[sandeep108]

Originally Posted by Vigkey

Or is it the age of the underused JK tires that is causing all this menace? Is it because of our usage pattern where the car is left idle for a long time before we take it for a long journey? Am I missing something with regards to maintaining the tire?

You have hit the nail on the head - this is your reason. In our climate (or even otherwise), at most tires last (especially OEM) a maximum of about 4 years irrespective of use. The rubber becomes hard and all aspects of tire usefulness are compromised be it grip, shock absorption, carcass integrity, etc. The steel belts expand unevenly and the tire becomes uneven internally/externally. When the tire becomes hard, it loses grip, starts overheating, etc. If one continues with old hard tires, you will also lose your suspension because of this.

If you are using your car infrequently, say once a month or so, then you have to inflate the tires to 40+ to avoid the tires developing flat spots. Then when you start using the car, drive gently to the nearest pump and get it reduced to spec.

The signs are: Vibration while running, ABS kicking in very frequently (loss of grip), floaty feeling amongst others.

On highways, tire pressures must be maintained a couple of points higher than the recommended when COLD. I see so many people filling air on the expressway pumps after having driven a couple of hours. The tires are hot and then when set at 32/34 the equivalent becomes 26/28 which is really bad for the tire.

[MSA]

the XUV 500 has 235/65 R 17 dimension tyres. i had insisted on Bridgestone and am now not sure about the wisdom of that decision!

On my first long distance journey i went up to 170 km / hr (Del - Jaipur and Del - Agra) but then brought to 140 for extended stretches. a long weekend when there was less traffic on the roads.

question - is there a truth to the statement that tyres burst at high speeds? obviously recommended speed limits should be followed and even on Greater NOIDA Expressway i stick to speed limit. but if one was to go beyond 100 km/hr - what would be a safe speed limit for SUVs?

on the Western Expressway in Bombay and the Airport Expressway in Bangalore i have seen smaller cars do 120 km/hr - so i'm guessing cars are built for higher speed limits than we put them through in India.

Thanks!

MSA

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by MSA

question - is there a truth to the statement that tyres burst at high speeds? obviously recommended speed limits should be followed and even on Greater NOIDA Expressway i stick to speed limit. but if one was to go beyond 100 km/hr - what would be a safe speed limit for SUVs?

Obviously, very few tyres explode when cars are at standstill. But seriously, it all starts with the speed rating of your tyres.

See http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=35

As long as the speed rating is higher then your car’s maximum speed you are good to go. In some countries it is illegal to fit tyres with a too low a speed rating compared to the maximum speed of the car.

Next, of course you need to check your tyres for wear and tear, have the correct tyre pressure and so on. But as long as you do the above, a tyre should not burst due to high speed.

Whether you should be driving at 170 km/h on any stretch of road in India is a different matter. When I’m in Germany on parts of the unrestricted speed stretches of the Autobahn I will happily put the hammer down and take whatever car I’m driving to its maximum speed. These Autobahns are very well maintained, you won’t find unexpected pot holes, debris or people and animals wandering into the road crossing. Also, everybody is familiar with high speed driving. Even if other drivers might only be doing 100-130 km/h they will exercise due caution as they know there are plenty of cars behind them doing 200+ km/h

So I would say, check the speed rating of your tires first, whether you take it up to a high speed is one’s own judgement.

You hit a pot hole or a piece of debris doing 170 km/h you might find yourself in a bit of bother!

Jeroen

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Yesterday while travelling from Mumbai to Pune on the expressway, the front driver side tyre on our Ford Fiesta Classic suffered a blowout. But thanks to the theoretical knowledge I have gained from reading this thread, and somehow maintaining enough of calm to implement the same impeccably, I came out with nothing more than a rush of adrenaline and a small dent on the inside of the alloy (which I shall discard or keep on the basis of Ford service personnel's opinion). The tyre of course is gone.

I was doing somewhere around 120 on one of the straight patches after finishing the Lonavla ghat section on the way back to Pune. The recent US visa approval was probably high in our minds (total 3 occupants) and I was eager to reach home early. I distinctly remember that I had just a minute ago made a comment about how I religiously keep both hands on the steering wheel at speeds above 80 kmph, something that my uncle had taught me very early in my driving lessons.

Suddenly, at no significant moment, with no precursor, I heard a bang and from the corner of my eye, saw a black shape fly off over my right side ORVM. My subconscious reacted as I realized what happened. Praying that the flying bits of the tyre didn't distract/cause incident with the cars behind me, I held on firmly to the steering wheel with both hands, don't remember whether I kept my foot on the A-pedal or not but I naturally stayed the hell away from the brake pedal. Kept coasting for a while (felt quite long but it was probably just 300-400 metres) as I was in the middle lane and the speed was gradually dropping below 70-80 kmph. It was hard not to try and steer and brake quickly since the repetitive thud-thud-thud sounds from the uneven broken rubber were making me anxious of bare metal contact with the road, but I persisted since a rim is a small price to pay in lieu of saving injuries. I remember the three of us talking during these 5-10 seconds - some swearing and "OMG's" etc.

