GoPackGo wrote:
This doesn't make sense to me. If a tire starts to leak down, why would it 'blowout' as mine did ? I don't think it would. It would continue to leak air until pressure is equal to the outside, while the tire disintegrates. A blowout will result from some kind of catastrophic failure, not a slow leak.
Because a tire that has leaked down is now running severely overloaded and heats up before failing violently. With tires carrying near their weight limit, it doesn't take much of a decrease in pressure to cause this.
I had what later turned out to be a leaky rim on a snowmobile trailer. The first tire was found flat after parking for the night and was old enough we just replaced it. The replacement tire blew (bang, smoke) while on the freeway. Once I got home, the next tire place determined the rim had a slow leak which is what killed both tires.