I heard it's easier to handle when the front ones blow, the rear ones are a little tricker. That's why you should put good tires to the rear.
What to expect when tire blows
- Thread starter Sienna Driver
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I had a rear tire blow out on me years ago at about 65 MPH on the expressway. I didn't even realize it right away. The flap -flap - flap sound it made was the giveaway. I was driving a 78 Caprice Classic. I'd imagine you'd feel it more readily in a shorter wheelbase car.
ive bought and sold alot of cars. driven some real beaters in my life. one thing ive learned is that you can control a blown tyre without much effort.
one time i was down in the fla keys and noticed my tyre was seperating at the ply. it didnt look bad, the spare was flat, so i drove home at 65mph. it was 150 miles home by the way. about 20 miles from home the front end of my car drops down 2 inches with a thump and i see a big black wad of tread go flying off in the direction of the ditch. what happened was that my tyre lost all its tread. but the inner carcass still held air. im glad i took the slower side roads with no traffic. this wasnt technically a "blow out" but the tyre balloned up like a well, baloon. it probably gained 20% of its normal size. long story short i end up driving home 20 miles on that tyre since the spare of this new car was flat. i made it home fine and got a couple new tyres the next day. the blown tyre was still holding air the next day.
had a tire blow out on my motorcycle one time. the front got low from a nail and i knew it was comming because on a motorcycle you can "feel" when a tyre is low. the bike gets all squishy. so i turned around and headed for home. i didnt make it and the tyre started seperating and flapping. you know its bad when the inner tube and rim strip get ripped off and go flying. i just did 15mph and got home ok. the rim survived fine. tyre and tube were shot.
hmm, i once had an old mercedes 300 turbo diesel that had tyres probably 15 years old on it. the car hadnt ran in a while and i spent a weekend on it getting it running. i was so excited that i took it for a spin around the neighbourhood. one of the front tyres tread ripped off. the tyre still held air and i limped back home on the carcass. but the entire tread was gone from 1 sidewall to the next. just like the other car.
i had a few blow on my mazda protege. the construction site i worked at was notorious for eating up tyres. i think it was the fact of running over 6 inch rocks and concrete chunks that damages tyres. anyways i had quite a few ply seperations and blows on that car. normally it would start thumping and get progressivly louder untill it actually went. if it was in the front end you would feel the steering wheel jerk to one side once per revolution. also the car would swag left and right. if it was in the rear end the car would swag left and right, but no jerking on the steering wheel.
ive been through a couple trailer blowouts too. they are the best of the blowouts because you hardly even notice it except for the damage it does to the fenders and wiring. but you dont "feel" it from the car.
really, i have never been in a situation where a blown out tyre has caused me to swerve or lose control. i just let off the throttle and pull over to the side. no big deal.
heck when i was rally crossing, the surface of the track was crushed coral. it ATE up tyres. in probably 30 minutes of racing i could burn through half the tread on my brand new tyres. i got a flat at the start of one race and had to finish the race on that same flat. you know what i still didnt do too badly.
the only time i really had a problem was with my dads 64 impala. he had this sweet impala with a 409 cid engine. i was driving it home one time from a car show following him in his truck. the car started thumping and like 1 second later the rear end dropped and sparks were flying and i couldnt control the cars steering. the brakes even went out. i couldnt hold it on the road and was veering into oncomming traffic so i steer the car sharply to the right and went off into the woods at 55mph. i ended up flipping the car 3 times, broke a 6 inch tree with the engine block and totaled the car. the axle on the right side was defective. it broke in half and the hub, drum, wheel and tyre went off into the woods never to be seen again. seriously, we never found it. but the axle has cracking where it broke and rust marks inside the cracks. since there was rust we figured it wasnt a new problem and had been there for some time. thats not technically a blowout, but it was sure scary. thats really the only time i couldnt handle it. when the tyre wheel drum and hub broke off, they snagged a brakeline on the car so it couldnt build hydraulic pressure when i hit the brakes. it just pumped fluid out through the broken line.
one time i was down in the fla keys and noticed my tyre was seperating at the ply. it didnt look bad, the spare was flat, so i drove home at 65mph. it was 150 miles home by the way. about 20 miles from home the front end of my car drops down 2 inches with a thump and i see a big black wad of tread go flying off in the direction of the ditch. what happened was that my tyre lost all its tread. but the inner carcass still held air. im glad i took the slower side roads with no traffic. this wasnt technically a "blow out" but the tyre balloned up like a well, baloon. it probably gained 20% of its normal size. long story short i end up driving home 20 miles on that tyre since the spare of this new car was flat. i made it home fine and got a couple new tyres the next day. the blown tyre was still holding air the next day.
had a tire blow out on my motorcycle one time. the front got low from a nail and i knew it was comming because on a motorcycle you can "feel" when a tyre is low. the bike gets all squishy. so i turned around and headed for home. i didnt make it and the tyre started seperating and flapping. you know its bad when the inner tube and rim strip get ripped off and go flying. i just did 15mph and got home ok. the rim survived fine. tyre and tube were shot.
hmm, i once had an old mercedes 300 turbo diesel that had tyres probably 15 years old on it. the car hadnt ran in a while and i spent a weekend on it getting it running. i was so excited that i took it for a spin around the neighbourhood. one of the front tyres tread ripped off. the tyre still held air and i limped back home on the carcass. but the entire tread was gone from 1 sidewall to the next. just like the other car.
i had a few blow on my mazda protege. the construction site i worked at was notorious for eating up tyres. i think it was the fact of running over 6 inch rocks and concrete chunks that damages tyres. anyways i had quite a few ply seperations and blows on that car. normally it would start thumping and get progressivly louder untill it actually went. if it was in the front end you would feel the steering wheel jerk to one side once per revolution. also the car would swag left and right. if it was in the rear end the car would swag left and right, but no jerking on the steering wheel.
