Spare tire blowout!

[AlanKilian]

When we bought our 1977 Scamp, we immediately got new tires for it.
I took the best of the three old tires, filled it up and mounted it as a spare.
This spring, I got the camper from storage, filled up all three tires, and moved from Minnesota to Massachusetts. It was a wonderful uneventful 3-day drive.

The camper has been sitting in the driveway for a couple of weeks while we look for an affordable place to store it and look what my wife found this morning:




The tire was inflated to somewhere between 40 and 45 PSI.

I guess the heat of being parked was just too much for the old feller.

I'm SURE glad I wasn't towing using the spare when it happened!

[Donna D.]

Humm, that looks like someone took a knife to it. Notice the "scratch" marks on the top of the second pic?

[AlanKilian]

If you're looking at those two parallel lines at the very left edge of the tear, those are two threads of the internal stricture of the tire.

I suppose it could have been knifed, but I would be surprised since it's in our driveway and the spare is up against the garage door.

[AlanKilian]

[QUOTE=AlanKilian;474081]If you're looking at those two parallel lines at the very left edge of the tear, those are two threads of the internal stricture of the tire.

I suppose it could have been knifed, but I would be surprised since it's in our driveway and the spare is up against the garage door.

[AlanKilian]

Anybody know how to delete a post?

[mary and bob]

At the bottom right of your post should be "edit". you can delete there

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by AlanKilian

If you're looking at those two parallel lines at the very left edge of the tear, those are two threads of the internal stricture of the tire.

I suppose it could have been knifed, but I would be surprised since it's in our driveway and the spare is up against the garage door.

Yeah, I see that now. Shudda blown the photo up in size before I spouted off!

[cpaharley2008]

That does not look like a blow out to me, maybe your neighbors don't like the trailer there? Here is a blow out pic- one left, on right is cut tire

[Paul O.]

Have you looked at the date code on that old tire? The spare tires without covers must be really affected by the sun. Not just being heated, but the UV light, as well as the age, is what makes the rubber brittle. They say ten years is max for the life of a tire, some people are even more conservative. The picture shows the diagonal ply failing (unzipping), therefore resulting in those sharp angled tears along the threads. Wow, you are lucky it popped before you had to use it.

[Timber Wolf]

I have seen tires come apart like that but it has been while running, never just sitting around. I think the pressure was just too much for the old girl!

[AlanKilian]

Originally Posted by Paul O.

Have you looked at the date code on that old tire?.

I'm not sure how to read the date code.



Could this be a pre-2000 three-digit date code of 334?
The 33 week of 19x4?

I've read that 199x tires have a triangle after them, so could this really be a 1984 tire? That would be 30 years old!

[Roy in TO]

Something that might help ID the age is the tire size that is printed on the tire.

[Jack L]

That tire was made the 33rd week of 1994. A 3 digit code was used 1990 to 1999. After that a 4 digit code is used with the first two numbers representing the week and the second two numbers representing the year of manufacture. I believe prior to 1990 there was no date code at all.

If you leave a tire on a vehicle parked sitting in one position for a long time (years) the weight of the vehicle can cause a failure like this. Not sure this is what happened here but it's quite likely this is what happened.

[War Eagle]

We once had an old spare tire blow up like that inside the spare tire well inside the trunk of a car. It had never been on the ground, never exposed to the sun (but a lot of indirect heat here in the South). But over time, the rubber aged to the point where it no longer had the strength to withstand the air pressure in the tire. Kaboom! More recently, a farm truck that doesn't get used much looked like it had almost brand new tires on it. Just driving through the yard one day, one blew the whole side out for no reason. Checked the manufacturing date, and sure enough, that new-looking tire was over 10 years old. Lesson - it's a good idea to keep track of how old your tires are, check regularly just as a reminder, especially if your entrusting your life to them.

[FTTRV]

I am buying new tires this coming week buying all new ones including the spare. I have seen to many old tires blow up or go flat. 5-6 years is max.