That’s why they have double wheels mate rather than super singles, the remaining inflated tyre should get you safely onto the hard shoulder, even fully freighted.
Two blowing out, as a pair, isn’t unusual though, the bits from the first blow-out can take out the other one. Whatever, get to the hard shoulder as quickly and safely as possible. Try to park it so as to leave enough room to get the wheels off without fighting the kerb or being out in the traffic. Dont get onto the hard shoulder and brake hard either, just let it roll to a stop.
One tyre on each side blowing out at the same time would be quite unusual, unless you hit something pretty big laying in the road. Something that big you should be able to see and avoid in reasonable visibility, unless someone has dropped a box of nails, (or something similar).
A slow puncture, hopefully you will spot when you do your walk around check (you obviously do a quick chech each time you stop for a brake or tip/load). The outside tyre will be bulging more on one side of the truck than the other side. So give the bulging tyre a kick with your steely toed boot. If its still solid, give the other one a good boot, if thats soft, get it blown up as much as you can and get to your nearest tyre fitter asap. The call out charges can be astranomical. If its gone down fairly quickly and come off the rim, you’re stuffed. Just get the fitters out, although a double wheel will get you to safety on one tyre, don’t go driving around on it. If you’re fully frieghted it’ll overheat pretty quickly and you might be in a really poor position when it blows. You can move a short distance, to get to a good place for the fitter to do his thing, on the single remaining tyre though.
It depends on how bad the blowout is, whether it’s an inside or an outside tyre, how heavily loaded you are, and how warm the ambient temperature is.
If your tyre has truly “blown” out, you’ll likely have bits of rubber flopping about, so you wouldn’t want to travel far like that. an outer position is very visible, and also allows much more chances of rubber projectiles hitting passing vehicles. an inside blowout is probably much safer to run on for that reason.
If you are heavily laden, your remaining tyre will become hot vey quickly. This heat can result in casing and tread degradation, eventually resulting in a second blowout. At this point, you will be up feces estuary without a paddle.
Here in the states, 95+% of truck use “dualie” tyre/wheel combos for the run-flat capability. Most of the time, I have drivers limp slowly to the nearest service, or at least to the nearest convenient location. On rare occasions, if the load is light enough and/or the temperature is cold enough, I’ve had drivers travel fairly long distances with a deflated tyre. Last winter, I had a driver going across Idaho on a Saturday night when he had a flat. It was cold, and he drove 250+ miles until he could get the tyre replaced at a truckstop. By then, the lip of the tyre was ruined by all those miles of squirming between the flanges, but the cost of a new tyre would’ve been considerably less than that of a 200 mile road service.
Yep, got that one I found that out the hardway years ago when I had a trashed the front wheel on a protruding rock and over reacted. That was a small vehicle in comparison…
jammymutt:
The way to handle a blow out is to stick your head as far up your head and kiss something goobye. It is legal to remove your seat belt to do so.
What if seat belts are not fitted Jammy, is it still legal to remove them then?
A proper blowout will normally do more damage than just destroying the tyre like removing your rearlights, mudguards and brackets, its important to check tyre pressures for that reason, also if you get a slack tyre you will normally smell it before it goes bang.
If you have a blowout, try to get the vehicle off the road giving you or the tyre fitter room to work safely, and as I am fashion concious and hate hi viz vests, this is one time I would wear one. it is compulsory in Europe anyway.
One point to remember, dont use your mobile to contact the emergency services, use the Motorway SOS phones as it gives them more idea of where you are, then after your repairs are done, ring them again to tell them that the road is clear
Some companies do not carry spare wheels to save weight, an ATS card or DKV card weighs a lot less than a jack and a spare wheel
as malc says a blow out will usually take out more than the tyre, it usually takes out both tyres too, if for some reason it doesn’t then the remaining tyres will take the burden for a short period of time and at low speeds.
do not try to go a long distance like this, firstly it is illegal to drive with underinflated tyres (having a blown tyre is hardly an excuse for it having no air in it), the other problem is that the tyre will heat up and overheat, this will cause the tyre to collapse and come apart, as you drive along pieces of the tyre will fall away and bounce down the road behind you, trails of smoke will also be noticeable and the bouncing tyre pieces may injure someone or damage something, it is best prcatice to only use the opportunity to travel to safety.
Over the years i have seen many vehicles with tyre problems…we have a;ll seen the bits of tread left along carriageways…and i believe a lot of this can be avoided. Its down to companies buying cheap toyo tyres and the like…or remoulds…anything to save a few quid…and it dont when they blow taking out the wings…lights…wiring etc…if i joined a new company and saw remoulds on the front steer tyres…i wouldnt drive that truck…if they want to damage their vehicle or trailer thats up to them…and ill gladly sit at the side of the road whilst the tyre fitter does his job...but im not risking my life by driving a truck with remoulds on the front…and lets not forget…tyres can say a lot about a company…
Remoulds are cases that have had a new outer casing put over the top.
If a tyre is low on pressure for example - the tyre will get hot. This could cause the casing to start to lift and come off.
Once it starts to lift - theres no going back.
If a remould is on your steering axle, you run a higher risk of the casing coming away…
therefore - remoulds on steering axles = very dangerous, although not illegal.
I’ve been driving for Driver Hire now for the last two months (3.5t) and I had the pleasure of driving Wigan to Glasgow with a heavy load of Wire Mesh.
On reaching Carlisle I had a blowout on the rear passenger side (inside tyre) and considering the damage to the tyre it was really a non event. Just had a bit of unusual vibration which prompted me to pull over and check it out!!!
The whole of the outside wall had come away and was only being kept on the vehicle by the hub between both tyres. Quite interesting sat on the m6 for 3hrs.
The funny thing was the AA came out to help and I ended up giving him a jumpstart has he had a flat battery due to the beacons. So much for the 4th emergency service!!
GMANSCAN:
I’ve been driving for Driver Hire now for the last two months (3.5t) and I had the pleasure of driving Wigan to Glasgow with a heavy load of Wire Mesh.
On reaching Carlisle I had a blowout on the rear passenger side (inside tyre) and considering the damage to the tyre it was really a non event. Just had a bit of unusual vibration which prompted me to pull over and check it out!!!
The whole of the outside wall had come away and was only being kept on the vehicle by the hub between both tyres. Quite interesting sat on the m6 for 3hrs.
The funny thing was the AA came out to help and I ended up giving him a jumpstart has he had a flat battery due to the beacons. So much for the 4th emergency service!!
GMANSCAN
Not what I would class as a proper blowout, more like an overheated tyre that has failedinternally. That is part of the problems with remoulds, no one knows how the tyre casing has been treated in its life. some remoulding companies will buy any casings they can get their hands on, maybe it has been run flat in a previous life. However there is a big difference between Remould and Remix.
Michelin run a remix service and the original tyre will be returned to Michelin who will x ray the carcase, check the plys are not damaged and then replace the rubber. A remould is just a rubber cap fitted over any old damaged casing.
The benefits of a Remix is that you will get your own tyre back so it pays to keep off kerbs, make regular pressure checks and remove stones from the tread pattern.
Personally I think Remoulds are a waste of money, although I would use Remix on a triaxle bogie.
