Yet another tire blowout

[Scotttkd2]

Yup, not a good day 1 of most recent trip. Currently sitting in Albuquerque NM with RV at a Freightliner shop for the foreseeable future. Driver side steer wheel shredded and took out the electrical bay. No power steering, no dash, no slide controls, no levelers, cant start engine. Wound up partially in the median of I40 with patio side outside dually off the ground. Luckily we didn't roll it, and I had just swapped out the blue ox tow bar that bound up if not perfectly flat for the NSA ready brute that had enough rotational give in the attachment points to release the toad Even at the angle we came to rest at. Recovery tow dude was a miracle worker and managed to get hooked up and drove it into the bottom of the median without rolling rv and himself and was able to get it out. Once Freightliner finishes its repairs it will need to go to a body shop for their work, so we are grounded for a while. Luckily no injuries and didn't cause any accidents as it went from the right lane all the way to the median. TPMS was active, no warnings, and all tire readings were in specs and consistent across the board with the usual running temps and PSI. 19k miles on this one, the front right tire looks perfectly normal and healthy. Scratching my head on why this one would have blown, rear blowouts a year ago were related to Freightliner valve stem recall and I can understand why they went.

 

[Neal]

Oh my! I'm glad you are okay! The nightmare none of us want to experience. I'm sure others will want to know details of the tire, brand, DOT date, I know you mentioned 19K miles on it.

Hope all goes well in the path ahead.

 

[Scotttkd2]

Tires were/are the factory (corrected) Michelin X Multi, 2020 build so I'm guessing 2019 at the oldest on the date code, but I am going to ask the insurance adjuster to get a pic of the remaining front tire for its code. No issues with the driver side rears, they are still factory with 19k miles, the patio side were the ones that went down with the valve stem recall and are currently at about 12k miles, an off brand, Hercules I think, and a Toyo currently. Couldn't find any tires during covid supply chain when that incident happened, so went with anything the tire guys had in stock.

 

[AbdRahim]

Wow. Sorry to hear of this experience. Kudos on good driving and keeping it upright. Glad to hear you are ok.

 

[B52Bombardier1]

Wow . . . . .

Rick

 

[J&JD]

That’s just wrong! So glad all are ok. This should not happen unless it was caused by a road hazard. Let us know what you find out please.

 

[Rollin Ollen]

Yup, not a good day 1 of most recent trip. Currently sitting in Albuquerque NM with RV at a Freightliner shop for the foreseeable future. Driver side steer wheel shredded and took out the electrical bay. No power steering, no dash, no slide controls, no levelers, cant start engine. Wound up partially in the median of I40 with patio side outside dually off the ground. Luckily we didn't roll it, and I had just swapped out the blue ox tow bar that bound up if not perfectly flat for the NSA ready brute that had enough rotational give in the attachment points to release the toad Even at the angle we came to rest at. Recovery tow dude was a miracle worker and managed to get hooked up and drove it into the bottom of the median without rolling rv and himself and was able to get it out. Once Freightliner finishes its repairs it will need to go to a body shop for their work, so we are grounded for a while. Luckily no injuries and didn't cause any accidents as it went from the right lane all the way to the median. TPMS was active, no warnings, and all tire readings were in specs and consistent across the board with the usual running temps and PSI. 19k miles on this one, the front right tire looks perfectly normal and healthy. Scratching my head on why this one would have blown, rear blowouts a year ago were related to Freightliner valve stem recall and I can understand why they went.

Glad to hear you are all okay ad have insurance to help you get back on the road.

Darrell

 

[John&Andrea]

Glad everyone is ok and no accident. I hope you are back up soon.

 

[RKins]

Thats scary - glad you're ok.

 

[Wemustrv]

Yup, not a good day 1 of most recent trip. Currently sitting in Albuquerque NM with RV at a Freightliner shop for the foreseeable future. Driver side steer wheel shredded and took out the electrical bay. No power steering, no dash, no slide controls, no levelers, cant start engine. Wound up partially in the median of I40 with patio side outside dually off the ground. Luckily we didn't roll it, and I had just swapped out the blue ox tow bar that bound up if not perfectly flat for the NSA ready brute that had enough rotational give in the attachment points to release the toad Even at the angle we came to rest at. Recovery tow dude was a miracle worker and managed to get hooked up and drove it into the bottom of the median without rolling rv and himself and was able to get it out. Once Freightliner finishes its repairs it will need to go to a body shop for their work, so we are grounded for a while. Luckily no injuries and didn't cause any accidents as it went from the right lane all the way to the median. TPMS was active, no warnings, and all tire readings were in specs and consistent across the board with the usual running temps and PSI. 19k miles on this one, the front right tire looks perfectly normal and healthy. Scratching my head on why this one would have blown, rear blowouts a year ago were related to Freightliner valve stem recall and I can understand why they went.

