kghenson
Akron, Ohio
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Joined: 09/09/2003
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Well I knew I shouldn't but I tried it anyway.
Last week the gf picked up a nail while driving the truck and limped home on a flat just a couple of blocks. She had already driven a bit before she noticed the flat and decided she might as well just limp home. I pulled the wheel and installed the spare. Aired up the flat and found the leak. My local garage plugged the tire and put it back on the truck.
This weekend I went camping. I got about 20 miles and the tire blew. I mean it blew! There was no doubt I had a blow-out. 
Well I was on I76 heading east at the time and slowly coasted to the side of the road. With the gf's help we had the spare on and were back on the road in 20minutes.
The experience though made me wonder about folks who have a blow out and don't know how to safely get to the shoulder. My gf was a bit worried at first but relaxed as we slowed down and pulled over.
I was told years ago that if you have a blow out to take your foot off the gas, do not touch the brakes, and when the vehicle slows to 20mph gently pull to the side of the road. Then gently stop. Worked like a charm, the trailer never swayed, the TV was rock steady. And we came to a stop without any further excitement.
Makes you wonder, don't they teach that any more in driver training?
Whenever I hear about someone wrecking because of a blow-out I always wonder where did they learn to drive?
Oh and I re-learned the lession, never put a tire back on a TV after it has ridden on the sidewalls! What a dummy!
Thoughts?
Ken
09 Chevy 2500HD 6.0 Extended Cab, LB 4x4
04 299RLS Sprinter
07 Ultra Glide Harley
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Bryndon
Campbellsport, WI
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Joined: 05/25/2005
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Unfortunately, "Driver's Education" is really about operating a motor vehicle. Some places are even teaching proper use of a cell phone while driving (oxymoron). They never teach any accident avoidance or emergency techniques.
If you ask me, the whole process needs a major revamp. The most common reaction in an emergency is to slam on the brakes - which is also never the correct reaction.
To directly answer the question, I doubt if you could find anywhere in the country teaching how to handle a blowout. Two reasons, tires are pretty dependable and they are teaching to the test.
I'm getting ready for a cross-country jaunt Milwaukee to Vegas with a car trailer. I probably carry more spares parts than most, but I'll have two truck spares and two trailer spares. Fighting a deadline for arrival and can't afford to miss the boat.
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KB7PYF
Poulsbo, Washington
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Joined: 12/19/2004
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Completed a 6K trip to Alaska this summer and we had a blow out on our TT as we were just coming into Dawson City, YT. Never felt or heard a thing. I caught a glimpse of the tire flopping down the center line in the side view mirror. It blew off the rim leaving only 2 inches of tire on the inside and outside of the rim.
Put on the spare and continued into town. Picked up a replacement at the NAPA shop (full service RV repair). BTW Great folks to do business with.
This was the only failure I experienced on our journey. 6,234 miles of which about 700-750 were on gravel roads. I have no complaints.
Charlie - Amateur Radio Call - KB7PYF (CN87qr)
'99 F-250 Ford PSD short box extended cab 4x4 TT: Cougar 29.4 RLS TT (w/slide) and 21' Seaswirl Striper walk-around (salmon slayer)
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BenK
SF BayArea
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Joined: 04/18/2002
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Todays tires are way better with improved material/manufacturering/engineering science, but they still suffer.
Most don't understand that tires are the only thing left in the foodchain connecting them to mother earth.
Tires have many "duties" and the main one is as an air spring holding up the vehicle in EVERY condition it's exposed to.
Heat is the main killer and under inflation the main contributor to that. Toss in over load too.
Once a tire has seen over temp of enough differential in temp over spec and the length of time it sees that, will have the tire seriously degraded in it's capacity.
Many don't know that high speed or performance tires, once punchured is no longer rated for the same speed it used to be. Many high end vehicle owners, who know the metrics of this, will replace instead of patching. There is belt and ply damage, even from a smooth sided nail. That damage reduces the tires over all strength, even if plugged and patched.
Also too many don't know that the "repairable tread area" is pretty small and once the punchure goes past and over to what is considered the sidewall, the tire is considered damaged beyond repair.
Here is the RMA's guide lines on this and from Tire America/Discount Tire site at: http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoRepairingTires.dos
-Ben Picture of my rig
1996 GMC SLT Suburban 3/4 ton K3500/7.4L/4:1/+150Kmiles orig owner...
1980 Chevy Silverado C10/long bed/"BUILT" 5.7L/3:73/1 ton helper springs/+329Kmiles, bought it from dad...
1998 Mazda B2500 (1/2 ton) pickup, 2nd owner...
Praise Dyno Brake equiped and all have "nose bleed" braking!
Previous trucks/offroaders: 40's Jeep restored in mid 60's / 69 DuneBuggy (approx +1K lb: VW pan/200hpCorvair: eng, cam, dual carb'w velocity stacks'n 18" runners, 4spd transaxle) made myself from ground up / 1970 Toyota FJ40 / 1973 K5 Blazer (2dr Tahoe, 1 ton axles front/rear, +255K miles when sold it)...
Sold the boat (looking for another): Trophy with twin 150's...
51 cylinders in household, what's yours?...
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Chuck&Gail
In the Colorado Mountains
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Joined: 06/16/2004
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Remember the Ford Explorer tire fiasco? One magazine had a pro driver run an Explorer at high speed and then they CUT OFF the valve stem. Just like a blowout, right. Not only did the SUV NOT rollover, it didn't even veer much, even when driver HAD HIS HANDS OFF THE WHEEL!
