For the second time, the front right tire on my 1996 854R decided to tear apart. The sidewall and tread are becoming two separate pieces, a decidedly bad thing (picture top view). The tire is a Yokohama ES100 with a little over 20,000 miles on it. The first tire this happened to was a Kumho Ecsta Supra 712 (picture). I just figured it was a crappy tire.

Here's some background on the car: Ball joints were replaced and the car was aligned immediately after putting the new Yokohamas on the car. Struts, mounting plates, spring seats, sway bar links were all replaced for the first time in 104,000 miles a couple days ago which is how I found that tire in the first place. One thing I noticed when taking the old left strut off was that the nuts holding the mounting plate to the body were fairly loose, a bit over hand tight. Far from the 51 ft-lbs the manual calls for. Any chance that had something to do with it?

-Greg