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Exploding Truck Tire Experience

kentuvman

kentuvman

New member
A couple "fears" that I loathe about riding - deer and exploding truck tires. Haven't hit a deer yet and hope I never do.

Yesterday, my wife and I rode from Palm Springs to Borrego Springs, CA to see the magnificent flower bloom - see link below:

https://pix.sfly.com/p4ApHY

We picked up I-10 after Hwy 86 ends. Somewhere between Indio and Palm Desert, a fast moving 18 wheeler came upon us - we were in fast lane and he was in adjacent lane to the right. As he passed us, I heard a big explosion - next thing I saw were bits and pieces - large and small - of an exploded tire about 100 feet in the air - like shrapnel. It was a surreal slow-motion event - I slowed down, stayed on course and watched as the pieces started hitting the pavement - fortunately, we weren't hit and avoided running over the pieces.

Sure got my heart beating quickly! Lucky and grateful!

Ken
 
kentuvman said:
A couple "fears" that I loathe about riding - deer and exploding truck tires. Haven't hit a deer yet and hope I never do.

Yesterday, my wife and I rode from Palm Springs to Borrego Springs, CA to see the magnificent flower bloom - see link below:

https://pix.sfly.com/p4ApHY

We picked up I-10 after Hwy 86 ends. Somewhere between Indio and Palm Desert, a fast moving 18 wheeler came upon us - we were in fast lane and he was in adjacent lane to the right. As he passed us, I heard a big explosion - next thing I saw were bits and pieces - large and small - of an exploded tire about 100 feet in the air - like shrapnel. It was a surreal slow-motion event - I slowed down, stayed on course and watched as the pieces started hitting the pavement - fortunately, we weren't hit and avoided running over the pieces.

Sure got my heart beating quickly! Lucky and grateful!

Ken
Click to expand...

Wow glad you were both safe! Many of us are concerned with trucks in general and tires in particular. Always good to give them ample berth and to move by them briskly without ever following them closely. Well done.
 
Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

Deer and elk and other furry creatures look good in Disney cartoons, but are a different matter up close. Exploding truck tires, aren't cool either. I used to find a place off the rear quarter where the wind was nice and calm and just sit back there. Then I got to reading more and more about the tires exploding. Now, I try to get around them quickly, rather than sit in a place of danger.

Chris
 
Similar experience a few years ago on I-5 in Tacoma. Very high "pucker factor" when it happens right next to you!

Glad you came through unscathed!

Cheers!
 
Exploding truck tire

kentuvman said:
<snip>

We picked up I-10 after Hwy 86 ends. Somewhere between Indio and Palm Desert, a fast moving 18 wheeler came upon us - we were in fast lane and he was in adjacent lane to the right. As he passed us, I heard a big explosion - next thing I saw were bits and pieces - large and small - of an exploded tire about 100 feet in the air - like shrapnel. It was a surreal slow-motion event - I slowed down, stayed on course and watched as the pieces started hitting the pavement - fortunately, we weren't hit and avoided running over the pieces.

<snip>

Ken
Click to expand...

Ken,

Glad you weren't caught up in the exploding tire incident, but I do wonder what you were doing on I-10 in the "fast lane" having already noticed a fast moving 18 wheeler coming up on you to the right. I hope you at least you looked behind you before you "slowed down, stayed on course and watched as the pieces started hitting the pavement" all while still in the fast lane. What is wrong with keep right except to pass rather than becoming a rolling roadblock in the "fast lane"? BTW, a truck tire recap that is suspect often makes a whup,whup,whup sound as it passes by and should be given room when possible. If the truck traffic in the right lanes ( not sure if 18 wheelers are prohibited from the left lane of I-10 ) find an alternative state road or route. Same advice for the little old ladies in Buicks. :wave

Friedle
 
I make it a point never to stay along side of a truck, just get by ASAP. Glad to hear you didn't hit anything.

I have had similar experiences with blow outs on a truck. I was going west bound on I80 and an eastbound pick up truck blew a tire and sent the split ring diagonally across the highway. I hit it about 90MPH, Luckily it glazed the front disc and hit the 4 into 1 exhaust on my Z1. No damage to me, just rotor and exhaust.

Many years ago when semis used split rims, riding along side was considered a suicide location due to blow outs and the debris, they still are a threat.
 
