Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

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Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

August 15, 2019, 02:31:46 pm

Coming down I-79 out of PA headed home to NC. Cruising at 70MPH (when the cruise was working) and BOOM! Thought I had been shot. Maybe 4 seconds later the TPMS goes off. I creep onto the tight shoulder to get out to see what happened. I grabbed the TPMS to take with me. The right rear inner dually was flat. I called Coach-Net and while waiting, decide to creep at 5MPH on the shoulder the 1.5 Miles to the exit ramp and a brand new Love's (like two months old). There was a lot of weight on that single rear tire. 2 hours and $720 later we are back on the road. It was an inside sidewall blowout. After that, I have to tell you I was nervous coming down through WV and then Fancy Gap thinking about the consequences of a steer tire blow-out. I had three fingers at least at the Walmart in VA that night...

Lessons learned:
1. TPMS is well worth the money. I need to install the antenna as I lose contact with the TOAD and a rear tire or two.
2. Inspect your tires. The rears are 2012's and now looking at them they do show some signs of dry cracking/aging. I will be changing the front steers that are 2017 just for peace of mind and to get them on the back for newer tires.
3. Carry flares and triangles with you. 50% of the drivers are JERKS that don't switch lanes for anything.
4. Make sure to know which road service you have, what it covers and which is best for which situation.
5. Make sure you have a credit card with enough clear balance to handle things (I know all you rich retired folks don't have to worry about that... kidding).
6. Sign up for Loves Rewards, just because if you are paying why not get points!

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #1 – August 15, 2019, 02:42:01 pm

Came out pretty fortunate.. As far as number 3 goes the idiots will run over the flares and triangles just before running over you but it's good to have them to keep one on the legal side.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #2 – August 15, 2019, 02:44:35 pm

Looks like mister michelin split a gut on this one.
Seriously though get three more matching rears as soon as possible. If you try to use the fronts at least put them together on one side and a matching one to the new one.
Glad no damage or injury on this one.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #3 – August 15, 2019, 02:53:37 pm

Looks like the Michelin Man had an umbilical hernia in photo 3! Don't see any rust or sign of a road gator. Yes, dodged a bullet as it would have been much worse on a downhill left turn if it had been the front right. No glass damage in the back either. I had a driver's front right blow on a new set. Funny noise for about a second and then a huge bang.

Nice to see an air/hydraulic jack in use. They sure are handy and fast.

Pierce

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #4 – August 15, 2019, 05:57:11 pm

What was the air pressure you were running in the tires? I would double check and make sure you are running enough air pressure.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #5 – August 15, 2019, 06:03:13 pm

So glad you came out ok on that one.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #6 – August 15, 2019, 06:07:06 pm

glad you are ok but th pressure moniter really did not help much. That boom got your attention though. Glad there was no fiberglass damage as well.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #7 – August 15, 2019, 06:10:36 pm

I had the almost identical thing happen to me a couple of years ago on I-10 in the FL panhandle. Outside right side blow out. 7 year old Michelin tires. I had a tire company bring a new Firestone truck tire because they didn't carry Michelins. I drove the 20 miles to their shop after the side of the road tire change and had all new tires installed.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #8 – August 15, 2019, 06:14:37 pm

Picture #3 is a great ad for Michelin.
Glad nobody got hurt.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #9 – August 15, 2019, 07:25:32 pm

The only good thing to come out of this blowout is that it was in the rear so you can see exactly what happened. "An inside job." On front blowouts, the tire is usually in small strips so hard to tell what happened. That was the way mine was. No way to tell what caused the bang.

Any tire events in the past that you can think of? Jumping up over a curb when turning into a gas station, etc., running over something? How hot was the weather? When was the last time you checked tire pressure and what do you run cold? Coach pretty well loaded?

Pierce

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #10 – August 15, 2019, 07:41:34 pm

Suffered a similar experience in 2010, two years after I purchased my coach, with all new Michlin's, at FOT. My blowout, also the inside right rear, blew off the f/g eyebrow panel. Had just left Lake Griffin State Park in Leesburg Florida and hadn't gone 20 miles when the blowout occurred. Local tire service called it a "sidewall zipper" and not uncommon. After returning home to SE PA. I started the dialog with my local Michlin dealer. Long story - short version follows: Took 6 months of communication with Michlin before they finally sent an area rep to examine the tire carcass and determine that it hadn't been run underinflated, or curbed, or suffered road damage. They finally offered full replacement value - significant improvement over the $100.00 initial good faith adjustment however no allowance for the damage to the coach. I know lots of owners are happy with their Michlin's but based on my experience I replaced them with Toyo's.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #11 – August 15, 2019, 07:46:17 pm

Hit a unknown object coming up tp Payson. Tire kept air!

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #12 – August 15, 2019, 08:01:46 pm

Glad you are OK.

Good thing it wasn't on the outside or front. They can do a lot of damage.

Simple rule. Watch the dot dates on tires. No matter how good they look, throw them out after 6 years. (5 yrs if it's a Chinese trailer tire)

Most important too. What ever tire pressure you like, make sure all pressures are equal across the back.

Good read:

Tire Age - Six Years Maximum

This is all from many time experience, and being a service adviser at a large RV store

Form your own opinion.
Chris

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #13 – August 15, 2019, 09:58:19 pm

That's why I like stiffer sidewalls and also why I max out pressures on all tires. My front blow out was on a set of Michelins less than a year old.