ive been through a couple trailer blowouts too. they are the best of the blowouts because you hardly even notice it except for the damage it does to the fenders and wiring. but you dont "feel" it from the car.
really, i have never been in a situation where a blown out tyre has caused me to swerve or lose control. i just let off the throttle and pull over to the side. no big deal.
heck when i was rally crossing, the surface of the track was crushed coral. it ATE up tyres. in probably 30 minutes of racing i could burn through half the tread on my brand new tyres. i got a flat at the start of one race and had to finish the race on that same flat. you know what i still didnt do too badly.
the only time i really had a problem was with my dads 64 impala. he had this sweet impala with a 409 cid engine. i was driving it home one time from a car show following him in his truck. the car started thumping and like 1 second later the rear end dropped and sparks were flying and i couldnt control the cars steering. the brakes even went out. i couldnt hold it on the road and was veering into oncomming traffic so i steer the car sharply to the right and went off into the woods at 55mph. i ended up flipping the car 3 times, broke a 6 inch tree with the engine block and totaled the car. the axle on the right side was defective. it broke in half and the hub, drum, wheel and tyre went off into the woods never to be seen again. seriously, we never found it. but the axle has cracking where it broke and rust marks inside the cracks. since there was rust we figured it wasnt a new problem and had been there for some time. thats not technically a blowout, but it was sure scary. thats really the only time i couldnt handle it. when the tyre wheel drum and hub broke off, they snagged a brakeline on the car so it couldnt build hydraulic pressure when i hit the brakes. it just pumped fluid out through the broken line.
The key to dealing with a blow out is not to overreact.
Let the situation stablize - that will take a second or 2 - the slowly slow down (Ha, ha, ha. Sometimes I crack myself up!!)
Avoid abrupt steering input and brake action.
Let the situation stablize - that will take a second or 2 - the slowly slow down (Ha, ha, ha. Sometimes I crack myself up!!)
Avoid abrupt steering input and brake action.
Straight line blow outs are fairly simple. If the tire lets go in a curve, well, that's a bit more harrowing. Capri nailed the actions to take. Don't brake and don't swerve and you should be OK.
I've had more than one rear tire failure... Nothing dramatic except for the sound of the carcass flopping around.
Alex.
Alex.
I picked up a piece of pipe (a jack handle extension actually) on a rear tire. It was about 8 inches long, half inch in diameter (hollow) and went all the way in, flush with the tread. Of course, there was an immediate loss of pressure. The tire remained intact (I wasn't going too fast) but it sure sounded like my wheel well was being torn to shreds.
Actually you should put good tires all the way around!
Bob
a few years back when a few ford Explorers were supposedly having blowouts..leading to deadly crashes..a telivised car show " Autoweek" decide to see what happens when the Explorer blows a tire...They had a special contraption that would blow the tire out ...they tried at many different speeds....they almost could not get the car to go out of control...took a huge input from the driver panicking and slamming on the brakes....seems as though most of the few that did die from these events......basically killed themselves by not knowing how to drive when you have a blowout.
Take your foot off the gas...slowly pull the car to the side of the road and don't slm on the brake ....
Take your foot off the gas...slowly pull the car to the side of the road and don't slm on the brake ....
The reason for better tires on the rear wheels is because if you have to brake suddenly on a slick surface, the car should stay pointed in the same direction. If the rear end loses traction first, it could result in a spin.
Picked up a screw and lost air over 10 minutes or so in the left rear tire of my cutlass ciera.
First noticed something was up on a cloverleaf onramp when I started oversteering... a little steering input made a substantial turn. But going straight was going straight. The suspension on that car was so numb I never felt any thumping or anything else.
Took the next exit to check it out, totally flat but the beads were still seated on the rim. Spare tire was a studded snow, one size different, in July.
Changed it in a convenience store parking lot; some other guy paid a quarter to air up his jetta at the "air station" and I lowered the jack, he took off and I zipped over there and topped off the now-in-service spare for free.
First noticed something was up on a cloverleaf onramp when I started oversteering... a little steering input made a substantial turn. But going straight was going straight. The suspension on that car was so numb I never felt any thumping or anything else.
Took the next exit to check it out, totally flat but the beads were still seated on the rim. Spare tire was a studded snow, one size different, in July.
Changed it in a convenience store parking lot; some other guy paid a quarter to air up his jetta at the "air station" and I lowered the jack, he took off and I zipped over there and topped off the now-in-service spare for free.
I've had several front an rear blowouts. One rear was on a Datsun 260Z. I was 'playing with a Matra-Simca Bagheera at around 100 mph or so on some sweeping country roads, and he was beating me, my handling was very loose, I thought it was very windy (it always got loose in high crosswinds); when I got to my destination I got out, and it wasn't windy! Then I noticed the fist sized hole in the tread of the driver side rear!
Two of the front blowouts were on my Jeep Wrangler at about 50 mph. No problem, I just pulled over.
Two of the front blowouts were on my Jeep Wrangler at about 50 mph. No problem, I just pulled over.
Actually it was Car and Driver that did this test. Here is a link
http://explorerexpresscom.nationprotect.net/reviews/CD-200010.shtml
This was after the Explorer/Firestone debacle. I agree most if not all of the injuries were the result of poor driving
http://explorerexpresscom.nationprotect.net/reviews/CD-200010.shtml
This was after the Explorer/Firestone debacle. I agree most if not all of the injuries were the result of poor driving
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