Drive Tire (inside dually) sidewall blow out

[lorim]

I've never had a tire blow out on anything I've ever drove. Man what an explosion, I was only doing about 40 mph on a secondary 2 lane highway. For about a second I thought the bang came from my pusher engine, no loss of control and all of my gauges looked fine, engine still running, I don't smell smoke or hot. When the TPMS finally rolled through each tire again it started beeping and then I knew. All in all I was extremely lucky, the explosion damage was minor (fender and mud flap are a bit bent up) I was able to get off the road quickly and had enough sense to get my jacks down and the pressure off the remaining dually tire. Lesson learned here, trust no one who doesn't own or work on MHs... I thought all my drive tires needed replaced and started shopping around last week but nobody else seemed concerned. I thought maybe I was just being paranoid. Yea, it's not me, they all have car tire mentality is the issue.

Another lesson learned, I didn't know that when the pressure started to abnormally build that was a sign of failure.. I had 2 tires abnormally building pressure on the prior weeks trip, again nobody seemed to get what I was saying or why I was concerned. Totally my fault for not fully grasping the TPMS, I definitely need to reset the high/low warnings because I certainly understand now. I'm also curious, are there aftermarket TPMS systems that read all at once or do they all roll through each tire on the readouts?

Again, something I just didn't know.. GS RSA was totally worthless in this situation. I had a good spare, but not on a rim. It was either spend $700 on a new tire or have a tire mounted on a rim ready to be installed. After I told them to forget it on the $700 the rep got snippy, actually said that I wasted her time and dumped me in the dispatch que, remember spare's not on a rim so dispatch wanted to transfer me back to the other side again to buy a new tire. 1 hour wasted on this series of fiasco phone calls. Ok, maybe I wasted her time a little but I had no idea how different MH RSA is handled, what they would and wouldn't do, what they would and wouldn't cover and for what price.

Thankfully I was close enough to home to coordinate my own RSA at the whole cost of 3 bottles of water, the spectator entrance fee to the track, food, and a couple beers. (my son also used my SUV to bring the big tire changing equipment and tools so no gas needed on his part) lol
Last lesson, no sense dragging around a spare if its not on a rim ready to go.

I can't even explain to the average person what I've learned in 1 year of MH ownership.. the things that happen are just crazy!

[Dutch Star Don]

You lost me....are you saying Good Sam refused to send out a tire truck unless you bought a new tire. I find that hard to believe. Why would Good Sam have anything to do with a tire purchase. Their job is to send a tire repair truck. The truck is the one you do business with in regards to repair or replace. Did I misunderstand what you wrote?

[lorim]

You did not miss understand, the GS rep wanted me to buy a new tire.. got me prices and was certainly attempting to up-sell the situation with a second tire purchase and tire insurance. She never transferred me to a shop to discuss anything, is that what's supposed to happen? When I refused the new tire she got snippy, said I wasted her time and did a dump transfer to their dispatch. That rep wouldn't send a truck because my spare wasn't on a rim and said I'd have to go back to the last department to buy a new tire... it was certainly a bizarre experience.

[Itchytoe]

Originally Posted by lorim

When the TPMS finally rolled through each tire again it started beeping and then I knew.


I'm also curious, are there aftermarket TPMS systems that read all at once or do they all roll through each tire on the readouts?

My TPMS (EezTire) rolls through each sensor on the in cab display as long as nothing is wrong. It stays on each sensor for about 5 seconds, then moves to the next. I can glance over real quick every few seconds and get a good idea of what's going on in my tires without being excessively distracted.



If an alarm threshold is reached, that sensor takes priority and it goes straight to that display no matter where it is in the rotation. It also starts beeping at me until I tell it to stop. It takes about a second for it to register the problem and alert me. In your case, you would have heard the BANG, then immediately heard the TPMS alarm before having a chance to really process the BANG. It would have been easy to put 2 and 2 together at that point.

[carl.swoyer]

Originally Posted by Itchytoe

My TPMS (EezTire) rolls through each sensor on the in cab display as long as nothing is wrong. It stays on each sensor for about 5 seconds, then moves to the next. I can glance over real quick every few seconds and get a good idea of what's going on in my tires without being excessively distracted.



If an alarm threshold is reached, that sensor takes priority and it goes straight to that display no matter where it is in the rotation. It also starts beeping at me until I tell it to stop. It takes about a second for it to register the problem and alert me. In your case, you would have heard the BANG, then immediately heard the TPMS alarm before having a chance to really process the BANG. It would have been easy to put 2 and 2 together at that point.