So sorry for your bad experience. You have to wonder if something punctured or sliced it. Good job getting it to the side of the road.

You have made me decide to take a look at my drivers side wheel well and see if I can weld in come thicker steel plate in the front to protect that critical bay. Do you think that would have helped your situation?

 

[Headhunter]

This is REAL scary, every RV drivers nightmare. Did you have a safe T Plus installed? You were very lucky, this could of been a lot worse. Glad you are ok.

HH

 

[Joe Hogan]

Thankfully no injuries/damage other than the RV.

Now that you have had a chance to catch your breath, how did you react to the realization of a blown tire and coach dodging for the center median? did you brake, did you just hold on, try to accelerate out of it, was the cruise control set?

Any learning points you can share...

We have driven that section of I40 a number of times. Can be a Treacherous section of road. Wind, storms, heat...

Last trip in 2019 the place looked like a metal recycler yard , many overturned 18 wheelers scattered here and there, median, shoulder, deep into the grass, a mess.

We even saw the odd pickup truck in the bushes, a shiney new candy red F250 still had new car window stickers.

Wind was wicked for a day or two. 40 to 50+mph with gusts. Wind had settled some when we went through.

 

[Neal]

@Scotttkd2 do you feel comfort steer helped or no?

Was the engine brake engaged, if so, do you think that made things more difficult?

I realize I won't have much time or want to take hands off wheel but if I could I'd turn off the engine brake and put comfort steer to max.

 

[Rich W.]

So sorry for your bad experience. You have to wonder if something punctured or sliced it. Good job getting it to the side of the road.

You have made me decide to take a look at my drivers side wheel well and see if I can weld in come thicker steel plate in the front to protect that critical bay. Do you think that would have helped your situation?

I’ve been thinking the same thing.

 

[Scotttkd2]

So sorry for your bad experience. You have to wonder if something punctured or sliced it. Good job getting it to the side of the road.

You have made me decide to take a look at my drivers side wheel well and see if I can weld in come thicker steel plate in the front to protect that critical bay. Do you think that would have helped your situation?

Funny you should mention that, after blowing out the rear tire last year I bought the heaviest wire reinforced trucker mud flaps I could find and had them line the rear wheel compartments with those when they repaired the damage to both the adjacent bays. Unfortunately I didn't have them attempt to do the fronts, 20/20 hindsight I should have at least had them cover the electronic bay with one to give the tires something to pound on besides a fiberglass box that lasted about a fall second before it was destroyed.

 

[Scotttkd2]

@Scotttkd2 do you feel comfort steer helped or no?

Was the engine brake engaged, if so, do you think that made things more difficult?

I realize I won't have much time or want to take hands off wheel but if I could I'd turn off the engine brake and put comfort steer to max.

I did have engine brake on, no time to do anything but hang on for dear life. In all honesty, I think the electronics for the comfort steer were part of the casualties as I had zero control over direction and I planted both feet and was pulling as hard right as I could pull with ZERO effect. No SafeTPlus on this coach, I did have one on my previous RV. I haven't heard a definitive answer from anyone as to wether it would be compatible with comfort steer or not.
I had heard a steer tire blowout procedure is to accelerate not brake until control is restored, In my case I didn't immediately brake for that reason but as soon as I realized I wasn't in control and headed for the median I jumped into the brakes and pulled as hard right as I could manage. It felt like I was driving a jackhammer. The tow driver estimated if I had gone another 10-20 feet I would have rolled onto the driver side. We dodged a major bullet when I got out and discovered my right rear outside tire was no longer in contact with the ground. Hoping the shop and insurance adjuster can give me some idea what happened to it.

 

[Richpatty]

Glad everyone is ok!

My tires will be replaced next spring….and this convinces me to have Rettrobands installed. It should help with control and limit body damage.

 

[Joe Hogan]

I did have engine brake on, no time to do anything but hang on for dear life. In all honesty, I think the electronics for the comfort steer were part of the casualties as I had zero control over direction and I planted both feet and was pulling as hard right as I could pull with ZERO effect. No SafeTPlus on this coach, I did have one on my previous RV. I haven't heard a definitive answer from anyone as to wether it would be compatible with comfort steer or not.

I think this would have been my reaction as well. Glad you guys are ok.

 

[Bigblockyeti]

Hearing that pulling hard right on the steering wheel had zero effect is quite concerning. If comfort drive is taken out and you then have to fight it and a coach that's headed for the median, sounds like something could use a little re-engineering.

 

[Joe Hogan]

My tires will be replaced next spring….and this convinces me to have Rettrobands installed. It should help with control and limit body damage.

We are having Retro Bands installed on new DSDP. Curious as to how these will help? Hopefully Keeps rim from digging in to road surface causing the sharp turning moment but probably won't keep tire debri from causing damage.
Hopefully we never find out..