Front Tyre Destroyed On Motorway

Hi Gang

I had a rather lucky escape yesterday on my Explorer and I want to share it only in case it helps someone else in any way.

My 2012 Explorer has around 30k miles on it. I've owned it for 2-years and mainly just ridden it a short 10-mile distance to and from work. On Friday the wife and I decided to do a 200-mile trip up the road together. First 140-miles was motorway, the last 60 were A-roads. Evening temperature was around 20 degress, dropping to about 12 once we reach our destination.

Returning home yesterday the opposite. First bit twisty, next 100-miles of autobahn crusing at around 90-95mph (in Germany). 40-miles from home and I smell burning rubber, look down, no smoke, no engine change, no sign it was me and so I beleive it's a car in front with a problem.

In any case, after 20-seconds an exit came up and I decide to take it anyway, just to check the bike over and be sure it wasn't me. Slowing down to exit speed and I get a vicious front-end wobble. I decide not to tackle the bend and keep it going straight, feet off pegs and get it stopped without much drama. I obviously knew the front tyre was finished but I didn't expect to see a 3-inch split along the tread. It was red hot too, the rear was normal temperature, even with the additonal weigh on it. The tyres are both Pirelli Angel GT.

Recovery home was actually quite quick and easy with the ADAC but it does make me wonder about it. I'll give it a good check over when I take the wheel off later, in case it was a nail punctured the tyre because I suppose the split could have happened due to low or no pressure.

I don't think there is a lot I could have done to prevent this but still, check tyres for pressure, wear and irregularly wear patterns regularly if you don't already.

 

The DOT number was 4018 so it was about 7-years old. No sign of a puncture only some damage from it being run with low pressure and uneven wear on one side, difficult to see it until up close. Another reason why I should get myself some glasses I suppose.

I now I have a Mitchelin Road 6 on it. The rear is a matching Pirelli to the old front and still looks capable of a couple of thousand miles but in Germany we're not allowed to mix tyres, so it's going in the bin.

It'll be swapped tonight and then more attention will be paid to pressures, condition and age. I was very lucky indeed to get away with it this time. I've always stayed away from those tyre pressure monitoring systems that go on the valves mainly because they are probably Chinese made and I don't want to risk messing it. I may reconsider if there is a reliable system on the market today.