Heavy tire controlled explosion test - videos

[Rogerm]

Back in the 70s I worked with a guy who had been inflating a tyre when it burst on him. The small fragments of rubber would come out of his skin. His face and neck looked as though he had been burnt.
In that video anyone standing close to that cage would have been lucky not to have suffered the same fate, along with some serious hearing damage.

[VinnieL]

Sometimes I have had problems with small tires for garden tractors and that type of application. I have a web-type Pony wood clamp that I wrapped around the tread and squeeze that usually helps, but I also have used the starting fluid (ether) as well.

[Frank S]

Sometimes I have had problems with small tires for garden tractors and that type of application. I have a web-type Pony wood clamp that I wrapped around the tread and squeeze that usually helps, but I also have used the starting fluid (ether) as well.

When tubeless tires first started to get popular on cars I used to wrap a rope around them then use my tire iron to twist the rope like a tourniquet. Once the bead would seat then I would remove the rope
There are only 2 reasons why a tire will explode not talking about the 2 3 and 4 piece rims here. either the tire has been over inflated or it is an old defective tire

[Jon]

Tractor trailer tire explosion captured in the wild. Look at how the shock wave clears the ice from the surrounding structures.

[ranald]

The culprit wheel/tyre was wobbly before the driver snugged it into the final blow out spot.

I' ve seen one stuck under an overpass on the M1: the driver was lucky as he was able to let some pressure out of several tyres and reverse out .Not sure of amount of damage to 1/2 inflated tyres but there wasn't much weight in his load.

[jimfols]

Tractor trailer tire explosion captured in the wild. Look at how the shock wave clears the ice from the surrounding structures.

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I like the way it deiced the office and the canopy.
The guy in the car was just leaving, bet he turned around and went back in and changed his shorts.

[astroracer]

Going home from work one night, leaving Livonia on I275 north. A HUGE flatbed truck was hauling even BIGGER tread lugs like for a bulldozer. My buddy was driving and we were just coming up on the left rear of the trailer when a tire let go. It sounded like a bomb went off and there was crap flying all over the place. I don't know how he did it but he missed all of the tire chunks flying through the air and spinning across the pavement. That was an eye opener for sure!
Mark

[cmarlow]

Where did all that smoke come from?

[Frank S]

Where did all that smoke come from?

That was something I didn't understand unless the trailer had disk brakes and the smoke was actually nothing more than brake dust being blasted off the rim when the tire blew out but then also why did the rim come off of the trailer usually when a tire blows it just blows. It is hard to know but the driver may have just come down a long steep hill and overheated the brakes to the point that the rim was hot enough to cause the tire to blow out. It looks like the trailer had wide heavy single tires instead of duels as well.
But the only explanation I can see for the dark cloud of smoke would be brake dust.

[jjr2001]

Sure glad I was not gassing up beside that truck when the tire let go!

Cheers, JR