Pierce

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #14 – August 15, 2019, 10:13:38 pm

Three years ago I took these pics of a front tire blowout on a 45' Newmar Essex. It was in the truck body shop for repairs. Tires were 10 year old dry rotted Michelins. The coach was being driven from southern FL to AZ when the tire came apart on I-10 in the middle of the summer when road temps are very hot. The coach went off the hwy into a ditch just before going over an overpass.

The body shop manager said the damage was about $30,000 from all the damage underneath plus a new set of tires! He said the owner had just bought the coach and was told the tires looked good!

Big lesson for me. You better make sure you are aware of the age and condition of your tires and not rely on some non-expert's opinion as to how "good" they are. We have triple digit heat indexes here in late summer. The asphalt drive where I store my rig was 140 degrees checked with my infra red thermometer the other day.

Andy the body shop manager who owns two coaches told me he only uses truck tires and changes them every three years.

Jerry

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #15 – August 15, 2019, 10:20:20 pm

glad to hear everyone and everything is ok.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #16 – August 15, 2019, 11:16:05 pm

Quote from: coastprt – August 15, 2019, 10:13:38 pm

Three years ago I took these pics of a front tire blowout on a 45' Newmar Essex. It was in the truck body shop for repairs. Tires were 10 year old dry rotted Michelins. The coach was being driven from southern FL to AZ when the tire came apart on I-10 in the middle of the summer when road temps are very hot. The coach went off the hwy into a ditch just before going over an overpass.

The body shop manager said the damage was about $30,000 from all the damage underneath plus a new set of tires! He said the owner had just bought the coach and was told the tires looked good!

Big lesson for me. You better make sure you are aware of the age and condition of your tires and not rely on some non-expert's opinion as to how "good" they are. We have triple digit heat indexes here in late summer. The asphalt drive where I store my rig was 140 degrees checked with my infra red thermometer the other day.

Andy the body shop manager who owns two coaches told me he only uses truck tires and changes them every three years.

Jerry

Yup, middle picture shows the DOT date. 48 06 tire was made in the 48th week of 2006

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #17 – August 16, 2019, 12:05:35 am

I remember visiting a recap blog where the owner was commenting on big rig recap casings. He said Michelins had the shortest lifespan for capping and Bridgestone the longest as the sidewall were very tough. In visiting a Bridgestone factory site, they recommended that 15 years should be the longest a casing should be in service.

Pierce

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #18 – August 16, 2019, 10:54:59 am

Quote from: turbojack – August 15, 2019, 05:57:11 pm

What was the air pressure you were running in the tires? I would double check and make sure you are running enough air pressure.

Cold pressure was +/1 100 PSI within 2 PSI of each other.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #19 – August 16, 2019, 10:59:54 am

Quote from: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart – August 15, 2019, 07:25:32 pm

Any tire events in the past that you can think of? Jumping up over a curb when turning into a gas station, etc., running over something? How hot was the weather? When was the last time you checked tire pressure and what do you run cold? Coach pretty well loaded?

Coach is new (5,000 miles for me, 147,000 on the ticker) to me so I have no idea of the event history on the tires.
Weather was beautiful at 75 degrees, maybe if that.
Cold is 100 PSI and the TPMS showed probably 105 or 107 running down the road. Not certain.
I have not weighed it, but no we are not full time, so inside stuff was minimal. I did have a full load of water but only 1/2 a tank of fuel.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #20 – August 16, 2019, 11:04:59 am

The other thing I saw that everybody should be doing is a secondary jack under that coach while the tire was off. If I am working on any vehicle and the tire comes off I will put the tire under the vehicle frame. If the jack fails I at least have the width of the tire to save me.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #21 – August 16, 2019, 12:45:23 pm

Has anyone else had other brands blow out like this? The only stories that I see/hear about are the Big M.

I am amazed at the repurchase rate for these tires. , giving that the stories are all Michelin.

Maybe I'm wrong , show me some off brand failures to balance it all out.
Thanks,MM

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #22 – August 16, 2019, 01:16:37 pm

Probably because motorhomes usually use a conservative age to replace. On my other vehicles, trucks and cars, the sidewalls cracked on the Michelins way earlier than other brands. Hankook had the longest sidewall life in my case. The '81 Foretravel I have parked in the yard, has tires that I would have to look at the date code to check, but no sidewall cracks over 15 years old.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #23 – August 16, 2019, 01:23:58 pm

As every uni made had Michelin tires on it more stories are likely.

Things that can cause failures, among others are:

The using non dry air or nitrogen to fill the tires.

Using a water based tire mounting lubricant as the water goes into the tire.

Letting a tire go way low on pressure for an extended period.

A low tire puts and extra load on the other tire in a wheel set.

Most problems are probably multiples of these reasons.

Tire could have been damaged and rotated on the rim and placed on the inner dual.

Michelin supposedly has "flex" agents in its tire construction that are released by driving them continuously on a heavy truck.

If the tire is barely used the agent is not released. Cracks.

Newer model Michelin's I understand have addressed this issue.

My FMCA large volume tire dealer manager said on trucks he never had seen the cracking he saw on my pull off Xza-2's from my coach.

Re: Sidewall blow-out at 70MPH

Reply #24 – August 16, 2019, 09:06:59 pm

Caflashbob I have always believed that RV and trailer tries fail because of the lack of milage and an excess of sunlight. You hit it on the head when you said that the oils in the rubber are not exercised and squeezed to the extremities of the tires when they are not driven resulting in the rubber decaying. Little used very low milage tires can start to fail well before the 7 year mark. Cheap brands from China start to fail on SOB fifth wheels within two years.
Buy em new, drive em hard, keep them covered in the sun and enjoy the ride, more RV milage driven is more miles out of those expensive tires!

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