A bit of a rant and asking you guys for advice here.
For the past 8 or 9 months after acquiring my 2020HE, I have been running KO3s installed by the Toyota dealer I bought the car from. Always been great, rotated, no problem balancing, relatively quiet for an AT, all good traits I became used with when previously using KO2s. Have not had the opportunity yet of ridding them in off-road trails - will do next month on a planned trip to Big Bend.
This past week, I left work to pick up lunch at a near restaurant and on my way back driving on the highway, warning light pops up and passenger rear tire light starts displaying dropping pressure - 40 to 35 to 33 to 25 and so on. I take an exit ramp, turn into a back street and stop. Pressure still dropping. Got out of the car, went to look and see a slice in the tire and air gushing out to a point where it stopped at zero. Long story short, called my insurance, put the spare and head to Discount tire. When I get there, the guys confirmed my expectation, damaged beyond repair. Tire was sliced on the wall, air gushing out.
I was surprised by that, since I am running the E-rated 285/65/18s KO3s. So, supposedly, 10 ply, strong sidewall, etc...and I get a sliced wall driving at 65mph on the highway? Normal? Even the guys at DT, were like puzzled with this outcome in such a strong and meaty tire. They suggested I ran next to a very sharp piece of debris or even a knife blade on the highway. Either that or someone did not like my car and decided to gut my tire with a pocket knife. Although possible, I do not think the latter was the case, since the pressure only started dropping after I was already driving for a good 8 minutes or so.
My questions:
1 - Your opinion about what happened and are the KO3s E-rated not as strong as the KO2s? Should I be concerned using them on my next trip to Big Bend?
2 - On terms of replacement. I have already about 4500 miles on the other 3 tires. I was planing on buying a cheapo AT to replace the 60 profile OEM spare. Should I now, use the other rear tire as spare and replace both rear tires at a sligtly increased cost, as opposed to just replacing the damaged tire with a brand new one? Would there be any meaningful difference between a brand new and a 4500 mile KO3 that would justify evening out both sides?
Pic below. Sadly I did not get a good pic of the actual slice damaging the tire.
For the past 8 or 9 months after acquiring my 2020HE, I have been running KO3s installed by the Toyota dealer I bought the car from. Always been great, rotated, no problem balancing, relatively quiet for an AT, all good traits I became used with when previously using KO2s. Have not had the opportunity yet of ridding them in off-road trails - will do next month on a planned trip to Big Bend.
This past week, I left work to pick up lunch at a near restaurant and on my way back driving on the highway, warning light pops up and passenger rear tire light starts displaying dropping pressure - 40 to 35 to 33 to 25 and so on. I take an exit ramp, turn into a back street and stop. Pressure still dropping. Got out of the car, went to look and see a slice in the tire and air gushing out to a point where it stopped at zero. Long story short, called my insurance, put the spare and head to Discount tire. When I get there, the guys confirmed my expectation, damaged beyond repair. Tire was sliced on the wall, air gushing out.
I was surprised by that, since I am running the E-rated 285/65/18s KO3s. So, supposedly, 10 ply, strong sidewall, etc...and I get a sliced wall driving at 65mph on the highway? Normal? Even the guys at DT, were like puzzled with this outcome in such a strong and meaty tire. They suggested I ran next to a very sharp piece of debris or even a knife blade on the highway. Either that or someone did not like my car and decided to gut my tire with a pocket knife. Although possible, I do not think the latter was the case, since the pressure only started dropping after I was already driving for a good 8 minutes or so.
My questions:
1 - Your opinion about what happened and are the KO3s E-rated not as strong as the KO2s? Should I be concerned using them on my next trip to Big Bend?
2 - On terms of replacement. I have already about 4500 miles on the other 3 tires. I was planing on buying a cheapo AT to replace the 60 profile OEM spare. Should I now, use the other rear tire as spare and replace both rear tires at a sligtly increased cost, as opposed to just replacing the damaged tire with a brand new one? Would there be any meaningful difference between a brand new and a 4500 mile KO3 that would justify evening out both sides?
Pic below. Sadly I did not get a good pic of the actual slice damaging the tire.
