Rick had his inner wall of his bridgestone tire blow out at 80 MPH. He will post more info later, but wanted me to give a heads up for those of you with these tires to check them. he and the car are fine.

kinda misleading title - is his blowout part of a nationwide epidemic of tire blowouts or just one tire that might have just reached the end of its life?

kinda jumpin the gun here dont ya think?Should i go out and check the dueler at's on my pickup?

Or he hit a piece of debris or something. I'm glad that he's ok.

Rick was unable to get online, so he called me and asked me to post & let you guys know. He's recommended the tires he has to many people, and wanted to let you guys know that you may want to inspect your tires to make sure they are ok, just in case. If you choose not to, fine. The title's not misleading, he asked me to let you guys know what happened as a word of warning. Firestone has had problems in the past, who knows if this is another one or not.

Sorry about the lack of info in the first post, I was on the road back home from Corpus Christi, and had my friend get online and type a short post for me. I couldn't believe we had internet from Houston to Corpus...

Hitting any kind of debris at 80mph can cause a blowout.

I'll obviously wait until I've got more information to make a judgement but I can list a pile of reasons a tire could go on the highway and none of them have anything to do with the manufacturer.

I won't say it is tire brand fault. Blown tire thing happened. He probably ran it over during 80 mph. He is lucky to be alive.

i agree with palsut, theyre not gonna make a crappy tire, a spare is suppose to make it around 80 mph....

Not going to make a crappy tire? Man, Firestone has had more than one problem with crappy tires.

Look, what does it hurt to inspect your tires? If you don't want to do it, fine, but you're not out anything if you do.

At least he wanted to make sure you guys would be ok.

Oh, and if you go 80 on a spare, you are asking for trouble. The recommended max speed isn't nearly that fast. Check you facts.

From the owner's manual: The compact
spare is made to perform well at speeds up to 65 mph
(105 km/h) for distances up to 3,000 miles (5000 km)

read it and wheep

M 81 mph 130 km/h
N 87 mph 140km/h Temporary Spare Tires
P 93 mph 150 km/h
Q 99 mph 160 km/h Studless & Studdable Winter Tires
R 106 mph 170 km/h H.D. Light Truck Tires
S 112 mph 180 km/h Family Sedans & Vans
T 118 mph 190 km/h Family Sedans & Vans
U 124 mph 200 km/h
H 130 mph 210 km/h Sport Sedans & Coupes
V 149 mph 240 km/h Sport Sedans, Coupes & Sports Cars

Source?

interwebzzzz, well of course thats not the GM manual but its from Tire Rack.com

I just returned from a 2200 mile trip in my GP with Bridgestone LSH tires. I ran 75-80 about 80% of the trip. The car was LOADED with 4 people and luggage. Tires were at 35 PSI Cold. They look great after my trip.

Yes Firestone had some issues, but it was a deal they and Ford had about the Explorer recommended pressures. Most of those can be attributed to low inflation. As a former tire installer, I will tell you that 80% of people NEVER check their tire pressure until someone says, "Hey, your tire looks low". We here on the board are different as we are all car people, not the norm.

So...because one source contradicts what all the others say, you're going to believe that one?

Whatever. Your car, not mine.

i dont have those tires, just making a point across.

Bridgestone/Firestone tires are known for this issue. This is why I will NEVER NEVER buy them....

Okay, yall. Sorry that this has become a flame war here. Here's the facts.

Entering Trinity, TX, my tires were doing JUST fine. No rumbling, no loose tail-end, no nothing.

Trinity, TX is all of MAYBE 6 miles across, at it's widest.

No more than 5 miles outside of Trinity (NO MORE THAN 5 MILES), I felt a slight rumble.

A mile later, I finally got off the Trinity River bridge about 1 mile east of Riverside, TX and pulled off the road.

When I got out of the car to check damage, thinking "maybe my lugnuts worked loose or something crazy like that...", I saw my Left Rear tire SMOKING hot. I also found rubber dust on my splashguards. Inside that little lip on the lower forward portion of the fender well (yall know, where dirt and rocks so like to congregate), I found a 1-inch tall by 6-inch long shred of sidewall. The entire inner sidewall was cut through to the "inner tube". In three places, was the sidewall cut COMPLETELY through so that I was able to see to the rim INSIDE the tire.

INSPECT YOUR [effin] BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE TIRES, FOLKS!!!

Y'all might be right, this MIGHT be a remote occurance. Sheer happenstance. I hope that that be the case.

If not, is your suspension able to take care of you and yours at 80 MPH? I'm lucky that John and I spent that Saturday taking care of mine.

And folks, dont start to flame on Jon because he had tried to look out for yall, at my request. If you dont like someone keeping your safety and well-being close to heart, go eff yourself, and take your issues up with me. Chances are pretty good that I'll just tell you to go eff yourself anyway.

Flame on that one for awhile.

Run with this information as you deem fit. Thank you, Jon, for posting this as quickly as you had. That is all.

What exact tire are you recommending, and what are on your GP now?

