Ever had a puncture at speed?

[AMGeed]

Just returned from a short break at Center Parcs in Elveden Forest Suffolk and the E63 was faultless but for one alarming incident.

Last Monday afternoon , a few miles past the Birchanger services on the M11 close to Stansted and heading north I was accelerating past a line of slower moving cars in the outside of two lanes. (How can that section be called a motorway with only two lanes? Its a glorified dual carriageway!)
I think I was doing around 79mph when I had a rear puncture. With cars on my inside and nowhere to go on the outside it wasn't pleasant keeping the car in a straight line. Naturally when I could get to the hard shoulder the tyre was almost shredded and I wasn't prepared to continue on the tiny spare limited to 50mph or change a wheel on the hard shoulder.
I called Mobilo and was told assistance would be with me within an hour. It was closer to two, and dark, and me and the boss were getting pretty cold waiting a safe distance away from the car for the breakdown truck. It was too late to get the tyre replaced that day so Mercedes kindly authorised a replacement and had the car, me and the missus transported to Bishops Stortford dealership about 7 miles away.
Arrived at the dealership to very efficient and friendly service staff who took details of what had happened and agreed to fit a new Goodyear F1 Asymmetic 5 rear tyre the following day and inspect the car for any damage. I was to take the hire car on to Center Parcs and return it next day.

I can't speak highly enough of the ride in the GLC200d hybrid I was given. Returned it next day and collected the now fixed E63 with new tyre and zero damage.
Cost to me.............£75+vat for 30min inspection and tyre fitting, £224 for new tyre, and £24 diesel top up of hire car.
Not the way I expected to start a 5 day break.
Couple of pics to show a remapped E63 is capable of decent mpg on a decent run. This was taken at the services on the way up jus before the puncture.
1st pic, parked up on the M11 hard shoulder.

 

[E55BOF]

I had a rear let go on an Audi 100 Avant, doing about 85, decades ago on the M20 on my way back from Dover. A big chunk had come off the inner sidewall. Not much veering, no drama, just a lot of banging in the wheelarch as the rest of the tyre flailed around. It was late at night, so I put the 50 mph spare on and finished the journey (best part of 100 miles) on that.

 

[AMGeed]

I had a rear let go on an Audi 100 Avant, doing about 85, decades ago on the M20 on my way back from Dover. A big chunk had come off the inner sidewall. Not much veering, no drama, just a lot of banging in the wheelarch as the rest of the tyre flailed around. It was late at night, so I put the 50 mph spare on and finished the journey (best part of 100 miles) on that.

Far too dodgy to risk changing the wheel so close to the live lane.
It all worked out OK anyway.

 

[chic0821]

A few years ago, in a CLS, going to Aberdeen at 6am on the dual carriageway about 75mph on the outside lane when I was overtaking someone I just saw something on the road but went over it, both front & rear drivers side tyre blew out. Surprisingly I managed to slow right down with no drama. There was a garage a few hundred yards farther on which I pulled into. Obviously with 2 tyres ruined I was not going anywhere. Other cars started trickling in with the same problems. Phoned Mercedes who said they would get a breakdown truck to me. Spoke with an Audi driver who phoned Audi recovery, but only got a recorded message saying they were closed till around 8am. My truck arrived about 45mins later & was taken to Mercedes Aberdeen where a C class was waiting for me. On the road up we passed around 5 cars on the hard shoulder They had the car for 2 days to replace 1 wheel & 2 tyres. Great service. Never did find out what was on the road

 

[Fez7]

A couple months ago I was doing around 80 in the middle lane. As I passed 2 vehicles that were on the hard shoulder I realised they must have been in an accident as some debris suddenly rolled into my lane from that direction at speed. As there were cars on both sides of me it was too dangerous to take evasive action and it all happened in a split second so the object rolled straight into my front nearside tyrewall causing a blowout and a buckled wheel. Amazingly the tyre pressure warning never set off though!

I managed to pull onto the hard shoulder but didn't fancy trying to put the spare on myself next to a live lane so called Mobilo (RAC) as well as AA since I have cover with them through my bank account. AA came first within the hour so cancelled Mobilo. I resumed my journey on the space saver without any issues albeit obviously slower than usual so I didn't get my pants pulled down by Merc for the cost of a new tyre. I was actually planning to replace all 4 tyres a couple days later anyway.

 

[BTB 500]

Far too dodgy to risk changing the wheel so close to the live lane.
It all worked out OK anyway.

