i got pretty bloody close yesterday. started to get vibration through the steering, pulled over and found this…
Jesus wept Qwakers, how old is that tyre and is that wheel actually perforated by rust.
I’ve put on plenty of lane closures for offside front blowouts, as have all of my fellow wombles no doubt
Juddian:
Jesus wept Qwakers, how old is that tyre and is that wheel actually perforated by rust.
tyre was on the lorry when i bought it and is date coded 2006. so old. if i’d realised it was that old i’d have changed it however it was due replacement and i was going to get it replaced soon anyway.
the wheel isnt actually as rusty as it looks most of what you can see is flaking paint, i will be cleaning up and repainting it when i have a few hrs to spare.
it was a bum clincher when i saw it for sure, i deflated the tyre before i slid underneath to put the jack under, just in case…
qwakers:
Juddian:
Jesus wept Qwakers, how old is that tyre and is that wheel actually perforated by rust.tyre was on the lorry when i bought it and is date coded 2006. so old. if i’d realised it was that old i’d have changed it however it was due replacement and i was going to get it replaced soon anyway.
the wheel isnt actually as rusty as it looks most of what you can see is flaking paint, i will be cleaning up and repainting it when i have a few hrs to spare.
it was a bum clincher when i saw it for sure, i deflated the tyre before i slid underneath to put the jack under, just in case…
Too right, I have a long valve remover in a cordless drill to minimise the time spent near any tyre that looks dodgy. Also want to deflate them completely even though 30psi is a fraction of their normal pressure it’s still what goes into a car tyre and they will still let go quite forcefully at that pressure.
Might be worth getting a specialist to do the wheels they can shot blast and paint for surprisingly little when it would take hours to get it off with a wire wheel in an angle grinder.
I’m not saying that I disbelieve anybody, but I had an instant nearside steer axle tyre blowout half-way across the Severn Bridge and it didn’t throw the truck off-course by as much as an inch, it was only the “bang!” that made me aware of it, I didn’t even feel it through the steering wheel.
Own Account Driver:
Might be worth getting a specialist to do the wheels they can shot blast and paint for surprisingly little when it would take hours to get it off with a wire wheel in an angle grinder.
yeah but i have more time than i have money at the moment 
Harry Monk:
I’m not saying that I disbelieve anybody, but I had an instant nearside steer axle tyre blowout half-way across the Severn Bridge and it didn’t throw the truck off-course by as much as an inch, it was only the “bang!” that made me aware of it, I didn’t even feel it through the steering wheel.
Depends on the load and how it let’s go. I have a theory that if it let’s go on the inside and there happens to be some bit of body or chassis as an obstruction the force of the air reacting against it forces the wheel to move.
Going into work today, this happened right in front of me.(PS ignore date stamp)
http://vid624.photobucket.com/albums/tt330/Biffo_photos/offside%20tyre%20HGV_zpso2segw9y.mp4
Wow, puddle jumper made that harder than it needed to be for him!
Had one few years ago, delivered a few pallets to layland, got on the m6 for a few juntions and bang. Steering started to vibrate and had like 5 secs to get hazzards on before it went. Thankfully it only took out the brake line and didnt hit anything.
Three blowouts in forty odd years, so pretty lucky. First two on the M1, with about 20 ton of steel coil for nails, o/s drive went and took it’s mate with it. Not much drama, but I only had one spare, so it was a lift from another lorry (1969) to an off ramp, find a phone, call office who arranged for me to get picked up by the breakdown lad who took me back to the motor and took the wheels away to change tyres.
Second, here in Oz, with timber. O/s inner rear on a rigid, took out brake pipe which stopped me in a bit of a hurry 
bloke in a semi right up my arse shouldn’t have been so close. 
Once again, not much drama, but I was going nowhere soon.
I had one go at the M25/A13 junction after having a brand new Bridgestone fitted in Dartford 
I went from the inside line to the outside lane in one swift move, how I never hit anything or caused a pile up I don’t know.
At first I thought the wheel had fallen off as the lorry lurched violently and was bouncing around really bad, I just held on tight and coasted back over on to the hard shoulder.
Bloody scary business.
My dad had one let go on the old two lane bit of the M1 at Watford, we were in a Guy Big J, don’t think it had power steering, but couldn’t swear to it, anyway that was a scary one, I was about 10yrs old and I remember every second of that as if it was yesterday and that was “eleven” years ago
Had a fair few blowouts over the years on landfill work luckily only one front wheel one as I was turning in to a road and was doing less than 10mpg but was quite a bang
I am a tyre fitter by trade. Have just passed my class 2 so now starting out. Most blow outs I attend at the road side are nearly always the front steer tyres. Its more rare for another position on a unit to blow out from my experience
In the years ive been driving have had Front tyre blow outs on more than one occasion ( with and without power steering ) and the only advice i could give anyone is not to brake ( if possible ) and gradualy come to a halt. However one blow out i had on the M27 Portsmouth bound one day always sticks in my mind, if it hadnt been for a fellow driver ( who ive never met but to who im eternaly grateful ) in a F10 things could have turned out much different; I was driving a 411 Sed Atki (6x2 ) with a loaded fridge at 60+ overtaking a car and caravan when the front nearside tyre went taking the mirrors ect with it leaving me totaly blind nearside not knowing wether i,d passed the caravan or not, managing to hold it and with my ar… hole going sixpence ,shilling , the moter shaking everthing to bits, I became aware of the car and caravan passing me on the nearside the driver waving wildly pointing to the front wheel informing me I had a flat tyre ( like i didnt know ■■? ) im probably still doing 50 at this point and was unable to take a hand of the wheel to wave my thanks for the information as i continue along the middle lane . I glanced in the offside mirror and saw a F10 i,d passed earlier blocking the third lane and with my indicator on started to move across towards the hard shoulder ( a steady shower of sparks were flying up the nearside window now ) while the guy in the F10 flashed his lights and gave me a thumbs up speed dropping i made the hard shoulder and came to a halt finaly. The F10 driver gave a toot on his horn and away he went i prised my ar…hole off the seat and got out and went round to the nearside, no front wing, no mirrors , scraps of tyre on the spring, wrapped round second axle and just the rim remained on the front. The tyre was 3 days old and premium make, the rim had left marks on the moterway and from blow out to getting it on the hard shoulder i,d done near threequarters of a mile , i was lucky that the moterway was quiet and the F10 driver held what traffic was about at adistance. A week later the marks were still visible on the road.
Not looking forward to when or if I have a blow out
I’ve only had one. It was back in about 2008 in Belgium between Gent and Brussels. I’d just overtaken a Polish truck when suddenly there was an almighty bang underneath me. Nothing happened and I thought “What the F was that?!” then realised what it must have been. The Polish truck saw the whole thing and slammed on to give me room and I started to move over and brake slightly, which is when it went wrong and the truck careered towards the side of the road. I only had about 8 or 10 tons on and managed to hold it enough to prevent it from going off the road. The whole thing is only memorable because the young Belgian kid who came out to replace the tire parked his van on the grass verge next to me and ended up not being able to move when it was time to go so I had to ratchet a span set on to him and tow his van back out on to the hard shoulder.
Really useful read this, and lots of good advice, hopefully if it ever happens I’ll naturally do the right thing without thinking although accelerating to straighten up and adjusting steering to compensate might not be my natural reaction in that split second. I guess it’s one of those scenarios that you can prepare for in your head and just hope you put that knowledge into practice in an emergency.
Yeah, the accelerating with a blowout is like accelerating in a jacknife… all well and good if you’ve got plenty of room. You’ll have noticed in that video that they were using about half of an American state to stop the thing.