Blowout on Highway

[jjsotolongo]

So this happened today on the first ride home after getting the new wheels mounted. What a bummer but at least I’m okay and it looks like no major damage to the car/wheels.

Backstory is I just got a set of Apex SM-10’s at 19x10 +40. Tires are 285/35R19 Continental ECS 02’s. The tire shop thinks they might have been rubbing but I didn’t feel or hear anything until the tire just let go. I am lowered on Steeda Sport Progressives but I’ve never heard of anyone else having issues with this size.

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[Nobuemon]

Did you mount the wheels yourself or the shop did it?

 

[jjsotolongo]

I had a shop do it. It’s owned by a family friend and they’ve always taken good care of my cars. Already have a replacement on the way, and the shop is doing everything they can to help.

They sent a tow out to get me back up on one of the original wheels for now. Lucky I had a “full size spare” with me at the time. A can of fix a flat isn’t saving this one.

I need to check under the car this weekend to see if I can find signs of rubbing and/or damage. When I looked on the side of the road I didn’t find anything obvious so who knows. Maybe just a bad tire? The other three are perfectly fine.

 

[Emilbadal]

Couple of things to check...The manufacturing date of the tire and the 2nd would be to check the tire pressures(might have been too high from mounting the tire and forgot to adjust to proper pressure). Were the tires brand new?

 

[Nobuemon]

When I had my new wheels mounted the shop rechecked alignment and spacing to make sure it wasn’t rubbing anything around wheel wells/body panels. If you’re sure the shop didn’t mess up, then yeah, probably tire defect, try to get a warranty replacement from Conti.

 

[robvas]

I'd assume you hit something first, then it was rubbing (should be very obvious underneath), then defective tire

 

[jjsotolongo]

Thanks for the tips folks. Tire manufacture date is first week of 2025, so it’s a pretty fresh set. Tire PSI was 38 at the time of the blowout. I checked the TPMS sensors while driving to make sure they were all synced properly and they were. It was actually great fun watching it go from 38 to 0 instantly.

if I hit something I should see some sort of damage under the car so that should let me know. We will see what I find. For now it’s genuinely looking like a bad tire. I checked the other side right now and it looks like I have a good bit of clearance so I can’t see it being a tire rub issue.

 

[falcongtho3]

Could've been a loose or leaky stem or valve core as well as debris in the road. It'll take an inspection by someone experienced, and if the pressure drop was immediate I'd go with puncture.

 

[GTyosh]

Car tires should never break apart like that. That is a manufacturer defect. You should have a warranty to get it replaced.

 

[falcongtho3]

The tire is supposed to break apart like that when the tire is deflated. You ride on the rubber, but the tires structure is actually the air inside. Lose that and you have the weight of the car crushing the sidewall between the pavement and the rim. It's going to saw the tire apart, no two way about it. Usually three pieces, the two sidewall and bead areas and the tread, normally. The actual sidewall is the thinnest part of the tire and gets chewed up quickly.

 

[drive_55_not]

The tire is supposed to break apart like that when the tire is deflated.

No it's not. Tires should never come apart like that ...


./

 

[Mach VII]

Make sure to report back what you find, I just installed set of those tires last month!

 

[Ratpack]

It looks like the tire went down and as you continued to drive until coming to a stop, it ripped it apart. If it had come apart like that from the start, you would have most likely had damage to the fenders. As someone mentioned, earlier, the sidewall is the weakest point in the tire consisting of only thin rubber and fabric cords. If the tire was completely deflated, it wouldn't take long for it to rip apart like that.

 

[falcongtho3]

No it's not. Tires should never come apart like that ...


./

And that's why I decided to get out of the business, "experts" like yourself. Tires are simple device no one has really been able to better in concept. It's high pressure air, held in a bladder. Take away the high pressure air in the equation, such as a puncture of seal failure and you're putting an incredible amount of pressure, better than 1,000 lbs in most cases, onto an area of rubber no larger than your small finger, by the lip of your rim carrying at least a quarter of the weight of your car. The weight coupled with the rotational movement of the wheel is going to act like a very very blunt saw blade. Hence the resulting multi piece tire.

 

[jjsotolongo]

Hey folks so I have an update. I just got back from getting under the car. Managed to beat the South Florida rain by a few minutes.

I can confirm that rubbing was not the issue. I still have the driver-site wheel on and it doesn’t rub on anything. The clearances are close at steering wheel lock, but it’s still good. Given that the tire blew while I was going straight the combination of hard lock+a bump wouldn’t be a factor.

There is damage to the rear-side of the wheel well liner. It is cracked and has bits of rubber burnt on it. The damage is where the liner touches the body and is slightly under the car. My assumption is the tire hit this area pretty hard at speed after it blew. There is no other sign of damage, and no other signs of rubbing anywhere.

I’m starting to feel pretty confident it was a bad tire. I should mention that I did check the remains of the tire that blew off, and there were no punctures, nails, or anything like that. There was a spot on the tire that had a small piece of tread that was torn but not completely off. I suspect this is what hit the liner or the underside of the car.

Anyways now I’m just waiting for a replacement to come in.

Thanks for all the tips everyone! I’m glad I was able to rule out a major issue with my set-up and I’m pretty sure this won’t happen again.

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