1. Why Blowouts Happen—and How to
Avoid Them
In the heat of summer vacation season, tires are
more prone to fail. We explain the main factors
that lead to a blowout.
Tire-blowout season runs from roughly the middle of May through early October.
(Tire companies closely track such information but guard it carefully.) The reason
more tires fail from late spring to early fall is simple: That's when the outside
temperature is the hottest, and when motorists are driving farther, and faster, in more
heavily loaded vehicles. The combination can push a neglected or injured tire
beyond its breaking point. However, tire failures can happen any time of year,
especially in the warmest parts of the United States. Besides heat and over weighted
cars, other major bad guys for tires include lack of proper air pressure and, of
course, impacts with obstacles.
Under inflation
Under inflation is the easiest way to kill a tire. After all, air is what allows a tire to
carry the weight of a vehicle and its cargo. Without proper air pressure, the internal
components of the tire—fabric, steel, rubber, and composites—flex beyond their
designed limits. What happens is much like bending a length of wire: Manipulate the

2. metal long and far enough and it will overheat and snap. Try it with an old-style wire
clothes hanger. (Warning: The failure point will be skin-burning hot.) Without proper
air pressure, the tire's internal pieces will over flex, weaken, and, eventually, fail.
Proper pressure for tires on recently produced cars can be found on the driver's side
door jamb. It's true that the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) has been
mandatory on all cars, pickups, and sport-utility vehicles since 2007, but that system
does not issue an alert until a tire is significantly underinflated. A responsible driver
still has to check tire pressure by hand or have someone such as a tire dealer do it
for him.
If you drive any distance with a radically underinflated tire, have a professional
demount the tire from the wheel and inspect its inside for any damage the low
pressure might have caused. The definition of "radically underinflated" for your tire
and vehicle combination can be found on your tire maker's website: If the pressure
drops much below 20 psi, the extra-cautious will want to have their tire inspected by
a pro.
Overloading
Overloading a vehicle can also fatally damage a tire. Just because your pickup's bed
will accept a full load of free mulch from the recycling center doesn't mean your tires
can carry the weight, especially if they're underinflated. When pulling a heavy-laden
trailer with your SUV, your 350-pound brother-in-law might have to find another ride.
To be sure about all this, you'll have to find your vehicle's Gross Vehicular Weight
Rating (it's on the same placard as the recommended tire pressure) and do the
math. Those who haul extra-heavy loads can increase a tire's weight-carrying
capacity by raising pressure to the "maximum load," indicated by the"maximum
pressure" number found on a tire sidewall. The number molded into the tire tells the
maximum weight the tire can carry if the tire is inflated to that maximum pressure.
Potholes
Another way to fatally injure a tire, especially with today's ultralow-profile rubber, is to
slam into pothole, driveway lip, or other road hazard. The impact pinches the tire's
internals between wheel and obstacle. If the hit is hard enough, it can cut or fray the
internals. Sometimes the pothole will cut all the way through fabric and rubber, and
the tire will die right there. Other times the damage won't show up for months. Which
brings us to:

3. The Slow Death
Commonly a tire suffers the damage that will cause its death long before it fails.
Sometime people forget to check their tire pressure—maybe the minivan was
hovering just above the TPMS warning threshold when the high school football
team's offensive linemen hopped in. Perhaps a driver doesn't realize he or she has a
slow leak (or procrastinates about it) and motors 20 miles before getting a repair.
Every now and then, a teen driver forgets to mention that encounter with the pothole.
Any of these can accelerate a tire's death. Perhaps months later, when the vehicle is
loaded with the entire family and rolling toward a vacation destination, the
combination of the heavy load, ambient temperatures in the 90s F, and highway
speed limits stresses the tire beyond its limits. The previously damaged tire can take
no more and fails.
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/
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