My sisters tire blew out

[Jon K]

Hey guys - my sisters tire blew out, thankfully at low speed - she drives I95 at higher speed and thank goodness it happened at low.

It looks to me as if the tire pressure was real low - both the inside and outside sidewall is worn. The lettering of "Kumho" is plainly gone. The steel belts wore thru on the inside and blew out but luckily the wheel is fine. This is a Kumho Ecsta 712 255/40/17 mounted on a Rondell #58 17x10 rim.

I personally think it was low tire pressure, but what do you guys think? She's since been told and learned to check her tire pressure and paying more attention to and respecting the car.

http://e34.digital7.com/Blow%20Out/1.jpg

http://e34.digital7.com/Blow%20Out/2.jpg

[SnakeyesTx]

This looks a lot like the tire was flat before the drive and the sidewall was being ridden on by the bead. A couple years ago I drove to school, and went all the way home and noticed that I had these weird black lines from my driveway and out on the street. The lines clearly showed me backing out, then taking off. Found out I drove the 3 miles (60 mph+ on the backroad for most of that trip) to school and BACK on a flat tire and the sidewall took the whole trip. Rim was perfectly fine. Scared the hell outta me once I realized what happened.

[tim s]

tim s.

[SC David]

That is really odd wear. Almost looks like she was riding along a low curb for a mile at speed.

[genphreak]

That is really odd wear. Almost looks like she was riding along a low curb for a mile at speed.If she drove a little way after the blowout, that wear could have happened following it... I know it seems unbelievable, but some people don't notice such things, not that your Sis is likely to do so of course... just a possibility.

[nizmainiac]

a slow puncture would cause that, but it looks to me like the tyre hasn't been run flat for very long, i've seen them alot worse than that in my time

[BMW 5 SERIES]

It happens to me also. I drove a 350 km distance with my tire in low pressure. Because of the low profiles I didn’t understand the luck of pressure and there were several times during my journey that I reach speeds up to 240 Km/h. I don’t even want to imagine what will happen if the tire blow in such speeds. After that in order to be more certain about the tire pressures I install a devise that gives me the tires pressure and temperature on a monitor.

[nizmainiac]

thats a good idea, where did you get your pressure monitor system from?

[BMW 5 SERIES]

I bought the system two years ago from a local dealer in Greece were I live. The system consists from 5 wireless valve senders and one control unit which displays continuously when engine running the pressure and the temperature of all four tires plus the spare wheel.

[nizmainiac]

do you have to put the wheels back in the same place ? ie you cant swop them around? the renault lagunas are the same , if you do swap them about it confuses the computer

[BMW 5 SERIES]

Yes that is almost correct.
All the valve senders are marked with a different color. Once you put them all in your tires you run a test from the main unit which identifies which color you put and were. For example red front right, green front left e.t.c. Now if you want to replace your wheels for example from front to back you have to replace the valve senders too.
If you don’t replace the valves you will still getting readings from the tires but then you have o remember which color is were

[nizmainiac]

that sounds about right, you also have to be careful when fitting the tyres too, always start and finish at the valve otherwise you end up crushing the sensor, and theyre not cheap to replace, renault ones are about £300 a piece and i think the lexus one are even more expensive, not that i have ever broken one

[Qube]

Maybe it was through my old police training, but I never drive without doing a once around the car.

[BMW 5 SERIES]

It happened to a friend of mine. Lucky for him he was already inform the owner of the tire change garage that his car is equipped with this feature and the garage paid for the replacement of the sensor.

[nizmainiac]

i always check my pressures once a week

[632 Regal]

your a Fed?

Maybe it was through my old police training, but I never drive without doing a once around the car.

[Qube]

your a Fed?

Secret Service, lol. Nah, I was doing some 'special' work before for the blues. Due to eyesight, I'm now in IT Sec. for big brother.

[nizmainiac]

define "special" or would you have to kill me if you told me:) btw. thanks for suggesting the imageshack toolbar , almost got it figured out

[GoldenOne]

define "special" or would you have to kill me if you told me:) btw. thanks for suggesting the imageshack toolbar , almost got it figured out

hes a narc!...but yes I actually have driven on a flat for about 100 miles before realizing that it was flat. I didnt really notice it because they were low profile rubbers and it wasnt as glaring as usual. Luckily it was replaced from my Tires Plus incident. But the inside sidewall was chewed up and actually started cracking significantly...scary to think that the tire could blow out at any moment...

[nizmainiac]

thats the only problem with low profiles