Back in the game

[David's8]

Welcome and, holy cr@p, that must have been worth a change of trousers. I just wonder whether the tyre wall damage was done by the rim after the tyre deflated or whether it was the initial failure. Can you cast any light on that?
IIRC my Nokian winter tyres have a speed and load factor rating equal or exceding my Kumho summer tyres.

[d.f.]

Originally Posted by David's8

that must have been worth a change of trousers.

Was extraordinarily calm, controlled and collected when it happened. 110-ish. It was when I got my wife to the top of the grass verge and to safety that the shock kicked in.

Originally Posted by David's8

I just wonder whether the tyre wall damage was done by the rim after the tyre deflated or whether it was the initial failure. Can you cast any light on that?

No idea. One second cruising the next it disintegrated.

[tc4332]

Shock is strange like that.
We seem to cope extremely well, automatically doing the correct things.
Then later when everybody is safe we start the shivers.
My worst was in the Swiss Alps driving a 12 metre coach fully loaded downhill when all brakes failed. This was a prototype vehicle, first one that was completely computer controlled and due to a programming failure it thought that if under 19 KPH brakes and retarders were not required so it switched them off.
Managed to negotiate three hairpins but knowing the road realised that the next one would be the last that I would be able to cope with so had to put it into a ditch. Nobody hurt and only body damage to the coach.
I finally came back to reality finding myself in tears some fifty yards away from the scene. I was told by the passengers that after we stopped I just climbed out and walked away.
The vehicle software was modified and it covered over a million miles without further problems.
The Swiss authorities at the time wanted me to be interviewed for the newspapers but as I was only doing my job I refused. Later found out that a German coach had crashed on the same pass a week earlier with a lot of fatalities.

[d.f.]

Naughty.

[Dezzy]

Now that's an impressive failure. And you couldn't have been in anything better for it, as i found out the 8 is very confident with only 3 inflated tyres.

Originally Posted by David's8

Welcome and, holy cr@p, that must have been worth a change of trousers. I just wonder whether the tyre wall damage was done by the rim after the tyre deflated or whether it was the initial failure. Can you cast any light on that?
IIRC my Nokian winter tyres have a speed and load factor rating equal or exceding my Kumho summer tyres.

I would say the sidewall damage would have been done after failure. It doesn't take long to runflat a tyre and at that sort of speed by the time you stop.

Worth checking pressures regularly with winter tyres as I found a couple years ago it is very difficult to tell you have a under inflated tyre with 1. 4 wheel drive and 2. an 8, the other 3 wheels just push you in a straight line, and while the temp ratings may well be comparable with summer tyres the friction that winter tyres have against the tarmac will cause the temperature to rise rapidly especially if the ambient temp is above 7 and temp of the tarmac in the sun mixed with a low or loosing pressure tyre and you have a recipe for a tyre reaching its max temp very quickly especially at say 110, I would say minuets.
I bet there was some heat coming off that badboy when you first got the car over at the side of the road?

So it is possible that the tyre in question suffered blow out but that damage right around the sidewall is done from running flat.

[snapdragon]

Wow that could have been much worse.
I once followed a car which was 4 up going about 70mph and saw one of the rear tyres deflate over around 10-15 seconds and I could see it getting flatter and thought my eyes were playing tricks. The tyre started whisping smoke and I flashed my lights and blew my horn for another few seconds and then strands and bits of rubber started flying off before they realised something was wrong and started pulling left and slowing down. It may be worth checking the tread and shoulder for punctures, maybe you just ran over some debris that didn't stay in plugging the hole - resulting in a sudden deflation.