stevek
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 728
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So I went 'home' to the parents for Christmas. It was kind of funny, I turned up in my 'new' 1982 Toyota and my bro in his 'new' 1989 T16 Saab 900. It seems they are used to it now as neither of us slept in the garden or were asked to hide our cars round the back of the house! Christmas eve, my brothers and my car parked together for the first time...  Then Christmas happened bla bla bla @&*"£(*)^^&%%U%U^$ etc.... Then we drove back to Leeds (84kph in a 50mph)...  on the way home to leeds however I had to rest on the hard shoulder. Just for a nice picture...  Yeah maybe not so much for a nice picture (car resting on a slightly odd angle)...  Yeah this shows it a bit better...  OMG  Just in case you hadn't noticed!  Oh Flip thats proper gone! Just to clarify, the tyres have nearly full tread, are Michelin GT3's and had no signs of perishing. I noticed a slight pull on the steering before the incident on a left hand 'corner' on the A1(m) but it felt normal on the sweeping right hander immediately after and on into the straight thereafter so I thought it was unfamiliarity with the car and nothing more... oops. Seriously though I don't think I or the tires were the fault, I think I got a puncture and didn't realise in time due to unfamiliarity with the car. It let go with a gentle puff followed by a jerk in the steering wheel, I gently braked and pulled into the hard shoulder, pretty uneventful considering. There were some bits of rubber bouncing about and blue smoke but nothing too violent. I feel quite lucky it was so 'normal' I'm aware how much worse it could have been. -Steve- |
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Last Edit: Dec 30, 2011 2:02:57 GMT by stevek
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Wow! That could have been soooo much worse!
Was there any damage too the car?? I've known control rods getting bent with blowouts like that!
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Remember the days when sex was safe and motorsport was dangerous. Vintage bling always attracts pussy.  |
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stevek
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 728
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I put the spare one and it drove quite normally after so I don't think any is damage done, infact the alloy is only marginally scuffed on the lip. (Less than some normally kerbed alloys). I will need to clean and inspect the alloy and the car more to be sure but I don't think any damage has been done.
PS. I have a new respect for scrub lines!
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Last Edit: Dec 30, 2011 2:20:22 GMT by stevek
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MonzaPhil
Posted a lot
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought
Posts: 2,454
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Dec 30, 2011 12:39:59 GMT
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Crikey!, Mind you, I've seen some pretty new Michelins with very bad perishing. They seem to be prone to it.
Well done for not stacking it.
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This is now a clicky linky!  |
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Dec 30, 2011 12:47:27 GMT
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Sounds like those Michelins are a tyre to avoid then. Fortunate it didn't happen under more adverse circumstances.
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Hirst
Posted a lot
This avatar is inaccurate, I've never shaved that closely
Posts: 3,930
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Dec 30, 2011 13:51:14 GMT
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I had a car with a Michelin part-worn which wouldn't seal up properly due to perished sidewalls, so it'd very quickly go flat. When I replaced the fronts the tyre man said it was very odd considering the recent date code and large amount of tread left, he couldn't really think why it would have perished so quickly. Maybe there's a bad batch of them or something, I've not really had much experience of them as a tyre.
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Dec 30, 2011 16:18:56 GMT
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Glad it ended safely!  Have you checked the age of the tyres? |
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Last Edit: Dec 30, 2011 16:19:23 GMT by BenzBoy
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Dec 30, 2011 16:45:04 GMT
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Well handled in not scratching that nice crash barrier.
Put a complaint in writing to Michelin. If you make sure you're using a so-called reliable brand tyre with no signs of perishing, the least you can expect is for it not to do that ^.
