Our Steer Tire Blowout!!!

[hohenwald48]

Originally Posted by sitchintime

So glad everyone is safe! So, opinions regarding the tire monitoring system? why did it not help? was / is this type of system worth it? thanks for input...our family is in "discussions" about purchasing this type of system?!

To me, the TPMS is worth it if only for the ability to check pressure in all 10 tires without leaving the driver's seat every day and during the day. No more crawling on my hands and knees in the dirt (or worse, like a rest area, yuck) to check tire pressure every morning.

Although my system will alarm for a sudden loss of pressure it would likely be of no value in the kind of situation Lloyd experienced. But, it helps in just about every other situation.

[Radacravitz]

I'm sorry you folks experienced this and very pleased you made it through as well as you did. Thx very much for reporting the details to us. be safe.

[Steve Ownby]

Back in 2012 a poster on another forum posted this event. I contacted him & got permission to repost any time there was interest and opportunity. The poster expresses some very strong opinions about the tire brand which may or may not be valid but the experience he had is worth our time. Here it is for your education:


PLEASE, for your safety and that of your passengers, read this to
conclusion.

Recently, while on the freeway south of Jacksonville, FL, traveling in
the far right lane, on cruise control at 60 mph, I experienced a blowout
of a Goodyear G 670 tire on the right side steer axle.

Some important background information to help you evaluate and
understand the lead up to this catastrophe and I do mean catastrophe! I
am a former US Navy carrier based jet fighter pilot from the Vietnam War
era, retired 747 international airline pilot, former instructor of the
advanced motorcycle safety driving course and have never had a vehicle
accident of any kind in my life nor have I ever had a driving citation.
I am an extremely defensive driver and uncompromising when it comes to
safety and maintenance of my vehicles. Also spent many years sailing
blue water.

I have closely followed all the information posted on this forum for a
few years now and learned more than I ever knew before this forum, which
is a lot considering I've been full-timing for 24 years in a number of
coaches including 4 Monaco's. I have especially followed the discussions
regarding the G 670 because they came on my Windsor. I had all the
typical problems reported here so no need to go deeply into that now. A
large commercial tire dealer who knows all about, what can only be
described as defective G 670 tires, rotated the rivering and cupping
steer axle tires to the left side drive axle position a few years ago. I
then increased the front tire pressure to 115-120 lbs as recommended
here and from the dealer. The tires on the front wore without those
problems but did develop other abnormal wear patterns but were not cause
for concern, according to the dealer.

I am acutely aware of the tire life limits and know how to read the
manufacture date. I also had the tires inspected at least once per year
by the same dealer. After a recent inspection, he recommended replacing
all the tires this fall with Hankooks or other reputable tires as the
tire ages were 6 years. I used 303 Protectorant on the sidewalls
regularly; they had no cracks. I check pressures before every trip and
have a laser temperature gun that I use at all rest stops. I do not have
a tire pressure monitoring system.

When I've read previous reports of blowouts, I must confess I said to
myself that the drivers probably didn't check pressures as regularly as
I do nor did they take care of their tires as I do. Not a good
assumption on my part since I didn't have first hand knowledge of each
situation but was going on what I know and see most other owners doing
or better yet, not doing, to maintain their tires. Also, I've never had
a blowout on anything in my life so it probably wouldn't happen to me;
WRONG!

I have posted, on this forum, the proper procedure to follow in the
event of a tire blowout in a motor home or car and that is NOT to touch
the brake but step on the accelerator to maintain speed and control and
then gradually slow down. The pilot in me has me repeating to myself a
few times every time I drive, "Blowout, step on the accelerator,
step on the accelerator". I do this because I know the natural
response would be to step on the brake and that would be fatal as can be
seen on YouTube when a front tire was intentionally blown in a class A
coach demonstration.

One beautiful day recently at about 11:00 AM after driving only about an
hour and with my 13 year old grandson in the passenger seat, there was
what I can only describe as a massive explosion that sounded like a
hand-grenade going off. It was a metallic sound followed by a non-stop
VILOENT motion and before I could comprehend what was happening, we were
headed for the treeline. I could barely see because it was as if someone
was behind me with their hands on my shoulders shaking me so hard that I
could not focus. I was on cruise control and did remember to step on the
accelerator, however the shaking was so violent that I could not tell
where my foot was as it was being shaken every which-way.

