Tire blew next to me...

I lost the right rear inside trailer tire one night traveling east on I-10 right before the Boarder Patrol check I had no idea I lost it until another driver told me on the radio. Sometimes you lose one on the trailer you don't always hear it or see it come apart. The driver told me that it came apart and just laid down on the road. I was thankful he was behind because after we got through the Boarder Patrol check he followed me to Sierra Blanca and told me where there was a tire shop. I had to wait until morning and it cost $240.00 for a good used tire, that was over a years ago and that tire is still in service

 

Lost a single wide Dolly tire one night and never felt or heard it - dragged that poor rim 30 miles before another driver alerted me.

Yup - when they go boom its a pants filler!

 

I've popped a few inside of a tire cage, after repairing leaks in the tire. If they were run for too long at too low a pressure, the flexing of the sidewall and heat buildup damages the steel cords, sometimes you can hear a twangy pop as the damaged cords break individually before the tire completely lets go.

 

I too had a "tire explosion" about a month ago. I heard this God awful explosion and my first thought was the area was under attack.....thought I ran over a land mine.
I immediately checked my driver's side mirror and rubber was flying everywhere....as were the vehicles behind me. Thank God no one was hit by the flying rubber. Put flashers on, got out & put my triangles out and checked the damage. The driver's side, inside tire on the rear axle was GONE....COMPLETELY. The mud flap AND bracket were also both ripped off. Then it was a 4 hour wait on the shoulder of the road to get repaired. But it was by far and away the loudest tire blow out I've ever had.

 

I had a steer tire blow out once while rolling down hill at ~70 mph in the hammer lane. Talk about crapping your pants! I managed to hang on and get it to the shoulder without further incident. And of course it happened on a Friday afternoon 30 miles from home. Did some serious damage to the fender and tore a coolant line that ran into the dpf thingy and a DEF line. After I got the tire replaced on the side of the road, I crimped off the torn lines and managed to limp it to the terminal in Mt Juliet.

 

Happened to me a few months ago. On the 40 in Arkansas, except I was being passed by the truck that had the blow out. He was inching up had just waved and then BOOM! Trailer tire rubber goes flying in my mirror. And yeah when they go boom, I tell ya they go BOOM!

unloader

 

Usually when you don't know is because the tire lost air pressure prior to coming apart, slow leak of some sort, and then the continued running at low pressure breaks the tire down, heats it up and it starts coming apart, no boom.

When they go boom it's usually a failure of the carcass of the tire at full inflation. Unless of course you are just running around with "may pops" on your truck/trailer and the cords let go and go bang.

It's one of the reasons I check my tires EVERY morning before starting out, and ALSO bang them whenever I fuel/unload/stop/rest area, it only takes an added 60 seconds to smack each tire when walking back to the truck.

 

I blew the right steer while passing a truck on I-77 in wva. Scared the hell out of both of us. Luckily the tread came off completely intact and wrapped around my axle. No damage to either truck unless you count finger dents in the steering wheel.

 

It depends. Of course the drives are louder but for the most part you'll hear a pop. I've had a couple quiet one's where they bubble and then pop. The big ones will take out the tire beside it.

This is why you don't curb tires. It stretches and breaks the bands on the sidewalls. Then you have cheap retreads. Being a company driver is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get.