I think I caused my front passenger tire to deflate by parking against a curb?

Kevin Warnock · March 12, 2011, 05:59:59 PM

I noticed my RTS was badly leaning when I drove past it today. I parked my car and had a look. The front passenger tire is completely flat. I noticed also that it's turned toward the curb of the sidewalk and pressed into the curb a couple of inches. I didn't realize I had parked like that. Normally if I feel the tire hit the curb, I back up a bit and then set the parking brake.

I have a suspicion that the tire is OK and that by putting so much side pressure on it by having the tire temporarily deformed by being pressed into the curb that air was able to leak out around the rim, flattening the tire. In all my years of reading this board I have never heard of this happening, but looking at the tire, I can see how that might have happened. Does anyone here think that's what happened?

I have roadside assistance with Progressive, so I was going to call them tomorrow and have them take the wheel off and try to air it up. I don't own a spare, and the tire is in great shape tread wise, so I hate to have to buy a tire if this one is actually OK.

I have a compressor, but no way to power it where the RTS is parked, since I don't have the generator installed currently. It's too far to reach with an extension cord, and it's not near any house, so I can't even ask a neighbor if I can plug in. Also, I don't have a jack or any experience removing bus conversion wheels.

Please advise,

Thanks!

Kevin Warnock
http://KevinWarnock.com - my blog about buses, work, play and ideas

buswarrior · March 12, 2011, 06:42:20 PM

Use the coach's own air system.

It's time for you to get a hose and connections for this every reason.

Steel rims? Maybe some rust at the bead, and the bump got it to leaking?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

PP · March 12, 2011, 06:44:43 PM

Kevin, that actually happened to me once on a tractor that I left parked at a jobsite overnite. A front tire was pressed at a weird angle up against some pieces of old concrete slabs. We aired it up and never had a problem with it again. Strange things happen

. Hopefully that is all it takes with your tire. Whatever you do, don't drive on the tire flat, not even an inch or you'll break the internal bands. My wife did that on my truck one day. She only moved it a few inches before she realized that a tire was flat and that was all it took. When I aired it up, it had bulges in the sidewall. Not cool. Good luck and take care, Will

gus · March 12, 2011, 06:49:57 PM

The tire was probably low when you parked.

A fully inflated bus tire is pretty hard to deflect very much on a curb unless it is on a very steep incline.

happycamperbrat · March 12, 2011, 08:30:21 PM

Quote from: gus on March 12, 2011, 06:49:57 PM
The tire was probably low when you parked.

A fully inflated bus tire is pretty hard to deflect very much on a curb unless it is on a very steep incline.

As I recall he lives in San Fransisco...... it is ALL a steep incline EVERYWHERE

Kevin Warnock · March 13, 2011, 04:42:05 PM

Roadside assistance took the tire off, wire brushed the rim, put some murphy oil on the rim and put the tire back on the rim. When he sprayed it after all this with soapy water, there were no bubbles. When he sprayed it before he dismounted the tire but after airing it up off the vehicle, there were bubbles at the rim. So, he thinks the tire is OK and that the fix will hold. I hope so, as he said even the inexpensive tires he sells are $450 now, uninstalled. It was scary watching him 'go under the bus' without having it blocked up. I suspect they do this all the time, but given my training on this board, I wouldn't do that even for a second.

buswarrior · March 13, 2011, 04:58:52 PM

Unfortunately, this will happen again.

You want to clean up the bead area completely and PAINT it, to stop the rust from coming back.

But, you're good for now.

There's difference between going under to position/retrieve a jack, and working on the coach.

working on the coach exposes one to all manner of unintended touching of the wrong things...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

gus · March 13, 2011, 05:57:21 PM

Kevin,

What was the purpose of the Murphy Oil?? I use it all the time for cleaning my vinyl top but can't figure out this use of it?

If the air bags were already down he was under no risk.

I had a guy go under my 4104 to work on the drive shaft but I put jack stands and jacks under it just in case because the air bags were up.

happycamperbrat · March 13, 2011, 06:02:39 PM

I cant remember where I read it, probably on this board.... but there was a guy doing something under his bus without it being blocked and a tire suddenly deflated and the bus squished him....... Mike Sullivan has been pounding it into my head here, the magazine, the rts boards and in personal mail not to EVER get under a bus that isnt blocked. I waited a year and a half to get under my bus because of that.

Flatspot · March 13, 2011, 06:05:02 PM

Isn't Murphey the guy that has laws and shows up at the wrong time?
He's got oil now, no wonder the price of it is going up.

LJ

buswarrior · March 13, 2011, 06:19:33 PM

doing something = working on the coach.

natural selection will take its course.

And double trouble, if either God or the Devil wants an interview with you, neither will wait for your physical self to crawl out from under there...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

kyle4501 · March 13, 2011, 08:09:55 PM

If it was a radial tire & it went completely flat, you have a damaged tire.
The rubber won't stay stuck to the steel cords if they flex that much.
Then there is the issue of the belts being permanently deformed from being over flexed.

If it were mine, I'd replace that tire as soon as possible & mark it as unsafe.

A fellow busnut keeps detailed records on his coach. When I told him this, he went & looked at his records. He related to me how he woke to a flat front pass side tire. He had it patched & aired up. He could trace unusual & difficult to fix problems where ever that tire was mounted. When the tire was finally removed from the coach, the weird difficult to fix problems went away.

Good luck with it.

Kevin Warnock · March 13, 2011, 11:52:06 PM

The murphy oil wasn't that 'murphy's oil soap' used to clean with. It was a thick amber substance he scooped from a 5 gallon pail and rubbed on the rim and tire bead area. He said it helped form a better seal. It appeared to be about as thick as peanut butter, but it was clear amber in color.

Really, the tire is ruined even though I didn't drive on it while flat for even an inch? I don't really want to spend $500+ on a tire now if I don't have to. Is this issue specific to the vehicle being so heavy? I take it a car tire isn't ruined just by going flat, right? Or wrong?

There was some rather quite mild rust on the rim, which he removed with the power wire brush. So when I buy a new tire I should paint the rim before replacing the tire? What kind of paint? I felt the rim before he used the wire brush, and it was pretty smooth already.

Thanks for the great feedback.

Kevin Warnock
http://KevinWarnock - my blog...

buswarrior · March 14, 2011, 07:17:25 AM

Paint of your choice.

VERY important that you keep the paint thin in the mounting areas, both where the fasteners touch and the flat mounting surface between drum and/or the other dual.

Paint will deflect/compress once the wheel is mounted, allowing the fasteners to loosen off, and bye bye wheel.

I wire brush the fastener mating surfaces, and give the paint a touch up after the fasteners are installed.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

kyle4501 · March 14, 2011, 07:39:16 PM

It is the tire construction that is the issue. The heavy truck tire is built differently than a car tire. A car tire has a thinner side wall. The thicker the sidewall, the more stress it is under when it is bent flat. It is that stress that breaks the bond between the rubber & steel cords.
The real problem is that the failure starts out small but can grow until a catastrophic failure occurs. What you have is a ticking bomb & no one knows how much time is left on the timer.

Have you ever experienced a blowout? I have, & I will gladly pay $500 to avoid it in the future.

Quote from: Kevin Warnock on March 13, 2011, 11:52:06 PM
Really, the tire is ruined even though I didn't drive on it while flat for even an inch? I don't really want to spend $500+ on a tire now if I don't have to. Is this issue specific to the vehicle being so heavy? I take it a car tire isn't ruined just by going flat, right? Or wrong?
http://KevinWarnock - my blog...