A narrow escape and a VERY nice young man

[SAISAY]

i GUESS OUR GUARDIAN ANGEL WAS ON DUTY YESTERDAY

On the way to Cairns, the front of the Patrol started to vibrate and it felt like we were driving on square wheels.
We pulled in at a service station but could not find anything wrong.
We have just had new Ironman shockers fitted, so speculated something had gone wrong with them.
I had a MRI appointment that couldn't be missed, so we decided to continue at reduced speed.
15 K down the road there was an almighty explosion and Lee lost control of the car, ending up at the right hand verge of the road.
The driver side front tyre had just come completely apart. Bits of tyre all over the road. The thread wasn't even worn
BlowOut.jpg
Thankfully, on this normally busy stretch, there was no oncoming traffic, so we managed to get back on the left hand side and started to get the jack out to change the tyre, a bit of a job for a 72 year old with a worn out back.
A young man in his early twenties stopped and asked whether we needed any help.
Before we knew, he was changing the tyre for us.
When we thanked him, all he said was "No worries, I just hope someone will do the same for my parents, if they need help"
There are still some very nice ones out there.

Back home we pulled in to Beaurepaires to order an new tyre. The guy there told us it wasn't the first time he had seen this happen to COOPER tyres, they are just not made for Australian conditions. Guess we won't be buying them again

[Bob38S]

Great to hear that your episode with the tyre ended safely. Have heard that Cooper tyres were not as good as claimed but was not aware of the Australian conditions bit.

Really pleased to hear that there are still decent young people around and your experience is a little similar to another forumite with tyre issues.

Go buy a lotto ticket to celebrate.

[Mobyturns]

Great to see there are still young 'uns with that sort of attitude.

Many years ago we had this happen to all four tyres on our 80 seriecs LC wagon. Tyres were a very famous brand 4WD tyre that is still available today & had less than 2k on them. My wife was returning from the Burdekin when she noticed a very strong vibration in the front end. She slowed to a safe speed and limped home to the tyre dealers. They found all 4 tyres were badly deformed as the tread belts were letting go. Tyres were that bad that none would stand on their treads in any position. End result was fantastic customer service from John Muller and a set of 4 new tyres of another brand after a very good warranty claim payout.

Thankfully it didn't end this way with a near miss but it easily could have.

[burraboy]

Friend of mine had all sorts of problems with vibrations in the front end of his Ford 4WD. Was quoted several thousands to fix (by the Ford dealer). Turned out that the new tyres he'd fitted were out of round, problem solved.
It doesn't hurt to try to do a good turn every day.

[malb]

Glad that this ended for you without tragedy. When you stopped the first time to check the tyres, there would have been a crack in the structural case of the faulty tyre, and probably a small bubble in the tread or either side wall. The crack is caused by operating at low pressures, or some blunt object impact on the road. Because the tyres are tubeless, once any carcass structural damage occurs, air bleeds through the case at the point of damage and slowly works its way around the tyre, allowing the tread and outer carcass layers to seperate from the rest of the tyre. Result is inevitably tyre failure in short order.

Once air starts to penetrate the carcass, it will cause it to develop a bubble, which is what causes the vibration you felt, and you can normally see or feel it with a close examination. If not, and there are a couple of you, have one drive at walking speed or slower for a short distance while someone walks beside watching each tyre in turn for a few revolutions. The damaged tyre will quickly be found as it will literally jump up and down as it rotates over the bubble section.

This was a common issue in the country when tubeless tyres first penetrated the market in the sixties. My father purchased a set tubeless tyres at one stage as the supplier had discontinued the tubed variant (progress) and we went through more than 30 within a year, all replaced under warranty. Tyre service eventually resorted to fitting tubes to tubeless tyres to solve the problem of lousy country roads and tyres intended for city conditions.

[powderpost]

Very happy there was no unfortunate outcome. The road south of Cairns can be very heavily used at times.
Jim

[SAISAY]

Very happy there was no unfortunate outcome. The road south of Cairns can be very heavily used at times.
Jim

We were VERY fortunate.
About 10 minutes later an oversized load semi with a huge machine came towards us.
I fear to think of the outcome had we been a few kilometres further down the road.
This happened just before Mirriwinni.
As you know, Queensland roads have no room for pulling of the bitumen just a ditch on either side

[SAISAY]

Glad that this ended for you without tragedy. When you stopped the first time to check the tyres, there would have been a crack in the structural case of the faulty tyre, and probably a small bubble in the tread or either side wall. The crack is caused by operating at low pressures, or some blunt object impact on the road.

Never suspected the tyres, it was a fairly new tyre, hasn't done 10.000 k yet and, although a 4WD, never under low pressure or off road driving.
The mechanic who fitted the new shockers (one of the old school) never noticed anything wrong either.
Changed to Micky Thompson tyres now not Cooper.

[malb]

The mechanic who fitted the new shockers (one of the old school) never noticed anything wrong either.

The crack in the carcass probably occured less than 15 minutes before you noticed the vibration. Thats all it takes for the air to penetrate the core and start delaminating the tyre. The tyres on fathers Chev (60's) could form a blister the size of an Aussie Rules football on the 50 mile trip home from the tyre service after having a tyre replaced. Got stuck on the road once because he ran out of tyres, despite carrying a set of 4 spares in a trailer. Victorian dirt roads.