RF tire XRV blows at 70!!

[Tenn.Vol.]

Monday, my friend blew a tire on his W-22 on I-95. No warning, sounded like one stick
of dynOmite and the coach dropped down on the right front. He said he looked to the
right and in the rear view he saw the whole tread veer off to the right. Said it
did not pull hard one way or the other, and had no trouble staying in his center lane.
About 200yards later he found a place to pull over. It did a number on the SS cover
but the rim only had a dozen or so marks on it from the road, very minimun.
Maybe enough rubber to keep it off the asphalt as the two beads were still attached
to the rim. As I remember the BOD was 1101, with 39 or 40K miles on them.

I was glad to hear he had no problem keeping it in his lane, as he has the front air
bags on it. We put them on both of ours WH chassis before WH changed out the shocks.
WH change his to the RV Monroe, and after I P&M for a yr. they put BILLs on my W-20.

I got my two front XRV changed out before we went to Fl. in March. As my worst fear is
a blow out at speeds, in a curve!!!!Tenn.

[Tenn.Vol.]

Monday, my friend blew a tire on his W-22 on I-95. No warning, sounded like one stick
of dynOmite and the coach dropped down on the right front. He said he looked to the
right and in the rear view he saw the whole tread veer off to the right. Said it
did not pull hard one way or the other, and had no trouble staying in his center lane.
About 200yards later he found a place to pull over. It did a number on the SS cover
but the rim only had a dozen or so marks on it from the road, very minimun.
Maybe enough rubber to keep it off the asphalt as the two beads were still attached
to the rim. As I remember the BOD was 1101, with 39 or 40K miles on them.

I was glad to hear he had no problem keeping it in his lane, as he has the front air
bags on it. We put them on both of ours WH chassis before WH changed out the shocks.
WH change his to the RV Monroe, and after I P&M for a yr. they put BILLs on my W-20.

I got my two front XRV changed out before we went to Fl. in March. As my worst fear is
a blow out at speeds, in a curve!!!!Tenn.

[Ding-a-ling]

It's great to hear he could keep it safely under control when it blew - but 70 mph!

[Joe Gilbert]

Michelin has a great video on how to safely handle a front tire blowout on a "Big rig". This should be required viewing for all CDL licensed drivers and particularly for non-CDL RV drivers.

http://www.olblueusa.org/

Go to this site and select "Tire Blowout Safety Video".

Watching this will be well worth your time.

[DriVer]

Excellent video! What you are obliged to do is get on the gas when everything that controls your decision making is telling you to step on the brake.

RV'ers need to be very proactive about their tires including the DOT code, inflation requirements vs weight and regular visual inspection.

I'm not so much concerned or a BIG fan regarding tire rotation unless there appears to be a need to do so. RV tires will most likely never wear out before the DOT code expires.

The last time I rotated my tires was because there was a need to do so as my front end needed a toe correction. It was suggested that bringing the rear tires up front would square up the shoulders for the front end alignment machine. I didn't see any down side to it plus the slightly worn fronts were mounted on the inside rears. (same side)

[John-D]

Been driving for over 40 years, at one time or another I've blown every tire (on cars) at speeds ranging from next to nothing to over 80MPH

I LEARNED from reading that Mitchelin video

I highly recommend it

[cvrvr]

Everytime I read about a tire blowout, especially in an motorhome, it kind of gives me the chills.

In the early 80's, I was in an RV repair and maintanence shop here in the Los Angeles area. I was talking to the owner as we were walking the shop. There was a class A MH sitting there with a large hole over the right rear dual wheels. I asked the garage owner what happened to that coach. He said it was waiting for the insurance company to finish its investigation. The coach was a bunk house type coach with the bunks over the right real wheels. There was a child sleeping in the lower bunk when the inside right rear tire blew. The debris from the tire went through the floor of the coach and threw the bed where the child was sleeping. The child was killed instantly.

Like I said, don't like to hear about blowouts.

George

[Tenn.Vol.]

I was just wondering IF the front AIR BAGS allowed my friend to
stay straight in the center lane when the RF tire blew?? As I
think it would at least slow the fall of RF corner of the MH!!
Any though?? We both keep 45-50lbs in the bags.

Also both front rotors were cracked and new one have been
bolted on, but the MOCHANIC had trouble with the seals??
Somehing to do with the fitment of seals, so he is still
down.....Tenn

[Jackm]

I used to work at a tire repair facility when I was young. Eighty percent of the blow-outs were on the right side becasue that's where all the debree is (i.e. nails, pieces of metal, etc.). The fact that the RV was controllable is a testimony to the rig's stability. In any case, it's a great video but for some drivers, it might take a leap of faith to not hit the breaks when they hear that bang!!!

Jack

[DriVer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Tenn.Vol.:
I was just wondering IF the front AIR BAGS allowed my friend to stay straight in the center lane when the RF tire blew?? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>On P series there's a pretty hefty steering damper and anti sway bar. I'm also thinking that the air bags as a component of the IFS suspension in total may have contributed somewhat to the stability of the vehicle as well however I am only speculating on that item.

[Tenn.Vol.]

Driver, we are NOT talking about the P series
chassis, but the W-20/W-22 chassis...
As we added the RIDE-RITE air bags to the
front of the WH!!!!Tenn...