Exploded an old 12 ply truck tire

[GB SISSON]

This coulda been real ugly. It was an older recap of a 7.50 x 17 steel belted Michelin radial 12 PR and I had been using them on the front of my tonner PU as rollers. I have a set of new for the front, but with the old ones having steel belts and 12 plies, I figured they were structurally sound enough to hold 30 lbs. At near 30 lb it blew out the back side (fortunately) and sounded like a HUGE bomb had gone off. My first thought was to look down and see if I was cut in half by the ring, but it was still on. My wife appeared from the house and son appeared from the shop. I could barely hear them and what I could hear was like they were talking through a cheap little speaker like a pull string on a stuffed animal. Or someone talking through a garden hose. I bet I was 80 percent loss at first. 16 hours later I have near normal, but slight ringing and TV up to 22, where it was about 19. I am lucky as it could easiy have been way worse. They were made before date codes. I was stupid, please don't inflate crappy old rags like I did.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

This coulda been real ugly. It was an older recap of a 7.50 x 17 steel belted Michelin radial 12 PR and I had been using them on the front of my tonner PU as rollers. I have a set of new for the front, but with the old ones having steel belts and 12 plies, I figured they were structurally sound enough to hold 30 lbs. At near 30 lb it blew out the back side (fortunately) and sounded like a HUGE bomb had gone off. I was stupid, please don't inflate crappy old rags like I did.

[ford38v8]

When I was a kid, I had a 3 speed bike with racing tires, and stopped at a gas station to air up. Not knowing any better, I overfilled and blew up the tire. Like your experience, It blew me over backwards and deafened me for quite a while. No widow makers on a bike, but I was lucky I wasn’t seriously injured anyway.

[GB SISSON]

Thanks for blowing it up Pete (no pun intended)
It sure shows the back side of the tire. I would guess it was used on a dually and the sidewalls rubbed together. I hadn't really studied the back , probably pulled it off to do the brakes and kingpins, laid it down flat as usual to use as a stool. Front side looked fine ...... No excuse for this one. I was just plain wrong!

[sidevalve8ba]

GB,
That's exactly what happened to that casing. Someone ran duals low on air and the sidewalls rubbed which weakened the sidewall. Years ago I worked for a cap shop. We did Bandags and we probably would have not capped that casing due to the wear on the sidewall. Glad you weren't hurt!

[V8COOPMAN]

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Man GB, we can even see the air INSIDE of that one!

Coop/AMERICAN

[Ron Pilger]

Thanks for sharing as the voice of a nasty experience.

[51504bat]

Several years ago I had a brand new never on the ground 16 inch 10 ply trailer spare tire with 80 PSI blow while it was bolted to the rear of my travel trailer facing the afternoon sun. I was having lunch inside 100 feet from where the trailer was stored. I couldn't figure out what the loud bang was. Several days later when I was down by the trailer I noticed a clearance light cover on the ground. I then saw what was left of a rear window. If I had been standing by the tire when it blew I probably would have been killed or seriously hurt. I had a hell of a time getting the manufacturer/dealer to replace an obviously defective tire. After that I always reduced the pressure in the spare when the trailer was not in use.

[flatford8]

Happy to hear that you still got all your limbs!....when I was a kid (15-16) I worked at a gas station on the Maine Turnpike. A customer asked to have a tire re-inflated. It looked ok so I started to put air in it and it blew up. He confessed he had run it very low for quite a few miles. My ears were ringing for a couple days at least........Mark

[GB SISSON]

I have already mounted one tire for replacement and will do the other tomorrow. I rarely haul anything heavy in the pickups and so I will probably go with 32 lbs or so. In all of May we had one day at 70 degrees. April 7 was 72 degrees. Everything since has been like winter. Pouring all day, and yet I can explode a tire with no sun at all. Glad we both survived!

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by flatford8

Happy to hear that you still got all your limbs!....when I was a kid (15-16) I worked at a gas station on the Maine Turnpike. A customer asked to have a tire re-inflated. It looked ok so I started to put air in it and it blew up. He confessed he had run it very low for quite a few miles. My ears were ringing for a couple days at least........Mark

Huh? getting sick of the ringing.... Glad to hear from all you friends that it doesn't last forever......

[Ggmac]

Holly crap Batman , glad you’re okay .
Could use foam fill in it now as a roller , just kidding .

[Ggmac]

Holly crap Batman , glad you’re okay .
Could use foam fill in it now as a roller , just kidding .

[GB SISSON]

I have a deep ravine here that doesn't lead to any road or population. Heavy brush and woods.... I'm gonna roll that beyotch tomorrow. After all they want like 12 bucks to take an old tire to the dump. Gonna roll it's right hand sister right after.

[tubman]

Not really a good image for us "car guys".

Sorry.

[tubman]

Another "double post".

[GB SISSON]

It isn't like motor oil or antifreeze going into the water table it's just some rubble some guy running an electric excavator will have to remove some day when clearing the bottom of the ravine for another mega mansion. Like the tire reefs we read about, it will probably be a cozy home for a family of garter snakes or voles or something. I could be talked into taking it to the dump though.....

[tubman]

Please try to understand what I was trying to convey. Some of you may do stuff like this; what you shouldn't be doing is posting it on a public forum for the rest of the world to see.

[GB SISSON]

Good idea.... Dump opens at ten tomorrow! I was only kidding anyhow... Who does stuff like that?

[tomcarman]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

I have a deep ravine here that doesn't lead to any road or population. Heavy brush and woods.... I'm gonna roll that beyotch tomorrow. After all they want like 12 bucks to take an old tire to the dump. Gonna roll it's right hand sister right after.

In my neck of the woods the dump won't take them all. Trying to dispose of old tires is near next to impossible. I looked up why dumps won't take them and the explanation was the steel belted radial wires woven into the tire could penetrate the ground membrane put down to contain the disposed matter thereby contaminating the ground water. (Huh, really?) In my case there were many old tires, none of which were steel belted. My solution? I cut them into small pieces with my trusty Milwaukee sawsall and put them in with the regular garbage.