What is tire delamination?
From the moment a tire leaves the factory, it’s destined to live out its life rolling around. During that time, it will endure certain forces that won’t be the most ideal, but most tires are designed to withstand them.
In many situations, tires will have no issues with normal wear and tear and will provide you with a safe performance throughout their lifespan. If all goes well, you’ll either wear the tire down or you’ll need to replace it because it’s old.
With wear and age aside, other unfortunate situations may happen. Situations like uneven wear or bulges may reduce the lifespan, forcing you to replace a tire much sooner than expected.
Moving away from the common tire damage, we have something that doesn’t happen too often, but it’s still a risk. Tire delamination is a phrase most people haven’t heard, which is why I’ll explain what it is and how to prevent it.
Tire construction
To get an idea of what is tire delamination and why it happens, first let me give you a quick guide into what a tire is made of and how it works. The process is complicated, so I’ll cover the portion that’s of interest to us for the sake of this guide.
Contrary to popular belief, a tire isn’t made from a single piece of rubber. Multiple elements go into its production, including steel cords, liner, beads, and a lot more. For this guide, all you need to know is that the tread is a separate part of the tire.
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During the manufacturing process, the tire gets its body, which is the structural part that holds all the crucial parts from the internal construction. They are covered with the rubber and that part is completed. The tread is a separate part that goes over the body and bonds with the body during the molding process.
When done correctly and the tire is cured, it will seem like a single piece of rubber, and you shouldn’t notice any lines or separations. Speaking of lines and separations, this is where the problem occurs, which is today’s topic.
What is tire delamination?
In the simplest terms possible, tire delamination is the process in which you notice the tread portion separating from the tire body. These should be uniform and have no seams between them. When we’re talking about delamination, it means that the tread isn’t uniform with the body, and it separates.
If you go back to my retread vs new tire comparison, you may get a better understanding of the issue. While retreading is adding a new layer of tread on a tire’s body, delamination is the opposite. The only difference is that with delamination, it’s not something you’re doing intentionally.
Why does tire delamination happen?
There are multiple reasons you may notice delamination in your tires, and each one carries its own weight. Some are more problematic, while others may seem benign, but are still a massive issue.
One of the most common reasons for tire delamination or separation is heat. Manufacturers design tires to withstand high-temperature levels, especially summer models. The hot tarmac combined with the friction puts a lot of heat in the tires, even if you’re not pushing them to their limits. In many situations this is fine, but in the more extreme ones, things can get complicated and the result of this is delamination.
Next up, we have excessive wear, which I talked about in my guide on driving with a tire that has its cords showing. Driving a tire far past its minimal tread depth will lead to seeing some of the steel cords. On top of that, you are likely going to see some separation on the tread.
I talked about tire bulges in one of my previous guides and I mentioned bad roads as one of the major causes for that. As part of the process, especially with bulges on the tread area, the chances of seeing delamination are increased.
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Now we come to the manufacturing process, which isn’t a common reason, but it’s been known to happen. With the lower-tiered manufacturers, the process isn’t as perfect as with the premium ones, so a defect isn’t as rare as you may think. Having a few kinks during the molding and curing process means the tread won’t have the strongest bond with the body, so it won’t take too much to see some separation.
I won’t say that this isn’t an issue with the mid-range or premium manufacturers, but it’s not as common. The cheap brands, especially the Chinese ones, don’t have the highest standards in terms of quality and testing, so the chances of this happening are higher.
Finally, let’s talk about retreading, a process that I see more and more in recent years. If you’ve read my guide, you’ll know that I recommend this mainly for commercial use, but I’ve seen some passenger cars with retreaded tires. Similar to the initial manufacturing process, when a tire is retreaded properly, the tread area will hold well to the body and it won’t separate.
For retreading, the main issue is the fact that if it isn’t done properly, you may see some separation. Even when you care for your tires properly, and avoid giving them a rough life, it may happen.
Can you fix tire delamination?
Considering that the idea is to have a seamless bond between the tread and the body, I’d say that once a tire separates, it’s not something you can fix. You may try some homemade remedies you found online but don’t expect wonders. Nothing you’ll do at home will be as good as what manufacturers do at the factory.
One option is retreading, which is applying a new layer of tread on the body. We usually see this in commercial use, mainly with trucks because the tires are very expensive, so it’s a cost-effective way to get a few years of life into them. With passenger cars, retreading isn’t that much cheaper than getting a new tire, so there isn’t much point in considering this.
In my opinion, tires are crucial for safety, so I wouldn’t try to get a delaminated tire fixed. It won’t be as good as new and the performance could be questionable.
How to prevent tire delamination?
In an ideal situation, delamination or separation is something you won’t experience in your lifetime. I’ve been around cars for most of my life, and I haven’t seen a separated tire, apart from those tread strips I’ve seen in tire shops. This should give you an idea that it’s not as common as some of the other types of tire damage.
With that said, it can happen, but there are some ways in which you can prevent that. The first and most important is to care for your tires well. Driving on bad roads or going over curbs at higher speeds isn’t something that tires like. Initially, you won’t see delamination, but eventually, it will happen.
A similar approach here is to monitor how much your tires wear. Under normal conditions, I’d recommend going for no more than 4/32 of 5/32 of an inch, which you can check with a tread depth tool or use a coin.
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There are also situations where the wear may not be even across the entire tread, so that can be a problem. If caught early enough, the worst you’ll see is a tire that won’t wear evenly and you’ll have to replace it sooner. If left untreated, the tire will wear on one side or patch and once it reaches a critical point, the tread will separate.
Heat can also cause some serious issues, which can lead to delamination. To be fair, there aren’t too many things you can do, except be mindful of the temperatures. For example, winter tires in summer are something you should avoid, and this is a common reason people see separation. The tire isn’t designed to be driven on a 100+ degrees tarmac. Throw in the heat generated from the friction between the rubber and the road and you have a recipe for disaster.
This isn’t too common with summer tires, but it can happen. Pushing the tires too much on a hot summer’s day on a track or on a twisty road will put a lot of heat. In some situations, this can lead to delamination.
Conclusion
There are multiple types of damage you can see on a tire. Some are more common, while others are rare, and one of the rarer types you can see on a tire is delamination. This is the process where the tread separates from the body of the tire, meaning that the tire falls apart.
The severity of the issue depends on the type of damage the tire has. Separation is the aftermath of other kinds of tire damage, so the best way to avoid it is to take better care of your tires. Fixing the issue is something I don’t think you can get right after you see the damage, meaning that once the tire starts to separate, you should replace it.
Tire delamination isn’t common, but it’s not as rare as a unicorn. It can happen, especially if you don’t worry too much about what happens to your tires. So my advice to you is to take good care of your tires to ensure that they last a long time, and most importantly, so that you never experience tire separation.