I recommend either the Potenza RE92 or the Goodyear ResponsEdge. The Goodyears by far, though. I ran the Goodyears for about a year. I bought the car with Bridgestone BT70S, and those ran fine for a year or two. Then ResponsEdge, then RE92. I've had the Potenzas since LATE '07, and had no complaints until this morning.

I've reviewed both tires either here for RE92 , or here for ResponsEdge .

The BIGGEST selling point on the ResponsEdge is that I found a roofing nail bent back almost on itself in the corner of the tread. That carbon-fiber and Kevlar really seemed to do it's job.

At this point, however, I am VERY tempted to return to ResponsEdge. They now have a 30k warranty; Goodyear is yet, to the best of my knowledge, ever to have spontaneous tire failure; the performance of the ResponsEdge seems superior to that of the RE92; and the noise difference is almost negligible, from what I remember. And they cost about the same.

I know I seem like I'm waffleing, and that's because I am. I LOVED the ResponsEdge, but they wore too quickly. I really liked the RE92, but one those tires DID have a spontaneous catastrophic failure with my family in the car doing 80 on the back roads in the middle-of-nowhere Texas. Lemme process all that's happened today and over the past couple of years, and I will be sure to deliver my own verdict.

Zerg: No debris, nothing for me to nail with the tires.

Palsut: Shut up about your 45 MPH-driving self. You are right that I am lucky to be alive, but that is due to the vehicle maintenance and repairs that I do. Luck favors the prepared.

Andrew383: These tires were purchased and installed sometime late-'08 as replacements for others that I forgot to rotate.

notladstyle: please read above. I'm not saying this is part of an epidemic, I just want to spare others from a less-fortunate end-state.

Jorgs: I wasnt running a donut-spare. I have 5 torque stars, all running RE92 right now.

72chevman: Yeah, my tires have served in similar ways, as well. Like I said, up until this morning, I had no real complaints, just gripes and the I-want-it-back-agains. Also, my tires arent/werent low. I filled them with nitrogen about 2 months ago, and checked them 3 days ago. The fronts are still 42 PSI, the rears were still 36. The spare is still 39. Before saying it's the higher-than-recommended pressure: no it's not. The RE92 carry a max cold pressure of 44 PSI with weight. 46 or 48 with no luggage, cant remember which.

I do apologize if it seems that I'm personally attacking each of you, I'm not. You asked questions, I'm answering them. Except for Palsut. He just posted something about someone's speed, so I expect him to post why 3100 is better than 3800 here in 3-4 days.


Moral of the story: INSPECT YOUR BRIDGESTONE/FIRESTONE TIRES!!!

I'm running these Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions.
I definitely am not spending that money again for these, nor Z rate tires, not worth it.

funny, Discount tried to sell me Pole Positions this afternoon. More and more I think about it (without sleeping on it, of course...), the more and more I keep coming back to wanting the Eagles back. grr.

Well, some tires can be good or bad depend how much you put the air on it or never rotate it.

I know lot of people never use tire rotation or didn't check the air pressure every month.

Since you want go back to Goodyear? I have Goodyear Eagle LS. It is best tire I ever own. I have it on my summer car since 2005. It is still on this car. I use tire rotation every 5,000 miles. I still have lot of tread left. Of course, I don't drive hard like some of you do. Also, I got my winter car last year but it has bald tires on it. I brought other Goodyear Eagle LS again. It is still good like it is supposed be. I have no flat tire or blown on this Eagle LS.

Gonna hafta do some research on the Eagle LS, then. Thanks for the tip.

Since being able to think about what all had happened yesterday, I have come to the decision that I will be returning to the Eagle line of Goodyear tires. Whether they be the LS, LHS, ResponsEdge, or what have you, I am certainly about done with these Potenzas. I sacrificed a bit of performance for a little bit of ride silence.

The Eagle LS are very quiet, have the least rolling resistance of almost any tire so you will get 1/2-1 MPG better, but the sidewalls were very soft, so cornering, road feel and emergency maneuvers will suffer. They came on my wife's 01 Monte LS. I changed them at 32K with 3 to 4 32nds left.

I never said I did not believe you. It could have been damage from awhile ago and the heat and speed finally caused it to blow. Crap happens. Glad you are all safe.

so you drove a mile on a tire that was flat or going flat?

Wow, 32K is pretty short. Mine is still around 50,000 and still going. I guess it is depend on owner care or driving habit.

1st of all, I worked in an automotive shop for 5 years where I sold and installed tires, did alignments and suspension work and other misc stuff. This was a second job saving to buy a house. I believe I know way more about tires and tire care than most.
2nd, I dare you to find a person more meticulous about car care than me, so owner care is not the issue.

My wife drives her cars rather hard, and I am OK with that. Why buy a great looking sporty car and drive like grandma going to church. If I was going to do that I would have bought a Taurus or Intrepid. I know she drives rather hard, but so do I. I just corner better than her, she waits longer than me and turns the wheel much harder instead of straightening out the curve. I will say that she tends to stay in her lanes, so I guess she corners legally. Anyone who is married knows you just don't tell a woman how to drive, you can try, but you will spend lots of lonely evenings, and soon you will spend those evenings with 1/2 your stuff if you keep it up.

