Drive Tires Sidewall Mystery

Has anyone ever had this condition on their tire sidewall?

Who knows what this is?

I was on I-90 in Montana, about 20 miles NW of Hardin when this occurred early this morning.

Looks like you had a run in with a large porcupine!

Definitely someone with a toothpick machine gun laying in wait for 18 wheelers.

Are those the belts? That guy had only one job.

What is the spike material? Metal nails? Plastic? Flexible? When you push them- do they leak? Surely this has happened before?

Packrat, I have seen a lot of weird things in tires. I don't know what you have there, but I am leaning toward Navypoppop's explanation. If you get it figured out, let us know what you think it is.

Here's a crazy story about the things that get stuck in tires. I had a friend in my hometown who ran a small tire shop. He had a collection of things that he found inside tires. One day a lady called him for road service to replace her blown tire. He found a 10mm wrench had punctured the tire and was completely loose and free inside the tire when he took it off the rim. Here's the part that really makes the story unique. It was his wrench! He had been working on his truck that morning before leaving for his shop. He forgot he laid the wrench on his bumper and took off for work with the wrench riding on the bumper. Somewhere along the way it fell off, and she later hit it just right so she could return it to him!

I’m thinking Cactus. Oddly enough, Montana does have them, so it’s possible.

It was a porcupine.

I was on I-94 in SE Montana, heading back to Cheyenne. Just topping a hill with a slight bend, I picked up something right on the zipper line. My split second thought was Skunk, so instinctively slightly jogged to the right. It startled me so bad, I actually raised my left leg and foot off the floorboard. Luckily, the seatbelt prevented jumping out of the seat! Why that reaction, I have no idea.

After I did not feel any bumps, and no smell, I hoped we had narrowly missed each other. I drove another 25 miles to Hardin, stopping there for some go-go juice. That's when I see that the porcupine had left his calling card in the sidewalls. It was that close! The only thing those quills won't penetrate for the first week is steel. They are that sharp.

Thanks for the explanation. I was actually thinking about this today and was hoping to hear what it actually was. As you can see, I have no life. I am sitting around thinking about PackRat's tires!