[glen]

Don’t worry about the spell check. The important thing is you are alright. And your account of the situation should serve as a warning for all who might be trying to squeeze a few extra years out of the tires.

Note one thing Kevin said that a lot of us do not think about. He mentioned he couldn’t swear they were never run at a low pressure. All the tire manufacturers are adamant about considering any tires run at a pressure that is 20% less than the required pressure to be junk. Kevin is extremely careful about his coaches and their maintenance, so I know he never did that but he could have been a victim of a previous owner’s lapse. How are your tires?

[Barry]

Jon, I am a tuff SOB, it’s going to take more than a freaken flat front tire!! I think my point is are we victims of these tires and now I know the answer, I will never, ever go more than 5 years from the time they hit the road rolling, it is not worth it!!

[Peter]

When your eyeballs are bouncing so bad you cannot see I think it is more than a flat tire.

Another member with an H3 posted some photos a while back. When his front tire let go it took out some of his body panels. Yet I have seen some coaches with cracks on the tires that gave me the shakes.

[Paul]

Kevin,

Did it fail or is it possible of a road hazard? Just interested
in knowing if the sidewall failed, tread separation, etc. It doesn’t
happen often, but when it does, you sure have to be on your game.

Good job saving the day….

[Ed]

Tom, I did not feel or see a road hazard, not to say that I could have driven over something that casused the problem. There was nothing left of the tire that I could tell for sure why it failed, I think a side wall blow out. There was no warning, 0 to 100 instantly!!

Jon, I will tell you that the tire was inspected and air PSI checked before I left the shop, then I thump with a hammer every 4 hours as I do my walk around. My walk around also includes a flash light that I use to look across to the insides of evry tire-rim checking for wheel seal leaks, done on my knees. I have done this on every trip and every mile I have put on both my buses, I need to go to the boys room and make another coffee anyway so it’s the perfect time to stretch and look.

Oh well, I did get very lucky that the only damage was the foam insulation and some scratches on the wheel. I used Steve Bennett to help me out with tires and they had 2 new XZA 2 Energy’s at the local Michelin truck dealer about 40 miles back so he scratched the other rim installing the other new tire. I will take a little scratch on the rim to get rolling again, total time lossed was only 3 hours, not so bad! No way was I going to trust the other 6 year old tire, stupid but not crazy!!!

Got home, pulled both new tires off, sanded the bead area on the run flat rim and then off to my favorite wheel polish folks, better than new!!

[Archived]

FWIW Bill Price posted his saga with what is called a zipper blowout. The tire manufacturers all seem to indicate this type of failure is common on a tire that has been run at a low pressure. When it was run at low pressure does not necessarily relate to when the failure occurs.

In Bill’s case he was not driving, but was topping off the pressure in his tire that happened to be the inside drive tire. As he neared his desired pressure the failure occurred. It exploded violently injuring Bill and damaging his hearing. The force of the failure was so great it blew the fender off his coach. The outer drive tire protected Bill from more serious injury.

The tire fails in a circumferential manner on the sidewall usually near the tread.

Every time I see a coach blow by me in the fast lane, especially those pulling a large stacker trailer all I can think of is how big the mess will be when a tire blows and the coach driver loses control.

[Archived]

I think there are many of us in Kevin’s position, no way to tell what abuse the tires got from a previous owner. Even buying a bus with new tires doesn’t mean you’re good to go, unless you we’re the only one driving it. Demo miles or various short trips with low pressure sets you up for a potential disaster.

Doesn’t seem to make sense to change out like new tires, so best bet is to keep the speed reasonable and maintain what you have.

Kevin is right up ther at the top of the anal list, so if it can happen to him, it can happen to anyone.