By the time my mind caught up with what was happening, the coach had
move from the far right lane I was in, across the paved shoulder (about
a lane width) and onto the grass a half a coach width. I managed to stop
the diversion there and maintained this position while I slowly brought
it to a stop. I sat there for a few moments totally stunned by what had
happened!

The inside was a shambles! It broke the locks off the doors of the
refrigerator and most of the contents were on the floor. Many other
items in the coach relocated and/or broke or were damaged

The blowout took out the air lines to both airbags so the coach was way
down in the right front corner due to tire collapse and air bags
collapsing. It had skidded on the retractable step.

The unbelievably violent ride was, in many ways, as rough as a carrier
arrested landing but actually way more violent because of the up and
down motion of the coach as the blown tire went around and around.

Only a few months before I had decided to go with Coach-Net.
Fortunately, I was only about 15 miles south of Jacksonville, FL. They
sent out a truck from a national commercial tire chain with a Michelin
XZA2. The man who changed the tire showed me that it was not a sidewall
blowout; it was a tread separation. After replacing the tire, wheel was
undamaged, it was determined that the coach was not drivable so CN sent
out a wrecker. The driver said he could not do anything to move me
because of the collapsed airbags making the coach too low to get under
with a tow/lift bar. He looked at the broken air line and said he could
reconnect it, which he did. Started the engine and the bags aired up OK
so followed him to a repair facility. The next day I had Michelin's
installed all around through the FMCA program; $638 each as opposed to
$842 each retail.

When the tread separated, it impacted the wall in front of the tire,
which is the left sidewall of the entry steps inside the entry door. It
hit so hard that the entire step well area was shifted to the right, as
viewed from entering. The entire stairwell will have to be removed and
rebuilt.

The damage could have been much worse. I'm presently in Elkhart, IN at
Duncan RV Services waiting for the final estimate to be completed and
submitted to my insurance company, USAA. Preliminary estimate is I'll be
here for 5-6 weeks depending on how quickly Monaco ships parts. The
fiberglass sidewall surrounding the wheel area was destroyed and will
have to come from Monaco or Duncan will have to fabricate one.

Since the blowout, as I have been driving, I note all the many many
obstacles alongside the roadways we would have hit had it happened
elsewhere; concrete bridge supports, poles, embankments, etc. As it was,
if I had not stopped the coach from going further right only a few feet
more, we would have gone down an embankment and rolled over onto the
side and possibly hit the trees. What if I had been in a left lane with
traffic to my right. Would have taken them out for sure; how about
colliding with an 18 wheeler. At 60 mph, my grandson probably would
have been killed had this occurred in almost any other location. It
makes my blood run cold and I still have guilt feelings about what
could, so easily, have happened! It is something akin to PTSD and will
take some time to recover.

Knowing what I knew about the G 670, even though a dealer said they were
OK until the fall, I should NEVER have gone beyond 5 years at the max
and better yet replace them as soon as I was aware of the problem
because of this forum. It was an expensive lesson as it is but could
have been so much worse had my grandson been even slightly injured.

Now, the reason I took time to write all this. PLEASE, PLEASE learn from
my experience and if you have G 670's, no matter what age, replace them
with something else, anything else. Driving on them is gambling your
life and the life of your loved ones. Yes, there will be those who will
say they've never had a problem, etc, but the history of these tires and
my experience should be enough not to risk it. I could have said I never
had a problem either, that is until it happened to me. Remember, I did
all the right things that would have been acceptable with any other tire
brand. It was a failure that should not have occurred.

The tire service company told me they have responded to MANY G 670
failures; more than ALL other brands combined! They rarely had to
replace blown motor home tires other the Goodyear. They did sell other
brands I could have purchased but decided on the Michelin's because of
an unblemished reputation.

