What a weekend :(

[Konkordmusk]

I agree that 50psi in a tire probably won't blow it if it is just sitting there...but when you are going 75mph the pressure may increase to ~60psi because of the heat gain. Now that is ridiculously dangerous in my honest opinion....

The Falken Ziex-512 has a temperature rating of A, out of A, B and C.
This means that it is in the top tier of heat dissipation.
UTQG tests insist that a tire with a temperature grade of A will see internal pressure increases of 1-2psi per 60mph.

[Mk4 VR6]

this makes me terrified of my stretched tires now, I think I run 38psi in my 512's.

[MechEngg]

The Falken Ziex-512 has a temperature rating of A, out of A, B and C.
This means that it is in the top tier of heat dissipation.
UTQG tests insist that a tire with a temperature grade of A will see internal pressure increases of 1-2psi per 60mph.

Yes you are correct. BUT you forgot to factor in a few things here, namely the fact that he is on air. If his drive height wasn't precisely what his alignment was set at then his tire could be dragging. Even a slight toe can cause generous amounts of heat and I am willing to bet that it would lead to an increase of above 5psi. Even 5 minutes of driving out of my aligned drive height (diFference of about 1") heats up my tires (same ones) so they are very hot to the touch on summer days. I also bet you didn't factor in corners either, when you add spacers/adapters and have your wheel pushed so much further out than stock it creates tons of drag around corners, even slight corners. So if he was driving out of his aligned height through many bends I feel personally that a 10psi pressure rise is not entirely out of the question...

[Konkordmusk]

Yes you are correct. BUT you forgot to factor in a few things here, namely the fact that he is on air. If his drive height wasn't precisely what his alignment was set at then his tire could be dragging. Even a slight toe can cause generous amounts of heat and I am willing to bet that it would lead to an increase of above 5psi. Even 5 minutes of driving out of my aligned drive height (diFference of about 1") heats up my tires (same ones) so they are very hot to the touch on summer days. I also bet you didn't factor in corners either, when you add spacers/adapters and have your wheel pushed so much further out than stock it creates tons of drag around corners, even slight corners. So if he was driving out of his aligned height through many bends I feel personally that a 10psi pressure rise is not entirely out of the question...

Fair points, well received.
I'll choose to argue now for the sake of discussion:
I don't think that your alignment proposition is accurate. The higher the pressure, the less drag is produced. Tires will basically roll at any pressure, and given the nature of rubber, not much will allow it to drag especially if it is over-inflated.
The basic tests are performed on a government regulated track, under standard load conditions which would exclude track racing, but include standard highway driving which the OP was doing (I think.) This also includes corners. However, the only technology available to measure internal tire pressure is unavailable to the masses. TPMS is only measured at idle and fail conditions, so we can't really say.
However, I have personally administered tests on a set of tires, one specifically being temperature. It was a set of Michelin Pilot Sport series 3. Internal air pressure was 35psi without any driving during a 90º day. After a lap at 60mph around the track, about a half mile with 3 turns, we measured the air pressure at 40psi, clearly ousting my previous statement about +1-2psi per 60mph.
Tl;Dr, tires are funky, unpredictable creations.

Edit: English is my second language. Excuse me if my thoughts aren't clear

[MechEngg]

For the discussion. I don't think you quite understood what I meant by driving at alignment height. Because of the geometry of the suspension on a mk4 if you lower the car it will actually cause a toe out of the front wheels, and if you raise it you will create a toe in. Hence if he is not driving at his alignment height the tires wouldn't be just rolling, they would be slightly dragging on the pavement axially along the wheel and that is what creates an enormous amount of friction.

Now you can imagine how much friction and heat will be caused over time, especially say a short road trip.

Hopefully the OP can take a few of these points and lower his tire pressure to a more manageable level before he blows out more tires

[Konkordmusk]

For the discussion. I don't think you quite understood what I meant by driving at alignment height. Because of the geometry of the suspension on a mk4 if you lower the car it will actually cause a toe out of the front wheels, and if you raise it you will create a toe in. Hence if he is not driving at his alignment height the tires wouldn't be just rolling, they would be slightly dragging on the pavement axially along the wheel and that is what creates an enormous amount of friction.

