Check Tyre Pressures!

[DZYRME]

Last weekend me and my girlfriend decided to go to Yarrawonga for the weekend. While we were almost half way there, my rear left tyre exploded on me. After hours waiting for my parents to come and give me my spare tyre, I finally arrived in Yarrawonga. Luckily this happened in the day light. However on the way back from Yarrawonga on Sunday the exact same thing happened to my front left tyre. Once again, I had to wait hours for my parents to come and change the remaining wheels. This was worse, though, cos I was in the pitch black darkness, and in the middle of nowhere.

Now I have been to a few tyre places today, and I have been quoted the cheapest $570 each tyre to replace them. I never realised I had such expensive tyres on my car. I really did get a bargain when I bought them. Apparently my tyres are made for Porsche 911 Turbos, and they are one of the top of the range tyres bridgestone make. The tyres exploded because they were a bit flat.

The whole point of this post, is to please make sure that you check your tyre pressures all the time if you have low profile tyres like mine. Its hard to tell if they are flat or not. I always neglected them, cos I always thought thats how they were. My neglect has cost me over $1000. Its scary as hell when your tyre explodes when you are travelling at 110km/h. If the loud bang doesnt scare you, losing control of the steering wheel is even scarier!

For those interested, my tyres are Bridgestone Potenza S02. 225/35/18

Here are some pics of what is left of my tyre.

[FTO338]

Thank god you are alright bro, twice in one wkend.....man I would be mega pissed.

[SchumieFan]

u lucky lucky bastard, go buy a lotto ticket, cant imagine what it would be like to lose a front tyre... seems a bit wierd that it was caused by low pressure then. yikes

[khunjeng]

mate I feel your pain...my tyre came off due to a slow leak..and your right its hard to tell if the pressure is low..basic warning is tyre noise going around corvers that arn't that tight the "squeeling" indicates somethings going on..

I check mine every couple of days atm and also have a guage in the car..!!! after it happens to you...its scary.

[BuCkEt]

My neglect has cost me over $1000.

I'd be counting my blessings that's all it cost!

Much damage to the rims themselves?

[scarecrow]

I did mine in after nicking the edge of a pothole, badly dinged the inner part of the rim, only visible with the wheel off. That damage coupled with relatively high tyre pressure (i run at about 40psi, tyres are rated to 44) led to a nasty blowout coming around a corner. I did $2500 damage including two new tyres, two new rims and a bunch of bent control arms and sh*t.

So just be careful with low profile tyres and big rims in general. Check the pressure, and for structural damage as regularly as you can.

[Rocco]

Seriously hectic.Your quite lucky to have escaped unscathed.I check my pressure every week when i clean my car,along with assorted other things.

[rnbboi]

think ill check it every time i clean my car now.

question: how much pressure should I b looking at for 17's with 215 at the front and 225 at the back?

i dont wanna wait and sh*t my pants when it happens - or sumthing worse

[scarecrow]

Most people will tell you between 32 - 35, higher at the front to ensure that those tyres lose grip first and you don't go drifting in the wet (yep, another thing I didn't realise before my accident).

I say 38 - 40.

[umm]

Just a note: it doesn't matter if you have low profile tyres or not, you can't really tell if your tyres are flat just by lookin at them. I had a leak in one of mine and when i looked at it, it look just like the others but it only had around 12psi when i tested it and the others had 32psi so anyway don't just think their right cos they look good.

[Nacho]

From a technical point of view what exactly causes them to explode when they are underinflated? Do they get too hot or something?

[Boris]

I'm not sure if this is true but logically it would be the sidewall on corners it could sway to far.. then bacuase they are squished more there is more preasure on the tyre's corners. causing the corners/side walls to break.

That's what I think anyway!

[Nacho]

I see.......that sounds very logical........kinda like squashing a balloon too much. Maybe more friction coz more tyre is in contact with the road?

[dstocks]

Sounds like good advice by all. I havent checked mine for a while. Guess ill be doing that this arvo.

[Bennoz]

Yeah, if they are really low, the inner edge of the rim will end up cutting into the inside of the tyre.

Your lucky DZYRME.... at least you didnt end up seeing the rim ripping down the road ahead of you! That was scary

[khunjeng]

want some info....here you go...this should answer most of your questions..

http://www.thetyrepressuremonitor.com/safety.asp

and some more gold

http://www.speedace.info/tyres.htm

[SchumieFan]

Your lucky DZYRME.... at least you didnt end up seeing the rim ripping down the road ahead of you! That was scary

Yeah thatd be change of underwear material... and youd be soaking wet with sweat cause of the leatherette seats group buy!

[Bennoz]

Yeah thatd be change of underwear material... and youd be soaking wet with sweat cause of the leatherette seats group buy!

Happened at 110kmh on a freeway too Friggen wheel whistled past me... "sh*t, would suck to be that guy.... F#CK thats my mag!!"

Serve me right for not putting the split pin back in the castle nut on the axle! Was in an old car thou... no leather to slide off

[BuCkEt]

....So what the hell did you do??

[Bennoz]

Managed to carfully drift from the right lane to the emergency lane (funny how all the cars made room for me ) I then just let it slow down on its own accord - cause it was the front wheel that went - had I hit the brakes, the front disc rotor would have dug in & sent me spinning. When it was down to about 20 or 30kms I belly landed it in the grass off to the side. Scary sh*t.