2006 Prius. Parked it last night and it was fine. Woke up this morning to a shredded tire, falling off the rim. (Right front tire). Question, can this possibly happen while parked? Maybe thieves tried to steal the tire but could not? Or, did our teenage son sneak out with the car and damage the tire?
Ding ding ding! “Teenage son” = “Prime suspect”. I can think of no other way to shred a tire.
As I usually do, I agree with texases.
It’s time to start putting those bamboo splinters under sonny’s fingernails until he confesses that he snuck out in the middle of the night for a joyride and brought the car back in damaged condition. (I am not advocating torture, but you may need to take some strong measures to get him to own up to what he did.)
And, in order to convince him that he needs to take responsibilty for his actions, your son needs to pay for the replacement tire. Unless you do this, you are just contributing to his lack of personal responsibility.
‘‘Evidence’’ him up against the wall !
Include a mileage difference…even if you’re not exactly sure. "the odometer shows xxxx which is xx more than I parked it. "
“I put the keys xxxx and this morning they were xxxx.”
“Only driving will shred a tire. An old tire might pop, a sliced tire will deflate.”
"It’s dirtier there and there than when I drove it last."
etc.
Like, did he re-adjust the seat or mirrors ? , candy wrappers or other new debris ? other seats used by other people ? radio station is wrong ? gas gauge / usage ? mud, grass or other outside evidence ?
I know first hand about old tires poping while parked ( my 79 chevy pickup ) AND getting tires slashed ( my 92 Explorer )
niether was shredded.
A picture would be helpful here.
We have a confession! It was the teenage son. Unauthorized use. Ran into the curb making a u-turn. Close enough to home to drive it back and park in same spot. Can’t wait for that frontal lobe thing to mature! He has said he’ll pay for repairs. Thanks for the comments!
Having been one, and having one right now, no surprise!
Do you have to replace all four tires on a Prius? Or at least the two?
“Ran into the curb making a u-turn.”
I’m glad that your son owned up to his improper use of the car, but replacing that tire may be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in terms of damage.
The car needs to be taken to a good alignment shop for examination, as it will undoubtedly need to have the wheels aligned as a result of impacting the curb. However, it is also possible that suspension and/or steering components were bent, and it is also very possible that the wheel itself is bent.
The tire shop will be able to tell you whether the wheel is bent, but they may not be knowledgeable about alignment issues. Potential front-end damage is not something that can be ignored, as damaged control arms or tie rods constitute a serious safety issue.
As far as I know the Prius is fwd with an ‘open’ differential, so the need to match tires would be for the ABS/traction control. But that’s a good point, @Bing, I’d want matching tires up front, and if the other tire is worn I’d go for 2 new ones.
@va_girl, did your son own up easily, or did you have to drag it out of him? And you’re right about maturation. Boys take until their mid-20s to grow up. Except for me. I didn’t grow up until well into my 30s.
You can check used tire shops for the same tire and similar wear, cheaper and better than 1 new and 3 old or 4 new.
Unfortunately, I think that, following sonny-boy’s confession, the OP might not be monitoring this thread at this point. And, that is a shame, because–as I pointed out in an earlier post–sonny boy’s act of ramming that tire into a curb may have caused significant damage to the car’s front end.
We can only hope that the OP returns to this thead, and that she has the front-end examined by the best alignment shop in her area. Otherwise, she and/or other drivers of this car may have an unexpected surprise in the near future when they attempt to steer the car away from a road hazard.
It’s good he offered to pay up for the repairs. Maybe help him out a bit for his honesty in fessing up and offering to pay for the fix.
Last time I saw (actually heard) a car burst a tire by hitting the curb, it was a teen on a cellphone. Even after she got out of the car, she COULD NOT HANG UP THE PHONE. All she could say to her friend was “What will my dad say? I’ve done it AGAIN!”
So mom here should find out what caused him to hit the curb. It’s not a normal thing…
Nice post. Also relatively minimal harm done to learn a big lesson.
Hmmm, I grew up for a short time around 50 and then have been digressing ever since.
I have to say it’s not that hard to wreck a tire. I was not paying close attention and ran into the corner of my concrete step in the garage. The corner hit the side of the tire an punctured it. I was going about 1/2 mile per hour. Had only 1200 miles on the thing and cost me $275 for a new matching tire. No other damage though. He may have shredded it by driving a short distance on the flat so it looked worse than it was.
I agree with VDCdriver about the odds being very good that something is damaged in the suspension and/or steering. It’s very easy for a curb strike, even on a tire that does not even blow out, to damage a control arm, tie rod, wheel hub, etc, etc.
A JOY ride in a Prius? Don’t be ridiculous.
Do you suppose he looked smug while he was driving it?