Serious Tire Experience Please Read

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Bill, so sorry to hear of your traumatic event. I'm glad you are still of this world.

Keep us appraised of the details and analysis as it unfolds. Makes me not want to even wash/wipe the wheels for cleaning. I will wait for you to tell more, but I can't help wonder the circumstances that warranted the addition of air. How much air were you intending on adding to the affected tire, had it been seriously low during use or were you adjusting just a few pounds all around for perhaps a temperature change adjustment.


JIM

[Bill Price]

Jim:

We had been home from the POG Rally for a few weeks and I noticed a flat on the inside dual. I figured another valve stem extension leak. I replaced the old one with a new one and added two new rubber stabilizers. Having only a small pancake compressor I started adding air at a slow rate. On that axle I carry 95 lbs. I checked the progress with a Snap On digital guage as I would level out the air at 95 lbs. Somewhere around 95 lbs it blew.

The tire was cool and had not been run in weeks. Air pressure in the tire when I started adding air was zero lbs.

I hope I am making sense here as I am still on some strong meds. I will be more than glad to answer any questions as I dont want anyone else to be hurt by such a senseless accident. I would like to thank Jon Wehrenberg and Jim Skiff for there help in posting this matter.

[jack14r]

This is a horrible incident that has apparently really hurt Bill,I am wondering if a TPS like pressure Pro could have prevented this accident.GET WELL BILL!!!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Bill's accident (if it can be called an accident) was as a result of just airing up a tire. If he has tire pressure sensors they would show the pressure or lack of it, but may not have prevented Bill having to air up a tire.

We all (I assume) check tire pressures before we drive and if needed give them a shot of air. But as careful as we may be about pressures stuff happens. I had a nail end up through the sidewall of an inner dual, and for a while I had to make a few pounds of air pressure adjustment every time I drove. It could have been a bad Schrader valve, a leak at the valve stem where it comes out of the wheel, a bead not seating properly or a tire puncture. I couldn't feel anything in the tread so when I got home from the trip I started to check it found a nail where it would not have been expected in the sidewall.

My point is we are always going to have to air up tires. Sometimes only a pound or two, sometimes a little more, but what happened to Bill can happen to anyone, any time and a TPS will only tell when the tire needs air, but it won't prevent air from leaking.

I have "learned" my tires and what is normal. If I haven't used the bus for a month I have a high probability all my tires will not need air. But if during a month of storage the temps have gone from 80 down to freezing outside I can expect to have to put 3 or 4 PSI in two of the tires and about 1 or 2 in the others. So here I am doing what Bill did. Bending down pushing the air chuck on all eight tires and giving each one a small shot of air. You can bet what happened to Bill is now going to be in the front of my mind and now I have a real problem because I have no intention of using valve stem extensions, but I don't want to be near an explosion either.

[Bill Price]

Jon:

I do have TPMS on my bus. At no time on recent trips did I receive any sort of low pressure reading or faulty indicators. In all fairness one must also realize I bought the coach used from Liberty. Thus we do not have an absolute tire history. As for tire date we do have a DOT date of 1506 on the blown one.
Tread Design Pilote XZA1

FYI the four new tires on the drive axle are DOT dated:

3310

They have approx 11 miles on them. Am I afraid of them; you better believe it!

[merle&louise]

I called my friend Jay Nobles who owns Nobles Tire Service and has 30 years experience in the tire business. He told me that they can smell a Zippered tire (after examining it) when the customer drives up, and they will REFUSE to air up that tire. He agreed with the 20% rule about running a tire low and said if a person knows that the tire has been run low DO NOT AIR IT UP. He says that after it cools down an experienced tire mechanic can add about 30# and listen for hissing - that indicates a Zippered tire. If you hear this hissing DO NOT ADD MORE AIR - CHANGE THE TIRE!

Jay said that customers think that he is just trying to sell them a new tire but a Zippered tire is nothing to fool around with!

[jack14r]

My point was that Bill stated that the tire had no pressure,and I thought that it might have been run at too low a pressure and damaged the tire,but he has tire monitors and the alarm never went off.It sure seems like that the tire must have been defective.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If Bill parked the bus after Kerrville and had no alarms up to that point the presumption is it had the correct amount of air when parked. As an alternate consideration, the TPS failed to sound an alarm when the tire lost air.

It is entirely possible that from that time until he learned it had no air the tire was losing pressure from a leak that had not been known when parked. Unless Bill had those tires installed himself, he has no way of knowing if the tire had been run at low pressure by a previous owner.

Tuga's post reinforces what we were told by Goodyear and Michelin.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

My point was that Bill stated that the tire had no pressure,and I thought that it might have been run at too low a pressure and damaged the tire,but he has tire monitors and the alarm never went off.It sure seems like that the tire must have been defective.

From what was told to this point I also made the same assumption as Jack.

I suppose one could coincidentally pull into the garage with pressure sensors and just before parking experience a leak that would not be noticeably alarmed because you left the bus unattended for a period of time as to loose major air. As I write this it comes to mind though there must have been an alarm or Bill wouldn't have been airing up the tire after changing a valve stem extension and bushing, this time. What was it last time? He did say there was a time before didn't he. Maybe the reason he thought he found was not the reason/cause at all. There are many unknowns to this. Does that tire sensor in fact function properly? Could a sensor possibly miss a low or high pressure? Not picking and pointing, just trying to understand as I do not relish or look forward to remote airing up under much stress to boot! I hope someone can point to a cause that will give us all piece of mind.

JIM

[AmeriStar]

I've heard of this happening. I guess I'm a little curious to what the air pressure was prior to adding air.
Usually 'zipper' purges are the result of operation of a low pressure tire for an extended period. The heat that builds up in the tire combined with the weakened sidewall are generally the primary culprit causing this to happen.
You were very lucky. Good luck in your suit.