Ever had a blown tire?

nathan · #1 02-15-2010, 11:06 PM

My car is in baaaad shape and I need to get a new one ASAP. Due to a wreck I had a few weeks back, my alignment is pretty messed up.

It's caused the treading to be ripped off my front right tire (to the point where you can see metal threading). I only drive it to and from work when I absolutely can't find another ride and I don't take it above 20, haha.

I'm terrified my tire is going to explode sometime while I'm doing this. A ton of people have warned me that it will happen soon.

Has your tire ever blown up while you're driving? What's it like? I'm just curious. I've gotten flats before but have never experienced that.

ADbassman · #2 02-15-2010, 11:14 PM

Yes. I ran off the road at 70+mph. Nearly flipped the car.

Get a new tire. They're not that expensive.

elgecko · #3 02-15-2010, 11:22 PM

I had the entire tread layer delaminate 90% once on the freeway...the tire still held air and I safely pulled over.

Buy a used tire, check craigslist, put the spare on, whatever it takes. You don't want blow a tire, lose control, and take out mini van full of kids.

Are you sure it's your alignment? How bad was the wreck? Frame tweakage could be a possibility.

Kwesi · #4 02-15-2010, 11:24 PM

Yep. Sounded like a gunshot and all of a sudden the passengers side of the car started to sink and the ride got real bumpy. I couldn't have been going too much over 40mph but ADbassman already gave his example of a high speed blowout... not fun. I'd say get a new vehicle ASAP or if your car has a spare then slap it on there and then find a new vehicle. Waiting for a tire to go out is pretty much like sitting next a time bomb next with the timer facing the opposite direction under the right conditions.

SelenaBassGirl · #5 02-15-2010, 11:45 PM

yes, when we were in Charlotte, going to the race, we were down the street from the track, and lucky we were going slow due to race traffic. We pulled over, only to discover that we didn't have the right jack to lower the tire in the van (old Ford Astro we had). The jack we had was the wrong one. NOBODY stopped to help. So finally after like a zillion cars and police cars zipped on by, a police officer stopped to help and he had the jack we needed. Then when we got the spare airplane tire on, we went to one tire place and they would not sell us a tire because we weren't members of that place. Finally we found a local tire shop and got a new tire on it.
I need to get a tire now for my current van, got a bubble on the side due to bumping it somehow. Sucks when u don't have money but a tire is a thing you don't play around with!

nathan · #6 02-15-2010, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elgecko

I had the entire tread layer delaminate 90% once on the freeway...the tire still held air and I safely pulled over.

Buy a used tire, check craigslist, put the spare on, whatever it takes. You don't want blow a tire, lose control, and take out mini van full of kids.

Are you sure it's your alignment? How bad was the wreck? Frame tweakage could be a possibility.

The wreck wasn't THAT bad. I car hit me while I was in mid turn on the front right side. It messed up the bumper and the headlights pretty bad and the front right wheel is kind of tilted towards the car now. I thought that would be the wheel I had to worry about but it's the left wheel that's getting eaten up. I'm not sure it's the alignment, that's just what a semi-mechanical friend told me.

Quick estimates for repairing it were around $2000. Chances are there would probably be other things wrong with it too once they got under the hood. My ABS light comes on too so I'm pretty sure somethings wrong with my breaks.

The cost for fixing the car is waaaayy more than it's worth and I've been trying to find a new one for a few weeks. My price range is limited though, and CL is full of scams and rip-offs. It's reeaaalll frustrating.

MadMan118 · #7 02-16-2010, 12:34 AM

The tire goes bang or pop, your car biases to one side if you're going fast enough. Get the alignment checked bad alignment causes a whole host of other issues.

rap138 · #8 02-16-2010, 12:46 AM

check if the tyre is touching something, a quick fix could be to adjust the (I don't know the english term for this parts, sorry) arm that conects to the driving wheel. Change to the spare now!
Due to progressive deformation, frames nowadays tend to be softer in the front than in the middle, you could put an hidraulic jack between a middle point to the front and try to rectify enough if that's whats creating the problem. Just be careful while doing this (you have to work under the car) a Jack is not supposed to be used like this, I'm just trying to save you money. There is a poor mans solution to the alignment as well but for what I can tell from your post, you have a twisted frame or some of the bars that connect to the wheel are bent. uff I really need to learn the english technical terms for these things. Good Luck.

machine gewehr · #9 02-16-2010, 01:12 AM

My uncle had a blown tire once,as I remember his palms bled trying to keep the car in control.Try to avoid that.

