Almost4x4

In our off-roading club history we had few cases, when we thought that it was a pop-out for a rear tyre, and then we discovered, that the whole tyre was cut like with the sharp knife at outside diameter. If you look at attached image, you can see that the bottom of shock absorber fixing is cutting the tyre at extreme situations, mostly at side sliding.

Did you experience the same situation before? I witnessed the same cut with Fida, Shamsi and Jackal... What do you suggest as the solution, except to speak with Toyota R&D in Japan?

Can you suggest any solution for this, to avoid full tyre replacement (AED 800) and have any delays in desert driving to replace the damaged tyre?

Do we know if the cars in these situations had spacers installed?

I never came across this personally but I am working on rubber boots for this sharp component so once I am done 'll post photos

Yes, Fida is using spacers...

Melfi;20600 wrote:Do we know if the cars in these situations had spacers installed?

Yes, Fida is using spacers...

Hi Capri

Are you sure it is the lower shock mounting point causing the problem?

On the car in the pictures, there is a bracket for the hand brake cable that was bent and twisted and had bits of shredded tire rubber on it.

This bracket is closer to the tire than the shock mount.
It is also closer to the outer perimeter of the tire.

The cuts in the tire are just below the tread.
The shock mount is closer to the rim.

If it did get ripped on the shock mount, i would say it was probably post pop out.

Just some of my observations, on one incident.

Regards
Paul

Ok.. just crowled out from under my wife's FJ and I can confirm 2 things:

1- The cut happens AFTER the pop-out. The tire has to be completely flat and firmly pressed upward for the rubber to touch the metal.
2- There is a very tiny edge on the lower fixing 2-3 mm, that can be grinded off, but that won't help much either since the edge will remain

From this, my conclusion is that neither spacers not cambering won't help, (this is post pop-out) and grinding won't completely remove the edge.

However, Toyota did leave two holes on the side of the arm which can be used to bolt a custom made cover with no edges,,, something like this



Of course it has to be modified to fit tightly and have holes for the bolt etc.. but you get the idea!!.

More over, there is another part in the FJ Rear Wheel Well that I have seen cutting rubber previously, and it is a small guiding bracket that keeps the hand brake like in place. If I get a photo I will share..

for 3.5 years I didn't face such a problem, and hope I won't, but what Paul says about the position of the cut and the shock mount position is true, I have seen this happening not with FJs but that was due to external reasons, related to some wood or metal rubbish on the sand

and what DL is saying about this happening after pop out fits perfectly, not only due to this sharp edge, but sometimes due to the rim pressing on the rubber which was crumbled, and not only flat, now that I have seen before, in different cars

pwood;20610 wrote:Hi Capri

Are you sure it is the lower shock mounting point causing the problem?

On the car in the pictures, there is a bracket for the hand brake cable that was bent and twisted and had bits of shredded tire rubber on it.

This bracket is closer to the tire than the shock mount.
It is also closer to the outer perimeter of the tire.

The cuts in the tire are just below the tread.
The shock mount is closer to the rim.

If it did get ripped on the shock mount, i would say it was probably post pop out.

Just some of my observations, on one incident.

Regards
Paul

I'm pretty sure, that it is the lowest point, which can touch the rubber, not on the side, where is no bending of the tyre at slopes (hand brake cable).

Desert Lizard;20614 wrote:Ok.. just crowled out from under my wife's FJ and I can confirm 2 things:

1- The cut happens AFTER the pop-out. The tire has to be completely flat and firmly pressed upward for the rubber to touch the metal.
2- There is a very tiny edge on the lower fixing 2-3 mm, that can be grinded off, but that won't help much either since the edge will remain

From this, my conclusion is that neither spacers not cambering won't help, (this is post pop-out) and grinding won't completely remove the edge.

However, Toyota did leave two holes on the side of the arm which can be used to bolt a custom made cover with no edges,,, something like this



Of course it has to be modified to fit tightly and have holes for the bolt etc.. but you get the idea!!.

More over, there is another part in the FJ Rear Wheel Well that I have seen cutting rubber previously, and it is a small guiding bracket that keeps the hand brake like in place. If I get a photo I will share..

I don't believe that the cut is after pop-out, but after bending the tyre towards inside. Anyway, my suggestion is to built round smooth protection (custom made) to the lowest point of shock bracket.