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Dec 30, 2011 18:00:30 GMT
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Well handled in not scratching that nice crash barrier. Put a complaint in writing to Michelin. If you make sure you're using a so-called reliable brand tyre with no signs of perishing, the least you can expect is for it not to do that ^. Depends. If they were 12 years old I'd not trust them. If the sidewall had been damaged by clonking a kerb or suchlike, I wouldn't trust them. Michelin can't be held responsible for every tyre they make throughout the entire life cycle of the tyre. If they were brand new I'd be asking questions, but stevek hasn't said anything about the tyres other than they had full tread and no signs of perishing. I've got a 35 year old Continental in the shed with full tread and no signs of perishing, but I wouldn't even trust rolling it down a hill without it blowing out. |
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Last Edit: Dec 30, 2011 18:01:34 GMT by BenzBoy
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Dec 30, 2011 18:35:39 GMT
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Well handled in not scratching that nice crash barrier. Put a complaint in writing to Michelin. If you make sure you're using a so-called reliable brand tyre with no signs of perishing, the least you can expect is for it not to do that ^. Depends. If they were 12 years old I'd not trust them. If the sidewall had been damaged by clonking a kerb or suchlike, I wouldn't trust them. Michelin can't be held responsible for every tyre they make throughout the entire life cycle of the tyre. Agreed on all points but I was making what I thought were reasonable assumptions and, to be honest, really only thinking of ways for our man to squeeze a freebie tyre out of the company who make, in my opinion, the worst adverts on TV. |
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Dec 30, 2011 18:52:44 GMT
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nasty, first thing i'd be doing is checking the date code.
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Hirst
Posted a lot
This avatar is inaccurate, I've never shaved that closely
Posts: 3,930
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Dec 30, 2011 19:02:41 GMT
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I suppose Michelin have covered themselves quite well on that front, the date code will be in a hundred little bits down the side of the motorway.
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hamps
Posted a lot
www.medwayrscentre.co.uk
Posts: 2,077
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Dec 30, 2011 19:33:39 GMT
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Oh my! Glad your ok, could of been a disaster !
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stevek
Yorkshire and The Humber
Posts: 728
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Dec 30, 2011 22:33:57 GMT
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They are old tyres despite looking almost new. I knew they were quite old and as such had inspected them for signs of perishing or hardening and damage (all visibly fine). This car has been garaged and used only very lightly for the last 10yrs (It has been used though, not just layed up). I thought being out of UV light in a dark and cool dry garage had kept the rubber in good condition despite the age.
The DOT code tells me its a 2001 tyre, so old (far older than recommended) but not ridiculously old as some people seem happy to run.
I know (in retrospect) that the tyre was low on pressure for some reason in the mile of two prior to the blow out. I had noticed the steering weight being unusual as I said in the first post. I have carefully checked the remains of the tyre and I cant see a puncture just one previous repair. What else could have caused it to loose pressure prior to the actual catastrophic failure? Would an old tyre fail in such a manor? ie develop a minor leak first rather than just going in one.
I still find it hard to believe its age that caused this though I do accept its currently the most logical explanation. I would just like to learn what I can from this incident.
PS. It has a full set of these tyres on there so if i'm going to be replacing a full set, I might as well try and find some funky new rims too. Move up to 14" or 15" I think.
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Can't offer anything more constructive apart from Michelins are very poor and I wouldn't trust a new one. Less than a year after purchase, a full set on my mums 106 had cracked so badly I replaced them with part worn Pirellis on safety grounds. They were appallingly bad.
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If there are no obvious punctures I would speculate that the loss of pressure for a couple of minutes before failure was due to the tyre beginning to loose air as the side wall broke up.
I would imagine it's a vicious circle from there, side wall cracks, pressure starts to drop and accelerates the destruction of the rest of the tyre.
Anyway I'm glad that you and your car are OK.
Hopefully no damage done but check everything out to be sure, especially for rubbing on the brake pipe flexis.
Interesting comments on Michelin, after years of fitting Contis to my cars I've just started fitting Michelins because the guys at work rave about their performance, manufacturing techniques, process control, yadda, yadda...............maybe it's ot that clear cut.
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'55 Austin A30
'71 MGB GT
'72 Datsun 240 shed
'72 Mercedes 240D
'79 Firebird
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'91 Mercedes 250D
'91 BMW e34 535i Sport
'92 Mazda MX-5
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