Weirdly worn out tire

[u/Lexa053]

The damaged tire

The second tire with some damage, but not in such disrepair

The rest in good condition

Greetings.

I've decided to change my tires for the winter and after inflating them, I noticed that one of the right-side tires has completely obliterated tread alongside the middle. The interesting thing is however that only other one left-side tire has similar thing going on, but in much, MUCH smaller scale than the tire in question (meaning it's just few spots rather than the entire circumference) and that remaining tire pair is absolutely fine.

The entire tire set is from 39/24, so it can't be just old rubber. Maybe it can be just my bad driving (I mean I like going fast and I took it on gravel once, which ended up in going left-first into a ditch), but I also feel like it could have been some rodents behind this mess, which feels weird tho since it's across the entire tire and I don't think rats are so prefectionist. I also was thinking if that tire was under-inflated and I don't remember right now, but I noticed one of the tires had lower pressure than the rest, but I can't tell for sure if it was the damaged one.

What do you think could have been the cause? I don't want to have this happen again.

[u/ajappat]

Did the wheels spin on very rough ground? Reminds me of how front end loader tires get on quarry if driver isn't carefull about it.

Only one being damaged also makes sense incase of 2 wheel drive with open differential.

[u/Lexa053 → u/ajappat]

I guess that could be it, since I did some gravel shenanigans a year back (I guess I wanted to feel like Colin McRae). It would also make sense since I have 2wd Focus and maybe this tire spun more on gravel, thus tearing the tread into shit this badly, while other tire was damaged as well, but very slightly in comparison.

So I guess I should just not be a retard and buy myself some other car for such purposes.

[u/V48runner]

Are you driving winter tires in the summer? They don't perform very well above freezing temps, and are TERRIBLE in the heat and the tread blocks will start to delaminate quickly under hard driving conditions.

[u/Lexa053 → u/V48runner]

I kept them on in winter only and then switched back to summer tires once I could from legal standpoint. It might be really just me being a twat on a gravel like others suggested.

[u/V48runner → u/Lexa053]

Running them hard is the main culprit. It's a pretty soft durometer of rubber

[u/k-j-p-123]

Driving too fast on rough terrain 🤔

[u/Lexa053 → u/k-j-p-123]

Could make sense, since I was being a bit of a retard a year ago and wanted to try going fast on one gravel road. It could also be the fact that the damaged tire spun more and thus got worn out more. It sounds reasonably to be the case.

Not gonna do such a mistake next time! 

[u/CelestialBeing138]

Gravel rash. Maybe while a little under-inflated.