Now you can imagine how much friction and heat will be caused over time, especially say a short road trip.

Hopefully the OP can take a few of these points and lower his tire pressure to a more manageable level before he blows out more tires

Ohhh I see what you were saying. However, that is why tires are measured for heat dissipation. Even with extra drag. It's some thermo-dynamic formula I can't remember atm. It also depends on how cold it was when the OP was driving. If it was cold, the extra drag gets negated instantly because of convection.
I still don't believe that high tire pressure was the cause of the blowout. I'm still for the defective tire possibility. Even 60psi is nothing compared to what I've seen some customers inflate their tires to. Some stretched some not. When you put rubber around a steel corded belt, you get an incredibly forgiving object.

[FORTRY-NINER]

Nitrogen homie.

btw, your car looks good.

[GLI-R]

You are an idiot. The same idiot who made the butthurt thread about us all getting along. I saw your post and I was thinking this guy must be trolling. Nope you're just that stupid.

[eastcoaststeeze]

sorry to see that dude

[PSU]

You didnt thought on putting tires with the correct width on the rim???? this is exactly what happens if you put a undersized width tire on any rim

Wrong.

Why are you running 50psi?

Run 36-39psi.

[PSU]

this makes me terrified of my stretched tires now, I think I run 38psi in my 512's.

You're fine. Nothing to worry about.

36-39psi as I said in my last post.

[MechEngg]

Just went and checked the sidewall of the tires (i am running same size/model on same rim width) and it says 51psi max pressure for a 1135lb load. Not sure if this is a warm or cold rating but i wouldn't exceed it either way, which means i wouldn't exceed 40psi cold.

[scirockalot8v]

never had issues with tires blowing. ive been running falken tires on my cars for 6+ years. always just went by what it says on the door. im running 912's, 215/45 on a 8.5 and only running 32psi. over inflating is just going to put stress on the tire. just like mechegg was saying. i would just buy a new tire and move on. thankfully you were alright.

[bboy_jon]

dude i had a ****ty day too! but youve got me beat! I am actually having the same weird metal scraping sound so maybe it is the dust shield. anyways hopefully everything it alright

definitely worth checking out.

I agree that 50psi in a tire probably won't blow it if it is just sitting there...but when you are going 75mph the pressure may increase to ~60psi because of the heat gain. Now that is ridiculously dangerous in my honest opinion....

If anything, 50 psi probably accelerated the issue but I really feel that it was the only problem. Ive learned my lesson and will not run 35, maybe 40 psi in the tires, I was just worried :/

In regards to my alignment, my alignment sucks. I just got an alignment done the morning before the trip. Before the alignment, car veered right, had to hold my steering wheel to the left to stay straight, and when aired out, the front side of the front wheels are both toed out in opposite directions. Here is a rough over exaggerated pic



I dont know why it is like that. I got it aligned after I installed air as well as new ball joints and it was like that, but it was on the old wheels.

After the alignment that I got on friday, I honestly feel like they didnt do ****. Both wheels are still toed out, steering wheel needs to be held left to stay straight, etc. I think its strange because the guy who did it is a vw mechanic and has many years of experience, so I think the problem is more with the car than him...especially since the car has been aligned like that twice.

I have the old wheels on now and the toe is barely noticeable. I guess the 30 mm adapters as well as bigger wheels (granted only 0.5" bigger) amplifies the amount of toe quite a bit.

Still though, any ideas? I need to take the car back to the shop.

Also, I couldnt drive at my exact alignment height since I had a passenger who weighs twice as much as me (not saying hes big, Im just small) so I had to ride quite a bit higher, especially with construction.

[.Ant]

Sounds like you just got a ****ty alignment.

