This tire was presented as a “sudden blowout” with a claim that the tire “must have been defective.”
This is what the tire looked like when I got it.
We can see the severe damage to the tire tread area in picture #1. Below is a picture of the small “nail” I discovered.
Here we see the small nail from the inside.
In picture #4, between the 2 arrows, we see the “rutting” caused by the wheel flange digging into the lower side of the tire. This is evidence of many hundreds of miles run with significant loss of air and/or excessive loading.
In picture #5 we see the cut steel filaments.
In the last picture, we see more cut steel filaments. Note the lack of the “cup-cone” configuration normally found in steel that has failed from being cut by some external object and not from overload or stretching.
My conclusion was that the tire was run while not properly inflated for many hundreds of miles due to the puncture and a lack of proper maintenance.
This would lead to a weakening of the tire structure. Hitting some sharp object, the weakened tire was cut and the tire suffered a failure.
Roger Marble
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TPMS can save your day. Betting your life on your tires and proper maintenance.
TPMS will warn you of low tire pressure but it will NOT warn you of a sudden tire catastrophe blowout until a second or two after it already happened. It’s best to run with a TPMS and proper tire pressures based on corner weights.
Yup. A properly programmed and functioning TPMS could have warned the driver of the low air which if corrected might have prevented the low air cut and ultimate failure.
I spotted a nail sticking out of my tow vehicle’s right front tire. I squirted some soap on it to see if it was leaking. It was not. I parked in front of a tire shop and asked if someone could come out and remove the nail – in case there was an actual hole and air loss. Luckily the tire was fine. I thanked them and off we went.
Thank you, Roger! Our TPMS should prevent us making a similar mistake. Toward that end, I regularly check our RV and toad tire pressures with a TireMinder digital tire gauge (https://a.co/d/hcirBZM) to confirm both the TPMS and tire gauge are working properly. If they don’t approximately match, then I consult a second tire gauge to see if it approximates either.
Do you know that if you have accessories such as a TPMS, towing mirrors, tonneau cover on your vehicle/ truck that were not installed by the manufacturer your insurance may not cover them. I just went thru that with Erie insurance in Pa after totaling my truck. About $1500. down the drain.
One reason I check air pressure before I leave a campground. I also check the tires when we are at rest stops. Only takes about 5 minutes. If there is a significant difference in one of the tires, I do an inspection. Have not had any problems, BUT!
Blew the heck out of that claim!