How bad can it get and how often does it get that bad?
I often see wheel treads left abandoned at the side of the hard shoulder and skid marks and wonder what are the stories behind them.
A driving instructor told me you need a firm grip on the steering wheel at all times as you only have about 0.5 seconds to react should a blow out occur. I often drive along will one hand gently resting on the wheel and wonder if this is good enough in that scenario. I often see other drivers too with hands flailing and flopping over the wheel. Another driver told me if a blow out occurs, to brake with the exhaust brake, as the foot brake will send you veering one way as only the good tyre grips. What’s the minimum sensible steering wheel grip and what’s the best reactive sequence to have preprogrammed into my head should I experience a front wheel blow out?
Both hands on the wheel and don’t brake at all initially. When you get your wits back, if it seems to be under control just allow the vehicle to slow down by itself if space permits. This is one good reason for giving vehicles on the hard shoulder extra space when you pass them, rare as this is.
Edit to add; the exhaust brake option sounds like a reasonable idea.
P.S. What’s your opinion of my use of the semi-colon? I’ve realised I’ve been neglecting the poor thing and have promised myself to rectify that.
When it happened to me I went from lane 1 to lane 3 in a second and then I managed to get it back to the hard shoulder just before a slip road so went up there out the way.Tyre gone, wheel destroyed, broke the bottom step off and the spray suppressor.
Lucky for everyone know one was next to me so no other vehicles involved and as I made it up the slip road it was better for the tyre/wheel fitter.
I was probably driving one handed tbh so grabbed it two handed quickly and the idea is not to slam the brakes on, get control of the steering then apply brakes gently or just let it slow down itself whilst you get the lorry out of any live lanes.
i had one many years ago with a fully freighted A series ERF … (32 ton in them days)
doing about 60 down the A74 long before it became motorway…
no power steering on that thing…
had to stand up and keep it straight while gently braking to a standstill…
quite scary at the time…
BUT , definitely don’t brake hard…
It happened to me halfway across the Severn Bridge (nearside steer axle instant blowout) and apart from the noise I wouldn’t even had known it had happened. No deviation, nothing felt through the steering wheel at all, just a bang.
Harry Monk:
It happened to me halfway across the Severn Bridge (nearside steer axle instant blowout) and apart from the noise I wouldn’t even had known it had happened. No deviation, nothing felt through the steering wheel at all, just a bang.
You surprise me. I had a front drivers side blowout on a small rigid with a trailer and I really thought the front suspension had collapsed or the wheel had come off it was such a bang. I did’t brake but the truck veered into the outside lane and nearly hit the barrier. Getting it over to the hardshoulder was a fair exercise, but I did it
TiredAndEmotional:
Both hands on the wheel and don’t brake at all initially. When you get your wits back, if it seems to be under control just allow the vehicle to slow down by itself if space permits. This is one good reason for giving vehicles on the hard shoulder extra space when you pass them, rare as this is.
Precisely what I did when I had one on the N/S front. Big bang, clouds of dust, took foot off accelerator, steered slowly and gently over to nearside lane and onto hard shoulder then gentle braking to a stop. Saw one last night who had one on the drivers side front and he was sat in the hard shoulder, no drama and given how far he’d travelled from where the rest of the tyre was I guess he did something similar .
Harry Monk:
It happened to me halfway across the Severn Bridge (nearside steer axle instant blowout) and apart from the noise I wouldn’t even had known it had happened. No deviation, nothing felt through the steering wheel at all, just a bang.
Was that on a midlift ?
I had two up to now, one a few years back on drawbar with a tag axle at 58 mp/h and I needed all 3 lanes and the hard shoulder and a year ago with a midlift, also at 90 km/h at because off the midlift, the front rim hardly hit the ground and I could keep it in lane more or less.
So i think, because on a unit with midlift, the distance between wheels is shorter, it is easier to control.
Pouring rain in the early hours on the E15 near Valencia about 30 yrs ago.
Missus was asleep in the bunk when with no warning we had a very loud bang as my front near side waved goodbye as it came apart…certainly made me jump.
Came to a halt as best I could in a straight ish line and pulled out of traffic as far as possible.
Changed wheel with the help of the local cop who sat in his car with the roof lights flashing whilst I did the work dressed in shorts and boots only.
They were the days ! Wish I was that fit nowadays
I had n/s front blowout on the m18
A few years back doing 56 resisted the urge to brake & steered it onto the hard shoulder steered very well considering, when I got out to look at the damage tyre was still on only missing tread so very lucky!
