Wow -nastiness yesterday morning on the way to work via 605 North here in So Cal. In all my years of driving I have never been the victim of a blown out tire. And as many tire carcasses that seem to litter our freeways, I have never witnessed an actual blow out. Anyway, doing the morning commute and moderate traffic on the freeway, so speed was 65-70. The tunes are at a moderate volume and I'm planning my work day when I hear a noise from the rear. My immediate thought was that the rear tire kicked up something and it hit the underside. I look in the rear view and see nothing laying in the lane behind me. I turn down the tunes and now I hear and feel a low noise/vibration getting louder and the rear end now is getting sloppy. Noise is so loud now that nasty damage images are flashing thru my mind. Luckily, traffic isn't a problem and I'm able to safely pull over to the shoulder. I see the TPMS light is on, and get out and see that the right rear is blown. Inner sidewall has completely detached from the inner bead and I'm thinking my rear rim is going to be toast. Thankfully that is not the case. Rim does not appear to have touched terra firma. Lucked out. I called AAA who came in 20 minutes, thank you very much. And yes I know very well how to change a tire, so no need for any of those comments. And with a lowered ride, its a good thing Mr. AAA is experienced with lowered vehicles as he has the necessary wood blocks to roll under the tires to get the vehicle high enough to get his jack under the car. Any of you with lowered rides carry wood blocks or something else around for this situation? He had me back in my car and off the freeway with the little spare mounted in 10 minutes. Thank you AAA. So here is a pic of the tire/wheel off the car. I didn't think to take a pic while waiting on the shoulder of the fwy. That by the way is not a pleasant situation as traffic was getting heavier. Visions of cars pulled over being hit by another car do not make one comfortable.
I looked at tire looking for any causes and noticed a puncture on the tread side that may be the cause for the blow out, and the tire going down and the inner side wall not holding up and separating. I'll see what the tires folks say. Going to take the tire over this morning for new rubber and survey the wheel well for any damage. If any, I'll take pics and report back.

 

glad to hear you and the car are okay... AAA FTW!

 

What pressure did you run in that tire? How often do you check and adjust pressure?

 

ya, tires tear sidewalls when they don't have adequate pressure.

maybe the pressure dropped all of a sudden if you got a flat. Usually it's from tire being too low causing way too much stress on the sidewall.

 

Nasty blowout, glad you and the car are OK

 

WOW

 

damn !

 

Holy crap Jim, thankfully you were ok.

What tires were you running and +2 on whether you are regularly checking your pressure.

 

I'll admit to not reading the whole paragraph so I do not know if it was mentioned:

What brand/model/size was that tire?

 

Tire pressure is checked weekly on sundays routinely at 45 PSI. Sidewall says max pressure 50 PSI. Tire was a Bridgestone RE760 Sport, 295x35x18 on a Forgestar F14 wheel 11x18. Here is pic of puncture -



pic with spare mounted, and also the stocker which I'm using as a spare while looking for replacement rear tire.......

 

i'm guessing that you just punctured the tire and those high speeds just killed the tire away

 

Not tryin to be a jerk but isn't 45 psi a lil bit much bro? Especially if that's the cold pressure. If it's not just 100% nitrogen, your PSI is gonna vary WILDLY throughout the day and with usage especially if you drive hard or at high speeds (freeway speeds). Now I'm not saying that contributed to the cause of this blowout but something to consider...

 

I see that it was the inside of the tire.
It looks similiar to a blowout I had, but mine was the outside.
In my case, the fender lip cut the tire. Now my lips are rolled.
In your case, might there be something that cut the tire? Is there sufficient clearance for the tire under all conditions?

 

The tire looks like it can be fixed... I would take it to a tire shop and see what they can do.


On a side note, glad to see you and your car are ok. I always fear of that happening to me. Would it be worse if a front tire were to blow?

 

45psi is way to high....particularly if you are measuring when the tires are "cold".

 

+1

Jim, you should be around 35 PSI for a strictly road-going tire and should be measuring it first thing in the morning with a quality tire guage. Your tire must have ballooned to 50+ PSI at freeway speeds and that is why it exploded.

Here is a good explanation from Tire Rack:

 

Obviously not thinking correctly - Yes you are right, and 45 is way high too for car tire, 40-45 is what I usually have my street bike tires set at for my bike. The Zee car tires are usually set at 35-37.

And I am glad this didn't happen to my front tire, don't even want to think what could happen in that case.....

 

ya, that big hole will definitely drop pressure fast. At speed with a small sidewall will tear a sidewall like that.