Finally I got to the left most lane, with gentle braking inputs I got to the side and heaved a sigh of relief, and to my amazement, all three of us were in a sort of calm, professional demeanour - we assessed the situation, I think the first words out of anyone's mouths were "Okay, let's get to work changing the wheel!" One guy inspecting the tyre, another whipping out his DSLR with the zoom lens to take pictures of the blown tyre piece half a kilometer away on the mirage-y road behind, and yours truly busy in the boot taking out the spare tyre and the jack.

While removing the bust alloy, a tow truck pulled out and (what it felt like to me) attempted to make a quick buck by coaxing us into allowing him to help with the obviously stuck wheel. But sensing that I knew what I'm doing, as I started kicking around the periphery of the wheel to loosen it up, he gave up the prospect and went on his way. A few minutes later the spare was in, all 4 pressures checked and topped up with the portable inflator, and we were back on the road in record time, what felt like a Formula-One-pitstop-tyre change to us poor chaps. The speeds were below 80 kmph post that all the way home.

I was admittedly in the wrong here, as driving a car with 4 year old tyres and close to 37000 km on the odo is not the best way to go at 120 kmph+, especially bang in the middle of the afternoon. Lesson learnt - never over estimate the capability of the car or yourself as a driver.










Question - the ABS indicator has since lighted up on the dashboard, is this a malfunction or just needs to be reset?



Mods, please merge into another thread if more appropriate.

[BipB]

This happened to me a couple of days back and with the fancy speeds (can’t quote the numbers here) that people do here in KSA highways, I should say I am lucky to be in a position to post this here!



Car: SantaFe, completed 6 trouble-free years in this November. 52K on ODO.
Tyres: 1.5 years old. Run for around 10k kms max.

How I handled this situation was exactly as GTO posted in the first page. Took off my foot gradually from accelerator and didn’t touch the brake pedal at all. There was trailer in my right most lane and once he cleared the lane I brought the car slowly to the extreme right lane and then directed the car to the sands. By then it was dead slow. I was lucky to have a few good drivers around me in other lanes who seemed to be quite familiar with such incidents on highways. They didn’t panic at all and took the left most lane and gave enough time for me to settle down.

This was all what was left!


I tried changing this tyre but to my surprise all wheel nuts were jammed! I had to get it on a flatbed to the nearest gas station which was around 30kms from there.

Off topic: See what I found there! The Pakistani driver was kind enough to show me the interiors as well.

[spyder_p8]

Originally Posted by Harshal.Bhosale

I was doing somewhere around 120 on one of the straight patches after finishing the Lonavla ghat section on the way back to Pune. The recent US visa approval was probably high in our minds (total 3 occupants) and I was eager to reach home early. I distinctly remember that I had just a minute ago made a comment about how I religiously keep both hands on the steering wheel at speeds above 80 kmph, something that my uncle had taught me very early in my driving lessons.

Clearly a violation on expressway.I think the speed limit is 80kmph. To add further, one should know the limits of his machine. In this case, your tyres are way past the end of their life. At least evident from one of the pictures where that thin tread is visible. Nice to know that you all are safe and nothing major happened. But this could have been proven otherwise as well.

[joelchandra]

Glad you folks are all safe. It would have been a good idea not to rush into changing the tyres and take the help of the Tow mechanics who were there to assist. There was a good chance of other parts getting damaged because of the blow. Regarding the ABS Light glowing, I guess, the blow damaged the ABS Sensor. You must reach out to your Ford Service Center immediately and fix that. You can take chances with anything but brakes.

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Originally Posted by spyder_p8

Clearly a violation on expressway.I think the speed limit is 80kmph. To add further, one should know the limits of his machine. In this case, your tyres are way past the end of their life. At least evident from one of the pictures where that thin tread is visible. Nice to know that you all are safe and nothing major happened. But this could have been proven otherwise as well.

Exactly. I feel very fortunate that everyone was safe. In doing so I had put the lives of my friends in danger as well, and I did toss around in bed that night at the thought of it. And as I mentioned in the post itself, lesson learnt - I shouldn't have taken the risk of such high speeds a) at all; or at least b) especially under the circumstances (time of day, state of tyres).

Driving at 100% of the perceived limit of the car is not feasible for long distance highway cruising, it's best reserved for track days, with full precautions. That's the main lesson learnt actually. And quite a small price paid in exchange, all told.

Originally Posted by joelchandra

Glad you folks are all safe. It would have been a good idea not to rush into changing the tyres and take the help of the Tow mechanics who were there to assist. There was a good chance of other parts getting damaged because of the blow. Regarding the ABS Light glowing, I guess, the blow damaged the ABS Sensor. You must reach out to your Ford Service Center immediately and fix that. You can take chances with anything but brakes.

I did think about other parts getting damaged as soon as I saw the ABS light after changing the wheels and getting into the driver's seat, so I gingerly checked the brakes multiple times in the service lane and checked for steering pulls in either direction; before sedately taking off from the location. The car has since been parked at a safe parking spot, and will not be driven at all until I find time to get it towed/safely driven to the service center (probably tomorrow or Wednesday).


