Egg-shaped!?

[Birdy]

Having driven over a broken Stanley knife blade on my mate's farm on Sunday, I put the spare on and ordered two new tyres (it had 2mm tread along with the other one on the rear axle so they were overdue ish anyway).

 

Drove to work Monday and noticed a 'wobble'. It felt like the front end was wobbling from side to side. I assumed it was when I slid in the ice, gently, into the kerb the night before. Had I bent something or knocked it out of alignment? 3 wobbling journeys to and from work later, I booked it in for a look.

 

Just had a call from workshop (I was expecting something to have been bent) and they inform me the spare I put on- which had been hanging off the rear door for over 8 years- had gone EGG SHAPED!!

 

Anyone ever heard of that before? It's been in a cover on the rear door all its life.

 

So I've got 2 more Billy Smart's Circus trips home and then back to work tomorrow before the new rubber is fitted. Cross fingers that that is the solution.

[soreshoulder]

happended on my dads truck, you could only see it if you looked really carefully

[al4x]

be very careful, did they advise you not to drive on it? it does happen and is due to either a tyre defect or deterioration basically drive on it and it could blow out. They are a definite MOT failure so in theory its unfit to drive on the road

[HDAV]

not had one go egg shaped but had an egg in a side wall and also a spare that was original and had perished over time in the well and side wall split a week after fitting it (there is a date code on all tyres and tyres have a best before date....)I was told years ago on a 4x4 you should buy tyres in sets of 5 and regularly rotate them (3-6 months depending on mileage) otherwise they wear unevenly and cause issues (not that many people bother mind....)

[Zabala]

I have always been advised that once a tyre is 5 years old from it's date of production it is likely to be unsafe because of rubber degradation, cracking and perishing. This apparently applies whether or not the tyre has been used on a vehicle or not and applies to touring caravan owners who usually replace the tyres on the unit when in reality there is little wear on them.

[jacksdad]

I remember when my dad sold our lovely Cortina and bought a brand new Sierra, the new fangled jelly mould: it had been stood at the factory so long all 4 tyres had gone egg shaped and had to be replaced

Never did like that car.....

[The Duncan]

The tyre cover will have protected the tyre from UV degradation, but not gravity!

You should have turned it every few months as rubber (in certain ways, oddly akin to glass) remains slightly liquid through its life.

Hence why if you store a motorbike over the winter, you are supposed to move it every now and then to stop tyres from 'egging out'.

I had similar on a 21 yo bedford rascal a couple of years ago - original front tres with metal banding in the carcass. Metal had rusted aftr 20 years, and for all that the tyres had loads of tread left (15k in 20 years!) they were bulging and misshapen due to the corroded steel bands. Old Radials