Front Left Blowout @ 110kph... not fun

[Nitephyre]

Today (Saturday 13/02), heading over the Gateway Bridge I hit a piece of metal tubing or something at about 60kph or so, couldn't avoid it as it was in the far right lane and I had nowhere to go.

Fast forward a couple of hours on our way back from Springbrook and I'd not long merged onto the highway from Nerang when the steering started to shudder. Then, I felt and saw the front left drop a few cm and I smell rubber. You can probably guess what I said next.

I managed to pull over into a spot between the highway and the next merging lane, so I'm surrounded by 6 lanes of traffic. Luckily the a TMU guy came along and helped change to the space-saver.

I'll stick some pics up of the wheel later tonight but suffice to say, we're lucky (partner, baby and myself in the car).

 

[Nitephyre]

Anyone???

This is quite urgent as we're moving to Springbrook on Saturday 20th and I don't want partner and 11mth old driving up there on a space saver, so I'd like to sort this out by Friday.

 

[unclepaulie]

i got a set of 4 bbs stockos with comlience tyres you could borrow if you wish

 

[Nitephyre]

Mate, that'd be awesome. Are you available tomorrow to come pick 'em up?

Hopefully it'll only be for a short time until we sell our current house and then I can get new tyres and bring them back up to you

 

[Guest]

If you still end up wanting a replacement wheel, Ben (Royal) in Qld had some facelift wheels with tyres for sale a while back. I bought one of them, not sure if he ever sold the others.

 

[godzilla]

That sucks balls Matt. Glad to hear that a possible accident did not occur and you and your family are safe! That would be some scary shit.

 

[Nitephyre]

If you still end up wanting a replacement wheel, Ben (Royal) in Qld had some facelift wheels with tyres for sale a while back. I bought one of them, not sure if he ever sold the others.

Yeah I saw those come up in a search, will see how I go. Maybe this is the prod I needed to upgrade the wheels

That sucks balls Matt. Glad to hear that a possible accident did not occur and you and your family are safe! That would be some scary shit.

Yeah, thanks mate... It's never happened to me before so it kinda scared us

 

[Nitephyre]

An extremely awesome THANK YOU to Paul who has lent me a full set of wheels to tide me over a few weeks until I can get either replacement tyres or a new set of wheels & tyres.

Also, could a mod move this to General Discussion please and change the title to "Front Left Blowout @ 110kph... not fun "

Ok so below are the promised pictures of the aftermath... I still think we're lucky to have not had an accident.

And something interesting on the back of them...

Stockos made by Enkei :O

16x6½ JJ 08

 

[pu-11-me]

Matt, I have PM'd you.

Thanks man

 

[bradc]

That is actually 16x6.5" and 38mm offset, and yes the two main types of wheel are Enkei's, as are the EVO 6-X wheels (well the 12 spoke EVO X wheels anyway) The mesh BBS ones obviously are not made by Enkei

 

[unclepaulie]

too easy Matt, glad to help out. no skids tho! hehe

and dawso , cheers mate for the comment, thats what this forum is about tho, helpin each other out. we're a pretty tight nit communinty after all

 

[gorgath]

Matt - you are one luck son of a gun! And good to know that you and your family are safe.

How old the tyres are? Because if the tyres are more than 6years from the date of manufacture is not recommend, I repeat, it is not recommended to use at all even if the tyres are brand new, either off the shelf or stock. A big no no at all.

 

[montgomery]

Unlucky dude!

When i read the title i was waiting for a lower control arm/ball joint failure story.

Good to see people helping each other.

 

[jet150]

Good to hear that your family is safe.

Man those tires are ROOTED.

 

[Nitephyre]

Irwin: no idea, it came with the Yoko's from compliance.

I went to my local Goodyear and got the BBSii chucked on and balanced for $50 cashie. He also checked the wheel and luckily there's no damage at all.

What he did find though was a dodgy repair to that tyre, what he called a "rope repair" which is apparently illegal. He doesn't think that's what caused the blowout as it had been done in between the middle tread, but still, it really makes me angry that I didn't know I've been driving on an unsafe, illegal tyre I'll get a pic of that spot tomorrow so you can keep an eye out for it on any of your cars if you still have compliance tyres.

 

[gorgath]

Matt - ensure your tyre is not old even if it is brand new. This is how you can tell when the tyre is manufactured.

And here is a good explanation why aged tyre is not really good.

http://www.bridgestone.com.au/tyres/passenger/care/age.aspx

So if you tyre is close to 6yrs then I will returned it back get something recent.

 

[Guest]

What he did find though was a dodgy repair to that tyre, what he called a "rope repair" which is apparently illegal. He doesn't think that's what caused the blowout as it had been done in between the middle tread, but still, it really makes me angry that I didn't know I've been driving on an unsafe, illegal tyre I'll get a pic of that spot tomorrow so you can keep an eye out for it on any of your cars if you still have compliance tyres.

Rope repairs are pretty standard practice for repairing tubeless tyres, and it sounds like it was in an accepted safe position too. I'm not sure if being between the tread pattern is likely to cause problems, though by definition it would be thinner there.

EDIT - just did a bit of a Google and seems that a combi-patch/plug is better. It looks to be similar to the rope jobby in that you poke it through the hole, but has a patch attached to one end so can only be performed by removing the tyre and going out from the inside so it seals a lot better. Where as the simple rope repairs can be done from outside and are deemed a temporary fix only. Before combi-patches most places just did it the rope way, but yes they are now they are illegal as a permanent fix. Mainly because often the tyre is not removed and inspected for other damage at the time of repair. It could be that the previous owner fixed it themselves and it held pressure so they never bothered to follow it up, but how do you find out really.

 

[Nitephyre]

Thanks guys, that's certainly good info. I'll be buying completely new tyres soon once I can afford them

 

[SiliconAngel]

Hang on - how did you end up with old tyres in the first place? The car would had to have new tyres fitted by the RAW to pass compliance. You should have received the car with new tyres on it, not old tyres from Japan - Japanese tyres don't have the correct markings for Australia, so even if they'd been brand new they still can't get on our roads. Or did you buy your car second-hand? Even so, shouldn't have had Jap tyres on it...

BTW you did a good job not chewing the rim with that much tyre damage, WD

 

[Nitephyre]

Hang on - how did you end up with old tyres in the first place? The car would had to have new tyres fitted by the RAW to pass compliance. You should have received the car with new tyres on it, not old tyres from Japan - Japanese tyres don't have the correct markings for Australia, so even if they'd been brand new they still can't get on our roads. Or did you buy your car second-hand? Even so, shouldn't have had Jap tyres on it...

BTW you did a good job not chewing the rim with that much tyre damage, WD

I have no idea Trev, but they were the ones that were on the car when I bought it from the dealer, and I'm the first owner here. Are you saying I should've gotten a full brand new set, because these definitely weren't, I'm sure of it.

Hmm, nothing much I can do about it now though