mikew

SantorinA4,
The tire is basically shredded. The tread is still intact, but the sidewalls on BOTH sides came apart (looks like it ripped). What happened?

Thanks

Bobby C

Are they Firestones???

Keith J

My guess is no. I've driven at 70+ with 5 PSI in my right front. For over an HOUR!

The valve stem failed at speed and slowly let the air out. The only symptom was pulling but since there was a 25 MPG cross-wind, I only noticed it when the wind was blocked.

The tire wasn't even warm when compared with the others. The temp spare was @ 35 PSI (grrrrr kicking myself for ignorance) but I had three 12 gram CO2 cartridges and a bicycle inflator gizzie handy. That got me to 45 PSI. I abided by the 50 MPH limit until I could get the stem repaired. Tire showed no signs of damage but I replaced it just to be safe.

BTW, it was a stock G-Y.

Your tire EXPLOSION was almost certainly a defect. The Firestone defect was in the treads and not the stressed members. Many ATX's held pressure AFTER shedding tread. Yours looks like sidewall failure. The plys tore and I suspect you heard an explosion. Reason? delamination causes heat and wear on the fibers. Once enough fibers are lost, tire turns blue. Pieces blew everywhere ;+0

KrautRice_A4 atl-atl

This could be caused if you drove way too fast for the tires speed rating. Especially after incrdibly hard turns. Also, have you ever gotten a flat tire (or had a slow leak) and drove on it for even the smallest amount of time. If so, the inside of the sidewalls is meant ot be at the correct pressure, if not, then the materials can become damaged to the point where the tire will blowout, its "fairly" common. Do you keep track of you tire pessures. How deep is the inside, outside and middle tread depth. This could tell you if the tire was over or under inflated. Or the easier explanation, it could be a defective tire. This does not sound like a firestone, those usually had the tread layer peel off of an internal layer of the tire causing it to blow. It is possible for a Curb Hit to cause what is called a snakebite (mountain bike terms) which is where the sidewall gets sliced through enough to hold air, but leg go when the tire spins fast enough that it can no longer hold the pressure. It also could have been punctured or sliced by something that caused the sidewall to separate from the tead. I know this is a lot of stuff, but there are so many variables that could cause a tire to blow. Hopefully one, or a combination of these helps you out.