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Front tire blow-out
Every so often, someone shares the procedures of what to do in a front tire blow-out. Thought I’d share my testimony from our recent (yesterday) experience. We were northbound on I-35 at MM260 north of Austin when the driver’s side tire exploded. The steering wheel immediately and quickly went to the left, and the coach started to drift into the left lane. I quickly jammed the accelerator to the bottom, and grabbed the steering wheel to get the coach under control. Checked traffic on right side, pulled over to the shoulder, and brought her to a stop. The steering felt like I had no power steering, so it took some muscle. But the procedure outlined in previous posts worked. The tire took out the fender, and there was nothing left of the tire except some wires wound around the rim. The rest were all over the road. A Texas trooper stopped and picked up the major pieces, including the fender, but it was too damaged to salvage, although I took it along.
The tire had 120psi when I left, and no obvious road debris that I could see that caused the failure. We have had 100 degree temps lately. The tire was 6 years and 11 months old, and ironically I was on my way to Prevost Fort Worth to have the steer tires replaced. We did get a replacement tire and wheel, and eventually got under way, however, the experience with Good Sam was not pleasant, but that is another story.
The main reason we headed to Prevost for tires was we needed some other work as well. I was originally quoted $735 for each tire, but I got a pleasant surprise when their price is actually $650 each. Because of the experience, we decided to get the rest of the tires replaced.
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31 Replies
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Excellent summary Per and very instructional.
Thanks for sharing.
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Great job Per !! Glad you`re a survivor. Wondering if you had cruise control on ?
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Sounds like the tire was a 315… right?
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ISteve, I won’t swear to it, but I probably had the cruise on. As soon as I had control, I started braking to bring it safely to a stop.
Yes, the tire was a 315. My front axle weight gives me a margin with 120 psi.
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Per and Margrit,
So glad that you are safe and sound! I have never experienced a blow-out and hope that I never will.
We are getting new tires next week from Jeff using the NTCS Michelin program. Ours are dated late ’13 and early ’14. So, we are right at 5 yrs. and almost 6 yrs. for the tags.
That’s not a bad price from Prevost, Prevost Goodlettsville said that they charge $1,300 for the tire and installation for the 365’s.
Safe travels,
Mark -
I agree Per, that is an experience no one needs and I’m happy you knew what to do and it worked as expected. How ironic you were on the way to replace the front tires… How fast were you going at the time?
Glad your ok Per,
Harry
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Per,
I didn’t recognize the coach yesterday, but I was southbound in one on those car things and saw you on the side of the road. Of course I wondered if it was a PC member and saw you had the tire change underway, but I immediately thought to myself after seeing the flat and the placement of the coach in relation to the interstate, that driver knew what he was doing. Congratulations Per, job well done and great post.
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Per,
Glad to hear everything worked out for you. Special thanks to Boateral for posting and reposting the what to do when you have a blow out for all those years.
Another tidbit that I have heard a few times is make sure when you pull over in an emergency that your exit door isn’t blocked by a guard rail or other fixed obstruction from opening the door.
There is a lot to remember when driving something this large… so hearing it often is a good idea.
Even better when the advice given works..
Bill
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Thank you for the well-wishes!
Harry, I was right at 65 mph.
As a p.s. when the mechanic took the wheels off, he found the front brakes were disintegrating as discussed in another thread. Our discs are solid; he mentioned later models used vented discs. It would make lot of sense that the damage is heat related, but I’m no expert on brakes.
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Top of Page For over 5 years this video was posted monthly plus tracking the video hits. Over time it had less and less responses.
From 4-1-18 to today 13,266 video hits totally 631,000 views
Today a PC member actually did everything correct saving his bus and occupants from harm.
I want to congratulate “Per” a long time PC member for doing the correct response immediately after the blow out happened. Thank you for your detailed posting.
To view this video….go to post…… “this video could save your life”
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I saw a tractor trailer tire explode 100 feet ahead of me. It was like a cannon shot generating a huge dust cloud. First I thought a gas or propane cylinder exploded but it was “just” the tire. I can only image what it would be like exploding right under your seat.
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Well done Per, glad your OK.
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Per do you mind shaing the unpleasant experience with Good Sam. I know they have a tire replacement program of like kind.
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Good work on controlling the coach, wish you did not have to go through the whole experience. Do you have a TPMS and if so, did you notice what tire pressures were doing in the heat? Starting at 120 cold as hot as it was here I’m guessing pressures got over 150???
I run 110 in my XLII steers and I have seen it go over 130 on the sunny side when they get warm running at 70 mph even with cooler outside temps in the 70s.
I know tire manufacurers account for heat induced pressure rise when specifying max “cold” pressures, but I kinda wonder if someone started at max (for our 315 22.5 tires) pressure 130 cold and it gets as hot as it did here what kind of crazy pressures would result.
A somewhat tangential question, but has anyone on the forum with TPMS ever had a blow out when running down the road with a “normal” tire pressure?
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Here is a link to the video Boater Al posted monthly for 5 years.
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