Flat Tire

[luvrbus]

Red Ryder has Coach-Net on 53 GM year coach

[tomhamrick]

Hi Sean,

Just curios what was the cause of the flat?

[Seangie]

Hi Sean,

Just curios what was the cause of the flat?

Was a puncture in the front right (passenger) tire.  Which kills me cause there is like 2" of rubber on it

I am going to plug it and it will be the new spare.

We are grateful it didn't blow out and was a slow leak. 

-Sean

[B_K]

Was a puncture in the front right (passenger) tire.  Which kills me cause there is like 2" of rubber on it

I am going to plug it and it will be the new spare.

We are grateful it didn't blow out and was a slow leak. 

-Sean

Sean please don't take this wrong.

But never ever plug or allow anyone else to plug a tire on your bus!
Take it to a reputable truck tire shop and they can properly patch it from the inside and it will last the life of the tire!

Also that said on commercial buses it is not legal to use a repaired or recapped tire on the steer axle.

That said it's yer bus do it yer way, just thought I'd throw it out there!
  BK 

[kyle4501]

That tire over flexed the side wall when the bus sat down on it. The likely result is a failure in the bond between the rubber & the steel cords.
I've had bus tires go flat like that & later fail with a rip in the side wall in line with where the side wall was creased.
If it were mine, I'd scrap that tire to ensure I had no more drama with it. 

[Seangie]

Sean please don't take this wrong.

But never ever plug or allow anyone else to plug a tire on your bus!
Take it to a reputable truck tire shop and they can properly patch it from the inside and it will last the life of the tire!

Also that said on commercial buses it is not legal to use a repaired or recapped tire on the steer axle.

That said it's yer bus do it yer way, just thought I'd throw it out there!
  BK 

BK - I'm always ears for words of wisdom.  Good to know about the plug.  The guy that changed the tire mentioned "patching" it. I stated "plug" cause I don't know any better.  But now I do!  Ill see about getting it patched.

That tire over flexed the side wall when the bus sat down on it. The likely result is a failure in the bond between the rubber & the steel cords.
I've had bus tires go flat like that & later fail with a rip in the side wall in line with where the side wall was creased.
If it were mine, I'd scrap that tire to ensure I had no more drama with it. 

Kyle - my current spare is bald and has a slow leak.  I figured if I patched the one with more rubber and no air leak it would make a better spare. Good heads up on the sidewall though...never even thought of that. Let me know what you think.  All my tires have really good tread and I hate to spend another 500 on a new tire to make my other lightly used steer tire a spare.

Guess its the lesser of two evils.  Whichever spare I went with would only be used to get me (I hope) to the next tire place down the road if I ever had to use it.

Thanks all for the wisdom.  Very grateful.

-Sean
www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

[Seangie]

Sean please don't take this wrong.

But never ever plug or allow anyone else to plug a tire on your bus!
Take it to a reputable truck tire shop and they can properly patch it from the inside and it will last the life of the tire!

Also that said on commercial buses it is not legal to use a repaired or recapped tire on the steer axle.

That said it's yer bus do it yer way, just thought I'd throw it out there!
  BK 

BK - I'm always ears for words of wisdom.  Good to know about the plug.  The guy that changed the tire mentioned "patching" it. I stated "plug" cause I don't know any better.  But now I do!  Ill see about getting it patched.

That tire over flexed the side wall when the bus sat down on it. The likely result is a failure in the bond between the rubber & the steel cords.
I've had bus tires go flat like that & later fail with a rip in the side wall in line with where the side wall was creased.
If it were mine, I'd scrap that tire to ensure I had no more drama with it. 

Kyle - my current spare is bald and has a slow leak.  I figured if I patched the one with more rubber and no air leak it would make a better spare. Good heads up on the sidewall though...never even thought of that. Let me know what you think.  All my tires have really good tread and I hate to spend another 500 on a new tire to make my other lightly used steer tire a spare.

Guess its the lesser of two evils.  Whichever spare I went with would only be used to get me (I hope) to the next tire place down the road if I ever had to use it.

Thanks all for the wisdom.  Very grateful.

-Sean
www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

[Scott & Heather]

Sorry Sean, I've been unplugged from the world this past weekends celebrating our 4 year anniversary...is that line in the photo of your sidewall from the rim driving on it?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Clumsy fingers may contribute to mistakes.

[kyle4501]

The slow leak is way better than the fast leak of a blow out.
The only thing I can think of that is worse than the price of a new tire today is the cost of a new tire tomorrow with the additional cost that comes from failure while on the road.
If it were me, I'd drill a big hole in the sidewall to make sure that tire was never used again. One of mine blew just a few minutes after being topped off with air. Was scary how much energy was released.

For some perspective, one trip to the ER will buy several tires. . . .

Be safe, or at least as safe as you can. 

[akroyaleagle]

Good advice Kyle.

Add to the cost of a new tire the cost of repairing siding, flooring, air lines and anything else the blowout causes.

[Seangie]

Sorry Sean, I've been unplugged from the world this past weekends celebrating our 4 year anniversary...is that line in the photo of your sidewall from the rim driving on it?

Scott, when it started to go flat we pulled into a dusty gravel parking lot.  That line shows where the sidewall was folded from the weight of the bus and ran along the gravel.  The line is like chalk. It looks like a tear or rip but you can wipe it off with your hands. We had the bus jacked before the bus could sit on the rim. The rim never touched the ground.

-Sean

www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

[TomC]

Michelin out lines what the test procedure is for a tire that has been run low. It involves pumping the tire above the running pressure to see if there are any weak spots.

I believe that everyone that has a bus, truck, etc should have a system like Pressure Pro-wireless tire pressure system. This kind of failure could have been prevented with this kind of system. Good Luck, TomC

[Seangie]

Hey All -  here are some pics to follow up on our flat tire-

As Kyle mentioned - when the bus sat down on the tire it damaged the inside sidewall of the tire.  The tireman told me that when you see rubber crumbs on the inside of the tire it is done.  Don't reuse it.



Here you can see the lines on the inside of the tire where the rubber wore out in 2 places -


I bought a brand new Firestone tire and put the spare back in its place.

Hopefully it will be a while before we have to use it again.


Thanks to all for the wisdom.  Be careful when buying used tires!

-Sean

www.herdofturtles.org
1984 Eagle Model 10S

[lvmci]

Hi Sean, good advice on used tire inspection, thanks, rubber crumbs! Tom, lvmci...