The main reason her tires wear fast is that she parks on the 6th floor of a parking garage. Way up to in an end spot so no one dings her doors. That means 12 left hand corners up every morning and 12 left turns each evening, and sometimes lunch too. The cement is grooved so it doesn't ice up as easy in the winter and you have grip in the corners and hills when it is icy out. We all know our W-bodys are heavy up front. Take this combined with 24 left hand 180 degree corners each day, add grooved pavement and we get a quickly worn RF tire. I rotate every 2000 miles to keep her tires worn evenly.

Could I complain and tell her to slow down in the parking garage? Yes, but will I, No. I would rather keep all my stuff, not 1/2 of it.

In a nut shell, it is not owner care, some driver habit and conditions.

Do you have a full size spare? I thought temp spares were to be 60 PSI.

Moral of the story. INSPECT YOUR TIRES! Any brand, poo happens.

No hate here Richard

Didn't firestone have this problem like back in 2000-2002? I remember about the ford explorers and the sports having problems with blow outs. Im glad he is okay.

Good explain.

Dre da GP man: Yes, I do remember about Ford Explorers problem. I never forget that story. I don't know if you still remember that.

The boy's parent driving Ford Explorer. They both DIDN'T wear seat belt. When the tire blown then they got flipping over. They were thrown out. The boy blame tire as title "Firestone kill my parent". I was thinking boy is confused because his parent didn't wear seat belt which it is their fault. I wish I could find that link. That's how I remember that little bit. I know they cause few death and lot of accident. It was really shame. I thought Firestore will be out of business after that.

good lookin out rick.

ill check mine tonight, hope everything works out for ya, im happy you and the car are safe.

There were hundreds of deaths before they did the recall. In Arizona it seemed to happen almost weekly you would hear about another fatal due to a Firestone blowout. It was the Firestone tires not able to take the heat in warmer climates and the Ford Exploder having a high center of gravity.

Yes Richard has a full size spare. Looks like it finally came in handy Richard haha, sucks under the circumstances though.

While it was partly their fault for not buckling up, it WAS Firestones fault also. Not only did they have this problem for a long time before recalling it, it's believed they tried to cover it up too. Or tried to cover up their knowledge about it. Or something like that.

But like I said a few posts back, that wasn't the first time Firestone had blowout problems & a recall. I will NEVER put Firestone tires on my car, period. Ever. At all.

I challenge everyone to pay attention as they drive today. I bet you will find at least one vehicle that has a visibly under inflated tire. The average driver does not check their own tires. I bet I saw over 10 on the highway this past trip. One was so bad I sped up to 90+ to warn this guy in a newer GXP. He was running pretty hard and I was going 78 with the cruise on. There were two pickups behind him, so it took me awhile to get to hime

the problem was that ford put the tire pressure 28/29 psi.When you run a tire that low it cant cool itself properly and it will blow out,no matter what tire you have.im glad richard is ok but you guys need to read the real facts behide the whole ford/firestone deal.In my opinion its 60/40 ford being most at fault.

On a side note i used to work in the tire business and i had a guy buy a set of tires for his 3/4 ton chevy and come back a week later with a blow out.It was a dueler at load range E.The guy had been hauling 2 cars worth about $500k when it happened.i asked the guy what he was doing or if he had hit anything and he said no.then i asked him what the pressures were when he started the trip and he stated he lowered the rears to 60 psi from the 80 psi i put in them,why?because it rode better.

Richard you said you heard a "rumble then drove 1 mile" so you drove on a tire that was flat or goin flat?

I suppose the tire was going flat. I dunno, I wasnt outside the car watching the tire. That and the bridge I was on had a small-ish shoulder. I was NOT gonna pull over ON the bridge.

Yes, I own 5 Torque Star rims. As of Saturday morning, I had 5 Potenza RE92 tires. As of Saturday afternoon, I have 4 Potenzas and some other Firestone loaner tire. The Discount Tire here in Lufkin has another RE92 to replace my blow out. THAT RE92 is gonna stay in the trunk until I can replace it with a Goodyear Eagle.

98GreenGT: you are right, but at least I had it. The wife has spent a bit of time poking fun at me because I couldnt fit the spare in the well. Glad she was proven wrong, but it sucks that I had to prove her wrong like this.

That's Firestone's accusation. Ford, on the other hand, says that Firestone failed to include a nylon overlay that would have changed things.

Frankly, I'm more inclined to believe Ford for two reasons:
1. Firestone was the only brand it happened on. If it would happen on any tire, like you say, then why didn't it?
2. Again, that was NOT the first time Firestone has had problems with their tires.

We may have to agree to disagree on this one, but I believe Firestone was mostly (if not totally) at fault.

i wont debate the fact that firestone had a part in it because it was proved that a part of the tire was left out.My point is that its not all the tires problem it was fords as well,would the tires held up if the pressures were 35psi and not 28psi?Allof the wreck's happened AT hwy speed not rollin through town.I know there was plenty on aired up firestones that came into the shop that got replaced.