[drb0587]

Hey All,

I was on my way to work today and as I went through the EZ Pass to get on the turnpike I heard a light bang followed by a flap flap of the tire. After a few miles the low pressure light came on. By the time I was able to pull off, my rear passenger tire was completely deflated. Once the spare was put on I inspected the bad tire and could only find a small nick (no nail or anything) in the center tread. It doesn't seem big enough or deep enough to have caused the quick loss in pressure. Does anyone know what could have caused this? A similar thing happened to a friend and they just remounted it and it was fine again.

I checked the pressure on the tires including the spare that was just put on (no air added from what was already in it), and they read at 45 psi. I know the max psi for the BF Goodrich Long Trails is 35 psi COLD so is this difference expected from driving on them for 10 miles or so? I let the mechanic check the tires when I'm in for oil but I will check again when they are cold. I'm wondering if they were over-inflated and that caused my issue.

Thanks!

 

[HightecRednec]

It is possible (not sure how likely though) that the tire got unseated from the wheel and caused the sudden loss. A few things can cause this such as: the tire not being seated right when it was put on or even extremely low tire pressure (TPMS should have warned you if this was the case). Not sure what happened to you though, just thought I'd throw that out there as a possibility.

Tires will not gain 10 psi from running down the road, especially in a 10 mile trip. At most, even on long highway trips in 90*+ heat, they will only go up maybe 3-4 psi. So your tires were over inflated.

 

[Nissan4Life]

They often over inflate the spare tire. Assuming a slight loss of pressure will occure over time, they want the spare to still have enough air in it to do the job.

As for the sudden loss of pressure. YOu might have hit something on the road and unseat the bead You might have a huge cut in it as well, jsut hard to tell when the tire is no infalted. Blow it up and inspect. Squirt soapy water on it to help locate any leaks.

 

[drb0587]

Hmm, that nick i thought wasn't deep enough was apparently leaking air after I tried to reinflate it. I guess it took a rock or something sharp the wrong way. I'm still surprised it went out so fast. I drove on the flat for a mile or so before pulling off, can the tire still be patched and saved, or is it best to replace? It looks like there are rub marks on the wall from the tire folding over itself.

I dropped the pressure in the tires down to 38psi hot, it makes the tires appear under-inflated in the front but maybe that's because of the soft rubber BFG uses.

 

[Clint]

I would replace the tire. Better to be safe than take any chances.

Clint

 

[wolfman437]

Youd have to take it to a shop and have them dismount it and inspect the inside. If the inside of the tire looks good then it should be alright. However as clint said, if you can afford a new one, better to be safe then sorry.

 

[hi-ho_silver]

Sounds like my Chicken Corners experience in Moab. Granted I was off road, and found out my tires were way over inflated at the time. But something punched a nice hole in the center of the tread, audibly loosing air. Stopped in the middle of the trail when I saw my TPMS light go crazy, got out and heard the ssssssssss and found the 1/8" sized hole. Got the spare on took it to the local tire shop in town, the old guy there did a wicked patch job. I didnt think it could be patched, but he plugged it then patched it from the inside too. Never had a problem with that tire again it held air when the other tires that never had a puncture etc would be low....

 

[Nissan4Life]

Just throw a bunch of plugs in it; you'll be fine

No seriously, like it was said: take it to a tire shop tell them to fix the flat. They will remove the tire from the rim, and patch it from the inside. Or they will tell you that the tire is fu(ked and you'll need to get another.

Funny thing is you always hear these "better safe than..." I was on a wheeling trip and be blew four tires between two truck. On one tire, we put in 6 plugs into a sideway and a can of fix-a-flat. Wheeled hard on it for two more days, then drove it 500 miles home. Tire was fine, didn't even wobble on the highway. Sure we fell victim to the BSTS mentality when we got home and replaced the tire, but I am sure that thing would have ran fine till the radials wore through.

 

[drb0587]

I ended up going the 'BSTS' route and bought a Prodigy tire from DTD. The BFG Long Trail had 20k on it and I don't expect the other 3 to last another 20k. When that time comes in a year or so I will be upgrading to the larger Pro-4X tire size.

Do most people upgrade their spare if they change tire sizes or will the stock spare be OK if needed?

 

[EB_05_NISMO]

I ended up going the 'BSTS' route and bought a Prodigy tire from DTD. The BFG Long Trail had 20k on it and I don't expect the other 3 to last another 20k. When that time comes in a year or so I will be upgrading to the larger Pro-4X tire size.

Do most people upgrade their spare if they change tire sizes or will the stock spare be OK if needed?

Upgrade the spare to the new size. It could cause issues running different size tires when using 4 wheel drive.