ADbassman · #10 02-16-2010, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMan118

The tire goes bang or pop, your car biases to one side if you're going fast enough. Get the alignment checked bad alignment causes a whole host of other issues.

Aye, she listed to port on a hard left rudder and sank beneath the waves towards Davy Jone's locker. At least that was my experience.

T-Bird · #11 02-16-2010, 05:10 AM

Hi.

I've had several tyres go flat on me. I've also lost a wheel when driving.

Not the kinds of things You'd want happening to anyone else, let me tell You.

By far the worst was when I was driving my bus/RV and the inner driver side rear wheel blew to smithreens. It's NOT easy to keep a 10ton 10m long vehicle on the road in an instance like that. Had that been the front tyre, I'd probably be in the Jimi Hendricks's backing band now

.

Check the alignment, with a stick if You don't have anything else at hand, and also check if there's something rubbing against the tyre, like suggested earlier. A 5mm toe in for a RWD and 5mm toe out for FWD is a good place to start.

Don't let it blow. Believe me, You don't want that to happen on the road.

Regards
Sam

playinpearls · #12 02-16-2010, 06:22 AM

until you get your alignment, you are just gonna burn through tires like matches. its in between 80-150 bucks for a decent front end alignment. get it done, and have them throw a tire on while you're there... you probably have a bent control arm or tie rod...causing the front tires to point inward or outward while you are driving straight...

bassman03 · #13 02-16-2010, 07:01 AM

Once. Was going 55-60 down the highway and was coming out of a curve and i hear a loud bang. Scared me to death. Didn't know what was up at first until i realized that my steering wasn't working right.

MIJ-VI · #14 02-16-2010, 07:16 AM

OP please do what it takes to preserve your life without delay.

Thank you.

Gary

Thunderitter · #15 02-16-2010, 07:26 AM

Get your car seen to asap and I personally wouldn't drive it anywhere else apart to the the shop.

That might be an big inconvenience, but not as big and inconvenience as a spell in the hospital or a charge or vehicular homicide, which is possible if you knowingly drive a faulty vehicle and you cause an accident that causes a death.

You just can't predict what will happen with a blown tire at speed, apart from the fact that you will loose control of the car and that you may or may not be able to regain control.

Also - can you give us a description of your car so we can all keep away from you?

FL Knifemaker · #16 02-16-2010, 07:28 AM

A better thread title might have been.....

"Has anyone ever played Russian Roulette??"

Febs · #17 02-16-2010, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MIJ-VI

OP please do what it takes to preserve your life without delay.

More importantly, do what it takes to preserve my life and the lives of the other people who are sharing the road with you. Get off the road until you get this fixed.

Phalex · #18 02-16-2010, 07:40 AM

I saw a guy's tire explode on the highway. It peeled the front quarter panel up and out, and seemed to present some serious steering issues at highway speeds.

Get it fixed!

MIJ-VI · #19 02-16-2010, 07:43 AM

Back in '77 our band vehicle (the drummer's beat up 60's Dodge van which ran & sounded like it was returning from a dangerous mission) experienced tread separation on the right rear tire just after we'd begun decelerating from highway speed to pull into a gas station.

We came VERY close to rolling it. In a 50 mph or so jumble box of unbelted bodies and gear there would've been no survivors.

Once we'd stopped, got out, and were surveying the damage, that's when our drummer informed us that he'd equipped his van with retreads to save money...

I became a fan of tire safety after that experience and even bought a pressure gauge whose use I imposed upon every band I played with afterward.

MatticusMania · #20 02-16-2010, 11:52 AM

Ive blown at least 3 different tires. Once I was going down a big hill on my way to school. BAM! Another time i was doing about 80 on my way home from a gig on the freeway. And another time while I was stuck in traffic on the freeway.

You don't have a spare you could put on? It'd probably be better than driving on a tire with no tread. And, you can often find used tires for anywhere from $20-$30.