What Happened Here?!?!

Hey guys so on my way back from my camping trip this weekend I was on the NJ Turnpike when I noticed a vibration that seemed to be caused by rough roads.  I had a fully loaded car, four people, two coolers, camping gear loaded on the roof and in the back when my tire blew.  My question is why did my tire decide to mash my rear quarter panel on the way out?!  The tires as a few know are sort of new with about 5k on them, and it looks like the tread came off, but i've never had a flat cause this much damage.  

My car said it was 92F outside and i was cruising at the speed limit around 65 mph when the tire blew and sent me temporarily out of control.  Took me about 3-4 lanes to recover from the power sliding that this put me in, so thank god I was 20 yards ahead of the cars behind me because they had just enough time to hit the breaks and get out of the way while I avoided not rolling.

Everyone is ok though which is always most important though
But does anyone know what caused this?  I have the TreadWright Max Trax M/T tires, does this look like the tire just de-treaded itself or sound like a normal flat scenario.

Holy fucking shit! Glad you didn't roll it, maybe climbing a rock tore something? Do you think you'd be able to claim for it?

Not sure, camping was in a grass field and my car stayed parked pretty much the whole time. I also haven't offroaded in over a month. But either way I'm already working on making a claim at least for the tire aspect to treadwright. I'm also looking into high departure rear bumpers in my price range, being that I've already done most of the metal work on my left side now.

damn.. I would be on the phone with Treadwright about this right away. I'm on my second set of their tires. I'm yet to hear any stories of problems like you had, even their facebook is full of glowing reviews.

FWIW, I believe treadwright won't warrant tires if you've aired them down.

Good to know because i just received an email asking a bunch of questions.  That was one of them, I will make sure to answer that one correctly now haha.

Another is what psi I run the tires at on a regular. Any help with this question would be nice. THey are 265/75/16's with a max psi of 65. I'm sure there is a correct answer and a wrong answer, anyone know the right answer for this? I run mine on the higher side for better mpg, but i know that going higher isn't always better when it comes to this sort of stuff

I'd put what ever it says you should've been running on the door jamb

I would have but the tires are larger. Stock tires were 29 in., where these are 32 in.

I run mine at 45.

direct from their website.

What tire pressure (PSI) should I be running in my tires?

You should be following the vehicle manufacturers recommended tire pressure for your vehicle as shown on the vehicle (typically on the driver’s side door frame). If you will be carrying a heavy load you may use the maximum PSI recommended on the sidewall of the tire. NEVER exceed the maximum PSI as shown on the sidewall of the tire.

Some information about tire inflation:
Temperature Effects: Air pressure is affected by temperature, typically 1 lb. PSI for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that a tire inflated at 35 PSI at 80 degrees Fahrenheit in July could lose 6 PSI in December at 20 degrees. It is recommended to check your tire pressure a minimum of once a month and it is good to check the air pressure every time you fuel the vehicle.

Pressure Loss: Tires are carefully designed to contain air but over time some leaks through the tire itself, the valve core and rim. Typical leakage can be about 1 PSI per month. In damage, tires and wheels may have more leakage. Therefore, air pressure should be checked as often as possible. Check the cold inflation pressures in all your tires, including the spare, at least once a month.

Inflation: DRIVING ON ANY TIRE THAT DOES NOT HAVE THE CORRECT INFLATION PRESSURE IS DANGEROUS. Any under inflated tire builds up excessive heat that may result in sudden tire failure. Under inflation can cause many tire related problems. Under inflation results in an overloaded tire resulting in decreased fuel economy, sluggish handling, and excessive shoulder wear, and also causes heat buildup which can result in catastrophic tire failure! Therefore, use a reliable air gauge to check tire pressure.

I hear treadwrights are supposed to be great but recaps just don't give me that warm fuzzy. It cost a little extra but I just bought new bfg m/t's.

devildog01 wrote:

I hear treadwrights are supposed to be great but recaps just don't give me that warm fuzzy. It cost a little extra but I just bought new bfg m/t's.

I also agree with this! Cheap tires are cheap because they are made cheap. In most states they wont even allow them to be used as steering tires because they fail so much. Why do you think you see all the retreads from semi-trucks all over the roads. The only reason people use them is because they are cheap.

i think you see the truck retreads all over because they drive a zillion miles on them not because they are made poorly. however i have switched to their bead to bead design just in case even though i went 40k on my last pair without a problem. the B2B design is still cheaper then a set of comparable MT's

Hilltoppersx wrote:

i think you see the truck retreads all over because they drive a zillion miles on them not because they are made poorly. however i have switched to their bead to bead design just in case even though i went 40k on my last pair without a problem. the B2B design is still cheaper then a set of comparable MT's

Well, TW B2B retreads are different than their standard recapping and have extras processes done with the vucanizing aspect; so their are that much more newer and stronger mould than a basic re-capping. I had a set of older TW retreads and it lasted me a long time also but it was on a Hi-lux 4x4 and had 45k+ @ 50psi. 31/10.5/15's

Chris

Well after many months I've finally fixed this. I ended up going with Flexi Flares and a RTE rear bumper. The flares were used to extend out and around the damaged area and the RTE bumper to cut off the damaged part of the quarter panel. Also if I'm going to spend a few grand repairing this truck, why not fix it to my needs. And a steel bumper that looked good is what i needed   

Minus some paint touch-ups down the road, I must say this turned out great! And i can't wait to test it out on the trails this year!

came out super man. cant notice it was every damaged. good gob nice chose in bumper and flares.

What ever happen to the tire claim?

They ended up giving me $500 plus $150 refund on the replacement tire. So $650 total, which isn't even close to what the total was after parts/labor. But something is better then nothing.

The issue with this though has been that they sent the check to my parents house when I asked them to send it to my school address. My parents house is under construction, and no one can find this check. The company has been very unresponsive in my attempts to resolve this. It has been a frustrating process.