Posted by Rob Wunsche on September 04, 1996 at 17:11:25:
I had a friend once with an Eagle Talon Tsi AWD. I was behind him in my Turbo
Sunturd, cruising along I-75. He left me in the dust, pulling away at 130-135mph.
Up ahead, at ~130mph, one of his brand new Dunlop SP8000s (rear passenger-side)
completely deflated! All I saw was smoke. I could smell burnt rubber. For a minute,
I thought I'd blown my engine (night-time, smoke coming from all over my car's
underside). In fact, what had happened was the tire was melted like a liquid, and it
had sprayed/spattered all over my underside and was burning off my exhaust.
What happened was he had found a small nail stuck into the sidewall of the tire, and
procrastinated getting it fixed for over a week (it wasn't leaking at all, but the
nail was still in there). At that speed, it must have let go and suddendly deflated.
The tread was gone, still in a complete loop, but separated from the sidewall and
sitting on the side of the road. The sidewalls were melted to the rim, and they were
actually supporting the weight of the car, so the rim wasn't damaged at all. Somehow
he managed to get the car stopped w/out spinning out and killing himself, but he was
pretty shaken up. It was a brand-new $200 tire.
BTW, those tires were *amazing* at high speeds. Very stable, to say the least.
Phenominal grip, but they didn't last very long at all.
-Rob