Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 120
Troubleshooting; Distraction
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
On takeoff; shortly before reaching V1; I felt a little shimmy; or wobble or maybe a vibration. Hard to describe exactly. Continued takeoff and all was normal. The shimmy; or whatever it was; went away after takeoff. I opened up a discussion with my FO (and a jumpseater) about what the heck that was; and whether I should write it up. They felt it too; but didn't have any idea what it was. I thought maybe it was just attributable to the relatively high tire speeds taking off in ZZZ; especially with flaps 1. Maybe a tire or two were a bit out of balance? I decided if we felt anything odd on the landing; I'd write it up. Sure enough; we did. As we were taxiing in; an airplane behind us reported tire debris where we exited the runway. Later someone on the frequency reported that our right inboard tire was 'shredded.' In my mind; I pictured the tire as having some of the tread coming off; but otherwise intact. The airplane taxied normally. As we approached the gate; the marshaller stopped us well short; and was pointing at the tire. We shut down; and they towed us in the rest of the way. My FO and I went down after we were parked; to have a look. We were shocked to see the tire severely damaged; and practicality off the wheel! There were also numerous black marks on the fuselage that were caused by pieces of tire hitting it. I heard - second hand - that some passengers said they heard it on takeoff. No one said a word to us until after landing! If I'd have known the tire had failed on takeoff; I'd have done a few things differently.1. I might have considered leaving the gear extended 2. I would have asked the tower to conduct a runway inspection 3. If the tower had reported finding parts of a tire on the runway; I'd have considered returning to ZZZ.If I'd have had any idea about how badly the tire was damaged; I would have had equipment standing by for our landing; and I would have been asked to be towed to the gate. I'm still amazed that the flight attendants didn't report anything out of the ordinary. In my experience; they're usually not shy about doing that! I guess I need to make that a part of my briefing - that they are our eyes and ears in the cabin and to please report anything unusual.
[Report narrative contained no additional information.]
B737 flight crew reported a vibration during the takeoff roll that was later determined to be from a failure of a main landing gear inner tire.