Weird tire problem - blowout averted? Defective Nexen CP641 tire?

[kjarrett]

2002 Camry LE, 4 cyl. Daughter's car, got it in June. One-owner dealer trade, 82k miles, great condition. Love the car so far. Had a weird problem today, hope you guys can help me figure out what happened.

First, the tires (front) are Nexen CP641's: http://www.nexentireusa.com/tires-6/CP641 - brand new as far as I can tell. Rears are Geostar RX-615's http://www.geostartire.com/tire_size...ead_Num=RX-615). Car has always ridden wonderfully on the highway, quiet and smooth. We were to bring her up to college today, and while prepping the car, I noticed the tires were 25 PSI cold ... way lower than I'm used to running. Max is 44 psi, so I pumped them all to 36 & checked with a reliable gauge. Packed the car with about 3/4 of her stuff (NOT overloaded), the rest went into my '97 as we were going to follow her up. Daughter was driving the '02 with my wife as passenger. I followed in my '97 with my other daughter.

About 10 miles into the trip my daughter flags me down complaining about a massive steering wheel / front end vibration. I get behind the wheel and sure enough, at 60-65 the car was vibrating so bad the rearview mirror was shaking. I am puzzled at this point because the car has been awesome all summer, she took many trips on the highway with no problems.

This is where it gets weird. We pull into a service area and I check the front end. The front driver side tire is INCREDIBLY HOT. The steel rim is TOO HOT TO TOUCH. The front passenger side tire is warm but not hot. I check and the tires are now up to 40 PSI (it was about 88 degrees outside.) Not knowing what else to try (remember the car is loaded and we're bringing her to school), I drop the pressure on all four tires to 33 PSI. THE AIR COMING OUT OF THE DRIVER SIDE TIRE WAS UNBEARABLY HOT. Like, really, really hot. The air coming out of all the other tire was warm, but not anywhere near as hot as the driver side front.

We start driving again and it's still vibrating but less and less as we go. Eventually the vibration goes away completely and the car is smooth again at 65-70. At this point I'm leery about having her take the car to school (two hours away) so we return home, swap cars and leave the '02 behind for me to find out what's going on.

What could cause one tire to heat up like that?

Is it potentially defective?

Would it being out of balance explain this? If so, why would lowering the PSI matter?

I'd never heard of NEXEN tires before she got this car but when I researched them I read good things and figured they'd be worth keeping. Even thought about ditching the GEOSTARS (they are also new) to have four matching tires (I always run matching sets). Now I'm not so sure, and to be honest, am half a mouse click away from getting her four BF Goodrich Advantage T/A's on Tire Rack and selling these tires on Craigslist.

I just want to know if something other than the tire itself could be to blame for the vibration and temperature spike. Remember - it dissipated when I lowered the PSI.

Thanks!

-kj-

EDIT: Holy crap. Post on another car forum got me thinking - they said it could be a sticking brake caliper. Forgot to mention - when we braked we definitely felt a pulsing, like a rotor out of round - and I already planned to have the brakes checked Monday. And, my daughter also told me she recently recalled having to press the brake pedal down a lot further than she felt it should go before the car would stop. Brake fluid level is right on, checked with all the other fluids before the trip.

[gdanaher]

Yep, before reading your edit comment, my thought was that the caliper was hanging and dragging. This will toast the bearing and the wheel, and given enough time, set it all on fire. Yes, I've seen this. It just isn't the tire. Pull the tire and then the caliper and look for crud that would prevent it from sliding smoothly. The rotors might be warped as well but that is another problem and wouldn't cause what you described. If you haven't worked on these things and don't know what to look for, take it your trusted mechanic. The caliper can have a problem and it can be quite subtle.

[kjarrett]

Thanks. We already called our local trusted brake guy and the car will be in the shop first thing Monday!

[Glenn8963]

try to never exceed the manufactures tire inflation label. you WILL HAVE handling problems.

get the brakes fixed.

[gdanaher]

The tire pressure was excessively highbecause the tire was so hot from friction from the brake hanging. I'm pretty sure he didn't set the pressures that high to begin with.

[kjarrett]

Originally Posted by gdanaher

The tire pressure was excessively highbecause the tire was so hot from friction from the brake hanging. I'm pretty sure he didn't set the pressures that high to begin with.

Essentially correct - I set them to 36 PSI cold - they -all- warmed to 40 PSI after driving about 10 miles - but I am certain that if we had continued driving that tire's pressure would have gone way above 40 and possibly even failed.

[gdanaher]

Really, the easiest fix for this is to buy a rebuilt caliper from the local parts store--about $70 without pads, and replace the caliper, bleed off about a half cup of fluid to get rid of what was in the line that got hot, and then refill with new and bleed the caliper. Less costly than trying to find out what is wrong with the old one by disassembling it and then cleaning the rusty parts that hung.

[kjarrett]

Originally Posted by gdanaher

Really, the easiest fix for this is to buy a rebuilt caliper from the local parts store--about $70 without pads, and replace the caliper, bleed off about a half cup of fluid to get rid of what was in the line that got hot, and then refill with new and bleed the caliper. Less costly than trying to find out what is wrong with the old one by disassembling it and then cleaning the rusty parts that hung.

Thanks but this is my daughter's car and it has to be perfect. I've got a trustworthy brake guy I have been using for years. I enjoyed saving $$$ on the radiator install I did on my '97 (and several other repairs) but this is different. I need the work done right so I'm not touching it!