225/50/15 Shelby Z tires

[tommyturbo]

So I got a set of four pirelli nero asemetrico tires (spelling) may of 2007. These are suposedly discontinued now. It's really hard to find the correct Daytona Shelby Z 225-50-15 tires anymore. Anyhow I have put maybe 4000 miles on these since I bought them, they look brand new. Tonight I am driving home, pull in to get gas, and the back tires is just flat, and from the way it looks has been for a while as I have been driving. The sidewall where it meets the tread is all split and fine steel pieces are coming out. Now I never heard any weird noise as I was driving and the car was driving fine, I have had tires go flat before and it made the car wander alot.

I get the spare out, it looks like it has never left the trunk, still has the red stripes and sticker on it. But it's really flat. Fill it up with air and drive the last 60 miles or so home...at 55, which is really hard and sucks on cali speedway freeways.

I looked at the tire when I got home, no indications of anything hitting it, or stuck in it anywhere. What could cause it to just go flat while driving? Also does anyone have advice for fighting to get a new tire from the manufacture? It has 4000 miles on it, looks like brand new, and is a little over a year and a half old?

[Vigo]

you should be able to get it replaced for almost nothing with prorated tread depth warranty. or road hazard warranty possibly. where did you buy it?

[cordes]

If you don't have a road hazard warranty on it you won't get any cash unless the guy is much nicer than myself. Driven on flat after a year and a half wouldn't do much for you.

As for the causes, it could have been a slow leak that caused the tire to fail. There really isn't any way to tell, but since you semi shredded it.

[tommyturbo]

I didn't drive on it flat intentionally. The car gets driven a couple times a month, and the tires have never leaked. It was fine and filled with air when I left, and just somehow leaked while driving. Thats what is really strange. But there is no damage to it that would cause it to leak, like a nail, or gouge in then sidewall from road debris, etc. If I had known it was leaking and flat I would have stopped sooner.

[cordes]

I didn't drive on it flat intentionally. The car gets driven a couple times a month, and the tires have never leaked. It was fine and filled with air when I left, and just somehow leaked while driving. Thats what is really strange. But there is no damage to it that would cause it to leak, like a nail, or gouge in then sidewall from road debris, etc. If I had known it was leaking and flat I would have stopped sooner.

That may be, but if you drive on it, it is usually cause for the guy to call it a road hazard rather than warranty situation because there is no evidence left which would point at a defect which is unlikely anyway.

[89ShelbyGuy]

it probally has a rim leak. most common cases. I use to work at firestone for a while..alot of people would come in because it went flat but theres nothing in the tire.take it to a firestone and have them check it out. its free...and they will tell you if its a rim leak or something in the tire...sometimes we would find tiny little needles that you couldn't see from the outside...only if you dis mounted the tire.

[tommyturbo]

So I took the tire back, the valve stem manufacture changed rubber comounds durring this time, and I guess they have had a lot of failures, and the tire place I got my tires from thinks this was the case. Since I got the tires durring the time when this was an issue with their supplier. So they are going to warranty it and get me a matching set of two falken tires, so i won't have a lone odd tire, plus that would suck on the front when they get rotated.

[neongary]

If you don't have a road hazard warranty on it you won't get any cash unless the guy is much nicer than myself. Driven on flat after a year and a half wouldn't do much for you.

As for the causes, it could have been a slow leak that caused the tire to fail. There really isn't any way to tell, but since you semi shredded it.
+1 on that.
I had troubles with a Pirelli tire that I bought for my Dakota. I bought them from TireRack.com and they sent me a new one, no questions asked, even after quite some time had passed. They sent FedEx to pick up the defective one when I was ready. Even though it wasn't a flat, they still went a lot further than I thought they would for just a driveability issue. Customer service is #1. I've since bought their road hazard warranty "just in case".
Tire Rack listed 14 tires in the 225/50-15 size. (Although some were competition only)

[Murphy]

something like that happened to me......valve stem cracked and leaked out the side