Tire went flat in the driveay. Damage?

[mkirsch]

I came out this morning and the left tire on my utility trailer was dead flat. Just came back from a 260 mile round trip, and it was up and fine when I went to bed last night.

The valve stem failed catastrophically during the night. Glad it didn't happen on the road.

Would the tire have sustained any damage from just going flat in the driveway? Tire is only 2 years old.

[BenK]

Missing the 'over center' moment of the safety bead and that RMA and all tire/wheel OEMs say to NOT EXCEED 40 PSI during the tire seating process...AND...do NOT stand over the tire/wheel assembly during the seating process.

Wetting the tire & wheel bead area with soap isn't just to help the tire bead go over the rim, but to grease the sliding of the tire bead over the wheel safety bead.

Also, there is an instant acceleration and abrupt stop when the tire bead goes over the safety bead...to then hit the wheel rim.

If the rim isn't in good shape, it can come apart as the tire bead hits it.

Working my way through college had one part-time job as a tire monkey to pay for time at track sessions & to purchase tires wholesale. Owner hired a full time tire monkey after one of the senior guys retired. That new guy worked VERY fast but got fired after an explosion that almost blew out the showroom windows.

It knocked that guy down and the 2 guys on both sides of his workstation. The manager went over to check and first thing he checked was the tire machine's bead setting air line. That new guy had reset it to 90PSI...over twice the recommended max PSI of 40.

Using an explosive gas to seat the bead is VERY dangerous. Especially with an alloy wheel. Betcha that explosive gas PSI against the wheel rim is many times more than the recommended 40 PSI...

[mkirsch]

Grit dog wrote:

mkirsch wrote:

I've never been able to get the ether to do anything but light the tire on fire and burn off my knuckle hairs. Use a little. Tire fire. Use a little more. Bigger tire fire. Use even more. Even bigger tire fire. Just could not get the "whoomph!" that everyone else seems to be able to get.

You missed a critical step. Did you say "hold my beer" first?

Didn't have any beer, and nobody was around to hold one anyway...

I ended up getting pi$$ed off and using a ratchet strap.

[Grit_dog]

mkirsch wrote:

I've never been able to get the ether to do anything but light the tire on fire and burn off my knuckle hairs. Use a little. Tire fire. Use a little more. Bigger tire fire. Use even more. Even bigger tire fire. Just could not get the "whoomph!" that everyone else seems to be able to get.

You missed a critical step. Did you say "hold my beer" first?

[mkirsch]

Jarlaxle wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Can of starting fluid works better than strap, but likely to send old women screaming and waving hands.

It should probably be a felony, punished with 500 strokes of a barbed wire scourge. Some idiot's ether stunt permanently injured and almost killed my old boss.

I've never been able to get the ether to do anything but light the tire on fire and burn off my knuckle hairs. Use a little. Tire fire. Use a little more. Bigger tire fire. Use even more. Even bigger tire fire. Just could not get the "whoomph!" that everyone else seems to be able to get.

[Jarlaxle]

JRscooby wrote:

Part of my point made.
Any time you are around compressed gas, even air there is a chance to get hurt. For years I carried tire irons and patch kit. The tank needed for using large blast of air to get the bead to seal well enough to seat takes up too much room. Woof the bead to seal, inflate to seat, then let the air and unburned ether escape. Inflate to pressure.
Is there a risk? Some. But also a risk when use that tank to blast air in. But the risk to others is much less when the hole is properly patched compared to plugged. I never got hurt, I but also never got hurt working with split rim wheels, and many did.

No, the injury wasn't from seating the bead. Someone used way too much ether, and the tire seated (and the oxygen was consumed) before the ether burned off. They then inflted it with a hand pump, adding oxygen. When it was DISmounted, the bead breaker probably sparked against the rim...BOOM!

[JRscooby]

Jarlaxle wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Can of starting fluid works better than strap, but likely to send old women screaming and waving hands.

It should probably be a felony, punished with 500 strokes of a barbed wire scourge. Some idiot's ether stunt permanently injured and almost killed my old boss.

Part of my point made.
Any time you are around compressed gas, even air there is a chance to get hurt. For years I carried tire irons and patch kit. The tank needed for using large blast of air to get the bead to seal well enough to seat takes up too much room. Woof the bead to seal, inflate to seat, then let the air and unburned ether escape. Inflate to pressure.
Is there a risk? Some. But also a risk when use that tank to blast air in. But the risk to others is much less when the hole is properly patched compared to plugged. I never got hurt, I but also never got hurt working with split rim wheels, and many did.

