Hit Hyw. Tire Tread Debris, OUCH!

[Chickadee]

So, there we were, cruisin happily down a 4 lane section of I-75 S. of Cinncinati heading for a new experience at the Kentucky Horse Park N. of Lexington. We'd just left Newmar at Nappanee having everything tweaked to perfection and were feelin GOOD!! Traffic was HEAVY, lots of trucks, cars, etc. I had been noticing an unusually excessive amount of highway debris in the form of blown tire treads all over for many miles...and then it happened. Wife was on the phone talking to sister in S. Dakota, and I was just leaning ahead to see my right rear view mirror in preparation for a lane change when all of a sudden the wife pointed ahead and right in front of us, too close to do much about it, was a LARGE piece of truck tire tread, must of been about 3/4 of the circumference of that tire, and all I could do because of blocking side traffic was to try to pass over the thing keeping it between my tires!! It all happend REAL fast, and I hoped, though wasn't too confident that my toad tires would likewise straddle this debris. Well....we did hear a rather muffled carrummmping sound, and I noticed in my mirror that hunk of tread debris kinda fly to the side into the next lane, but other than that, all seemed o.k. There was no place or even opportunity to pull over and we had to keep movin. After about 4 or 5 miles, and after settling down a little, things seemingly going o.k., a small passing car signalled us about something then signalled us to pull over. At this point the hyw. was down to a two lane and due to very wide shoulders, I could pull over for a check though traffic was still pretty heavy. The little car stopped ahead of us. I got out, and a young guy in the car walked back and said something was dragging. Went back to check and sure enough, the polished NEWMAR mud flap had been partially torn off the chain mount on the driver's (left hand) side. With trucks rippin by I grabbed the ol tool box, and with the young man and his wife kinda helping, I got the mud flap off, stowed it in my toad, and after thanking that couple for their kindness, and after doing a quick check for other damage (none seen), we got underway again. WHEW!!! Not fun! For what it's worth, I THINK that mud flap caught the debris and actually kinda plowed it off to the side BEFORE it hit the toad...but I'm not sure. Now I've got to figure a way to straighten the mud flap (will be no problem) and to find a way to re-mount the flat iron bolt through the mud flap black material since the orig. hole was ripped open. Sorry for this lengthy story, but, some folks find it interesting...and...someone might have an idea for me about remounting that chain bolt through the flat iron strip, through the black mud flap, and reconnecting. OH WELL.. It's STILL a great place here in Kentucky!! Ya know, like that young couple who took their time to not only stop, but also stayed to help a bit, there's more good folks in this country than bad. They were great. Bye Steve & Lynette

[Chickadee]

So, there we were, cruisin happily down a 4 lane section of I-75 S. of Cinncinati heading for a new experience at the Kentucky Horse Park N. of Lexington. We'd just left Newmar at Nappanee having everything tweaked to perfection and were feelin GOOD!! Traffic was HEAVY, lots of trucks, cars, etc. I had been noticing an unusually excessive amount of highway debris in the form of blown tire treads all over for many miles...and then it happened. Wife was on the phone talking to sister in S. Dakota, and I was just leaning ahead to see my right rear view mirror in preparation for a lane change when all of a sudden the wife pointed ahead and right in front of us, too close to do much about it, was a LARGE piece of truck tire tread, must of been about 3/4 of the circumference of that tire, and all I could do because of blocking side traffic was to try to pass over the thing keeping it between my tires!! It all happend REAL fast, and I hoped, though wasn't too confident that my toad tires would likewise straddle this debris. Well....we did hear a rather muffled carrummmping sound, and I noticed in my mirror that hunk of tread debris kinda fly to the side into the next lane, but other than that, all seemed o.k. There was no place or even opportunity to pull over and we had to keep movin. After about 4 or 5 miles, and after settling down a little, things seemingly going o.k., a small passing car signalled us about something then signalled us to pull over. At this point the hyw. was down to a two lane and due to very wide shoulders, I could pull over for a check though traffic was still pretty heavy. The little car stopped ahead of us. I got out, and a young guy in the car walked back and said something was dragging. Went back to check and sure enough, the polished NEWMAR mud flap had been partially torn off the chain mount on the driver's (left hand) side. With trucks rippin by I grabbed the ol tool box, and with the young man and his wife kinda helping, I got the mud flap off, stowed it in my toad, and after thanking that couple for their kindness, and after doing a quick check for other damage (none seen), we got underway again. WHEW!!! Not fun! For what it's worth, I THINK that mud flap caught the debris and actually kinda plowed it off to the side BEFORE it hit the toad...but I'm not sure. Now I've got to figure a way to straighten the mud flap (will be no problem) and to find a way to re-mount the flat iron bolt through the mud flap black material since the orig. hole was ripped open. Sorry for this lengthy story, but, some folks find it interesting...and...someone might have an idea for me about remounting that chain bolt through the flat iron strip, through the black mud flap, and reconnecting. OH WELL.. It's STILL a great place here in Kentucky!! Ya know, like that young couple who took their time to not only stop, but also stayed to help a bit, there's more good folks in this country than bad. They were great. Bye Steve & Lynette

[KenSherwin]

So what you're saying is that's not a mud flap at all. It's a tire flap.

