Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

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Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

July 20, 2015, 11:50:57 am

Second attempt at this post - first one disappeared during adding photos part of input - Used Siri to dictate this into an email, cut and pasted email into the post, edited the post - way faster than typing all this.

As I write this I am at Hickory Oaks RV Park in Oshkosh WI. Last night I attended the Cirrus pre Oshkosh party in the Eagle hanger - we were joined by Cirrus owners including Ken Griffey Jr (no Angela Jolie was not in attendance, but Dierks Bently was and he gave the crowd of about 600 a private 45 minute concert - all good!)

Well I expected to be writing up and adding pictures of the outcome of my 32 Coach Buck Nacogdoches Texas economic stimulus event, but first an update on m journey north from NAC to Lake Geneva, WI.

This post is about the trip home from NAC and the left front blowout that occurred on my coach while driving on a two lane rd. about 27 miles south of Poplar Bluff Missouri. I was heading north on Route 67 at about 7:30 AM doing between 55 and 60 mph when the left front tire exploded without warning. Thanks to the video posted on the forum I didn't immediately jam on the brakes (nor did I accelerate as suggested in the forum video.) The noise and coach vibration along with vibration in the steering wheel was pretty intense but at no point did I feel that the machine or situation was out of control.

Actually I started slowing fairly aggressively once I realized I had total control and pulled across the oncoming lane of traffic (since there was no one coming in either direction) onto a large gravel parking area from a closed business and came to a slow stop. At the time I was towing a 19 foot center console boat on a trailer without trailer-brakes.

I got out to look at the damage done when the tire left the rim. The tire took out the left front fender (except the portion that holds the docking light). The edge of the fender (when leaving the coach) also forced open the bay door aft of the left front fender. It did not do any damage to exterior of the bay door but did rip the latching mechanism from the inside of the doors. At some point during the event I also developed a crack in the lower left-hand corner of the passenger windshield.

Within an hour Rabens Tire from poplar Bluff Missouri came out and installed a new tire (275/80R 22.5 XZA3+ Load Range H) on the left front of the coach. The tires on the coach had a date code of 1007 so they were just over eight years old. Frankly I have been planning on replacing the steer tires when I got back to the Chicago area at my friends store, Waukegan Tire and Supply.

Once the blown tire was replaced I drove to Poplar Bluff and got five more load range H Michelin's. Of course I used the FMCA Advantage program, that was very simple to set up and no problem getting it all arranged.

The guys at Rabens tire went to swiftest and somehow managed to damage three of the 10 studs on the left front hub pulling them free so the nut won't tighten on the hub for those three studs. Luckily they were not next to each other, so I drove home on 7. FT quote about $80 a STUD!!! Hope to get them locally and have all this addressed up here without a trip back to NAC.

It also took Raben's Tire a very long time (almost 3 hours!!!) to put on the other five tires. Who knows how long it might have taken if I hadn't raised Cain and threatened to leave with just new steer tires. They spun balance all six tires before installation and the ride home was smooth and uneventful. Take a look at the attached pictures.

The new tires have a date code of 2015 so sometime late May they were produced and they're already on my coach. I guess eight years is too long especially with wintering in the Florida climate (although they were covered all the time that the coach is not moving).

All in all, it could have been worse.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #1 – July 20, 2015, 11:56:52 am

ouch. I'm riding on noname generic 2007 tires as well. I inflated them to 110psi and took it on a 85mph spin to see what would happen, all is well for now, but I should probably do the replacement thing soon.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #2 – July 20, 2015, 12:04:25 pm

Tim,
Glad you were able to control the coach in this emergency. Wonder what happened. Did you have a TPMS?

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #3 – July 20, 2015, 12:23:42 pm

Thank God it wasn't any worse!
Coach were buying has same age Toyo's Current coach is two th three years newer. If all goes well there will be new tires all the way around on our new to us 320, by the fall.
How many miles had you logged on the old ones?

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #4 – July 20, 2015, 12:35:44 pm

I had the almost exact same tire blowout years ago but with a set of new tires. Yes, pulled off and stopped it quickly. Lots of vibration. Replacing the front tires while not as secure as all six is still better than driving on old tires. Could also have been a road gator.

Here are a couple of bus blowouts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emQjReXML-c
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnMH0b_-n8

But the best (or worst) for last:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHCccVDg_hc

Pierce

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #5 – July 20, 2015, 12:54:15 pm

Well, I did not have TPMS, but had only been under way 15 minutes after checking air pressure prior to lift off from Wally World. 110 PSI when I left - don't think i would have had warning with TPMS, don't think I hit anything - probably age and sidewall deterioration
just edited tire size to 275/80-22.5, not 225.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #6 – July 20, 2015, 12:55:29 pm

I put about 50,000 miles on the tires - tires were two years old when I bought coach - not sure what miles or care they had in those two years.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #7 – July 20, 2015, 12:57:42 pm

I would have looked inside the failed tire for evidence of rust on the steel belts under the thin rubber coating over them.

Unless you struck something rust is one of the few ways to fail the tire.

Using the coaches air hose as far as I know uses air that has had the moisture removed.

I bought some Mylers tire mounting grease for my future changeout so as not to introduce any water into the tire.

The Michelin stuff if memory serves me is mixed with water.

