I had to slam on the brakes the other day and thanks to no ABS I locked them up and slid some. Now I believe that Ive created a bit of a balder spot on them and they make noise now driving obviously. Is the only solution to replace them or what can I do to fix this? Thanks guys.

 

yup their done for unless you can live with the noise. theres no way to fix it or wear them out to even them up. Sorry that sucks.

 

Agh...... Not true at all... Don't post unless you know what your talkin about!!!!!
It depends on how bad they are... i'll look at em tomorrow..

Mike

 

Do a small burnout...

 

this may be a dumb question but when i locked them did i lock all 4 or just the front?

 

All four, I would imagine. I don't see how you would lock up front seperate from rear.

I agree, do a burnout, rotate, burnout.

That's how I evened out my tires after doing some ebrake 'drifting' for a while, created a flat spot in my rears. Put rears on front, created a little water box, burned them till they were good and round.

And yea, I know, harming the car and putting stress on the transmission and so on and so forth.

 

Must have been crap tires to begin with, buy new ones, but I agree with everyone, burnout the flat spot, just use water

 

How do you figure they are crap tires. I did the same thing with nice Yokohama Tires. The softer the tire the more likely this is to happen.

 

it depends... if the tire is significantly balder in that one area than there really is no way to repair it. Inspect it, measure the tread depth outside and inside the area. How much tread is left where the spot is? If its bald than forget it, as the tire gradually wears away the vibration/noise will diminish but will never terminate.

Also, I would think only the fronts locked up. If you lock all fours, the car essentially will spin out of control.

 

well, im assuming that the tires are the problem.... to me it only makes sense. what else could i have done by locking them up and sliding 20 yards. The noise is proportional to the rotation of the half shafts. They are Bridgestone Potenzas so they are at least name brand. Is it possible that I warped a rotor by slamming on them that hard that would contribute to such a noise?

 

No. Its the tires. I have done this before. It almost sounds like you are riding on a flat tire.

 

^^^^ good, thanks for the input. Puts my mind at ease a little more. It does feel almost like a flat.

 

Hate to say it but sounds like its tire time.

 

wow, i'm surprised that happened after one incident. musta been really rough pavement? oh well. I would say save the two that are decent and get all four new ones. then if you are really in a bind, you still have two that you can always use before buying. (assuming the tread isn't worthless...)

 

It's happened to me. I opted to buy new tires. I would try a burnout first. MOST LIKELY it is only the front tires that locked up.

 

pmohr- Are you kidding? Have you heard of a brake proportioning valve? The front gets more brake force than the back. Which would you rather have lock up first?

NCSU- If you mashed the brake pedal and started sliding sideways (just a bit) then you got all four. No matter what you will have gotten the fronts worse than the rear though. I was thinking if you burned off the "excess" rubber on the rest of the tire it might even it out a little. Doesn't hurt to try, right? If it doesn't work you can get new ones, and you can have had the joy of smoking 'em off a little.
And no, you didn't warp your rotors, unless you were working the brakes pretty hard to begin with, or unless you stopped smoothly/hard from ~140mph but only locked 'em from 40 or so. But what you describe is definitely your tires. I vote for burning 'em off. And you should tape it.

 

thanks again for the help guys. I have to agree it does seem weird that stopping from about 40 mph would be enough to deform the tire in such a way but it does make sense. I do need new tires soon anyway so this may not be so bad afterall i guess.

 

well i checked the tires today and they are definitely the reason for the noise. Both fronts have spots at least the size of both my palms that are much flatter than the surrounding tread. I guess Ill just have to live w/ it till I get new ones - I might try a burnout to even it out some. Theyre just noisy right now but driveable. Thanks for the help guys.