Well, for the first time ever, I had a tire sidewall failure this morning
On a busy road we regularly drive, we encountered some patches of dirt and rocks every so often. It seemed obvious that some dump truck was losing part of it's load every time it hit a bump. We steered clear of about a dozen patches of the debris over the next half a mile or so until we got to the freeway entrance ramp. There was more of the rocks and dirt on the cloverleaf ramp itself and we dodged all of that, but when I went to merge onto the I-110 Back Bay Bridge, I glanced in the mirrors to make sure it was clear to merge and managed to glance a small rock with the right front tire and . . . . instant tire down. My wife heard the hissing and I noted the TPS light on the dash, but there was no place to pull over on the bridge so we made it across (about 3/4 mile) doing about 40 or 45
The offending truck was parked halfway down the exit ramp - The tailgate was open at the bottom about 6 inches, like it would be when a dump truck spreads gravel. I *should have* pulled in right behind the truck and got the license number and the drivers name, etc, but I continued to the bottom of the ramp where there's a gas station with an air hose. It looks like my failure to get her license number is going to keep me from getting reimbursed for the tire
The tire was flat with a hole in the sidewall you could stick a pencil into. I called the local tire store and he got me a new pair of Continental 145/65-15's on order. A friend took me to an auto parts store about a mile away where I bought a tire plugger kit. By putting 4 thicknesses of the cord in the 'gun' and gluing them into the hole, I managed to get the car to the tire store about 2 miles away - My makeshift plug came out about half a block from the store
The tires came in about 2 O'clock and we're now back on the road. I kept the old tires which were probably less than 1/3rd worn (13,500 miles) hoping to get the city to pay for a new tire . . . . and I think I'll put the good one on a Mitsu ES steel rim if I can find one so I'll have a spare for the future. I have an extra set of Miata wheels/tires which would have worked great as a spare *if* my blowout had happened on a rear tire, but there's very little you can put on the front in an emergency, except for a correctly sized iMiEV wheel and tire
Oddly, with the electric power steering there was no indication that I had a tire down at all - It steered straight and true which made me think at the time that it must just be a low tire and not a flat one . . . . but looking at the hole in the sidewall afterwards, it was pretty obvious that it lost ALL it's air in just a few seconds
Don
On a busy road we regularly drive, we encountered some patches of dirt and rocks every so often. It seemed obvious that some dump truck was losing part of it's load every time it hit a bump. We steered clear of about a dozen patches of the debris over the next half a mile or so until we got to the freeway entrance ramp. There was more of the rocks and dirt on the cloverleaf ramp itself and we dodged all of that, but when I went to merge onto the I-110 Back Bay Bridge, I glanced in the mirrors to make sure it was clear to merge and managed to glance a small rock with the right front tire and . . . . instant tire down. My wife heard the hissing and I noted the TPS light on the dash, but there was no place to pull over on the bridge so we made it across (about 3/4 mile) doing about 40 or 45
The offending truck was parked halfway down the exit ramp - The tailgate was open at the bottom about 6 inches, like it would be when a dump truck spreads gravel. I *should have* pulled in right behind the truck and got the license number and the drivers name, etc, but I continued to the bottom of the ramp where there's a gas station with an air hose. It looks like my failure to get her license number is going to keep me from getting reimbursed for the tire
The tire was flat with a hole in the sidewall you could stick a pencil into. I called the local tire store and he got me a new pair of Continental 145/65-15's on order. A friend took me to an auto parts store about a mile away where I bought a tire plugger kit. By putting 4 thicknesses of the cord in the 'gun' and gluing them into the hole, I managed to get the car to the tire store about 2 miles away - My makeshift plug came out about half a block from the store
The tires came in about 2 O'clock and we're now back on the road. I kept the old tires which were probably less than 1/3rd worn (13,500 miles) hoping to get the city to pay for a new tire . . . . and I think I'll put the good one on a Mitsu ES steel rim if I can find one so I'll have a spare for the future. I have an extra set of Miata wheels/tires which would have worked great as a spare *if* my blowout had happened on a rear tire, but there's very little you can put on the front in an emergency, except for a correctly sized iMiEV wheel and tire
Oddly, with the electric power steering there was no indication that I had a tire down at all - It steered straight and true which made me think at the time that it must just be a low tire and not a flat one . . . . but looking at the hole in the sidewall afterwards, it was pretty obvious that it lost ALL it's air in just a few seconds
Don