Have y'all ever hear a semi-truck tire let loose? Those suckers are LOUD. I was following a dump truck into work today when it's outer rear tire exploded and shredded off the rim. Strips of rubber and steel were bouncing around everywhere, flying over the car and scattering across the road. I ended up high-centering over a particularly large chunk, but a later inspection showed no apparent damage except for some of the fins on the radiator being bent closed. The radiator? you ask. Well, yes. See, the Ferrari is in redneck mode right now, with the front spoiler and skid plates removed and over at Jano's for rebuild. I suspect that if they were still on, I would have had damage. Amusing. (Just for the record, I wasn't going to drive the car like this, but my wife's oh-so-reliable American car is at the dealer yet again.....)
Having fun driving it? Haven't had the displeasure of a semi doing it's thing - but @... thinks... hard... Ow... @25 years ago a tire came off an early 60's Ford pickup, bounced 1/8 mile and just grazed a rear bumper on Corolla I was driving. Yes, tire was going 60 mph and I did see it coming and swerve... otherwise, I would have needed a new face.
Tillman, Sorry that happened. It happened to me about 2 years ago here in Dallas on 635. I was in my ES 300, I had to do a Schumi, step hard on the brakes and get out of the way of a huge piece of rubber. I couldnt get completely out of the way due to traffic and it did a real nice scrape on the bottom left of my car. Nick
Boys Ya ain't seen nothing till you see the complete Tire and wheel come off a flatbed and bounce over your car.... Damn thing almost killed me and the guy behind me on a motorcycle. A semi Tire and wheel is the better part of 200 pounds... At 70 MPH makes a really big hole in everything.
Oh man, why is it the tires can't be properly inspected on those trucks? They always overload them so is OK & acceptable for this to happen? Tillman, glad you're OK. Give that dump truck company your repair bill, I'm sure they will love it.
That's a myth. Yes, people overload, but it is not the predominate factor. And even if they did, it has nothing to do with tires blowing out. A far higher percentage of car drivers are the accident causers, not hard working truck drivers.
I hit a tire retread at 80 mph in the BMW early one morning going duck hunting. Besides taking out the radiator making me stranded in Nowhere East Texas, I ended up with a $2,800 bill.
I thought you TX boys loved dem American cars. Sorry to hear of your mishap. About 1.5 years ago I was in on the freeway with my Accord, when in front of me at about 55mph a truck driven few careless people decided to drp 4 8X10s on the freeway 2 hitting the front of my car, banging up the bumper and going through the radiator. $1500 later, she was all well. Sadly couldn't avoid it with two cars on both sides.
I dont think its the driving that is the problem its the d*** retread tires truckers use to save money that blow up all the time! Since they have 17 more it isnt a problem for them, just everyone behind them.
Have you ever seen how the guys in the tire shops air up a tubeless truck tire after they put it on the rim? To get the tire to bead up to the rim they spray starting fluid inside the tire carcus and ignite it. They have the air hose attached to the valve stem. When the starting fluid explodes the tire expands to the rim for a quick moment and then the air is shot to it. Presto! They use a heavy duty tire cage for personal protection. Sometimes, the tires explode off the rim and destroy the steel cages. The old tires used to use a steel ring around the rim to hold the tire on. I've seen those rings come off before just as the guy was leaning over the tire to check the air pressure. The tire was laying flat on the ground and not in the cage. Not good.
I had just posted to this thread and headed out of the office when cutting along 121 headed at sub warp speed a fiberglass ladder came hurling out of a pickup truck bed right at me. The R23 VW Golf really earned its stripes avoiding that one, damn good little thing.
about a year ago some giant ford or something was hauling in a trailer wayyyy too many cows, when both wheels on the back left of the trailer blew out almost causing the trailer to tip... luckly i was in the far left lane while he was in the right...
1978, I bought a 1974 Lotus Europa. I had just finished working on the front struts, (this was back in my DIY days), and was cruising down A1A for a test drive when all of the sudden, my left wheel comes off, I come to a slow stop, and watch my wheel bounce happily into oncoming traffice, knocking a station wagon dead it its tracks. Luckily no one was hurt, but I still grin when I think about that station wagon stopping dead in it's tracks, engine knocked out cold. Regards, Gregg
Sounds all too familiar. I was driving my Scorpion to a show in Tennessee and bang two cars in front of me. A piece of rubber broke off my drivers side turn signal and did dent one of the water flow tubes to the rear. Not fun at all!
Dont you just love it. I was following and distancing my self from the truck carrying sand/ gravel. And there goes the pebbble on the windshiled and cracks it. Luckily not in the 355, but still I am sure the Lexus windshield wont be cheap. Anyone ever have any luck with those "fix your cracked windshield" guys? Nick
Check your insurance to see if you have this coverage. I recently had this happen to me in my Mazda, and the guys came to my work to change it right there in the parking lot. Cost me a $100 deductable for a brand new windshield.
