Traveling across Indiana on I-74 East I suffered a left rear tire blow out. Total tread separation that resulted in a mangled rear fender :surprise:
Here's the back story. I bought the 2001 F250 7.3 SD in January of this year. The truck had 144,000 miles (now 152,000), looked great and was sitting on four brand new BF Goodrich All Terrain TA KO2 tires with nubs and all. At this point tires were the last thing I was worried about. That changed real quick with the blow out. Since I have road side service insurance I called Allstate and they had a service truck there within 30 minutes. I knew my spare was old but with four new tires I wasn't all that concerned. Fortunately when they aired up the spare tire it held.
As it turns out the spare was a LT265/75R16 and my TAs are LT285/75R16. However in order to get into the town that was 4 miles away we opted to just mount the spare in place of the blown rear tire. That got me into town and the local Walmart. Unfortunately this Walmart doesn't stock any LT285 tires so I had them move the spare to the left front so I could get a 285 tire on the rear. I didn't want to cause any damage to the diff by having mismatched tires. I drove the last 200+ miles going no faster than 60 mph. Even then I was a bundle of nerves until I got home.
So yesterday morning I stopped by my favorite tire store and talked to the manager and asked if the TA tires had any known issues with total tread separation. He said not that he was aware of and then he checked the tire date. 2012!!! I had been driving on 7 year old "new" tires and didn't know it. I figured since the tires still had the nubs I had fairly new tires on the truck. NOT
With the nubs still showing I didn't even think to check tire dates. Shame on me. I'm totally surprised that they could even find 7 year old "new" TAs. I now have 5 new TA tires on order and will have them installed Friday.
As for the body damage, the pictures pretty much tell the story. Makes me sick just looking at them.
If I had known the tires were that old I would have replaced them with new tires. I've experienced tread separation before on old tires that looked new and told myself I'd never do it again. As it turns out, having the nubs doesn't mean they are new :frown2:
Lesson learned my friend, the same is true for people buying cheap name brand tires on eBay.
Those tires have lived a life in a shipping container with temperature fluctuation and are probably a decade old
I'm with Sparky. That tire failed from under-inflation, not age. May have picked up a nail while running and lost pressure. As pressure goes down, heating increases. On a long enough trip, BAM!. I'm surprised that the service guy and the tire guy didn't offer the same assessment.
On every trip, at every fuel stop (about 500 miles apart if I'm towing), I walk around the rig and kick all 8 tires listening for the "thump". I also once saw a rancher touch the wheel hubs on his stock trailer, feeling for excessively hot bearings. I now do that too during my walk-around. Thumping the tires is a hedge against having picked up a road hazard, and have a tire going down. Tire failures are dangerous, as once you're on the side of the highway waiting for the service truck, you can get hit. Glad you're Ok.
PS: I wish the underside of my truck was as clean and crust-free as yours is. Comprehensive insurance may cover the repairs. It won't pay for the tire, but should cover the body damage. Ask your agent.
Same here, thump the tires and feel the wheel bearings on every stop -- do it when I get home from work, has shown dragging calipers in the past -- fix that $*#% before it becomes a problem
X3 for touching the hubs and thumping tires. I had a tire fail like that on my stock trailer, tandems I didn't even feel it or know it till I pulled in the driveway. I wouldn't replace like new tires at 7 yrs, I'd run em longer unless they're dry rotted.
I’ve always heard 10 years to be the max age on tires. I drove to WPB one summer with the wife. I was cruising about 80, and was being passed like I was standing still on the Florida turnpike. I passed several cars that blew past me as they were on the side of the road with blow outs. Not saying this was your case, but improper inflation along with the heat from the road on a hot day can wreak havoc on tires. I don’t think any reputable tire store will sell tires out of date-all my tire business goes to Discount Tire.
Regardless, I’m glad you kept the shiny side up. It could have been a lot worse.
With how the tread separated, I bet they're retread tires. Pretty popular with semi's, which is why you usually see one every 100 miles or so on the highway. He probably got them off eBay because I've seen sets of 4 that seem to be cheap, until you read the description and they clearly state they're retreads which explains the cheap price.
You cannot buy BFgoodrich TA's as retreads. At least not from what I am being told. @bkahler, sorry for the damage man, that sucks
I've had several set of those KOs and now the KO2s. They're my go to tire. But it does look like the tread separated like a retread.
The damage should be covered under your comprehensive policy.....
Thanks for all of the replies, I would have replied sooner but after returning from vacation things were crazier than expected at work. Imagine that......
It's possible under inflation of the tire was the cause but I'm not really convinced of that. The truck was serviced abut 7 days prior to the blow out and at that time the pressures hadn't changed from the previous time I checked them a month prior. However, that's not to say I didn't pick up a nail or something in the mean time. I also do a walk around of the vehicle during stops and all looked well although I don't typically lay hands on. I do know prior to the blow out the truck was steering straight and true. Even with the vibration it was running true. It was a real joy to drive.
One thing that was noticeable prior to the blow out was I started experiencing a vibration that lasted for probably 20 to 30 miles or so before the blow out. I had just gotten back on to the interstate after a 20 minute stopover for fuel and food. I initially thought the vibration was the road surface. It wasn't until a few miles before the blow out that I got to thinking that the road surface wasn't the problem. I came to that conclusion because the road surface had obviously changed and the vibration didn't. Shortly there after the blow out occurred. Obviously the vibration is a lesson learned for me. In other words if said vibration shows up again you can bet I'll be stopping to check things out!
As far as tire age is concerned, I've always heard 7 years is the cutoff date for tires. I know of a lot of people that have problems with motorhome tires that exceed the 7 year mark. I've personally experienced a blow out on a motorhome with dually tires where the tires were 8 to 10 years old (can't remember for certain).
If the original tires were retreads I couldn't tell. It's probably been 40 years or more since I knowingly dealt with retreaded tires. Do tires that are retreads have to be marked in any specific way to indicate they are retreads?
I am going to look into a TPMS and I've already replaced all four tires and the spare with new KO2 tires. It was pricey but it also gives me peace of mind!
In all my close to 1,000,000 miles of driving on highways in town and back and forth across the country in ford pickup trucks, 65-66 mustangs, 68 torino, 66 ford wagons i have never experienced a vibration from a road surface. If you have a vibration you have a problem. It could be a tire problem, a wheel bearing(like on a truck I had), u-joint(like on a truck I had), wore out tie rod(on a 66 mustang I had) or other problem. Vibrations need to be checked out right away.
Oddly enough in over 45 years of driving I've not experienced this type of vibration before. Actually I've very seldom ever had trouble with a vehicle while traveling (knock on wood!). Thinking back on the event this was a rhythmic vibration that started out real faint and just sort of gradually built up to a noticeable level. That was when I started trying to think back as to when did it actually start. I was thinking road surface at first because of the poor quality of the road in general. By the time I came to the conclusion it wasn't the road the next thing was a loud bang from the back of the truck and loss of the smooth ride I had been enjoying for so long!
At least now I know what tire separation feels like and you can bet if I get that feeling again I'll be stopping a whole long sooner.
By the way, one estimate for repairing the damage is in the $2,500 range. Live and learn.....
Brad
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