's on certain cars had a number of issues IIRC. There was good reason they were only around for about year before the A3S05's were introduced (that went to 3 steel belts instead of 1). I do know of one case of tread separation on them but that was a FWD car.

I would discontinue using them all together even if you mount them at the event. - AB

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:41 pm

No way these are going anywhere but a dumpster at this point.

To answer Scott's question, the grip level was surprisingly good during the autocross (that is, before they took a dump for the drive home).

Stephen Westerfield · **Posted:** Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:52 pm

I've had a steel belt separate on a Hoosier before, but only in one spot, not all the way around the circumference. It looked similar though. Happened on my Integra at CMP on some used tires I bought. I think Spec Miata equivalents of the R3S05's.

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Hoosiers radically "deformed"

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