Tire Blowout Risk

March 31, 2005 5:14 AM

I nailed a pothole yesterday, and when I got back to my place, I noticed a sizeable bulge in the sidewall. Would I be OK to drive it for a few days? Whats my risk of blowout?
posted by Mach5 to travel & transportation (16 comments total)

Go get that tire replaced. Visible damage to a sidewall means the tire is kaput. A blowout at speed can kill you and others around you.
posted by ikkyu2 at 5:21 AM on March 31, 2005

As someone who had a blowout going around 90mph last summer, let me echo ikkyu2 that it's not something you want to go through.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:23 AM on March 31, 2005

thanks guys, looks like im gonna be late for work. $25 used* tire at Carlos' Tires it is!

*probably stolen, as i do live in newark
posted by Mach5 at 5:28 AM on March 31, 2005

Oh, you live in Newark. In that case, just take the turnpike to work - even if your tire does blow out when you top out at 5mph in rush hour, it won't do any harm.

</humor>
posted by ikkyu2 at 5:32 AM on March 31, 2005

Just to give some validation to NotMyselfRightNow's answer, I recently made the stupid mistake of continuing to drive on a bubbled tire.

I had a violent blowout in downtown Boston. I was only going 25mph and lost control. Luckily, I didn't hit anyone or anything. After putting on the spare and cleaning my pants, I immediately went and got a new tire. If you do decide to go for a brand new tire, go someplace that offers some kind of road hazard warranty. My new tire is covered for 60,000 miles against bubbles or any other general road damage (which is a must in Boston!)
posted by zerokey at 5:41 AM on March 31, 2005

gak! I meant ikkyu2's comment (and NotMyselfRightNow's too!).
posted by zerokey at 5:43 AM on March 31, 2005

You might want to make sure the rim is not bent or damaged.
posted by Otis at 5:46 AM on March 31, 2005

zerokey, you were able to get up to 25mph in Boston?

/Cambridge resident snark
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 5:50 AM on March 31, 2005

You may even be able to get your local DMV to cover the cost of replacing the tire. It worked for a friend of mine here in Kentucky when he took his Integra through a pothole, denting his front passenger side rim.
posted by jackofsaxons at 6:12 AM on March 31, 2005

My normal rule of thumb is, if my car starts I drive it. (Well, lately though I have to occasionally hit the starter with a hammer to get it started.) In this case though, a tire replacement is probably a good idea.
posted by raster at 6:25 AM on March 31, 2005

See this image for a cross section of a typical tire. When you have a bulge on the sidewall of the tire--as I did last week--the steel belts have actually broken, and what you're seeing is an air pocket against the inside of the sidewall. The possibility for a blowout is very high, so the tire should be replaced as soon as possible.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 7:28 AM on March 31, 2005

For those who drive on questionable tires, if your safety (and ours!) doesn't motivate you then perhaps money will : that wheel may still be good even if the tire isn't, but it won't be after a blowout at speed. So you can add at least $60 for a new rim to the price of the tire since it's going to be trashed even if nothing else on your car is damaged.
posted by phearlez at 8:32 AM on March 31, 2005

While you're there, make them check the alignment. I know of no better way to wear a new tire to a nub in a couple thousand miles than to have your suspension out of alignment.
posted by SpecialK at 9:44 AM on March 31, 2005

Contact the city or town that is in charge of maintaining the road in question. I know that, in Buffalo, if a pothole damages your car and it's already been reported but not fixed, they have to pay for the repairs.

If it was a parking lot I'd call the owner of the lot. It's not unreasonable to assume that a parking lot or road is kept in good enough condition not to damage cars.
posted by Kellydamnit at 11:13 AM on March 31, 2005

Had a blowout this morning on the front. Then while changing the tire, I noticed a huge bulge in sidewall of my rear tire. Sadly, these tires were not cheap and only have about 10,000 miles on them. Lesson: Never buy the Discount Tire store brand tires, ever. I paid as much as I would for a semi-premium branded tire and they were toast by 9,000 miles. Of course they wiggled out of their warranty after being on the car for 5 months... I'm waiting for new Coopers as I type this.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 11:55 AM on March 31, 2005

You just can't beat TireRack for good deals on tires. It may seem a little odd at first to order the tires and have them shipped directly to the local store who will put them on (picked from the huge list on tirerack's site) but the price difference is amazing.

If you're buying more 'average' tires that what Dean_Paxton is talking about you can get a marginally better deal if you have a Costco with a tire center around since you won't get hit with shipping. One of the things I really like about them is they quote you a price that IS THE PRICE, vs most tire places who don't include the local disposal fee, valve stem fee, my kin needs braces fee, etc....
posted by phearlez at 4:33 PM on March 31, 2005