[Jarlaxle]

Grit dog wrote:

Jarlaxle wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Can of starting fluid works better than strap, but likely to send old women screaming and waving hands.

It should probably be a felony, punished with 500 strokes of a barbed wire scourge. Some idiot's ether stunt permanently injured and almost killed my old boss.

I'm betting he didn't follow the proper steps for performing the stunt...Did he say "Hold my beer" first or not?

He didn't do it. The idiot that brought him the tire did it. He was DISmounting the tire when it turned into a fuel-air explosive.

[zanzarista]

I had a tire on my TT that would perpetually go low after sitting in the driveway. Not flat but lose 10 lbs if it sat for more than an a month. The trailer is a 2017 so the tires were still in good shape. I took it off and inspected for the usual foreign objects that can cause a leak. No Joy. I figured, well maybe its the bead, so I filled a coleman cooler with soapy water and put most of the tire in and looked for bubbles, which were hard to determine because of the soapy water! No Joy at the bead, valve or tread. By luck, I found the tiniest of pin holes in the casting of the wheel, right behind one of the spokes! That was the leak! I reached out to the vendor that supplied the wheels to the RV manufacturer and they didn't even hesitate to send me a new wheel. SO, if you can't find the leak in the valve or the bead or the tread, KEEP LOOKINGKEEP LOOKING. Best of Luck and Safe travels!

[Edd505]

Grit dog wrote:
The chance it sitting flat, stationary, did any damage is really small, not worth buying a tire if it's only 2 years old. That's just silly.

And no, you cant replace the stem without breaking a bead, although only need to break 1 bead and it doesn't need to go over the rim, so pretty easy driveway fix with a jack, wood block, and your trailer hitch on your truck.

Unless you replace it with a Colby valve, which are really handy, although quite expensive and IMO, better reserved for emergency repairs.

Wally World $10

[Grit_dog]

Jarlaxle wrote:

JRscooby wrote:
Can of starting fluid works better than strap, but likely to send old women screaming and waving hands.

It should probably be a felony, punished with 500 strokes of a barbed wire scourge. Some idiot's ether stunt permanently injured and almost killed my old boss.

I'm betting he didn't follow the proper steps for performing the stunt...Did he say "Hold my beer" first or not?

[Jarlaxle]

JRscooby wrote:
Can of starting fluid works better than strap, but likely to send old women screaming and waving hands.

It should probably be a felony, punished with 500 strokes of a barbed wire scourge. Some idiot's ether stunt permanently injured and almost killed my old boss.

[Bobbo]

mkirsch wrote:

Bobbo wrote:

Diamond c wrote:
Bobby I call B S on that!

Your refusal to believe does not make it false. Try it sometime.

I agree with the follow on post that says once the ratchet strap has the bead seated, you must put in some air before removing the strap.

Your definition of "seating" the bead differs from what is commonly accepted.

A bead is considered seated when it is pushed out tight against the outermost ridge of the rim, all the way around, on both sides.

There is no way for a strap to achieve that. A strap will push the tire's bead out to the step on the rim, cutting off airflow so you can inflate the tire and seat the bead, but it does not in and of itself "seat" the bead.

By the way, I did not have any issue seating the bead. All I had to do was lift up slightly on the tire and apply air.

You are right. My definition of "seating the bead" is when it will hold air for inflation.

Since the ultimate goal is to re-inflate the tire, my definition is good enough. Anything else is semantics. I am fine with you using whatever term you want to use.

[mkirsch]

Bobbo wrote:

Diamond c wrote:
Bobby I call B S on that!

Your refusal to believe does not make it false. Try it sometime.

I agree with the follow on post that says once the ratchet strap has the bead seated, you must put in some air before removing the strap.

Your definition of "seating" the bead differs from what is commonly accepted.

A bead is considered seated when it is pushed out tight against the outermost ridge of the rim, all the way around, on both sides.

There is no way for a strap to achieve that. A strap will push the tire's bead out to the step on the rim, cutting off airflow so you can inflate the tire and seat the bead, but it does not in and of itself "seat" the bead.

By the way, I did not have any issue seating the bead. All I had to do was lift up slightly on the tire and apply air.

[miltvill]

If you don't use metal valve stems then use the shortest valve stems you can find. Long valve stems may get damaged from the curb or a rock.