Motorway blow-out - big deal!!

[Lutz]

Tyron bands cannot prevent a tyre from disintegrating. The tread can depart from the rest of the tyre whether Tyron bands are fitted or not and it can cause damage to the caravan. At best, Tyron bands can keep the bead on the rim, but from experiences with modern deep well rims, this is normally not an issue.

 

[Lutz]

Tyron bands cannot prevent a tyre from disintegrating. The tread can depart from the rest of the tyre whether Tyron bands are fitted or not and it can cause damage to the caravan. At best, Tyron bands can keep the bead on the rim, but from experiences with modern deep well rims, this is normally not an issue.

Sorry, I should not have said deep well rims but modern rims with a ridge to retain the bead.

 

[ValA.]

We had Tyron bands fitted, and the caravan tyre completely disintegrated at about 45 mph on a non-motorway road. It shredded, leaving the steel reinforcing flailing and causing damage to the wheel arch, the underside of the van, and even breaking a hole into the bottom of the wardrobe. It was a newish tyre (checked with the dates on the tyre and when it was installed), had been checked for pressure just before we set off, and had no apparent problems. Tyron bands didn't prevent damage to our van.

It was also quite scary having to stop and change the wheel at the side of the road (in Burgundy, France, with no mobile reception to call out the Rescue Insurers!). The van did 'snake' a little, and at higher speed or on a busier road it could have been a nightmare. Don't underestimate what happens and give anyone the impression it might not be a 'big deal' - in their case it might just be!

 

[forestgump]

my friend had blow out and wiped out shower tray and waste sockets so i put some reinforce ment on my floor i used upvc faciae board cut to size and fixed behinde wheel .

it may well take the smack from blow out at worst i just changeupvc pannel

 

[RoyHowarth]

We had a tyre blow on M1 southbound in June three years ago. We were in the middle lane overtaking an artic, and the huge bang suggested that something was wrong. Other than that there was no drama, we slowed down, let the artic past and pulled over onto the hard shoulder. The tyre, which was less than four years old and at the right pressure, had dis-integrated and the flailing rubber had destroyed the wheel arch, taken the connections off the back of the fridge, wrapped all the wiring from that side of the van around the wheel, which in turn had pulled the front off the wardrobe! Messy!

Two surprising things which came out of this were that the highway patrol which stopped to 'help' would not lend us a wheelbrace (the caravan one being a waste of time) and both of them stood with their hands in their pockets watching us struggle and asking us how long we would be as they needed to clear the shoulder. The problem was on the offside and it was Friday tea-time, so we did not want to be there any longer than necessary. The other disappointment was with out insurers, who tried to blame the problem on the fact that the tyre had been run under-inflated.

Moral of the story is that blow-outs do not always occur with tyres which are either old or at the wrong pressure, and they do not always result in big accidents - fortunately!

 

[emmerson2]

I had a puncture early in the season. It wasn't a blow-out, rather a slow deflation which caused a major snake, but no other drama.

However, the point of this ramble is this: I fitted two new tyres to the van in 2003, keeping the spare, as it was almost new. When I had new tyres fitted after the puncture, the fitter pointed out how lucky I'd been, as the flat tyre was 14 years old! I said this was impossible, as they were new in '03, but he pointed out the date. Both tyres were fitted as a pair, the same make, but one was dated 2003, the other 1995.Obviously old stock from somewhere, but I now have three new 8-ply tyres on my van, and made sure that all are dated week 38, 2009. I won't get caught like that again.

 

[ValA.]

A wise warning from Emmerson to check the dates on your tyres before they are fitted, if possible - or make sure the fitter knows that you're wise to the fact that tyres are dated.

This link gives more information about the numbering system on tyres. http://www.etyres.co.uk/consumer-information/replace-caravan-tyres.htm

 

[Martin_374319553]

I've just put some "FlatFree" in my van tyres as a precaution. Saw a motorhome with a blow out on the hard shoulder not long ago and it had destroyed the wheelarch. Don't want that happening.

 

[forestgump]

WILL FLAT FREE OR TYRE SLIME STOP BLOW OUTS I KNOW ITS GOOD FOR SMALL PUNCTURES BUT SIDE WALL BLOWS OR TREDBLOWS ARE MORE MAJOR I KNOW SOME BLOW OUTS COME FROM SMALLER PUNCTURES

 

[ProfJohnL]

WILL FLAT FREE OR TYRE SLIME STOP BLOW OUTS I KNOW ITS GOOD FOR SMALL PUNCTURES BUT SIDE WALL BLOWS OR TREDBLOWS ARE MORE MAJOR I KNOW SOME BLOW OUTS COME FROM SMALLER PUNCTURES

Dean,

please check out the forum etiquette at the top of the page concerning upper case type faces.

 

[Lutz]

No, compounds put inside the tyre can't stop blow outs.

Blowouts can have two causes, either sudden damage by a large sharp object or extended driving on a very underinflated tyre. The latter will cause heat to be generated within the tyre due to flexing of the sidewalls. In the extreme, this will result in the tyre to thermally disintegrate, perhaps even catch fire. Both causes cannot be prevented by 'tyre slime' or anything similar.

 

[forestgump]

sorry didnot no caps letters on till submit came up

 

[SilverBirch1]

Are twin axles safer when there is a flat?

This is a bit of a reapeat of another post n another thread.

 

[Lutz]

I think you'll find that owners of twin axles will swear thy are and they will cite incidents where they came through a blow out unscathed and where they feal sure that this would not have been the case with a single axle, but fact is, that there is simply too little data to confirm the theory. Caravan accidents don't feature very prominently in road accident data, so there is even less to differentiate between single and twin. However, as I already said in another post, if there were an obvious difference, then the caravan manufacturers would be going against the current trend by offering more, rather than fewer, twin axle models.