Friedle, makes a very good point. How/why was it possible for a large truck to pass you on the right? Had you been where you should have been the tire would have been on the other side of the truck and nowhere near you.
 
I once had a truck tire explode next to my car (New Jersey turnpike, I believe it was) and it dented and ripped up the right front fender and both right side passenger doors. Cracked the glass on the passenger side. Made a heck of a mess of that car, but it was drivable. I have always wondered what might have been the result if I had been on a bike. Big rigs are nothing to be joked about and it is best to stay far away from them always.
 
Experienced it years back. Had a bike with a Vetter IV on it...headlamp, & both T/signals , huge crack cross front....replaced all that , bought some new underwear ;) Good to go.

Seriously, not a fun event & yours and mine could have been allot worse. Glad you're OK!
 
Had that happen around Kansas City some years ago. Old pickup truck..worse part was all the dirt and dust, couldn't see the truck for a couple of seconds...scary. Glad it was only a "learning" experience.
 
I've been hit by exploding truck tires, once pretty good.

If a truck, a semi, loaded is doing anything faster than 65 MPH, chances are very good he is out running the capacity of the tire to handle that speed. They usually don't explode from under-inflation but rather over heating from centrifugal force.

At least the days of re-caps are getting some distance and rare to see either Budd or Daytons on the road which is dramatically reducing wheel offs and exploding rims.
 
I was out on a road construction project on I-75 in northern Kentucky many years ago. I was standing on the shoulder when I heard a loud bang. It sounded like a tractor-trailer crashing into a car. It turned out to be a tractor trailer losing a driving wheel - all the lugs sheared off at once with a loud bang, resulting in a very heavy wheel and tire rolling down the interstate totally out of control. The heavy wheel missed a construction worker by inches. It continued on down the median for a long distance.

Stay away from big trucks!

Harry
 
AKsuited said:
many years ago.

Stay away from big trucks!

Harry
Click to expand...

Key words, many years ago these things happened frequently.

Big trucks are safer, drivers better trained than ever before, rules and reg's along with insurance demands make big trucks safer than a little box with a banger and his phone.
 
martyhill said:
Friedle, makes a very good point. How/why was it possible for a large truck to pass you on the right? Had you been where you should have been the tire would have been on the other side of the truck and nowhere near you.
Click to expand...

In California, trucks are not allowed in the #1 (fast lane) - in this instance, two lanes transitioned into three lanes - there were a lot of heavy semis carrying produce in the #3 lane (slow lane). I'd been in the #2 lane and moved to the #1 lane when we went from two to three lanes - the truck that blew the tire was going too fast and was in process of overtaking the slower moving semis. I disagree with your comment above because I could have been on his right and he could have blown a right tire - after all these big rigs have 18 wheels!

At any rate, things happen fast and I was only in that lane for just a short while - my goal when riding on the freeway is to have as much clear space as possible. Also, my Dad used to say when operating a saw to not be afraid of getting cut but to respect it - that's my approach with riding and trucks - I'm not afraid of them and never hang out in their blind spots and when passing, do it quickly.

My biggest disadvantage was I was riding my somewhat underpowered R60/5 2 up- we'd been on a state highway and had to use the interstate for about 7 miles.
 
That explains why you were in the fast lane but doesn't excuse your positioning. On a slow bike I'd fall in behind the truck that was going faster if I couldn't pull ahead.
 
Many, many years ago I was almost hit by a whole wheel and tire. It came off the truck and almost bounced over onto my side of the Interstate. I missed it by inches. I still smoked back in those days. I had to pull over and have a cigarette.
 
Friedle said:
Ken,

...What is wrong with keep right except to pass rather than becoming a rolling roadblock in the "fast lane"?...
Friedle
Click to expand...

Ten years ago, on my first ride out to California, I ended up getting an oil/filter change at a BMW dealer in the LA area. Turned out the service department did a lot of work on CHiP bikes. I ended up talking to two CHiP moto officers, while I was waiting. During the course of that, discussion, I asked for freeway riding tips. The first thing both of them told me was to always ride in the left-most lane (in the HOV lane if there was one), as it was the safest for someone on a bike. As for speed, they said to try to go just a bit faster than the speed of traffic (at no time did they imply becoming a "rolling roadblock"). I always remembered that advice, and always try to follow it on multi-lane highways.
 
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