Tire Pressure

Why do tires blow on the highway? Is it becuase of High tire pressure, or
low pressure?

Peace,

Jerry

 

In my experience, neither -- it's usually due to a defect in the tire.

For that matter, most of the tire chunks you see by the side of the road
aren't from blown tires. They're from tread separations, which occur fairly
often on retread tires. An actual blowout (catastrophic loss of air pressure)
is pretty rare.

 

Traveling beyond the speed, temperature and load ratings for the tire
will do it, too! I see too many SUVs and pickups going too fast for
their tires. Tires past about 5 years old are also subject to age
deterioration and can lose treads, too.

I saw an SUV separate its tread one time in CA. It was on 101 from
Morgan Hill, just entering San Jose. The SUV had been going 80 or so, on
a hot day and separated its left rear, which flew past my driver's side,
missing by about 6 inches.

Here in Florida, I see "tire gators" about every mile on I95 in the
summer.

 

IMHE most/all tire failures are caused by low inflation. I have never seen
a failure caused by over-inflation but YMMV.

Next to oil and coolant, tire inflation is the most important pre trip item
that is most commonly neglected and often leads to premature failure. Of
the three, low tire inflation is the one most likely to result in loss of
control and injury. YMMV

 

Low tire pressure causes tire overheating and possible bead separation
and is worse than over pressurization, which causes less tire to road
contact and a reduction of traction.

 

Basically failure to maintain tires in any way can cause potential problems.
Over-inflation can definately be a culprit too! Over-inflating a tire in
extra hot climates can definately cause blow outs, seen 'em all the time in
FL in the summer. Hot air expands, too much air in a tire + more hot air and
high speeds = BOOM! Commercial truck and SUV tires are most prone to tread
separation on the hwy mostly from shoddy quality (and commercial tire
retreading which is still widely used in the commercial trucking indusstry
today). Low tire pressure is a potential for what Skip says too.

 

Low tire pressure causes more flexing in the tire as it rotates against the
road. Flexing causes heating within the tire which can accelerate wear and
delamination from the base. Also the higher the speed, the greater the
heating and centrifugal forces attempting to tear the tire apart.

High pressure is more of a problem only if the heating of the tire at
highway speeds causes the pressure to increase past the maximum rating for
the tire. This on top of any damage like a bubble in the sidewall from
hitting a curb (like an aneurism waiting to burst) or tread that is worn
down to the cords - is likely to cause a blowout.
Oppie