A "chunk missing" from the tire bead?

Have the wife's CR-V at the tire place to get the snow tires taken off and the all-seasons put back on. Tire place calls and says they can't mount two of the all-seasons because one of them has a "chunk missing" from the bead, and the other tire's bead is breaking down. The tires are about 3 years old and haven't been used in the winter, they're stored in bags in the garage during the winter. So I haven't seen the tires yet, I suppose it's possible a rodent decided to eat part of the bead, else a chunk is missing due to their incompetence as they're the ones who have been changing them out.

Furthermore, the guy says the two 'good' tires have more than half tread, so I'd only need two new tires. On an AWD vehicle. That sounds like more of a difference between old and new tread depth than an AWD system would be psyched about.

It all sounds sketchy AF to me so I told them to leave the snow tires on and we'd be picking it up today. Costco it is, I guess.

Truly, I don't know much about tires. But this just isn't passing the smell test for me. Tire beads breaking down in 3 years? Chunks missing? What do you think?

Not sure about the bead, but I put two new tires on my AWD X5 last year. The other tires were greater than the appropriate tread depth. I had no negative effects that I could discern.

An old girlfriend had that happen to her tires. Every fall/spring, she would have the tires changed from winter/summer. The repeated mounting and dismounting ruined the bead of the tire. It's better to have two sets of rims for winter/summer tires.

Never had chunks of tire missing for me as well. It is possible that it might have hit something sharp? Or like you said rodent took a bite out of it? ;)

Anyway, I'd agree with Cam that you probably should just have a set of cheap steel rims for you winter tires as well... so you can just swap them yourself rather than mount and dismount tires every season. (who knows if those guy damaged your all seasons during the installation or not?)

Lastly, CRV's AWD isn't really full time anyways. Overtime, I believe your front ones will wear more than the rears over the years. So just install your new tires in the front.

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Originally Posted by pl8ster

Tire beads breaking down in 3 years? Chunks missing? What do you think?

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I had my local shop change tires twice a year on my Camry for two or three years, and then for eleven years on my Accord. Yeah, I know, but I kept telling myself I'd sell the Accord before the seasons changed again. That car needed practically nothing for so long that I just kept driving it and saving my money.

That Accord must have had two sets or maybe even three of winter tires in all that time, but I never had a problem with swapping tires on the same set of wheels, except the price for a seasonal swap being higher every time I went in. No tire bead problems or anything like that that.

When I bought my Ridgeline (used) almost five years ago, I finally treated myself to a 3-ton floor jack, a long breaker bar, and a set of OEM steel wheels from a lower-trim version of the same vehicle from craigslist. Not only have the jack and wheels paid for themselves by now in money saved at the tire shop, even better is that I can change my tires & wheels anytime I want to at home for free. When that first big storm in the fall is forecast, you won't find me lined up around the block at Discount Tire anymore.

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Originally Posted by Crazed_Insanity

CRV's AWD isn't really full time anyways. Overtime, I believe your front ones will wear more than the rears over the years. So just install your new tires in the front.

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Same with the Ridgeline. It's mostly FWD. I rotate them so the more worn pair go on the back each time to prolong the life of both sets of four tires. The tire shop always insisted on putting the better tires on the rear and telling me that was safer. That may be, but it also means I'd need to buy tires a little sooner, so I enjoy "sticking it to the man" by putting the better pair on the front now. :rawk:

I had this happen once with an S2000 tire or two... but I'll be darned if I remember what the cause was. Maybe, like you, I didn't know how it happened.

I have only seen a tire machine in action briefly, and it seems to be this kind of damage would be more likely to happen during mounting than dismounting.

I've never owned an AWD car either but most talk I hear is that the tire diameter difference needs to be within 1-3% for the AWD system to still be happy. A 50% difference in tread should fall within that range easily.

Almost certainly a rough tyre tech guy has damaged the bead. It happens.

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Originally Posted by CudaMan

I've never owned an AWD car either but most talk I hear is that the tire diameter difference needs to be within 1-3% for the AWD system to still be happy. A 50% difference in tread should fall within that range easily.

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I'd always heard that, but judging by the Explorers at work where we only replace tires when flat (plenty of flats in city driving) or bald, it doesn't really matter. The drivetrains still hold up better than the Crown Vics did.

Different tire diameters between left and right can cause unnecessary stress for the differentials… and differences between front and back for 4WD can cause stress for transfer case… these tiny differences won’t cause immediate problems, but can slowly build up over the years and shorten the life of your drivetrain.

My Kia Sorento has AWD, but over time, tire wear at the front is still much faster, so that’s telling me that AWD is probably rarely engaged. I just have to balance things out with tire rotations.

Just make sure you get a pair of same kind of tires. Different size/brand/tread design will probably have slightly different traction, these differences could cause undue stress for the AWD drivetrain too.

Post pics. Some of us have experience working in tire shops.

But, as a general rule, you don't want chunks missing from the bead.

Also, if the other tires are are 50% that's about the limit of what you can mix new tires with. So either get 2 same exact tires (you want to match the tires on an all wheel drive vehicle.) or go buy a new set.