Final comment. I offer this as my experience and recommendation only. I
do not want to get into a back and forth with anyone who disagrees with
anything I've stated because I see so many times where information
offered by others here in good faith turns into an ugly exchange. I've
never understood why this happens, that is, the personal attacks. This
is one of the reasons I do not post often. Aren't we all on the
same team; Americans, coach owners, retired, parents, grandparents and
many veterans? Shouldn't we be helping each other and not tearing others
down? There is so much hate everywhere these days, especially on the
Internet where people can hide as opposed to being face-to-face. They
are cowards and would never have the courage to say those things to
someone's face. I just can't understand why any rational, intelligent
person would want to add to the hate.

If your experiences are different, by all means express them as I have
done. But lets stop the personal attacks I see so frequently here so
this forum always remains at is full potential for educating and helping
each other in a civil manner.

[Jgmabry]

Great job on keeping you and your family alive. I just recently purchased the Tyron system for the 2 front steer tires on my Ventana. Good luck with the repairs.

[Forkyfork]

When I first started looking at RVs all I could find was anti Michelin posts about how crappy the tires are and how Goodyears were better. I don't think it was this forum though. Cant remember, wasn't a member at the time. My takeaway is any tire can blow at any time doesn't matter who made it. These tires were Hancook how did that have anything to do with Goodyear but it comes up again. Just as much as you could buy a tire out of a bad batch or the QA person is snoozing.

That Michelin video is useless. I feel like its dishonest in a way. I do believe that not braking and accelerating is the way to go, however, the video is one persons "idea" of how it should happen in CGI of all things.

It by no means covers all the ways a tire could catastrophically fail. It shows a deflation failure not a disintegration of the tire and all the metal inside of it flopping around in your wheel well tearing things up wrapping itself around the axle ripping out wiring and brake lines. And that seems to be the most common failure. It also shows a lovely straight road. Not the roads they have here with a 4" shoulder and a barrow pit or rumble strips that yank your car off the road with properly inflated tires.

I am not a fan of any tire. in a few years when it comes time to replace my michelins I will make a choice then. there is no way I could tell someone the are better than any other tire out there. For me they have been fine, for all the people that have reported Michelin blowouts they weren't for them.

The other thing that bothers me is that if there is a problem with a particular tire is anything being reported to the manufacturer? Are they getting any of the tires to inspect? Pretty sure if there is a problem its not intentional and certainly something they aren't aware of.

I work for a major electronics manufacturer. I do tech support across all their devices. People like to badmouth instead of just calling to let us know what is going on so it can be resolved. They act like we decided to do whatever to make them miserable.

What they don't realize is you can only test something 45094 ways and sometimes its the 45095 way that someone has configured on their system with all the variables possible that it is actually a problem for them and maybe 3% of the users but that 3% are the only ones that ever post on the internets how crappy the "new" thing is.

[Cloud Dancer]

Steve Ownby,
I too know a thing or two about chassis dynamics, racing machines, and high performance, high altitude jet aircraft (commercial applications). I have lots of hours in motion simulators, and enjoyed all the sim time conditioning my brain during unusual attitudes and the handling of emergencies.
I'm on my 6th motorhome, and my current one is very similar to the one you drive. Since you are one of the few RVers who has experience with asymmetrical thrust in aircraft......:
Allow me to share something out of my playbook, which I posted somewhere in these forums:
*
Obviously, not all of us give hoot about the origin of the helpful force which comes into play when you "step on the gas". But, I will try to explain it anyway:
First, it has to originate from the power output of the engine, which said power is transferred to the drive axle by way of the differential gears, the axles shafts, and to the 2 pairs of drive tires (2 per side). Normally, the resulting propulsion is fairly equal, side to side (due to the fairly equal distribution of vehicle weight). But, when suddenly a front tire becomes five(5) inches shorter, the distribution of weight is no longer normal. There is significant weight transferred to the healthy front tire PLUS to the dually set of REAR tires which are on the SAME side of the failed FRONT tire. Due to the design of the differential rear axle gears, and how they work, these 2 drive tires, which are now supporting more weight, will develop more THRUST than the drive tires on the opposite side. This is called asymmetrical thrust. This is the thrust that will now try to veer the front of the vehicle to opposite side of the failed front tire. This is the reason you should NOT reduce your cruising power. Now, if you are on cruise control IMO it's more intuitive to leave it in cruise control than it is to "step on the gas". Obviously, the author of the Michelin Tire video believes it's added insurance to "step on the gas". Me, I've found out that on my big diesel pusher, it's sufficient to just leave the power level where it is. Keep it mind, that you suddenly have an added advantage anyway. The added weight on the healthy front tire now HAS MORE traction also. This means it is now more effective when you turn the steering wheel to the opposite side of the "pull-to-the -ditch".
It's been proved many times, if the driver remains cool and immediately executes the two(2) first CORRECT steps, and also does not touch the brake,...a blown front tire should be a "non-event".

