Mysterious blow out on highway without the "pop" (Pics)

99BLKRT/10

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Mysterious blow out on highway without the \"pop\" (Pics)

Weird experience a few days ago. I was on the highway going about 60 and started to smell that really awful burnt rubber tire smell. I looked around and figured it was probably some POS car somewhere around me because it could not have possibly been coming from my ride. Yeah right! The smell would not go away and I saw smoke coming from my right front tire. I immediately started to pull over and that's when I felt that the tire was busted. By the time I got over, the tire sidewall was shredded! I could not tell what caused the "blow out". Heck, I didn't even hear any pop. So I put on the spare and limped home in my Viper. That was the most embarrassing part. Everybody on the highway passing me up wondering what the heck a Viper is doing driving sooooo slow in the right lane. It took me quite a few hours to get that awful smell out of my lungs. Could it have been a defect in the tire? I bought the car about 7 months ago and the tires were virtually new. I'm wondering if I should contact the previous owner to see if he has the tire receipt and maybe possibly do something about it.

If not, is TireRack the best place to get a new Pilot Sport tire? The damn fronts cost more than the rears. Since the front left has plenty of meat on it can I get away with only replacing the goner? Anyways, take a look for your self.

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Look at the tread on that tire! I couldn't find anything wrong with it (Besides the damage I caused while riding on it).
 

Jerome Sparich

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Re: Mysterious blow out on highway without the \"pop\" (Pics)

You may have been riding around with a slow leak or just real low pressure. If you run real low on air pressure the sidewall will actually fold over on itself and rub together until it rubs thru.

Does the inside of the tire have rubber "dust" in it?
 
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99BLKRT/10

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Re: Mysterious blow out on highway without the \"pop\" (Pics)

Hmmmmmm... Perhaps. There was "rubber dust" everywhere! But I figured that was from the shredding session I did on the highway..
 

Chuck 98 RT/10

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Re: Mysterious blow out on highway without the

I'm guessing slow leak also. Those low profile tires can be difficult to visually notice low pressure.
 

Nexus-6

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Re: Mysterious blow out on highway without the

I'm guessing slow leak also. Those low profile tires can be difficult to visually notice low pressure.


Yup - I've gotten into the habbit of checking tire psi on all the cars every 2nd weekend. Kind of a pain but beats the alternative...

Sorry to see your troubles there - thankfully you didn't do any damage to the rim (or worse, the car!).
 

vipah

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Re: Mysterious blow out on highway without the

I had a similar mishap with my Vette and was able to get Goodyear to pick up half the cost of a new tire.

The car was only about 3 weeks old at the time though, so that may have had something to do with my "success".
 

Ron

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Re: Mysterious blow out on highway without the

Perhaps a broken record, but a tire pressure monitoring system will most likely solve this problem. Perhaps there are others, but I installed the SmarTire system and am quite happy with it.
 

slaughterj

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Re: Mysterious blow out on highway without the

I'd buy 2 new tires, and keep your other good one as a spare, that way you won't be uneven...
 

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