calling all flat-tire forensic detectives ...

So last night riding home (on relatively good road conditions Augusta Blvd.) I begin to feel some "uneveness" to the rear wheel, but keep riding. A minute or so later I hear the dreaded 'pop' and the tire goes flat. Get home (it was 2 blocks from my house) and start to inspect things : there is a long gash (maybe 2") in the tube; the puzzling thing the tire was blown out (about the same width as the tube's gash) just under the wire bead : this is a two week old tire so it cannot be worn out. But it does not look like the tire damage was from a foreign object. i.e. no nail, glass, etc. in the tire and no small holes in the tube. Question : Without seeing the evidence, any ideas as to how this happened ? Was it a result of me mouting the tire/tube incorrectly ? thanks in advance

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Permalink Reply by Apie (11) on June 5, 2013 at 2:44am

Sounds about right Jeff, due to the "uneveness" felt before the the blowout

Permalink Reply by David P. on June 5, 2013 at 2:48am

I suspect a quality-control issue with the tire that led to its failure. If there is a cut that size in the sidewall coincident with the cut in the tube, then the tire failed first (this is when you felt the wobble) and the tube failed a few minutes later when it went through the cut in the tire.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 5, 2013 at 2:51am

Get the tire exchanged. There is no reason that should happen after 2 week, assuming you kept it properly inflated.

Sounds like you got a lemon. Any good tire brand will replace that tire free of charge

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 5, 2013 at 3:05am

No, a good bike shop will replace it free of charge and may, or may not, get reimbursed by the manufacturer.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

Get the tire exchanged. There is no reason that should happen after 2 week, assuming you kept it properly inflated.

Sounds like you got a lemon. Any good tire brand will replace that tire free of charge

Permalink Reply by Steve Courtright on June 5, 2013 at 3:12am

Agree with David.  I suspect the tire.

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 5, 2013 at 3:47am

No, a good tire brand will exchange the tire free of charge. I buy my tires directly from Schwalbe (mainly because no store in the city carries my tires type). When one of my tires failed after 1000 miles or so, all it took was to fill out an online form, upload some pictures, and 3 days later I had a new tire on my doorstep. Free of charge.

Dan,

Take the tire back to wherever you got it (local shop, online) and explain the situation. They should be able to replace the tire for you.

notoriousDUG said:

No, a good bike shop will replace it free of charge and may, or may not, get reimbursed by the manufacturer.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

Get the tire exchanged. There is no reason that should happen after 2 week, assuming you kept it properly inflated.

Sounds like you got a lemon. Any good tire brand will replace that tire free of charge

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on June 5, 2013 at 4:42am

Sounds easier for you to warranty a tire than it is for a shop...

Any shop can order in the tire you like for probably the same price.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

No, a good tire brand will exchange the tire free of charge. I buy my tires directly from Schwalbe (mainly because no store in the city carries my tires type). When one of my tires failed after 1000 miles or so, all it took was to fill out an online form, upload some pictures, and 3 days later I had a new tire on my doorstep. Free of charge.

Dan,

Take the tire back to wherever you got it (local shop, online) and explain the situation. They should be able to replace the tire for you.

notoriousDUG said:

No, a good bike shop will replace it free of charge and may, or may not, get reimbursed by the manufacturer.

Duppie 13.5185km said:

Get the tire exchanged. There is no reason that should happen after 2 week, assuming you kept it properly inflated.

Sounds like you got a lemon. Any good tire brand will replace that tire free of charge

Permalink Reply by Nancy L. Fagin on June 7, 2013 at 6:59am

i used to get "rattle snake" bites in my tubes.  Over and over again.  Two fang like marks along the rim.  Proper full inflation (a tire pump with a gauge) works wonders.  Maybe the wheel rim needs a minor sanding, too. 

Nancy

Permalink Reply by Bob Kastigar on June 7, 2013 at 7:18am

All good advise, let me add on thing: use baby power to coat the tube, it allows it to move easily when inflating-deflating-inflating the tire/tube.

Jeff Schneider said:

My guess is that the tube was not seated entirely inside the tire - i.e., that part of it was pinched under the wire bead of the tire.

When I mount a tire, I inflate the tube partially, then deflate it and squeeze the tire all around to make sure the bead is seated on the rim, the tube stem is straight, etc.

Permalink Reply by Julia 3.5/7.5 mi on June 7, 2013 at 7:21am

Started doing this after I accidentally blew out the sidewall on an older tire by inflating to full pressure right away. Baby powder is awesome stuff.

Bob Kastigar said:

All good advise, let me add on thing: use baby power to coat the tube, it allows it to move easily when inflating-deflating-inflating the tire/tube.

Permalink Reply by bradford powell on June 7, 2013 at 11:58am

Forensic work without directly seeing the evidence is not impossible .  What would help me and anyone else following this as an exercise in forensics, is a photo.     Or an explanation of what you mean't  "tire was blown out"... several people who  have responded took that to mean tube had been sitting under the bead of your tire and eventually lifted the bead (which has a fixed circumference) higher than the rim flange.

If that is what happened , why did it happen?

1. Is there  a "flattened" (out of round) section of your rim.  That is one way, the bead can be lifted over the edge of the rim flange.

2.  Did, as some suggest , the bead of the tire never get seated properly when the tire was mounted?  Better than any bike repair book I've seen, go directly to  Michelin tire company 's website to learn how a section of the tube under a section of the bead can lift the bead up an over the rim. The bead seat and bead seat diameter are concepts seldom discussed in bike repair books, but if one is going to be the master detective of ones own flat fixing I would recommend learning the exact minutia of this problem.

Under or over is a relative term  and responders have gone in two distinct directions.  Several took the phrase "just under the wire bead" to mean poorly seated bead , but Dave interpreted the casing of the tire separated "above" the bead.

  If the tire casing in the vicinity of the "blow out" has a two inch  separation from the bead of the tire my guess is that repeated abrasion with a brake pad caused the separation. 

Is your rim "out of true" or out of "round"  (does wheel spin in a true plane without wobbling, or does your wheels rim have a section of the rim that has been flattened)?

Permalink Reply by John C. Wilson on June 7, 2013 at 1:19pm

Simple way to tell if it was a brake pad: Where is the pad rubbing now? I assume you've got a tire on the rim at the moment. Are you still braking on a tire? Squeeze hard. This is also a good time to check and see if maybe the brake pads are flopping around, changing position just from taking wheels in and out. If all answers are negative, it wasn't the pads. If any answer is positive, move those pads before you destroy the next tire.

Yes, it could be a manufacurer's defect and covered under warranty. That is a one in a thousand shot. Even if you can get it replaced that way. Better to search for the cause before you go there.

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