I'm glad you, your coach, and your toad all came out of it with so little damage. It could have been a lot worse and you got to meet some nice people.

[Oemtech]

I had this happen on a class C... and darn near torn the rear bumper cover off. I had to secure it with a vice grips intil I got home... about 500 miles. Cost the insurance company about $1,000 to fix everything and $500 out of my pocket.

[tarpontiger]

Had the same thing happen to me. Tore the flap away from the chain holding on passenger side, Also, tore one screw loose from the parrell bar on top of the flap. Metal part with newmar name was bend some. My soln was to retach chain to rubber(?) portion of flap I used a coulpe of washers here, also I added 2 inch strip of metal parrell to stripped piece. added another screw to this piece to give rigidity. I replaced the torn out area on parrell bar with another screw close to torn area. When I had it together, a neighbor and myselp placed entire piece on saw hores and work bench and bent it back into shape. So far so good, loks geat and and hoping it will hold up. Hope this helps Tarpontiger

[skigramp]

Chickadee ...

A large block of wood bounced off a flat bed trailer that I was following and went under my rig. It put a very large "indentaion" in our "Winnebago" flap by that I mean there was one place in the middle that had an noticeable bulge in it (sort of like it was about 6 months pregnant).

My flap has some imbedded cross bracing (angle iron ... me thinks). I could not bend it manually ... I did not want to pound on it ... so I laid two stud length 2x4's on the ground just wide enough for the cross bracing to fall between ... laid a blanket on top ... and very carefully backed my toad over the top along the length of the 2x4's making sure that the tire stayed on top of the mudflap which was being supported by the 2x4's ... it is not perfectly straight but only I notice it ... (maybe it is 2 months pregnant now)

Mine stayed attached ... but Winnebago had a recall on the attachement "holes" ... their recall was essentially what you described ... short pieces of metal on either side to make a sandwich ... and two bolts to squeeze it together tightly ... it has held fine for several years ...

[RedneckExpress]

Glad you came out of this okay with very little damage, thrown truck tread is a very deadly projectile.

I think the only thing you could have done differently in that situation would have been to haul on the brakes and drop you speed as much as possible. The slower you hit it, the less likely it is to get kicked up vs just getting run over.

Still glad you came out okay.

[Jay W]

Steve 1st chance you get, you might want to inspect under your rig. When I was changing the differential fluid in my 05 Dutchstar. I discovered a baseball sized hole right under my fresh water tank. Fortunately the water tank is fine.
The question is, I do not know if I ran over something or it was the previous owner ?

[Bob (WA0MQE)]

Six months after we bought our rig we did the same thing, didn't see the tire tread until it was too late. The right front tire of the moho hit it and it flipped up and smacked the retracted step and bent a large piece of aluminum on one of the cargo bay doors.

I've since tried to be more careful towards paying attention to these type of road trash. I've since had a couple more close calls, one being behind a truck who just passed me and right after he came back into the right hand lane he lost a tread. It was flying all over the place and just barely missed us.

I tell you, I wished they'd outlaw those retreads or force those trucks to slow down. They seem to be everywhere. It's pretty obvious they can't get them to stay glued to a tire. However, it's probably due to the speed most of the truckers drive. Wouldn't surprise me if the tread manufacturer's noted on their products to not drive over 60 mph. But how many truckers drive that slow?

[porscheracer]

Worst thing one has done to me is to rip one of the jack bases loose. Didn't do anything except pop the cup sideways off the springs. Sadly, we didn't notice it until we camped. Levering the jack shaft out of the gravel was NO fun.

In short - after one of those encounters (and it WILL happen to you) make sure you do a thorough inspecton - of even the unlikely things.

[CharlieM]

A well documented problem with "gators" from retreads comming off is that they will actually get into the wheel well when you hit one and jam the tire causing an aysemetric tire lock up. This frequently leads to a loss of control. You were lucky.

[mhrm60]

Had a similar experience while driving on I580 east of San Francisco when the car in front of me made a very sudden lane change to avoid hitting a small lawn chair on the road, which I of course couldn't miss. Thought all was okay until several miles down the interstate when someone flagged me down. It had torn off half of the mudflap which I had been dragging for miles and had put a large gash in the front of my jeep. What can you do!!!

[Chickadee]

Boy, sounds like quite a few have encountered those tire tread "gators". They're wicked! Ya know, on our Alaska trip, an RV shop owner recommended removing that polished mud flap since it tended to spray gravel n rocks back on to the toad if your rig bounced traveling over gravel stretches of road. We did remove it and it DID stop the spray of gravel onto the toad. Since then I've kinda been thinking those mud flaps really aren't worth much but for advertising the make of our rig. NOW, however, after this flap saved our bacon by seemingly deflecting that tire tread, I'm thinking, maybe they are worth having on. Don't know. P.S. This visit to the Kentucky Horse Park is WONDERFUL. If ya haven't been here....give it a try. Steve & Lynette

[Route 66]

When the mud flap hits the road, the stones are kicked up.

I have cut about 2" off the bottom of my mud flap, as have others, and that has solved the stone problem.