Time to shop for tyres now - would be looking into the best available option for 175/65 R14's. Any pointers would be appreciated.

[Waspune]

Originally Posted by Harshal.Bhosale

Time to shop for tyres now - would be looking into the best available option for 175/65 R14's. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Why not 185/60R14? In any case, both the tyre specs are available under Michelin's Energy XM2 which is a nice tyre.

[thisissoumya]

Hi everyone,

Last Saturday, 10th Dec, I thought of doing a road trip for about 200 Kms as my Duster is due for its first service in a week and I hadn’t clocked close to 2000 on the ODO.
Started from Thane towards Igatpuri and was doing 100 KMPH max and 80-90 average. While coming back I heard a light bang at the driver side rear wheel. Call it my inexperience I did not realize the noise could be due to a tyre burst and went ahead. The vehicle was steady and I experienced no signs of losing control or any unusualness. Even the loss of tyre pressure warning light did not come up.

After say a kilometer the car started slowing down and I stopped. Came out of the car and there it was. A small piece from the tyre had blown away and it looked as if I was driving on the rim (The sight made me recall those Bollywood movies where the hero keeps driving with a bullet inside the tyre and there is virtually no tyre on the rim).



I was about to start removing the spare wheel just then a patrolling van of NHAI was passing by which stopped. Their senior guy came and offered to change the tyre if I want. He said they keep patrolling the highway within a 50Km stretch and take care of any breakdown. In no time his team fixed the spare wheel and even after my offer did not take any money. Instead he said please pray for me and team safety. I am grateful to the NAHI and would like to thank NAHI for doing a splendid job. After all its not every day that you feel the tax you pay is actually being utilized for the betterment of the country and coming back to you.
My question is

Is it not unusual to see the tyre burst when it is almost brand new (I had only clocked around 1800 when the incident happened)? I had checked the pressure as recommended by Renault 29 PSI, the previous day of the trip and the tyre was cold.

What more I should have done to avoid it?

Since my service id due in 2 days, should I do a wheel alignment as I drove the car with a burst tyre for about a kilometre or so?

Since its time for tyre shopping, is it ok to fix different brand in one wheel when rest 3 tyres are of the same brand (or may be keeping stock tyres at the front and change the rear tyres) . The stock tyres are Apollo 215/65 HL. Any suggestion which tyre should I go for?

Thanks
Soumya

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by thisissoumya

Is it not unusual to see the tyre burst when it is almost brand new (I had only clocked around 1800 when the incident happened)? I had checked the pressure as recommended by Renault 29 PSI, the previous day of the trip and the tyre was cold.

Investigate the reason for the failure. If its a manufacturing defect, you will get your tyre replaced under warranty. But, I have a feeling that it was a puncture which you didnt notice and drove on causing the complete failure of the sidewall.

What more I should have done to avoid it?

Keep a keen watch on vehicle behavior. Anything out of ordinary, notice and check.

Since my service id due in 2 days, should I do a wheel alignment as I drove the car with a burst tyre for about a kilometre or so?

Not sure if the duster has rear toe adjustment. If yes do it. Otherwise, you cannot align your rear wheels.

Any suggestion which tyre should I go for?

It is always advisable to have all four tyres of the same make, model, size, age and tread depth.

[asw]

Originally Posted by thisissoumya

Hi everyone,

.
Started from Thane towards Igatpuri and was doing 100 KMPH max and 80-90 average. While coming back I heard a light bang at the driver side rear wheel. Call it my inexperience I did not realize the noise could be due to a tyre burst and went ahead. The vehicle was steady and I experienced no signs of losing control or any unusualness. Even the loss of tyre pressure warning light did not come up.

After say a kilometer the car started slowing down and I stopped.



Thanks
Soumya

Like Soumya I too can't find rear flat tyres easily. Any tips to easily detect a rear flat while driving with windows up (and music on)

I experienced this thrice. Twice It was few hundred meters near home while returning back and once my friend who's profession is driving cars too can't detect I told him to pull over since I was following him on my bike and since we were going to service centre.

[bharatbits]

@Harshal I too suffered a similar blow out on my stock Goodyear tyres on my Ford Fiesta Classic that were 4 years old with 31k on the odometer. What make were your tyres?

In less than a months time three other tyres too gave up and I shifted to Apollo.

[Harshal.Bhosale]

Originally Posted by bharatbits

@Harshal I too suffered a similar blow out on my stock Goodyear tyres on my Ford Fiesta Classic that were 4 years old with 31k on the odometer. What make were your tyres?

In less than a months time three other tyres too gave up and I shifted to Apollo.

Mine were stock MRF ZV2K's, little more than 4 years old.

[ach1lles]

Hi. So this small dot like "puncture" happened on the sidewall of an almost new tyre. I'm unable to pinpoint the reason for this. Any idea by people more experienced here on what could've caused this? The tyre hasn't even breached 1000 kms and is less than 15 days old.