[Forkyfork]

This response raises my question about whether it matters if it has an anti slip differential and do all motor homes have this? Is it possible it could contribute to shoving the rig to one side or the other if it only drives from one side?

The pre flight instructions for us will always be the same give it a gas and hang on. Simply because when the bad guys get their front tires destroyed they just keep on going like nothing happened. You know full well they have the pedal floored even more so when they think they might be stopped.

[purrin along]

Hey neighbor glad to have all of you walk away from this one. After seeing your pics somebody was sure watching out for you.

[churd9]

Originally Posted by Lloyd in S.C.

Hi Burford!



We did not have Safe-T-Plus installed. Last thread on saw on this topic the coach did, and they ended up rolling. I am not sure that it helps????



Also not yet convinced on run flat, but I know you cannot save it alone. It was overwhelming. I need something.



L.

Where was that thread Thad had a safe t plus that rolled I would like to read that

[PJStough]

Originally Posted by 89sandman

Luckily you had the common sense not to floor it and make a bad situation worse. Adding speed to a situation such as this is just plain stupid. Any manufacturer that says in any situation there is only one solution should seriously reconsider their train of thought...

As I said in another post, you really dont speed up, you just floor the accelerator for a second or two. If you have ever watched the Michelin video you would understand how it works.

[guardrail53]

Until you have experienced a front tire blow out, not a gentle loss of air, you have no idea of the force and the violent things that blown tire whipping around at 64 MPH can do! That tire can do so much damage, take out air lines, air bags, wrap around the front end parts, force the wheel to turn to a lock position, that Hercules could not force back straight! All this talk about stepping on the gas, hitting the brake, turning the wheel, is all bull crap! Maybe in a perfect world! You are along for the ride, Period! All circumstances are different, but in my experience, both were very violent, and barely controllable!
If you have experienced a front tire blow out, and kept control, and pulled to the side of the road, consider yourself one of the lucky ones!
I have experienced two front tire blowouts, both on semi's, one on a brand new steer tire with less than 200 miles on it!
It can happen to anyone, driving on any brand of tire, at any time!

Cudo's To Lloyd, who kept his MH under control, upright, and his family safe, as most could not under the same circumstances!
I just spent 10 days with Lloyd and his family here in Ky. and can attest to his MH, was in tip top shape, as is Lloyd, as we went kayaking together, and he was hard to keep up with!

I think the Tyron Bands might be a good idea, in a perfect world? But you never know, what that tire is going to do when it blows, and even with them, you still have a very good chance of still just being along for the ride!

These are JMHO, yours may vary! Rail!

[TomandGloria]

Glad you all survived. You did a fantastic job keeping it upright. I always have this in the back of my mind when driving my coach. Thank you for sharing this and we send our best wishes this is resolved quickly.

[firedoc]

Through all of discussion some (but very little) was mentioned about Safe t Steer. I realize the OP did not have that device but considering the extremely strong steering wheel reaction, it seems that something to tame that reaction should be helpful. Just mentioning that another incident with Safe t Steer resulted in roll over is not sufficient. Too many other factors involved. To my mind Safe t Steer has become a must have to help control that initial massive pressure reported. Or am I missing something?

[churd9]

Originally Posted by firedoc

Through all of discussion some (but very little) was mentioned about Safe t Steer. I realize the OP did not have that device but considering the extremely strong steering wheel reaction, it seems that something to tame that reaction should be helpful. Just mentioning that another incident with Safe t Steer resulted in roll over is not sufficient. Too many other factors involved. To my mind Safe t Steer has become a must have to help control that initial massive pressure reported. Or am I missing something?

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