Blowouts !

O.K. I think this might belong in this dept. Tires are close to wheels. So the thread Jon started about tires started me thinking. What is it like to have a BLOWOUT on one of these buses ? Who has experienced one out there. Im sure front is worse than rear. My last motorcoach was a Kenworth T600. I had a BLOWOUT on the right front at 70 mph. The coach handled good at that speed untill I slowed it down and got over on the side. Only mistake I made was applying the brakes during the last 50 feet of stopping. Ground a flat spot on the wheel. Always coast the last 50 feet if the Blowout is on the front. If the wheel had not been damaged a new tire could have been installed right there on the side of the highway. With a damaged wheel I had to be towed. Btw it was a Michelin.

Do a search Jim. If my memory serves me right I think JPJ related the excitement of a rear tire letting go and taking out a holding tank or holding tank fitting plus other damage. As much as I respect Peter's opinions I'm sticking with my tire age replacement plan because apart from the risk of loss of control (which I think is minimal) I think there is a huge risk of doing a lot of damage by a disintegrating tire including tearing out brakes and airbags.

Jon,

You are correct on the damage part. I had three blowouts on my American Eagles, all on the rear. Not only does the noise scare the crap out of you, but the damage to the underside of the coach can be substantial. I spent many hours repairing the damage.

BTW, the reason for the blowouts was the coach manufacturer would not listen to the chassis builder and put undersized tires on the coach. There was a huge class action lawsuit and between my insurance company, Goodyear and American Coach they paid for new tires and all the damage.

John Knollmaier

Jon, Couldnt find the blowout thread but your thread about valve stem extensions was very helpful

Ditto, all the above.

The Carnival Vendors here at Beaudy's weekend sales events are touting tire pressure sending devices ( $50 per tire ). These send the info to a dashboard device ($150.00) with lights on it depicting the location of each tire on the coach and the towed vehicle. If pressure drops it will blink at you and give you the location. Has any one of you bought onto this system? It's very expensive smoke and mirrors, but if they work it may be of some value.

I believe Joe has a tire monitoring device. $50 per wheel seems a bit low, but perhaps I'm remembering wrong. The unit a friend installed had to be installed / strapped to the inside of the wheel with a large strap, positioning so that the sensor was opposite the valve stem (I guess for balancing).

But, as I remember when looking at such devices, the total came to over $100 per tire, maybe as much as $150?

I ran into someone on my last visit to Liberty that had gone through a front blowout on his Country Coach XL and said that it handled fine. But that's when he learned that they had sold him a coach with dump truck tires on it (a brand new coach if I remember correctly). Country Coach refused to swap the tires for the ones Prevost usually uses and he couldn't just buy them because they had also switched rims, which made it so the normal tires would not fit without replacing the rims as well. He ended up selling the coach and getting a Liberty... but the guy who bought his old coach was at Liberty on that day, so I saw the coach. (I think Steve was parked right next to it when he came in to pick up his new coach).

I saw a video on the Michelan web site (I'm pretty sure that's where it was) and said you should punch the accelerator to the floor if you get a blow out because, the more you slow down, the more difficult it is supposed to be to control... so they said to speed up until you figure out a safe spot to stop. They described the physics of it all, but I don't remember the details.

Ben,

Lets hope neither one of us ever has to test this, but I'll not speed up if I have a blow out. I'll not hit the brakes, and will slow down gradually, but certainly will not accelerate.

I had a right front blow on our Beaver Thunder at 70 mph, not exciting but it sure tears up the fiberglass wheel wells and anything else close to it.

I think the key is to stay calm and keep it "dirty side down" (unless your Jon and both sides are equally clean).

Mike K

Harry We have Pressure Pro by Dorian and I love it. Sensers are valve stem caps 50$ each. and the dash unit was also as you describe. Best 750 bucks I spent in a long time. It was The cost of 1 michelan and it pays for itself the first time it goes off. I wouldn't even concider running my "older" tires like I am without it. I will NEVER have another camper without it. It will pay for itself over and over again.

Ben, wow.

One thing Joe has failed to mention is that all of these type devices, except those installed inside the tire using a band clamp around the rim, screw onto your valve stem.

In and of itself screwing something on the valve stem to read pressure is not a big deal except you have lost 50% of your valve stem leakage protection. On an ordinary valve stem the Schrader valve is the primary seal, and the cap is the secondary seal. With the pressure sensors installed the valve is held open, so if the pressure sensor leaks, so does the air in your tire. Usually the leaks occur because the pressure sensors need to be removed to check the actual pressure and to adjust the tire pressure. The more they are removed the more likely you will have a leak. At least the sensors will tell you the tire has leaked.