When or if it happens it can be a shock. The very first front wheel plow out I had was southbound on the M5 in the late 80’s. Driving a Swifts Service Volvo F10 with a full load of Rockware glass on a flat bed, I was doing 60 mph and chatting to friend on the CB,I was in the slow lane, the front, right steer tyre blew out and the steering wheel was almost wrenched out of my hand, I fould my self heading across all lanes towards a concrete bridge support, I used every bit of strength to pull the wheel to the left and coast to the hard shoulder. This is one reason I would never use one of those steering wheel nobs that idiots bolt to their steering wheels, if you got a front wheel blow out at high speed it would break your wrist in a second. I have had a second front wheel blow out but at a slower speed and had more room to get out of the situation and the road was the NJ turnpike with 6 empty lanes at the time.
Yep can vouch for the big bang, but if you stay calm it is not usually a problem. Only had one front and was in lane one at the time, just signalled and pulled onto hard shoulder.
Absolutely no drama at all.
Had 2 off side steer tyres blow out in the last 3 years. Both times big bang. dust & debris flying across the carriageway but held the line didn’t brake just eased off the gas and coasted to the shoulder/ kerbside. 2nd occasion the tyre shredding bust an air feed to the brakes so had to get that fixed, as well as the tyre, before carrying on, rims were undamaged.
TBH sat at the side of the M4 and A34 was more alarming than the blowouts.
I’ve only had one so far and I’m not a fan, I had just had two new tyres fitted and less than 30mins later one of them had a catastrophic failure, I thought the wheel had fallen off, I went from lane one to lane three instantly and just about managed to avoid the armco. The steering effort required to get back over on the hard shoulder was as if I had lost power steering, the one thing I didn’t do was brake, I don’t think it was a conscious decision, I was too busy trying to stop it going through the armco to do anything else and I needed to get it back over on to the hard shoulder, so the forward momentum was useful for that. I’m just glad there was nobody alongside me at the time, that would have been the scene of a nasty accident, as I was loaded, the way it swerved to the right would have swept even a loaded attic straight into the armco and possibly through it into oncoming traffic, a car would have stood no chance.
I’ve had 2 or 3 instant blow outs - trailer ones are just a loud bang, can’t remember feeling anything but loud enough to stop and check things over.
The most memorable was a n/s front steer which was down to some idiot fitter replacing the track rod ends and not bothering to re-track, the tyre went from nearly new to worn through within 1 day. ( no It didn’t feel odd but I do remember a bit of a squealing noise on roundabouts - didn’t realise the significance at the time)
Anyway, I was fully loaded to 44T with bricks, going downhill, flat out, overtaking, Southbound just before J20 M1. I didn’t hear the bang just an almighty and constant groaning noise combined with a slight lurch to the left. despite the immediate adrenaline rush all i did was ease off the accelerator and grip the steering wheel (I may also have shouted some rude words). After a few seconds I worked out that I hadn’t been hit by a jet plane so I gently braked to a stop, coming to rest in the chevrons at the junction off slip.
The french truck I was overtaking had gone by then but I bet it gave him a bit of a giggle, after composing myself and checking the truck to see what actually had happened (NS front tyre shredded with bits of wire everywhere and it was obvious that the wear was the cause of the blowout rather than the result of it). I decided the best thing would be to exit at the junction and call a tyre fitter, HA arrived before I had calmed down sufficiently to attempt such a manouvre and advised that it would be better to move to the hard shoulder after the exit slip.
A river passes under the M1 at J20 - I spent the next few hours sitting on the bank.
It’s an experience I would prefer not to repeat but actually not as bad as I would have guessed it would be. (the blowout - sitting by the river was OK).
Had a drivers side blow out and completely loose the tyre heading towards Calais one night.
First instinct is to hit the brakes but steel rim on tarmac just caused sparks so lifted off and let it roll to a stop. Unfortunately it happened in road works and according to my collegue following on behind, I took out about a mile of traffic cones.
Second time wasnt a blow out. I was over taking a bus going north on the M6 when the steering started to feel a bit vague so I slowed down and let the bus get passed me and made for the hard shoulder when the NSF tyre, wheel and entire hub set off on its own down the grass verge. Got out to the axle on the floor and one very hot stub. The outer bearing had seized and unscrewed the retaining nut allowing the whole thing to come off.
The blow out was worse as it gives no warning what so ever, just an almighty bang and all hell breaks loose.
