Who'da Thunk It....

[Zilverado]

So this is interesting - at least to me....

I go out to my truck the other day (I had it parked on the street). I look in the box where my spare has been laying for quite some time. The tire is an old, worn out thing on a painted steel rim. Nothing worth steeling, so I just leave it laying loose.

Well, I look at the tire and see it's completely destroyed. My first thought was it had been slashed - horribly!!! But it also looks like a blow-out. But it's just been laying in the box...

Well, later that day I stop at a tire shop and the guy confirms it's a blow-out. He said it certainly can happen, even if the tire is not "loaded". Just the 32 lbs of pressure can do it if the tire is in bad shape (and this one certainly was that). Musta' scared the crap out of anyone walking down the sidewalk at the time. I'd imagine it must of sounded like a gun shot.

The scary thought is that just a couple of months ago I used this tire for about 2 weeks while I had one of my regular ones waiting for a me to replace the valve stem. It was the front right. I'm just glad this didn't happen while I was on the road.

So that's it. Just thought I'd share my little experience.

[Blue_71]

that happened to both front firestones on the 74 while it was just sitting in the back yard... happened around the same time, same day... one blow out completly (from rim to rim) and the other just peeled the tread

[Mike76251]

The same thing happened to me a couple of years ago.
I had mine just laying in the bed and all of a sudden one hot July day.........BOOOOOOM. That thing sounded like a half a stick of dynamite going off.
I got busy real quick and made a bracket to put it back under the rear bumper.(couldn't use the factory bracket 'cause I put a hitch on it)
If you had anybody with a weak heart walking by your truck when that tire blew you could at least send flowers to the funeral.

[c10scotty]

wow thats crazy, never would have thought bout that.

[old Rusty C10]

first time i ever heard of something like that happening but i guess its possible with all these stories about it guess the moral of the story is to make sure your tires are in good shape and to avoid firestones

[Blue Beard]

I thought he was going to tell us about some stash in there..............

[68 Stepside]

It's happened to me before as well. I had just gotten home from working the graveyard shift at the factory, and took off the left front tire, because I noticed it had a "cup" in the tread. I then went in the house, took a shower, and laid down to sleep for a few, before I went to get the tire fixed. Next thing I know, it sounded like someone dropped a grenade in my driveway.....

I walked outside, and my tire looked just like the one you posted....

Odd thing was, it had a lot of tread left on it.....lucky I wasn't driving on it when it exploded

[pkbinplano]

Not related but surprises in the back of a truck bed remindes me of what happened to my bro in law. He was jogging early one dark morning by a truck. A cat jumped out of the bed on to the top of the bed just as my bro in law was passing. Startled him so bad he punched the cats lights out , out of startled reaction. Bet that cat saw stars for awhile. . LOL

[PHOENIX]

I had an old spare in the back of my truck forever. One day it looked almost just like that. Now I have NO spare

[LOHRTBT]

lol....that is crazy.