Last Updated on October 4, 2026 by Umar Farooq
A washing machine tearing clothes almost always has one specific rough spot doing it, and it is usually findable in five minutes. Where the damage lands on the garment tells you where to look — and on a front-loader the answer is nearly always the door seal rather than the drum.
There is one thing to get straight before you start looking, because it is the part every other page skips. Samsung’s own guidance carries a warning: “Be careful when inspecting the inside of the tub. If jagged edges are present, running a hand over them may cause injury” (laundry is stained or damaged after using a Samsung washing machine).
Do not run your hand around the drum. That is exactly the advice most guides give, and a burr sharp enough to shred cotton will open a finger.
Front-load or top-load? They tear clothes differently
Almost every article on this treats a washer as one machine. The two designs damage laundry through completely different mechanisms, and knowing which one you own removes half the list immediately.
On a front-loader, the culprit is the rubber door boot far more often than the drum. Small garments work their way into the fold between the boot and the drum, get pinched there as the drum turns, and come out stretched or torn along one edge. Samsung’s guidance names the same thing: check “the tub and gasket to see if there’s anything that the fabric is getting snagged on. This can be caused by either a torn or jagged edge, or the tub being out of alignment and creating gaps that laundry can get pinched in.”
That second cause — the tub being out of alignment — is worth noting, because no consumer article mentions it and it explains the machines where nothing is visibly damaged and clothes keep tearing anyway.
On a top-loader, it is the agitator and the tub rim. Fins crack, fabric softener hardens into a sharp edge on the vanes, and the gap where the inner tub meets the outer catches anything small enough to reach it. Damage runs as long snags rather than punched holes.
The safe way to find a snag
Five minutes, no tools, no fingers in the drum.
- Unplug the machine. Everything below assumes the drum cannot turn under power.
- Take an old nylon stocking or a pair of tights and bunch them over your hand — over, not on. Nylon catches on anything that would catch cotton, and it does it without your skin being the sensor.
- Work it slowly around the whole drum interior, including between the fins or paddles. Where it snags, mark the spot with tape from the outside.
- On a front-loader, pull the boot fold back and run the nylon right around inside it. This is where it usually is. While you are there, look for tears in the rubber itself.
- On a top-loader, check the agitator vanes and the rim of the inner tub. Run the nylon along the underside of each fin.
- Check the drum holes. A hole with a raised, pushed-out lip — usually from something metal that went through — is a common and easily missed culprit.
If the nylon comes back untouched everywhere, the machine is probably not your problem. Move to the load.
What the damage looks like tells you the cause
| What you see | Usual cause | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Small holes scattered randomly, mostly on lighter fabrics | Overloading. Fabric under pressure abrades against fabric | Fill the drum to about two-thirds |
| Long snags running in one direction | A rough spot on a fin, vane or tub rim | Find it with the nylon test |
| Damage on one edge or seam only | Pinched in the door boot fold | Bag small items; check the boot |
| Holes with a stretched, laddered look on knitwear | Something metal in the load caught it | Fasten and bag zips, hooks and underwires |
| Damage that started suddenly, on everything | A new object in the drum, or a newly cracked part | Stop and inspect before the next load |
| Fabric thinning and fraying over months, no single hole | Chemistry, not mechanics — bleach or over-dosing | Check dose and additives |
That last row matters because it is not a tearing fault at all. Fabric weakened by chemical over-exposure fails at the weakest point and looks like a machine problem. If it is happening on the same garments repeatedly, look at what goes in the drawer rather than what is in the drum.
What you can stop doing today
None of this needs a part or a technician.
- Bag anything with metal on it. Bras, anything with hooks, small items with zips. Samsung recommends a mesh bag or pillowcase for the same reason with trainers — “to prevent them from causing damage to the washing machine tub” (wash sneakers in your washer). The tub and the laundry are protected by the same habit. See also can you wash shoes in a washing machine.
- Fasten zips and hooks, then turn those garments inside out. The point is fabric against fabric rather than metal against knitwear.
- Stop overloading. A packed drum is the single most common cause of scattered small holes, because clothes cannot move without grinding against each other. There is a proper test in how full should a washing machine be.
- Separate heavy from delicate. Denim and towels in with fine knits is a mechanical mismatch, not a sorting preference.
- Empty pockets. A single key is enough to score a burr into a drum that then damages everything for years afterwards.
- Keep the door boot clean. Residue hardens into an edge. The procedure is in how to clean a washing machine gasket.
When a washing machine tearing clothes is the machine, not the laundry
Stop DIY and get it looked at if any of these are true:
- The nylon snags on the drum itself rather than on the boot or a fin.
- A drum hole has a raised lip you can feel through the nylon.
- The door boot is split or torn, rather than just dirty.
- Damage continues with bagged, fastened, half-size loads — that removes every laundry-side cause.
- The drum moves visibly when pushed, which points at the alignment problem Samsung describes rather than a burr.
A door boot is a routine replacement and usually worth doing. A misaligned or damaged drum on an older machine often is not — if the repair costs more than half a comparable new machine, or the machine is past eight years old, the arithmetic points at replacement.
FAQ
Why is my washing machine suddenly tearing clothes?
Something changed. Either a new object went through the drum and left a burr, a part cracked, or the loads got bigger. Sudden onset almost always means an object.
Can overloading really put holes in clothes?
Yes, and it is the most common cause of scattered small holes. Fabric under compression rubs against fabric for the whole cycle instead of tumbling freely.
Do front-loaders damage clothes more than top-loaders?
No, but they damage them differently. Front-loaders pinch at the door boot; top-loaders snag on the agitator. Top-loaders with a traditional agitator are generally the harsher action.
Why are only my delicate items getting damaged?
Because they are the ones that lose. The snag is affecting everything; heavier fabric just survives it. Bagging delicates hides the symptom, so keep looking for the cause.
Is it safe to feel around the drum for a rough edge?
No. Samsung specifically warns that running a hand over jagged edges may cause injury. Use a nylon stocking over your hand instead — it finds the same snag and cannot be cut by it.
Could my detergent be causing holes?
Not holes, but it can cause thinning that ends in holes. Undiluted bleach and persistent over-dosing weaken fibres, and the fabric then fails where it is thinnest.
