Brown trousers time

[Aswall]

On my way back up the M1 this morn, in the outside lane at about 90 (km/h obviously) and the car started wobbling. In the time it took for my daughter to say "what's that wobbling" the nearside rear tyre shredded itself and the view behind disappeared in black smoke. Managed to get across to the hard shoulder quickly and easily, thankfully traffic was light with it being Sunday morn, but it was an unpleasant experience. The tyre had completely ripped in two along the sidewall but thankfully the wheel was undamaged and thanks to the excellent toolkit (which even included a pair of gloves so I didn't get my delicate little hands dirty) swapping the wheel with the spacesaver took 5 minutes. Handling is certainly interesting with the spacesaver on and it was a slow plod back home at 50mph but thankfully my local tyre place had one in stock and had me back on the road again in 15mins (except I can't work out how the jack fits back in without making the boot floor stick up). The tyre (and the car) had only done 3000 miles but it's the luck of the draw whether something happens to a tyre I suppose.


All in all it was quite an experience, my first blowout in 18 yrs of driving but someone was smiling on me and let my daughter and I walk away from it and even left the car undamaged (though that is pretty unimportant in comparison).

Cheers
Andy

 

[mw_C32]

Phew scary!!!
Well controled M8 lets hope it doesn,t happen again.

 

[Brian WH]

All that matters is that you are both OK.:bannana: :bannana:

I've had a front wheel blow out, on an old car, and they are not to be recommended are they M8, mine didn't shred just went down bl**dy fast.

 

[Kinky]

Andy,

Glad it all worked out OK for you!

Happened to me once in the Beemer estate - I thought I had an engine problem not a blow out!!!!

And my brother had one on the M3 and spun and spun across all 3 lanes - fortunately, like you, very little traffic.

But scary. And it serves as a warning to us all - check your tyres regularly. It's the only thing that keeps us on the road.

K

 

[andy_k]

lost a front tyre in my Citroen CX once at 120 mph (on the autobahn) - no dramas and drove for another 2 or 3 miles before we stopped. Now there's a proper suspension system Mind you the tyre was ripped to shreds once we did pull over.

Glad you escaped that one OK though

Andy

 

[Tan]

Andy

Sorry to hear that glad you are ok.


BTW: What make was your tyre?

I have Dunlop SP9000's and on saturday i went up a kerb and the sidewall just split, i am thinking there may be a problem with the tyre as my tire was quite new and was at the correct pressure. I am lucky that it went whilst going slow and not when i was going at speed.

Tan

 

[Aswall]

Thanks guys, I'm very glad it wasn't a front tyre or things could have been different. Like you say, the only things that matter are the people inside and not the car, especially when you're carrying the most precious cargo possible - your kids. Believe me, I have checked over the remaining tyres VERY carefully and will do regularly from now on. What took me by surprise was that there was absolutely no warning that something was wrong, apart from 2 seconds of wobbling, presumably the tyre losing all it's pressure, before it ripped from the wheel. The only thing I can think of is that I ran over something very sharp and large enough to rip a big enough hole to cause instant loss of pressure but I certainly didn't see anything. The guys at the tyre place had a look at the tread and couldn't see any other damage on the visible tread, though as it was in two halves that was hardly conclusive! They also asked me if I wanted to keep it as a spare

Tan, the car was fitted with Michelin Pilot Primacys. The tyre place didn't have one of those in stock and fitted a Continental and it hasn't altered the handling.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Shude]

I just realised that this is a wheel/tyre story, time to move it...