I’m sure your first question is, “Where have we been?”. While we have not been writing much for our own blog, we have been contributing content for RV magazine and others inside the Rv community. We apologize for not posting sooner. We have a very good reason why we have been pretty silent. And if you bear with us, this blog series will give you all the info. Let’s get started….
RV Tire Blowout! Part 1
Making memories is one of the things I love about the RV lifestyle. Visiting a historic site, experiencing a football tailgating or just spending a much needed break from the everyday stress of life at a beachfront camping site. All those experiences or memories were made possible through our RVing lifestyle. In life, there are always good and bad memories. The memory of our first tire blowout was bad, yet could have been much worse. Let me tell you all about it and you can decide for yourself.
We take the maintenance of our RV very seriously. It’s our home away from home and taking care of all the mechanical details of it helps us feel confident in spending so much time in our RV. Maintaining your tires, checking the treads, knowing your tire pressure and keeping track of your tire manufacturer dates are key factors. We did all those things. Knowing that our tires were getting to the point where we needed to plan for replacement, we were even more vigilant as to the state of our tires. Even with all that, it finally happened, one of our worst nightmares. We had a major tire blowout. Here’s what happened…..
We were traveling on I 75 north in Florida, heading back to the Atlanta area after a tremendous few weeks of “winterizing in Florida We were already dealing with the fact that I had Covid and was isolating in the RV with the dog. Feeling okay, we decided to head back to Georgia. About an hour or so from the border of Georgia/Florida, I was driving in the middle lane about 65 mph. On a long drive like that, I get to a set speed and utilize cruise control. I suddenly felt a very rough rumbling like I was driving over speed bumps. I checked the tire monitor to see if there was any issue with my tires and there were no alarms and nothing out of the ordinary. So I tried to relax, maybe I ran over some road debris. Then it happened, I heard a loud boom and knew something was wrong, very wrong.
I did not panic, thank goodness I turned off cruise control to begin slowing down the vehicle. I could feel my 43 foot RV being pulled to the right. This was made more difficult by Ebony, our dog who was terrified by the loud boom. She jumped from the passenger seat and tried to hide between my legs. Can you imagine trying to control this 40,000 pound RV with your dog between your legs and the pedals? I told myself to stay calm and focus. So I turned on my blinker and slowly navigated to the side of the road. Once I reached the side of the road on this busy highway, I tried to get off on the shoulder as far to the grass as possible. At that point, I could feel the RV tilting to the right. I knew my worst nightmare had come true, a major tire blowout.
Luckily I was not hurt, and I was able to safely get off to the side of the road. Well, most of the RV was off the road. As I look back, I’m so thankful that I had taken the time to watch a few YouTube videos on what to do during a tire blowout. I remembered its warning, “do not step on the brakes”. Those tips and seeing the video helped me stay calm during this challenging experience. I was also wondering how the Tyron rim system performed. We purchased the system when we bought the RV. It’s a metal band that wraps around the front tire rims and supposedly was to dramatically help the driver control the RV in the event of a tire blowout. It cost us a few extra thousand and I was ready to see if it did its job.
So I gathered my nerves and stepped outside to assess the damage. Talk about a big surprise. I have heard about extensive damage that a tire blowout could cause but was not prepared for the massive amount of damage that this tire blowout caused. The wheel well was completely blown out, I could see the sidewall bent and deformed and the RV was sitting on the rim. I had very little hope that this RV would be drivable in the short term. My wife, Tia, was following me in her mothers RV and had pulled over 100 feet behind. She came up to make sure I was okay. The look on her face said it all. The question that we were now faced with was what to do next?
I have heard good and bad stories about all roadside assistance and this is the first time in my six years of RVing that I would have to finally place a call and try to utilize a service that I’ve been paying for. Was I nervous? Heck yeah, I’ve done plenty of research on the different companies and used a few different ones over the years. As fate would have it that year, I had chosen to try Good Sam Insurance to cover not only my RV but all my vehicles. Did I make a good choice? You’ll find out in part two of our tire blowout experience.
Keith of Soulful RV Family
