How to handle a Tire Blowout

[firedoc]

Glad you are safe, could have been a lot worse. Actually doesn’t look like much coach damage? Just a couple of questions, age of tires and brand of tires. TPMS? Any warning? Tire pressure you were running? As per tire weight chart? Again glad you are able to post this!

[Gary.Jones]

Greg

Glad you are safe! Greg, were you the driver or was Jenny at the wheel at the time?

Gary

[classicalgas]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

Jim

Amazed that you just saw this video for the first time. I first saw it several years ago and you need to note that this is a video produced by an RV Safety group. You are right that it is the opposite of what seems like the right thing to do. You will notice is not only to keep the pressure on the diesel feed, but it actually shows the driver to respond by pushing the diesel feed to the metal for a period of time, to keep the force of the coach moving forward.

I am not sure if I will remember to do it, but that recommendation is now programmed into my mind and I hope that I am able to remember to floor it briefly if it happens to me.

Gary

My first thought when I heard the blowout was to try to fight the hard pull to the left and then the video training to mash down the accelerator came second. By the time I made it to the accelerator I had crossed into the left lane and was undeniably going to "off road" in an RV into the median. I didn't feel in control through any of this.

[classicalgas]

Originally Posted by Gary.Jones

Greg

Glad you are safe! Greg, were you the driver or was Jenny at the wheel at the time?

Gary

Yes Gary, I was the driver. I will admit that I don't think that much of the result was due to my actions. The blowout occurred when I was able to avoid running left into a guard rail and at the same time pushing me into the median missing a roadway sign that could have caused lots of front-end damage, and somehow managing to not drive through the median into oncoming traffic.

[classicalgas]

Originally Posted by firedoc

Glad you are safe, could have been a lot worse. Actually doesn’t look like much coach damage? Just a couple of questions, age of tires and brand of tires. TPMS? Any warning? Tire pressure you were running? As per tire weight chart? Again glad you are able to post this!

We came through it without much coach damage. We "lost" the generator exhaust and the front wheel well interior molding. Also the glass plate from the microwave flew out and broke (while the microwave door magically re-closed). New front end tires were definitely the most expensive part of the experience. I didn't want to run two different tire sizes on the steer tires so I put on 2 new ones.

Tire age: under 2 years old

TPMS: No

No warning

Tire Pressure: Last check I had 120psi on front and 100psi on the back tires

Yeah, I'm really glad to be alive to post again, and again. Thanks for your thoughts.

[dave&ginny]

Greg,

I'm happy you're safe! But I have to ask, what brand of tire was this? and how many miles on the tires?

[Ann n Gene]

Congratulations, you did a great job, kept the coach upright and minimal damage. Any landing you can walk away from..................

[classicalgas]

They were Goodyear 295R22.5 and I had just over 22,000 miles on them. I don’t remember hitting anything on the road or hearing anything unusual before the blowout. I have dashcam video that is uninformative to the event - just shows me drifting to the left after the tire blew. It does show that the blowout happened at exactly the right time for me to miss 3 significant obstacles that would have been dangerous and expensive.

[classicalgas]

Originally Posted by DebbieMH

I've seen it several times, but to be honest, I don't know if I will be able to do it in an actual blow out situation. Mainly because at the very moment, I might not know the "bang" is a blowout and not something else.

The BANG and shaking are unmistakable. Pull to the left also seems immediate. I should add that I installed Steer-Safe on my solid axle coach last year. Probably helped manage the pull to the left. If you have IFS then you’d want to get SAF-T-PLUS. Pat Bauer has talked about this in a previous post.

[firedoc]

Originally Posted by classicalgas

The BANG and shaking are unmistakable. Pull to the left also seems immediate. I should add that I installed Steer-Safe on my solid axle coach last year. Probably helped manage the pull to the left. If you have IFS then you’d want to get SAF-T-PLUS. Pat Bauer has talked about this in a previous post.

So Steer Safe on solid axle and Saf t plus on IFS. Is that the general concensus?

[classicalgas]

You should check stats/specs on both. In my case it was also “economy”. I was driving right through Deming NM enroute to Prescott AZ. I got a huge discount and free installation from the manufacturer. I believe that for IFS you need to have SAFTPLUS.

[TriMoot]

Wow!!! This is a bit shocking! So glad you are okay! So... I have a F53 chassis, I’m thinking IFS stands for Independent Front Suspension? So I would need the Safety-plus? What if I already have a steering....shoot, I don’t know what to call it, but has a shock absorber to help with the steering, would that have to be removed to put the Safety-plus thing on? Man the picture has ME shaken!

[classicalgas]

Originally Posted by TriMoot

Wow!!! This is a bit shocking! So glad you are okay! So... I have a F53 chassis, I’m thinking IFS stands for Independent Front Suspension? So I would need the Safety-plus? What if I already have a steering....shoot, I don’t know what to call it, but has a shock absorber to help with the steering, would that have to be removed to put the Safety-plus thing on? Man the picture has ME shaken!

Sounds like you’re already covered. Saf-T-Plus looks like a big shock absorber mounted horizontally under the front axle

[Mwoodofd]

Glad you are OK Greg. I have 2 year old 295 Goodyears on my front end with about 15k miles on them. I have read enough on these and the Aspire having blowouts. I,m within 700 lbs of my front end max weight, and I don't believe these tires are proper for steer tires for my coach (my opinion). I'm heading to Palm Springs area in about 10 days, so I better get busy.