Look what happened when I went out for a quiet drive in the 550 today... Still not sure what caused it, but it's the first time I've had a rear puncture for awhile, and I now know the subtle steering changes that signify something is wrong. It's a lot more subtle than front punctures where the car doesn't track straight. In the 550, the only sign was a squirming under acceleration that something was amiss. Then when it was wandering over the road, this is what I saw when I got out. Obviously a can of puncture goop was useless - I'm going to buy a spacesaver and put it in the boot - if it happened at night - I would have been totally cactus. As it was, I was about 60 miles out of the city, and the tyre shop owner came out with a spare. Image Unavailable, Please Login
550syd, How fast were you driving when the tire blew? Any damage to your rim? Happy to see that you and the car are not worse for wear
Not fast - never over 60-80mph max. The problem was I couldn't detect it until it was really squirming all over the road. Rear blowouts are weird things. The rear rim is OK - nothing a clean up and a fresh coat of paint won't fix. It's the kerbside rear and it's got a few dings on it, so it was going to get patched up one day anyway. Guess that day's come!
WOW, glad you are ok. I've never gotten a flat, so I still don't know what that change in handling feels like.
Syd- maybe a trick of the light but it doesn't look like you had much tread left on the inner face of that tire, in which case it may simply have worn out. If the wear across the width was uneven, maybe check the other side and the geometry? Kevin
Syd, one of the first things I did after buying my 550 was order the spare. I like to drive in out of the way places, and I have had way too many tires go during my time. Despite improvements, cell phones don't work everywhere. The spare doesn't really take up that much space. I think in cost about $900 US. Good luck, DrTax
$900?? Wow and I thought we were overcharging at $450 for the RX8 spare tire kit. FWIW this is what AAA is for, cheap insurance. Although *when* I get my 550 I will have a spare tire too. Mark
I've always wondered about those space saving spares which do fit the "trunk" and save space I guess but what do you do with the 295 or so tire and wheel you take off?
won't a space saver screw up your rear diff or what not if you have 2 different hight tires back there?
Syd- Glad everything turned out OK. I couldn't believe my 348 only came with a can of Fix-a-Flat. Your blow out goes to shoe that a can of goop isn't a cure all. The first thing I did was go out and purchase a front rim and tire for a spare. I wanted to get the F355 factory spare, however every dealer I called wanted ~$3,500, explaining that the spare/jack/wrench only came as a package.
a rear wheel that is deflated will fit in the pasenger seat without problem. maybe even an inflated one. if you keep a knife with you and are desperate, you could strip the tire off the wheel and put the tire remnants in the trunk and the wheel might even fit in the passenger footwell with the seat all the way back. can you define "screw up"? for sure this is just an emergency measure to get you someplace where you can get things fixed. the maranello spare isn't tiny - over 24" diameter. doody.
Heat up the clutchpacks in the differential because the tires are always turning at different speeds,even when in a straight line, so the diff would think you were always turning due to the different wheel speeds, and things would get hot.
Hi syd! Glad to see you're ok, and no biggie happened to the car (specially the rim) as well. I had puncture on the Merc I had a while ago, on the left rear tyre. It was awfully decieving (hope that's spelled ok). I mean, I was gueting flash lights and honks from everybody, but the car felt normal... A bit of on the steering, but generaly ok (comparing to my usual front wheel drives)... When I saw it it was almost cuted in slices.... Awful! It had a spare though! 20 min. later or so I was back in business thanks to the great Bilstein jack on the mercedes... (and the spare was of the same measurement has the original tyre). One thing though... With all this "run flat" technology, isn't there something capable of being adapted to the Maranello and the likes? I'm really not aware of this and have yet to see it in use, but I guess most of you guys know alot of it and may be able to shed some light on it for me... Syd, once again, I'm glad to see you're ok. That's the most importante thing. Miguel
Thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions. I understand even the 308 spacesaver spare will fit - same stud pattern on Ferraris forever. The tyre was actually almost new - the PZero C doesn't have a lot of tread pattern, and the dirt on it makes it look very worn. You'll remember that I just finished the East Coast Rally http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/sydneylow/ecc/ a few months ago, and I didn't carry a spare - never again. Funny, there was *no* mobile coverage where I was, so I would have had to walk about a mile back to the nearest town - as it was I pulled off into a national park picnic area, and an off duty highway policeman just happened to swing by and gave me a lift back to town. Unbelievable luck.
"a rear wheel that is deflated will fit in the pasenger seat without problem." What do you do with your wife or honey? Leave her by the side of the road? Or do you let her drive home and you stay by the side of the road.
The boot/trunk of the 550 has a location for a full size rear wheel spare. If you put the spacesaver in that location, you can put the punctured tyre in the boot/trunk! For the rally, I considered having a spare rear in the boot/trunk and a front spare on the rear parcel shelf behind the passengers. Obviously this is a bit extreme for normal day to day driving, but there's certainly room if you're doing extreme touring!
I know the same feeling i had a transfer case go out on my truck once in the California desert and had to unload mu dirt bike and ride 25 miles to get to a pay phone. Talk about a long day
I just moved the Daytona to our new place in the Catskills. No cell phone reception in the area either, so we got a few satalite phones. These are very handy and not so large anymore. Rijk
Barring and signs of a puncture, and like you said, you still do not know what happened yet. may I ask how old the tire was ? We have a thread going here about this age issue and tire deterioration.
I'll find out more today as we look for signs of a nail or other puncture marks on the tread, and get the manufacture date of the tyre.
Looks like we found the reason. It was a 'cut' in the tyre., Probably caused by a sharp rock that would have caused the air leak, leading to deflation, then overheating of the tyre sidewalls etc... Seems a few other friends have had problems with sidewalls on R compound tyres too. Image Unavailable, Please Login