I drive an 8x4 tipper and last Friday i was heading down the motorway with a full load of sand, when all of a sudden, there was a loud
‘BANG’ 
and with that, the truck, like my arse, wobbled all over the place. 
To say i got a fright would be an understatement. The front near side tyre blew. Before anyone asks, yes, it was a good tyre. Luckily, being the proffessional that i am, i was able to bring my vehicle to a controlled stop, on a hard shoulder that is barely wide enough for a car. The tyre blowout ripped the back of the cab, obliterated the mudguard and left the top of the wheel arch hanging like a limp richard, luckily though, my underwear remained skid mark free.
So this just got me wondering, if any of you fellow truckers out there in truckerland who drive artics have ever had a front trye blowout and if so, was it difficult to keep control of the truck, or did you end up losing control of your truck?
i had one on the M1 just after tibself servs on the M1,and i just pulled out of there after a break (45 mins) and it went bang!! steering wheel wobbled abit and i got it over on the H/S and saw the remains of the tyre bounding down the banking after i stopped!! 
it took out the N/S step and other bits of plastic,but i wasn’t that heavy only had about 8 tonne on,if i was fully freighted then my guess it would of dug into the tarmac and been abit more of a problem trying to control it
i have had blow outs on all axles (not at the same time though 
), never really had a problem with control of the truck though,
Generally with power assisted steering it isn’t so much of a problem to get the truck onto the hard shoulder, although tyres are improving and I think the last blowout on non powered steering was about 1978
Yep. Coasted onto the shoulder then backed into a rest area… 2nd front for me…
mine was on the m1 between j 15 and j15a, was in middle lane then BANG my NSF had gone, managed to get over to hardshoulder from middle lane, just had a bit of a wobble, and i was carrying paper(on end) from tilbury. then noticed i had managed to rip the pipes from the brake cyclinder, meaning a nite at the servs after the tyre was fixed…
more worrying was the fact some tool driving too close managed to somehow hit 
my trl making a louder bang than the tyre going, but couldnt see any damage he did pull over bout a mile away but never bothered to come down to see if he had damaged mine… 
dazaster:
mine was on the m1 between j 15 and j15a, was in middle lane then BANG my NSF had gone, managed to get over to hardshoulder from middle lane, just had a bit of a wobble, and i was carrying paper(on end) from tilbury. then noticed i had managed to rip the pipes from the brake cyclinder, meaning a nite at the servs after the tyre was fixed…
more worrying was the fact some tool driving too close managed to somehow hit
a truck infront of me a year or so back had a blow out in lane 1 on the m1 , he overtook me and pulled back in and 3 seconds later BANG my vision consisted of thick grey smoke with what i assumed was lumps of tyre peppering my windscreen, i couldnt see anything - so braked hard and put hazards on and then he limped onto the chervons on the on ramp, i hate to think if that tyre had blow while he was overtaking me… 
did anyone ever see that police camera action when the camper van drove past that lorry on fire and the trucks tyre exploded as he passed 
not had a blow out going along but i was pumping a tyre up on a ford cargo 7.5t once and it blew
it put me on my arse and the hat i was wearing ended up on the other side of the forcourt and i couldnt hear anything in my left ear for about an hour
im just glad i was looking at a young lady with a rather short skirt on at the time and not facing the tyre
yes she did come over to see if i was alright 
Not had a blow out yet, touch wood I never do, what are the biggest causes? Sidewall damage? Overloading? Under/overinflated, apparently it is better to accelerate rather than brake? Hard to do when your limited I suppose…
Mate at work had low loader tyre blow in his face while inflating it a while back
Put him in hospital for a few weeks, he’s only just back to work this week.
I had one coming up the A2 from Dover on the nearside middle axle on the trailer. I didn’t feel a thing, just heard this massive bang!
I also had one in my old Vauxhall Movano van on the A12 at 85MPH on the front offside. I felt it and ■■■■ myself that time
never had one in my current wagon, but a spate of 4 in 3 weeks at my old place mind you they were all on the trailer and we was doing scrap steel into nortons in liverpool i think he was buying the cheapest tyres he could get
had one in my old 109 land rover on the M6 passing stafford services , just as i was passing the entrance the o/s front went with a lood bang just as the old bill was passing me in the middle lane dont know who was more shocked me or the copper as the tread bounced into the side of his range rover
Had a trailer tyre go on the M5 once, poor bloke in the sierra passing me needed new underpants afterwards!
Also managed to take out all four tyres on a tandom axle trailer. I had to enter a yard that had those bollards which can be unlocked and sink into the ground, unfortunatley the metal cover got stuck up and went between both sets of tyres. Only 2 went down, so when I called in I thought I only had the 2 rear tyres damaged. when the fitter arrived about an hour later, he removed the 2 deflated tyres, and I checked the other 2 to find gashes on the inner wall of them both. Had to wait another hour for him to go get 2 more tyres.
Pity it was a bank holiday, and I was on double time! gutted! 