But Joe is pretty clever. Actually he is very clever. He installed a second set of valve stems 180 degrees opposed to the ones on the wheel. The pressure sensors, once installed and tested for leaks are then never removed. No removal virtually eliminates the risk of a leak at the sensor. The tire pressure can be checked and adjusted at the normal valve stem which has the Schrader valve and the sealing valve cap. Take a bow Joe.

The tire pressure unit that has bands around the wheel is the Smart Tire. I have had it on a plastic Country Coach and liked it so well I had the system put on my Foretravel when I bought it. It is a good feeling to simply drive 100 feet and get a reading on all tires that are being monitored. I tells air, tempature and deviations of air and temp. as I recall. I checked into the price for my Prevost and it is around 1700 to 1800 dollars from Camping World.

After seeing Joe's monitor panel on one of the photos he posted I called him and discussed his system (Dorian) vs Smart Tire. They seem to do similar things and the Dorian is much less money. I will be going with the Dorian in the near future.

I have driven coaches with a pressure system and without and I prefer having it. The great thing about it is that the tire pressure does not have to be checked manually. If there is a problem you are alerted with a light and warning signal.

There is a Michelin web site listed on this forum somewhere and it shows the results of a blowout on the front tire and what to do when it happens. And guess what? It says to accelerate to keep control of the vehicle. This safety video sets off an explosive devise mounted on a motorhome tire travelling at highway speed to show the results of a simulated blowout.

I don't have time to do a search to find it now, but perhaps the person who posted this can do so again. It was very impressive and everyone should watch it.

Denny

For some reason, I'm okay with blowouts..........


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So Joe, can you elaborate on Jon's comments about double facing valve stems. I was concerned about valve stem leakage, and it appears that Jon indicates you've got it covered?

I had a blow out about 3 years ago while returning from a race in Daytona. We were on I-95 south bound at about 70-73 mph. The mirror on the curb side started to vibrate while I was in the hammer lane passing a slower something. At first, I thought I was on a bad strech of asphalt. When I pulled back into the left lane, there was a bit more vibration followed almost immediately by the very loud bang. I did not experience any pull in either direction. We let off the throttle and coasted off to the shoulder with some help from the brakes. When I got out to see the damage, the only part of the tire[michelin] left was the two beads on the rim of the wheel and a few strands of steel and rubber where the side wall had been. There was slight damage to the foam insulation in the wheelwell, nothing further. I then pulled out the spare and we were on our way in less than an hour. I don't remember how old the set of tires were, but less than 3 years. Oh, there were two semi's within a mile or so who also had flats. Road debris?? I didn't see anything, but I will never know.

I have had two blow outs. Both wee LOUD and IMMEDIATE. The 1st blow out was coming home from a weekend lake trip. POW....Back passenger tire blows and takes out the wheel well and some harness wiring passing thru the area. Pulled off the Road , and had a gas station put spare tire on. :( (HOLIDAY RAMBLER ENDEAVOR)

The 2nd time was on the 210 in LA. Coming home from BANKS after getting a new exhaust sytem installed. Going too fast in the middle of sout bound with 4 -5 lanes and POW...front passenger Blow-out. Very scarry and difficult too get slowed down and to the side without causing a major traffic collision. Had to pull the spare tire out from under the back of the coach with cars wizzing by at 70mph. NOT RECOMENDED! :eek: Changed tire with one foot between me and the Guard Rail.
After that adventure, I went out and bought all new tires. No more guess work , no more leaving it to the RV Gods.;)

Ben here is the video you talked about.

Mike Kerely, please watch this video and believe it.

http://www.michelinrvtires.com/miche...r/RvVideos.jsp

Gary, I watched both videos. They were informative. Even the part about tire dressing. Thanks.

99 Country Coach 45XL

The blowouts I have experianced in tractor-trailer were all navigated by coasting to the shoulder. The thing that sticks in my mind the most is being startled by the bang. The pull on the wheel was small. The one I had in our class-c was preceeded by, as toy box stated a strange wobble, that if I knew how to read at the time, would have given me ample time to reduce speed sufficiantly enough before the event to avoid collaterial dammage that it caused.

Not to disagree, that video and instruction seems to go against instinct, ya know what I mean, lodgical, but I don,t think natural reaction is gas it.

In any event I've never had a blow-out pull me out of a lane.

Now I have pressure sensers, life is good.

I chose this product because like many things for us, cost. I'd really like one of our more blessed members to get the other system that straps to the rim inside the tire for an additional consumer report for the folks. Who is gonna step up to the plate.

Gary and Peggy,

I watched the video. Thanks for posting it. Not saying I'll ignore the advise, it will be in the back of my mind if it happens again.

My wife has a sensor attached to the accelerator and it signals her to "comment" every time i step down hard on the fuel, so that would be a problem for me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mike kerley

Gary and Peggy,
My wife has a sensor attached to the accelerator and it signals her to "comment" every time i step down hard on the fuel, so that would be a problem for me.

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TOO FUNNY :D

Gary S