AFAIK it's not recommended to do it yourself anyway ... I had a tyre let go on the M3 on our S203, and got the RAC to put the space saver on. Continuing at 50 was quicker than trying to source a replacement tyre or car there and then, but I agree you'd have to be rather more careful with one on the back of an E63

 

[Deleted member 159894]

I was once a passenger in a car that lost a wheel at speed.

In my mate’s Dolly Sprint on the way for a hair of the dog lunchtime pint, left hand bend and I was looking at the grass verge and wondering why we were so close, looked up to see a wheel bouncing ahead of us, it slowly dawned on me that it looked very much like a Dolomite alloy.

We pulled in OK but were on a common and couldn’t find the wheel, luckily some friends pulled up and helped locate it.

Onice safely in the pub I found out why the wheel came off, shortage of bolts meant only 3 were on each wheel.

 

[TeddyRuxpin]

Glad you’re ok. How’s the alloy?

 

[Londonscottish]

I had a nasty one in my Alfa 33 back in the early 90's. I'd set off from Edinburgh to London and had just reached the top of the M6. I was barreling down the outside lane at speeds arguably over the limit when the left rear gave up. I had two passengers and a bootful of luggage, the road was on a constant radius and there were lots of cars and trucks to my left.

I didn't dare hit the brakes and so all I could do was to try to shed my speed and get across two lanes of traffic and onto the hard shoulder without hitting anyone/getting hit. All whilst following the curve of the road. Steering very gingerly, trying really had to make no sudden movement. I really did NOT fancy spinning on that section of road with that volume of traffic.

I made it onto the hard shoulder with seconds to spare before what was left of tyre completely vanished. Really didn't fancy piloting it on the rim.

It was a hairy moment.....

My wife had a rear let go on the 211 between the M40 and M25. She had the kids in the back at the time and she couldn't pull over as there was no had shoulder on that section of road. She called me in a panic and I talked her through the net couple of minutes until somewhere safe to stop appeared. A fantastic passing off-duty police offer stuck the space saver on for her and she came straight home. She never did get to Wiltshire.

This is one of the reasons I'm happy to have TPMS on both my cars; a common cause of a blowout is a slow puncture. It's not the only way, of course, but if you run a tyre at low pressure for a long time it can start to delaminate and set the conditions for one of these incidents.

 

[BTB 500]

This is one of the reasons I'm happy to have TPMS on both my cars; a common cause of a blowout is a slow puncture. It's not the only way, of course, but if you run a tyre at low pressure for a long time it can start to delaminate and set the conditions for one of these incidents.

Absolutely. Low pressure causes a tyre to overheat ... this is probably the most common reason for caravan tyre blowouts, which are typically behind the spectacular motorway rollover incidents you see. Interestingly our newest caravan came with an in-car unit that reports both temperature and pressure (along with configurable warnings for both). The tyres normally increase from 60 psi at rest to 68/69 at motorway speeds (suggested alarms are 20% above and 15% below the handbook pressure, plus there's a separate one for any rapid loss), and the temperature rises to about 45/46C (recommended high temp. alarm is 70C). The wheels also have Tyron bands to keep a tyre on the rim if the worst should happen.

Our S203 didn't have TPMS, which would have prevented the incident shown above. We'd clipped a pothole just before joining the motorway ... there wasn't really anywhere to pull over and I'd never had a tyre damaged that way before so I opted to carry on, which was a mistake! Our current S205 does have TPMS (and you can even check the pressures on your phone via Mercedes Me ).

 

[BTB 500]

I was once a passenger in a car that lost a wheel at speed.

In my mate’s Dolly Sprint on the way for a hair of the dog lunchtime pint, left hand bend and I was looking at the grass verge and wondering why we were so close, looked up to see a wheel bouncing ahead of us, it slowly dawned on me that it looked very much like a Dolomite alloy.

We pulled in OK but were on a common and couldn’t find the wheel, luckily some friends pulled up and helped locate it.

Onice safely in the pub I found out why the wheel came off, shortage of bolts meant only 3 were on each wheel.

Years ago I was almost hit by the OSF wheel from a Scimitar GTE going in the opposite direction. I was on a narrow road with nowhere to go - the Scimitar managed to keep fairly straight without it, and the wheel hit a bump and bounced over my bonnet

 

[Jobsworth]

Some years ago we had a 1998 CLK320 coupe. We were travelling northbound on the M6, doing a little over the speed limit in the outside lane. As I crossed back into the centre lane I detected the slightest oddness from the offside rear, just for a moment. The next services were a couple of miles on, and my wife needed a comfort break. I parked and got out, driver’s rear tyre was completely flat with a hole in the sidewall. I was shocked, I’d have expected more feedback. That was a superb car.

