Fun and games on the way to work...

mark houghton · 08-26-2010, 10:26 AM

Beautiful morning for my 25 mile daily jaunt to work. Cool air, turbo spooling up effortlessly, just tooling along at a speed I won't mention.

Came up behind a car and throttled back to 60'ish, and suddenly noticed a weird sound that got progressively louder and louder by the second. Got off the throttle immediatly and slowed way down. Then, pieces of rubber began to shred themselves from the left rear tire. We're talking blow-out here folks. Traveled about 1/4 mile and pulled off on a side road to change the tire. Luckily the mini spare and air pump worked like a charm and I was back on the road in about 20 minutes.

It pays to inspect your tires once in awhile. Mine, I knew, were past due for replacement and procrastination put me in a dangerous spot. Words of wisdom. Luckily I have a brand new set at home just waiting to be slapped on.

A930Rocket · 08-26-2010, 10:34 AM

Glad it all worked out ok. I've seen several blown out tires on cars and semis on the highway over the years and they haven't all turned out good.

No body damage I hope?

mark houghton · 08-26-2010, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Glad it all worked out ok. I've seen several blown out tires on cars and semis on the highway over the years and they haven't all turned out good.

No body damage I hope?

No damage. Blew out the inner sidewall is all. Now I've got this funky looking squirrel of a tire on back and supposed to not exceed 50mph. People are going to look at me funny as I head home today.

forest green · 08-26-2010, 01:41 PM

I don't want to know what a spare on the back looks like. I'm sure any funny looks you get will be well deserved. Anyway I thought the spare went on the front and your front tire goes on the back. What a pain in the ass that must be changing two tires.
Am I right about this. It sure sounds easier just putting the spare on the back.

mark houghton · 08-26-2010, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by forest green

I don't want to know what a spare on the back looks like. I'm sure any funny looks you get will be well deserved. Anyway I thought the spare went on the front and your front tire goes on the back. What a pain in the ass that must be changing two tires.
Am I right about this. It sure sounds easier just putting the spare on the back.

Really? That's news to me...guess I should check the owners manual. It does feel a little squirrely in the back, understandably. It'll get me home, I hope, or I'm royally screwed.

87 930 · 87 930's Garage

Mark, I think that Andy's right. Because of your LSD, you want to keep equal sized tires (as much as possible) on both side of the trans. (In a perfect world!)

mark houghton · 08-26-2010, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 87 930

Mark, I think that Andy's right. Because of your LSD, you want to keep equal sized tires (as much as possible) on both side of the trans. (In a perfect world!)

Makes sense. $hit, now I'll worry about damaging the LSD all the way home. You think I should swap out the front and rear before leaving today or will 25 miles at 50mph do no harm?

JFairman · 08-26-2010, 03:36 PM

The spider gears will be turning constantly as the axles rotate at different speeds while driving on different diameter tires.

If it is a short distance I wouldn't worry about it but 20 miles on the highway I'd put the front on the back if it's closer to the same diameter.. as long as it isn't pouring down rain or something.

mark houghton · 08-26-2010, 04:22 PM

Thanks all...20 minutes later and it's a done deal. Out in 90 degree weather, 30 mph winds and blowing dust storm stuff....fun. Better than rain, though. At least I won't dick up my LSD. BTW, the spare donut tire is about 1.25 inches taller than my stock rear tire, so it does make a big difference, whereas the front tire is almost dead-nuts the same (maybe 1/4" difference) as the rear tire height.

I'm always amazed at how light those stock Fuchs wheels are. My truck is an entirely different story.

krasuskyp · 08-26-2010, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadetree930

It may look something like this ....

LOL Paul - beat me to it

funny teeth FTW!

krasuskyp · 08-26-2010, 05:47 PM

actually, I was going to use 'this' one 8-)

RarlyL8 · RarlyL8's Garage

Glad it all worked out for you, that can be a very dangerous situation.

This (pictured below) happened to me on a 500 mile trip at 80mph on the interstate in heavy traffic. I picked up something on the road and the left rear went down real quick. The wheel cut the sidewalls down by the time I could get it hauled over to the shoulder. The most frightening part was changing the tire while 18 wheelers blew buy at full speed less than 5 feet from me.
Needless to say my can of fix-a-flat didn't do much good, ha!

gsmith660 · 08-27-2010, 05:21 AM

Glad you are ok and no damage to the car and you got everything worked out it is intresting that the difference in dia. will munch the LSD worth looking into I would think it would be like being in a constant turn going down the road but I wouldn't think it would cause that much additional wear. Could someone give a engineering explanation about this.

wjfk32 · 08-27-2010, 06:34 AM

Holy Molly!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't imagine if u were going top end-what would happen...

All be safe out there..

Walt

mooney265 · mooney265's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by RarlyL8

I had one of these, too. But, it was back in '88 on my Nissan 200sx driving across the Mobile Pkwy bridge. It looked just like that and had no warning. I too remember those 18-wheelers going by and 'bumping their horns' at me. I was 20-yrs old and terrified...

It was a Sunday and remember going to an Advance Auto parts and purchasing 2 new Michelin MXV's at 4pm [right before they closed].

Still nervous about bridges and overpasses. I've found myself many times imagining if I my tire is to let-go 'here' - - then I would drive on the rim to the end of the bridge... I'd take a new $rim$ over nightmares any day!!

I guess that's why I'm a AAA - - I can 'dial up' some help wherever I may find myself...