Dry nitrogen, dry air, no water in mounting lube is safer.

Used to examine failed Rv tires as Foretravel manager and almost all had rust inside of them back then. Rusted through the steel belts. Seeing this it stuck in my mind forever.

Using coach air requires the D2 valve to be the 110-130 range one to bring up the air pressure enough as the 90-110 is not enough.

Last thing is to weigh the coaches axle and put exactly the proportional amount required of air pressure IMO.

Buy a tread depth gauge and measure your tires new and every so often to check wear patterns.

I am paranoid about water vapor in Rv tires. Trucks wear out tires. Ours rust or time out IMO

Load range h on the front might be close at 110 out of the 120 max but the rears would be too high. 100?

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #8 – July 20, 2015, 01:02:14 pm

Glad the damage was not more severe. Pays to have thought it through before it happens. I think that you would have noticed a front tire loosing air so it was probably a blow-out at full pressure and a TPMS would not have helped.

Keith

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #9 – July 20, 2015, 02:10:08 pm

Seems like the blowouts that I hear about are all Michelins ? Why is that, just that many Michelins in service or a fault in Michelins ?
Gary B

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #10 – July 20, 2015, 02:13:26 pm

Quote from: Gary Bouland – July 20, 2015, 02:10:08 pm

Seems like the blowouts that I hear about are all Michelins ? Why is that, just that many Michelins in service or a fault in Michelins ?
Gary B

Good point. Are the other tires used steel belted? Or non steel?

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #11 – July 20, 2015, 02:53:41 pm

Probably a good example why you should put new tires on about every 5 years

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #12 – July 20, 2015, 03:04:33 pm

Glad you're OK and damage is not toooooooo great.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #13 – July 20, 2015, 03:29:10 pm

A year or two ago, I was hearing that it was Goodyear tires that were having a disproportionate amount of tire failures... I think the model was the G670.
Don

Quote from: Gary Bouland – July 20, 2015, 02:10:08 pm

Seems like the blowouts that I hear about are all Michelins ? Why is that, just that many Michelins in service or a fault in Michelins ?
Gary B

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #14 – July 20, 2015, 03:36:43 pm

I wonder though that since the TPMS also typically has a temperature monitor (and a settable alarm), whether that would have given some notice of a developing problem.
Don

Quote from: Tim Fiedler – July 20, 2015, 12:54:15 pm

Well, I did not have TPMS, but had only been under way 15 minutes after checking air pressure prior to lift off from Wally World. 110 PSI when I left - don't think i would have had warning with TPMS, don't think I hit anything - probably age and sidewall deterioration
just edited tire size to 275/80-22.5, not 225.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #15 – July 20, 2015, 05:53:45 pm

Glad you are OK, Tim. Scary thinking about a blow out. My tires will be six years old in Nov. New tires in the spring for me. And the mystery remains.

Roger

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #16 – July 20, 2015, 06:09:03 pm

My bad in not expressing gratitude for your safe landing Tim ... Some things just don't go without saying. After all, your largely responsible for us becoming a part of the Foretravel family... Also, what a bummer not being able to just give us the big reveal on your secret remodeling project, and instead having to report on this harrowing tire shredding experience!
Don

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #17 – July 20, 2015, 06:19:24 pm

Tim,

Is this the great reveal I did not see yesterday?

Trent

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #18 – July 20, 2015, 06:23:02 pm

Nope, it is the "prequel"

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #19 – July 20, 2015, 08:26:36 pm

Matt,
70mph is recommended max speed for our tires.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #20 – July 20, 2015, 08:39:01 pm

Quote from: amos.harrison – July 20, 2015, 08:26:36 pm

Matt,
70mph is recommended max speed for our tires.

75 is what michelins chart says

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #21 – July 20, 2015, 09:00:19 pm

That' still less than the 85mph Matt ran.

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #22 – July 20, 2015, 09:29:08 pm

Tim,

Glad you guys are okay and you were able to control the coach and slow down safely to get off the road. Sorry for the damage but could have been worse like you said. 55 to 60 is a much safer speed to manage a blowout than 70 or 75. Did the other tires show any signs of deterioration when changing to the new set? I just finished a 600 mile trip on a set of 10 year old Michelins without incident checking the tire temps at each stop. I know I'm rolling the dice.

Pierce,

What new brand of tires were you using and how fast were you going when your blowout occurred? Was it summer or winter if that makes any difference? The videos are a good demonstration of blowouts whether moving fast or hardly at all.

Jerry

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #23 – July 20, 2015, 09:41:51 pm

No, they all looked great, and probably would have went many more years. Got $0 for casings, since over 7 years old can't be recapped. I think optimum replacement age is 6 years

Re: Left Front Blow out at 60 MPH on a two lane road.

Reply #24 – July 20, 2015, 11:00:03 pm

Quote from: amos.harrison – July 20, 2015, 08:26:36 pm

Matt,
70mph is recommended max speed for our tires.

Michelin says 75. Any coincidence that is faster than any legal commercial vehicle speed limit on the road? They need to put a number down. So they did. I see plenty of semis that work 5 days a week at the drag strip on saturday on the same commercial tires we run on going 120mph. I see dump trucks going 80-85 down I95 in the morning.

Do you have any proof of a max speed other than one column on a michelin website? Id love to see it.

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