Silent Blowout?

[Texas Proud]

With different sizes front and back - tires can be rotated side to side. But if the tires are directional, then they need to be taken off the rims and remounted on the rim on the other side, making sure that the rotation remains the same.

So even though directional tires do wear unevenly, it is considered not worth the expense to rotate by having to remove the tires from the rims and remount on the other side of the car.

Only if the tire is not designed with an inside and outside... some sports car tires are specific to which location... the tread on the inside of a tire is different than on the outside... no rotation possible...


Then again, those tires usually don't make 20K miles anyhow...

 

[chilkoot]

With different sizes front and back - tires can be rotated side to side. But if the tires are directional, then they need to be taken off the rims and remounted on the rim on the other side, making sure that the rotation remains the same.

So even though directional tires do wear unevenly, it is considered not worth the expense to rotate by having to remove the tires from the rims and remount on the other side of the car.

D’uh.

Thanks for pointing out what should have been obvious. And apologies to the OP for the thread jack.

 

[Ronstar]

Only if the tire is not designed with an inside and outside... some sports car tires are specific to which location... the tread on the inside of a tire is different than on the outside... no rotation possible...


Then again, those tires usually don't make 20K miles anyhow...

True - the asymmetrical tread tires cannot be rotated. I forgot about those. My corvette has directional symmetrical that can be rotated side to side to combat inside wear. Corvettes normally wear on the inside due to suspension design.

But like you say, it doesn’t make much difference when you need new tires every 20k miles.

 

[Bamaman]

Tires are one of my pet peeves. Like the time I bought a Lexus IS250 and the tires lasted only 20K miles. They intentionally put soft rubber tires certain cars so they corner better and brake great--for the car magazine road tests.

So many tires today are low profile, ultra high performance tires. That's great on a Porsche 911, but we simply don't require $200 tires on a Ford Focus econobox. Such tires are so easily damaged when you drive over a pothole or hit something in the interstate highway. They'll look good one day, and be down to the steel belts the next.

I'm intentionally purchasing cars now with tall sidewalls. I want a tire to have enough guts to run over a train track without blowing, and one that lasts 50K miles. And there's no reason to have 150 different tires to service a retail tire market--requiring 1 day service for tires to come out of a big city tire warehouse to my local tire store.

 

[Andre1969]

I've been pretty lucky, that the last few flat tires I've had have all been discovered at home. One of them though, was on my 2012 Dodge Ram. On the way home from work, the low tire light came on...nothing new, as it always seemed pretty sensitive. BUT, once I actually got home, turned it off and could hear air hissing out of the front driver's side tire. So, I jacked it up right there in the yard and took the wheel off.

Only problem is, then I read the instructions on how to lower the spare tire from underneath the truck. And then I noticed the tire was chained and padlocked, and I didn't know where the key was! So, I just said screw it, threw the tire in the trunk of another car, and dropped it off at the repair shop. Unfortunately, the puncture was too close to the sidewall, so they couldn't repair it, so I had to buy a new tire. At the time though, the truck was new enough, and low mileage enough, that one new tire didn't throw things out of balance too badly.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Al, are those measurements MM or 32nd's of an inch ?

If you have unmatched tires, the best tires belong on the rear, not the front. !

FWIW, buy a new set of 4 and rotate, rotate, rotate , rotate. !

Skip the " Low rolling resistance tires " Expensive, harder ride, inferior traction, and it is my understanding , the LLR performance decays with age.

Just my 2 cents worth.

PS the first car I bought with tpms, at just 800 miles, picked up a spike in the sidewall in a turn. immediately herd a loud clicking, pulled over and then the tpms activated.

That spike was looking for a new tire to bite. 800 miles and it was un-repairable.

 

[TromboneAl]

What's the rationale for putting the best tires on the rear?

 

[REWahoo]

What's the rationale for putting the best tires on the rear?

Short answer: better control in the event of hydroplaning.
Long answer: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=52

 

[Lakewood90712]

What's the rationale for putting the best tires on the rear?

1 If you are starting to loose traction , the rear sliding out ( overstear if far more dangerous than the front sliding out ( understeer)

2 If a tire on the front fails at speed, you still have control, especially with power steering ( I cant think of a car without pwr steering) . A tire failing on the rear at speed can cause severe pull that cant be overcome by the front steerable tires. This can end up as a rollover. Almost all of the Ford Explorer tire failure rollover accidents were rear tires.

It is serious enough that some of the major tire retailers will refuse to rotate higher tread depth tires to the front if any appreciable difference in tread depth

 

[TromboneAl]

Okay, thanks. I'm getting another tire today, and the new ones will go in the rear.

 

[Andre1969]

I'm wondering if a blowout might actually be more dangerous these days, than in the past, simply because they're not as common. Once upon a time, it seemed like they were common enough that people simply knew how to deal with them, because they experienced them fairly regularly. I've also heard those old bias-ply tires "blow out" differently than a radial, perhaps not quite as violently? But, I dunno.


Anyway, the last time I had what I'd call a "blowout" was in 1995. It was also the only time I've ever experienced one. At the time, I was driving a 1968 Dodge Dart. I was going through a bad marriage, and trying to scrimp and save wherever I could, to stave off bankruptcy. When its rear tires wore out, instead of getting new ones on the back, I put on some old snow tires I had, that still had good tread.

One little thing I had forgotten, though...the age of these snow tires. I honestly don't know how old they were! They were originally on 1980 Malibu rims, and my Mom had bought them, when she had that car. I got that car in 1987, when I started driving. When I got rid of it, I had the snow tires mounted on Dart rims. So, at the very least, they were 8 years old, but I'm sure much older than that.


Anyway, one day, at around 45-50 mph, the one on the right rear just popped without warning, and the rear slumped a bit. No big deal, as I was on a straight stretch of road with a shoulder, so I just pulled over, and, thankfully, had a spare.


Now, I've had other tires go flat, and some go flat VERY quickly. But that was the only blowout I ever had. I wonder if nowadays, when someone has a blowout, they panic, jerk the steering wheel, and that's when they lose control?

 

[38Chevy454]

Big bangs are just in the movies. I had a front tire go out "suddenly"... the only indication I had was a thrumping noise that was growing louder... I was looking around thinking a UH-1 helicopter was doing a low fly over. The car didn't even pull to one side. The factory tires on the car a little on the low-profile/sporty side. I pulled over the tire was completely flat and the sidewall chewed from the rim wear.

I have had a blow out where it did make a big bang. A lot bigger bang than a small car tire as well, it was a large truck tire at 100 psi on my motorhome. Just cruising down the interstate at 70 mph and then loud bang from right front tire, rubber flying everywhere. Fortunately was able to ease over to shoulder and there was even an exit ramp right there so was able to get even further off the highway. Left a bunch of rubber pieces in the highway and my tire was completely shredded. Wheel was OK, just some small scratches. Tore up some wiring, and lot of paint scratches from the tire cord material, which there are a lot on a big truck tire! I subsequently had to paint repair that fender due to the tire damage.



Have also had several trailer tire blowouts where I did not hear it inside my truck, but it was a catastrophic failure and instantaneous loss of pressure. Could feel it through the hitch and see rubber bits flying in side rearview mirror.


Tire failures do happen, and are just a part of driving as stated earlier. Just like a cracked windshield is also an occasional repair needed. There are just too many pieces of junk, rocks and other debris on the roads. One kind of interesting fact, tire cuts and flats are more common on rear tires because the front kicks up the item on the road and the rear tire gets it in position to go into the tire instead of just running it over.