I had Valor TPMS and the system scrolls four tires at a time up to 18. If there's a percentage decrease in psi or heat on any tire it sounds the alarm. 50 dollars per sensor and they are internal. Another cost is installing the sensors. I'm considering tst 507 system as the sensors are external.

[lorim]

I think you're right Itchytoe, I have an EZ TPMS and I do remember hearing a bell dinging after the kaboom. Funny how my first thought was that it was engine related, I immediately looked at the dash instruments and started scanning for a spot to pull over. It was all pretty fast and when I did look up at the TPMS the blown tire was blinking with 0 pressure. I bet it didn't roll through.. funny how the mind chooses to remember.

[Gary RVRoamer]

You lost me....are you saying Good Sam refused to send out a tire truck unless you bought a new tire. I find that hard to believe. Why would Good Sam have anything to do with a tire purchase. Their job is to send a tire repair truck. The truck is the one you do business with in regards to repair or replace.

Right, GS owes a service call, repair or tow as needed. If roadside repairs are needed, you are responsible for payment. I can understand that the dispatcher wanted to tell the repair company if they needed to bring a tire, but I don't see how they can refuse to send a repair truck.


Since he didn't have a spare, he could have been towed to the nearest repair facility. If the service truck was equipped to do it, he might also have had his extra tire mounted right at the roadside.

[KanzKran]

If the OP needed to ‘buy a new tire’ per GS, then the field tech would have to mount it . . . In the field. I can’t understand the difference between mounting the OP’s tire, and one the tech would bring with him if a new one was purchased.

Other than not getting a tire sale, of course.

Or were they trying to sell both a tire and a wheel, mounted in a shop before leaving?

[lorim]

I'm only speculating because I honestly didn't ask, but after assisting my son manually change the 19.5 tire with a giant tire spoon, I would put money on it that the service truck would bring a tire already mounted with the balancing beads installed and inflated. I must say the manual tire change was an impressive and labor intensive task.. I would not recommend the average person attempt it.

I'm going to call GS again this week and ask more specific details so I know for sure if I ever need a service call again.

Thinking about the whole situation I'm going to say that its worthless for me to carry a spare going forward because if my tires would have been newer (which they will be on Thursday) I have GS tire/wheel insurance and could file a road hazard claim to cover most, if not all of the tire cost.

[mobilemike]

Originally Posted by lorim

I'm only speculating because I honestly didn't ask, but after assisting my son manually change the 19.5 tire with a giant tire spoon, I would put money on it that the service truck would bring a tire already mounted with the balancing beads installed and inflated. I must say the manual tire change was an impressive and labor intensive task.. I would not recommend the average person attempt it.

I'm going to call GS again this week and ask more specific details so I know for sure if I ever need a service call again.

Thinking about the whole situation I'm going to say that its worthless for me to carry a spare going forward because if my tires would have been newer (which they will be on Thursday) I have GS tire/wheel insurance and could file a road hazard claim to cover most, if not all of the tire cost.

Heavy truck tire guys dismount and mount tires roadside all day long.

At least on steel wheels. Maybe it is different for aluminum but it is normal for them to do it.

Some trucks tow a trailer with a tire machine on them.

[SlowJoe]

Originally Posted by mobilemike

Heavy truck tire guys dismount and mount tires roadside all day long.

At least on steel wheels. Maybe it is different for aluminum but it is normal for them to do it.

Some trucks tow a trailer with a tire machine on them.

Yes! There is no difference for an aluminum rim except a technician with any sense uses a rim guard to protect the wheel from the impact socket and lays down a mudflap or a piece of carpet (or similar) to protect the aluminum from the rough concrete while changing the tire. Any heavy truck oriented roadside service would be expecting to R&R a tire on a wheel and carry all of the necessary tools to do so. If you have the representatives name who (didn't!) help you you should call back to complain so the person can be educated. As mentioned above, even if you purchased a new tire, they would still have to come mount it onto your wheel...

[StevL]

You sad you started shopping for drive tires, how old are/were they? Brand?

Thx,
Steve

[lorim]

Gee SteveL, I'm really embarrassed to admit the age of the tires. I bought this MH used last year from Good Sams and the tires appeared to be in good shape (had no idea I was supposed to look at the date) This also kind of irritates me that it passed PA inspection last year and this year.. honestly I would've hoped somebody would have pointed out my ignorance, but sadly not. The rears are stamped early 03 and are the Michelin RV, the fronts are stamped mid year 15 and are Goodyears. I noticed when I was washing the MH a few weeks ago the rear tires had every so tiny stress fractures, I guess this is considered dry rot, which prompted me to start researching and shopping. I about had a stroke when I started reading up on tires here on IRV2, I realized that I was seriously uneducated.

[StevL]

Hey I understand, thank you for the info!


Steve