[Unktone]

Fair points, well received.
I'll choose to argue now for the sake of discussion:
I don't think that your alignment proposition is accurate. The higher the pressure, the less drag is produced. Tires will basically roll at any pressure, and given the nature of rubber, not much will allow it to drag especially if it is over-inflated.
The basic tests are performed on a government regulated track, under standard load conditions which would exclude track racing, but include standard highway driving which the OP was doing (I think.) This also includes corners. However, the only technology available to measure internal tire pressure is unavailable to the masses. TPMS is only measured at idle and fail conditions, so we can't really say.
However, I have personally administered tests on a set of tires, one specifically being temperature. It was a set of Michelin Pilot Sport series 3. Internal air pressure was 35psi without any driving during a 90º day. After a lap at 60mph around the track, about a half mile with 3 turns, we measured the air pressure at 40psi, clearly ousting my previous statement about +1-2psi per 60mph.
Tl;Dr, tires are funky, unpredictable creations.

Edit: English is my second language. Excuse me if my thoughts aren't clear

Excellent grammar! Thoughts are clear.

- BA in English

[GLI-R]

Maaaan I just have to love your drawings, simple, understandable and easy to make

nice

[yolo.]

[subisan]

sup dude!!! take care of my spare, it looks boss on your car! Worry about getting your car back safely on the road, don't worry about getting the spare back to me super quick.

Again, sucks about the luck, I know how it feels. Glad we could all pitch in and help you out with some parts to...well,....almost get you home HEY, at least you met some rad dudes and had a decent time!!

I hope your Sunday was better and your week gives you better luck than Saturday did. I was pretty funny watching your GTI show up on a flat bed with fresh, baller RS's. Everybody thought it was a show car

OH, I'll post the pics tomorrow.....and mayyyyybe a video

[Konkordmusk]

Excellent grammar! Thoughts are clear.

- BA in English

Hah, win!

[Nikolay]

Sounds like a fun day. One problem after the other. Glad nothing serious happen. Nice GTI

[peskyrabbit]

You are an idiot. The same idiot who made the butthurt thread about us all getting along. I saw your post and I was thinking this guy must be trolling. Nope you're just that stupid.

Same guy that has a cherry bomb on his GLI. nuff said.

[peskyrabbit]

stretching the tire has nothing to do with why it blew. Stretch is fine.

[Wolfschnee]

I helped a guy on teh side of the road today. He had a camry that is on lease. Less than 15k miles on tires that the dealer put on and at 40 mph his tire ripped like this one, a little worse though. The bead was still on and everything. Couldnt believe it

[tonyb2580]

damn dude.. this happened to me before... not a good feeling.. at least your dad went out his way to help you

[NoIdentity]

i thought 40 was the safe limit, 50 is pushing it imo, plus it must ride LIKE ****

[Hadzo]

bummer bro, at least you were able to safely coast to stop!

50psi is too much... I wouldn't go more than 40 with that type of set-up.

Good luck

[Pasquallies]

sorry to hear that, 50 psi seems like way too much though...

[bboy_jon]

sup dude!!! take care of my spare, it looks boss on your car! Worry about getting your car back safely on the road, don't worry about getting the spare back to me super quick.

Again, sucks about the luck, I know how it feels. Glad we could all pitch in and help you out with some parts to...well,....almost get you home HEY, at least you met some rad dudes and had a decent time!!

I hope your Sunday was better and your week gives you better luck than Saturday did. I was pretty funny watching your GTI show up on a flat bed with fresh, baller RS's. Everybody thought it was a show car

OH, I'll post the pics tomorrow.....and mayyyyybe a video

haha man. No joke, if I was going to any other car show (non-vw) I would have just gotten towed back home. I knew I would be able to find a spare. This is why I love the vw community But yeah, I threw the old wheels on, and a new tire should be coming in later this week. I didnt know that discounttire stopped selling 205/45 falken 512's on their site; I had to order it from their ebay account I will probably just ship the spare back since it will probably be cheaper than gas if thats cool. Although, I wouldnt mind heading back down there since I didnt have a proper road trip lol.

But yeah, I wont be running any more than 40 psi from now on

[blackone8]

50 is really high