IMO they should have asked those who rolled their cars if they also dropped their cell phone. Bet the answer really was not the car, but a stupid driver.
Chuck
Wonderful Wife
Australian Shepherd
2010 Ford Expedition TV
2010 Outback 230RS Toybox, 5390# UVW, 6800# Loaded
Not yet camped in Hawaii, 2 Canada Provinces, & 2 Territories
I can't be lost because I don't care where this lovely road is going
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Kenneth
Washington, the state
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Joined: 03/20/2001
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Plugging a tire isn't good practice unless it is the mushroom shaped plug inserted from the inside. If that shop didn't look inside the tire, the drive home on the flat tire with the nail (whatever?) may have done damage inside the tire that resulted in the blowout.
A blowout of the rear might be harder to handle safely than a blowout on the front.
Ken
I'm free of prostate cancer for 5 years now.
All men over age 50 should get an annual PSA blood test. Mine had a low reading, but the yearly jump was significant. The biopsy showed cancer just entering the aggressive stage. Dr. Hackenslash removed it.
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BenK
SF BayArea
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Joined: 04/18/2002
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Cutting off a valve stem is not even close to a true blow out.
More than just lost air pressure, as the tire carcass has come apart.
They should have used a 12 gauge shot gun blast to the tires sidewalls to simulate a "true blowout".
With a tire valve "cut off", the tire is still "round" and with intact sidewall fabric plys.
All to much into the "creative" spec writing and "creative" certification testing. Been there, done that.
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INCampingFamily
Elkhart, IN
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Joined: 08/16/2005
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Kenneth wrote:A blowout of the rear might be harder to handle safely than a blowout on the front.
Ken,
I tend to agree with you for the "average" driver. My experience comes two-fold, first as a former police officer, second and a former stock-car racer (third, I blewout/cut down the right rear of my '00 Expedition at 85mph on I-64 in WV).
If a backtire blows, you can still steer the vehicle, the steering will feel very vague and you will have to "chase" the tail end around (extreme oversteer, or tendency for the rearend to lose traction) until get completely stopped. It is a difficult process and the driver must be "up on the wheel" the entire time, any sudden movements (i.e. jerky movements) and the rear-end might be likely to come around.
If a front tire blows this creates an extreme understeer situtation (or for those not familiar with the terms, the vehicle does not want to turn), but it is much easier to drive a "tight" car (understeer) for the average person. FWD vehicles by nature have a built in tendency for understeer.
In either case OP is correct, remove your foot from the accelerator and don't push the brakes (reach for hazards at this time if you have the presence of mind to do so), coast to a reasonably low speed (less than 25mph) then ease off of the road onto the shoulder and ease VERY SLOWLY on the brake until you come to a complete stop.
If you push the brakes with a rear blow-out you will more-than-likely spin, if you "lock them down" with a front blow-out the vehicle is going to continue going straight, no matter how hard you turn the wheel (it will have a slight arc towards the side of the blowout as well, but we shouldn't be going speeds in our personal vehicles that will cause a lane change). Also, as a common courtesy, it is not very polite to the vehicles around you to "lock them down" without warning, they probably don't know about your blowout at the same time you do. 
RIG
2003 F350 CrewCab KingRanch 6.0L Diesel SRW SWB
2006 Cedar Creek Silverback 33LBHTS; Reese Kwik-Slide 16K Hitch; Pilot BC
Daily Drivers
2006 Honda Odyssey EX-L Res&Nav
2005 VW Passat GLS TDI 2.0L Diesel
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MitchF150
Washington
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Joined: 07/13/2002
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During 'driver ed' in highschool (back in the late 70's/early 80's, oh my....) we were shown a series of films (actual film too, with a reel to reel projector and all!) about what to do and NOT do during an emergency situation. We were also shown some gory film of what happens when things go terribly WRONG in an accident.... I think those films had a lasting effect on my driving as a teenager, as I did not do all the stupid stuff the kids of today are doing (and dying from)....
I can't (won't) get into all the specifics of those, being over a quarter of a century ago, but at least I was exposed to them at an early age and the couple of times I've been in an 'emergency' situation or thought about doing something 'stupid', I at least had a better idea of what to do or not do....
I have no clue what is being taught today (no kids), but I'll bet that they don't even offer 'drivers ed' anymore, and if they do, I'll bet they don't show those films like they showed me... But, you can go out and buy a video game that all you do is crash cars, break the law and kill the police....
Do they even teach 'personal finance' or have 'health' classes in highschool anymore??
Mitch
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BenK
SF BayArea
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Joined: 04/18/2002
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Here's some additional mechanics of what happens when the rear blows.
IF you brake the one rear tire has much more braking than the blown, so it wants to steer the rear till it centers in reference to the two fronts and factored by the direction of travel.
Then the blown tire become "leading" in reference to the good rear tire.
Which also has the height changed and the rim is about to touch the pavement. This puts the "high" CG into a tipping mode factored by speed (inertia).
Once that leading axle end rim touches the pavement, it will instantly gouge and dig into the pavement.
Which then pole vaults the rear of the vehicle in a flash and roll the vehicle.
If going fast, the rolling will also be very fast.
This was made worse by Ford's change from 32PSI to 26PSI on the door sticker recommendation for tire pressure...but...this pole vaulting can happen to any vehicle.
Worse with an IRS setup with the lower A-Arm ***NOT*** horizontal on any vehicle with an already too high of a CG (most all CUV's and SUV's). If it has any upward angle, there is a larger "UP" force vector than a flat horizontal A-Arm. Marry that with going sideways from a rear tire blowout and it will flip/roll even easier/faster.
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