It'll take more than a can of gunk to fix this tyre! (1 Viewer)

makems

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Many motorhomes are not supplied with a spare. Our Rapido wasn't.
But I thought it would be pushing our luck to go to Morocco without a spare.
I managed to get one from eBay for £50 including a completely unused tyre - it still had all the pimples on the tread.
Glad I did!
On our return journey we had a really explosive blow out on the motorway near Jerez in Southern Spain. The side wall has just vapourised as you can see from the photo.
It was absolutely peeing down at the time and I didn't want to try my (non-existent) mechanical skills nor the untested standard jack on a fully loaded 4 tonne van so I called the Safeguard Europe-wide toll-free breakdown number. It doesn't work with some mobile networks in some parts of Spain apparently - like O2 near Jerez! :Angry::Angry:
I got through on the UK number andwas quickly and efficiently dealt with.
A few minutes later a rep from a Spanish breakdown organisation called to find out where I was. I told him and gave him the exact sat nav coordinates. "Impossible" he said. You can't be on that road at those coordinates.
So I had to go out in the p*ssing rain and walk about half a mile to a post which showed the exact Km Number.
"Fine" he said "We'll get someone to you ASAP. Do you have a spare?"
"Yes"
"Do you have tools?"
"No - make sure you send someone with a proper jack"
2 hours later a recovery truck arrives with no tools. :Angry::Angry:
So we had to winch it on the back of the truck and go into a tyre depot in Jerez. where it took all of five minutes to put on the spare.
They didn't have anyCamper tyres and wanted 150 Euros for a van tyre which I knoew I could get a lot cheaper back in the UK so I thought "lightning can't strike twice can it?" :RollEyes: and decided to travel home without a usable spare.
A couple of days later after leaving Salamanca Gwen said she felt some vibration on the steering but then it went away a couple of minutes later.
I checked the front tyres when we stopped for diesel in Palencia and spotted a nail in the passenger side. :Eeek:
Fortunately there was a tyre depot 400 yards away so 30 minutes later and 5 Euros lighter we were on our way again. :thumb:
 

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Deckard

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Mar 26, 2013
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That looks pretty nasty, lucky it wasnt more serious....

Just out of curiosity how old was the tyre?
 
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Strewth...you've had your fair share of fun on that trip:Eeek:

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makems

makems

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The van was registered 28 Dec 2008 so just over 4 years old and had done 21000 miles.
I don't know how old the tyre was as the piece of rubber with this information has been vapourised.
 
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The van was registered 28 Dec 2008 so just over 4 years old and had done 21000 miles.
I don't know how old the tyre was as the piece of rubber with this information has been vapourised.

The commonest cause of a blowout like that is low pressure. Of course that could have occurred en-route due to a nail or something but tyre pressures on a campervan need watching.

Tim

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Rob and Val

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I checked the front tyres when we stopped for diesel in Palencia and spotted a nail in the passenger side. :Eeek:
Fortunately there was a tyre depot 400 yards away so 30 minutes later and 5 Euros lighter we were on our way again. :thumb:
I had in a similar experience in the UK, i.e. nail in tyre close to tyre depot. Easily fixed but as I was leaving someone called out "O.K., Joe, time to put some more nails out on the road!"
 
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makems

makems

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I had checked all the tyre pressures along with the oil and water etc before departure as I knew we were planning a long haul at (relatively) high speed.
I'm fairly sure the punishment the tyres received in Morocco had something to do with the failure.
 

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