Separated belt on tire ?

Joined
Feb 22, 2011
Messages
422
Location
MN
Morning,

If you had a tire with a separated belt, what would you feel when driving?

The roads in MN are in bad shape this year (potholes) - yesterday, the front R tire started to shake a bit, when accelerating around 50 mph. Above 55, the sensation went away. Just had tires rotated and balanced a few weeks ago.

Thanks for the help
 
Switch the tire to the left side and see if it changes. Radial tires used to be sensitive to direction changes. It could also have an uneven wear pattern that disagrees with its new location.
 
First, wheel end vibrations are mostly felt in the 50 mph to 70 mph range. Outside that range, the vibration is hardly felt.

Why that range? That's because Spring-mass-damper systems, such as a vehicle suspension, have resonant frequencies where vibrations are largely uncontrolled - albeit at a different angle from the vibration source. In cars, this occurs in the range mentioned above - with a few exceptions. (editorial comment: Why are there always exceptions?)

Second, a separation causes a vibration, so it reacts just like an imbalanced or out-of-round tire (After all, it IS out-of-round!)

What makes a separated tire unique is that the separation grows - and so does the vibration. So a separated tire will start off with a small vibration and over the course of several hundred miles grow more detectable. If you have a vibration that fits that description, get it inspected IMMEDIATELY! TODAY! If the tread comes off, very bad things can happen!

Rubbing a GLOVED hand over the tread surface is a good way to see if you have a separated tire. You are looking for a bulge!

And lastly, tire separations are largely driven by heat. So most tire separations occur in the August, September, October time fame. Hardly any occur in December, January, and February.

The most prevalent type of separation is a belt-leaving-belt separation, commonly called a "Tread Separation" and what I described above. applies to that kind. There are other types of separations, but they are uncommon, but they do have different symptoms.

So I think it very unlikely that the OP has a separation. Since the vibration appears when accelerating, a CV joint is much more likely.
 
So I think it very unlikely that the OP has a separation. Since the vibration appears when accelerating, a CV joint is much more likely.

I was just applying my local conditions to the OP.
Here there are sections of road that are so bad you would think you have 4 square tires.
then glass smooth 5miles later. The actual road surface wears/moves into a pattern that causes your tires to be bouncy.
224W from akron to lodi for example... esp. around Norton ohio.

I didnt put much emphasis on his accelerating.. more on the fact that changing speed changes the vibration.. which would have more to do with the car's suspension being more effective at different speeds in dampening.
 
Follow someone driving your car slowly and watch all 4 tires as they go around to see a wobble. I see it quite often when following another car.
 
Back
Top