 

[HB]

Glad you’re both safe Rog. The car is ok, the holiday continued.
Again most importantly, you’re ok.

 

[markjay]

Glad it all worked out for you.

Though, the bookkeeper in me says you shouldn't really include the £24 in fuel for the hire car... in fact, if anything, had you completed your original journey in the E63, your fuel bill would be even higher

 

[markjay]

I was once a passenger in a car that lost a wheel at speed.

In my mate’s Dolly Sprint on the way for a hair of the dog lunchtime pint, left hand bend and I was looking at the grass verge and wondering why we were so close, looked up to see a wheel bouncing ahead of us, it slowly dawned on me that it looked very much like a Dolomite alloy.

We pulled in OK but were on a common and couldn’t find the wheel, luckily some friends pulled up and helped locate it.

Onice safely in the pub I found out why the wheel came off, shortage of bolts meant only 3 were on each wheel.

3 bolts per wheel is all you need, on some cars, anyway:

 

[milleplod]

I had a rear one go in a work T5 estate many moons ago. We were doing around 140mph at the time, downhill northbound at Felley near j27 on the M1 at about 3am. There was a slight vibration and drumming noise, quite undramatic really. We rolled to a halt on the hard shoulder and found a piece of wire through the tread and out of the sidewall.

Pete

 

[AMGeed]

Glad you’re ok. How’s the alloy?

Totally unmarked which was a bonus considering the state of the tyre when I finally stopped.

 

[Riva811]

I did today on the motorway after reading this post. Rears are run flat so i managed to come into city. There was a bit of change of car direction on the highway. MB roadside assistance trying to repair a big nail puncture right now

 

[Rich764089]

Just returned from a short break at Center Parcs in Elveden Forest Suffolk and the E63 was faultless but for one alarming incident.

Last Monday afternoon , a few miles past the Birchanger services on the M11 close to Stansted and heading north I was accelerating past a line of slower moving cars in the outside of two lanes. (How can that section be called a motorway with only two lanes? Its a glorified dual carriageway!)
I think I was doing around 79mph when I had a rear puncture. With cars on my inside and nowhere to go on the outside it wasn't pleasant keeping the car in a straight line. Naturally when I could get to the hard shoulder the tyre was almost shredded and I wasn't prepared to continue on the tiny spare limited to 50mph or change a wheel on the hard shoulder.
I called Mobilo and was told assistance would be with me within an hour. It was closer to two, and dark, and me and the boss were getting pretty cold waiting a safe distance away from the car for the breakdown truck. It was too late to get the tyre replaced that day so Mercedes kindly authorised a replacement and had the car, me and the missus transported to Bishops Stortford dealership about 7 miles away.
Arrived at the dealership to very efficient and friendly service staff who took details of what had happened and agreed to fit a new Goodyear F1 Asymmetic 5 rear tyre the following day and inspect the car for any damage. I was to take the hire car on to Center Parcs and return it next day.

I can't speak highly enough of the ride in the GLC200d hybrid I was given. Returned it next day and collected the now fixed E63 with new tyre and zero damage.
Cost to me.............£75+vat for 30min inspection and tyre fitting, £224 for new tyre, and £24 diesel top up of hire car.
Not the way I expected to start a 5 day break.
Couple of pics to show a remapped E63 is capable of decent mpg on a decent run. This was taken at the services on the way up jus before the puncture.
1st pic, parked up on the M11 hard shoulder.View attachment 121260
View attachment 121259

So you did get your record mpg, but not the way you wanted! Bad luck.

I had a rear blow out 20 years ago doing 80mph in the outside lane of the M4. Just made it over to the hard shoulder. Boot full of luggage emptied, wheel changed and on my way. Not a pleasant experience though, changing a wheel on the hard shoulder.

 

[ernie]

My worst experience was after collecting the present car from Hull and driving home on the M6 when an object came towards me when driving at 70 on Lane 2. It caught my o/s/f and fatally holed the tyre. There was no drama in stopping the car and it took Mobilo 30 minutes to reach me and another 2.5hours to get a replacement tyre. All the while I was sitting at the side of the M6 in the rain, albeit under MB Hull's complimentary umbrella.

The RAC guy was clearly nervous (understandably) at having to remove an o/s wheel at the side of the m/way and suggested that I should have taken the car up the Services slip road that I had just passed!

Ernie