Coming from the A21 onto the M25 and heading back towards the A3 I was doing about 70 in the outside lane, when bang, the front offside tyre exploded, I was mightily impressed in the full control that the van maintained, totally different to my only other experience 30 odd years ago, in my first car an Austin Allegro 1.1.
Whether or not those in the middle and inside lane saw it and were able to react accordingly, fortunately it wasnt too busy, I was able to get across to the hard shoulder very quickly, and was fortunate again that it was on the start of the slip road to Clackett Lane.
The AA were out very quickly and so today I have got to get the spare fixed - thankfully I had a spare as i ve heard many cars no longer do, its just a repair kit for a puncture - no idea what would have happened if there hadnt been one
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Wot sort of van was it effendi, and what make of tyre?
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A very rare event, in my experience. Driving roughly 100 cars over 60 years, I have only had one blow-out. I had just had new tyres fitted to my Sunbeam Alpine in the then Malaya and had wound up to about 90 mph, when the offside front blew. I think the fitter had trapped the inner tube between the rim and the tyre. I was able to pull up in a straight line on a quiet road without other mishap, nothing like as terrifying as an M25 breakdown.
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Happened to me once at 80 mph on the M40 on the rear of a Sierra.
I don't know what smelled worse - the shredded, smoking remains of the tyre or my underwear.
The tyre was a part worn that I'd had fitted just half an hour previous. Never did that again.
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If it wasn't that busy why were you in lane 3 anyway?
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>> If it wasn't that busy why were you in lane 3 anyway?
He was probably driving like a lunatic, with blatant disregard for all of those around him, and for the rules of the road.
Or he might, I suppose, have simply been overtaking slower moving traffic in the middle lane (given that the road was "not too busy" rather than "empty").
Probably the lunatic thing...
Last edited by: SteelSpark on Tue 23 Oct 12 at 14:01
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>>If it wasn't that busy why were you in lane 3 anyway?
Well, you certainly caught the important bit of the story.
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. Gone OT re Malaya. Nothing untoward:)
Last edited by: NIL on Tue 23 Oct 12 at 14:55
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Glad you got away with it wotspur.
It occurs to me that in the event of a front tyre blowout, power steering is almost certainly a safety factor enabling the driver to retain a lot of control without having very suddenly to apply a lot of force to the steering to keep the vehicle going in a straight line.
I used to buy part-worn tyres all the time. Only ever had one blowout, a rear tyre at 80 or so in a VW 411. An old Michelin X that was on the rough old jalopy when I got it. I had been wondering what the new vibration was. Looking at the carcase of the tyre afterwards, it seemed that something heavy had forced its way through the tread from the inside. I could never work out what it was or how it had got there. Very odd.
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Back around 1994 I think, we had a Granada Ghia 2.9 4x4. Nice car in it's day if a little bit thirsty.
Anyway, my wife took it to work one day in Edinburgh and at the time we lived in a very remote part of the Scottish Borders. Her journey was about 28 miles each way on fast open A roads.
This particular day, she returned to the car after work to discover a completely flat rear tyre. Being dressed in her posh work kit she decided that she's not bother to change the wheel or get the AA or call me or ask for help or anything sensible like that but instead to drive it home with the flat tyre...
All credit to the car, and maybe some to her skills, it completed the journey.
The tyre, however, was now missing, and as for the fairly pricey alloy, well, you can imagine.
After the inevitable row, the equally predictable making up, and the sourcing of a new wheel and tyre all was well for a few days.
Until she borrowed the car again, and kerbed the new wheel and in doing so split the sidewall of the new tyre...
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Probably the estate model, as in she walked orf with it all.
:}
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>>drive it home with the flat tyre...
I had a brother-in-law like that. Lost count of the new tyres he bought, until he had to buy an expensive, new, Fiat alloy as well.
He used to carry an empty fuel can in the boot as well. Walked miles with it!
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bit of fortune on the M25 last night - Dog
