The belts separated on my Hankooks on the front of my Flex.

I was having problems with the front end on my 2009 Flex. Handling wasn't as good as it was but everything seems tight. I checked it out and couldn't find anything wrong. I brought it to a garage I trust and they showed me on the lift that it looks like the belts separated on both front tires. I have had them on for about 12-15,000 miles. They were on the rear last fall and I rotated them before winter. I did not check the production dates but I thought it was unusual for this to happen to both fronts. The only two scenarios I can see is from hitting pot holes, but for it to happen to both seemed odd. The other would be when leaving the stop light in the snow I would have a lot of tire spin. I would let off the gas and the traction control would kick in. When the tires got traction the whole front end would jar, almost like a neutral drop. It only happened a couple of times but it was enough to make me think I could break I CV joint. Any thoughts?

Were they both run flat or very low on pressure at one point?

No. 35psi or close to it all the way around.

Are they the proper load rating?

The odds of two failing without a flaw in that run of tires are pretty long. Could happen, but... I'd replace all 4.

Have you done a search for cord failures in that model of tire?

I am replacing them on Thursday. I didn't search for other incidents that is a good suggestion. Load rating is fine. I haven't seen this happen before so I thought I would throw it out there and see if anyone else had.

First things first, replace the tires. I'd suggest replacing all four myself.

Few things to aid the finger pointing and speculation:

1. Slam a speed bump and you damage both tires equally.

2. Dates codes similar on the tires? Bad batch is possible.

3. Not all tires like being reversed. I've had tires become essentially bad when spun backwards after many miles. Particularly when it happens to be on the front of a front wheel drive car.

Definitely replace both tires ASAP, but I'd recommend replacing all four.

Tread and/or belt separations can be caused by a number of things:

• Production issue
• Instant gain of traction (eg. when transitioning from ice to clean pavement with the wheel spinning)
• Harsh impacts (speed bumps, curbs, potholes, etc.)
• Running under the recommended inflation pressure (even if the TPMS light isn't on you can still be 25% under the target)
• Combinations of the above

Grab the whole DOT code (which includes production week) from both tires and get in contact with Hankook's customer service group. They might be able to help if it was a production issue.

Thanks for the replies. I dropped it off tonight to have all four replaced tomorrow. Gaining instant traction was my thought, I was just looking for other opinions.