I almost had a tire blow up on me today.

I’m still a little on edge about it. When a truck tire blows, it has potential to be fatal. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about tires blowing up on people and I don’t want to become one of those stories. It’s fairly terrifying.

I ripped apart this tire and checked it through and through but found nothing. So I replaced the stem and threw it back together. The thing about truck tires vs passenger tires is that when a tire is “run flat” you can easily tell on a passenger tire. On a truck tire it’s a little bit more covert. I begin airing up the tire and get about 50 or 60 psi in it and then I hear it. What’s often described as a popcorn sound and in the industry is commonly known as a tire zippering. I checked the front of the tire and couldn’t see anything so I checked the back of it. I noticed that there was a broken cord on the back and the longer that the air was hooked up to it the more the cords began to break. Bulges in the tire began to show up all over the sidewall. I yanked off the air line and at this point tried my hardest to keep calm. My heart was in my throat.  The cords continued to break but at a slower speed. The core was still in the valve stem so all of the air was remaining in the tire. I had to reach directly beside the failing sidewall to be able to remove the core in order to release the air. My hand trembled as I attempted to remove the core. All I could think was if this thing blew right now I would be messed right up. I had to calm myself down, force a few long breaths and then go for it again. I was able to get the core out and the waited 10 feet away from the tire until the air was completely gone.

Yikes!