I posted this on my350z, but man, I'm still freaked out.

First the pics of the aftermath:









I still don't know what happened. I was driving last night around 9 pm to stay with my parents, in preparation for today's medical board exam. I'm going about 75 MPH on the freeway, and I start noticing the smell of burnt rubber. At first I thought that I passed a factory, but pretty soon the smell gets stronger. I start pulling towards the right shoulder, and as I do so, I hear the most God awful sounds coming from the car. Apparently that's when most of the tire disintegrated. I couldn't even stop, since at this point it's just Ray's forged aluminum going against asphalt/concrete. I somehow manage to avoid wiping out half the freeway as I start losing control, and I made it to a gas station.

I changed my tire with a spare. Ironically, I had just put one of my stock G35 18" rim/tire in the trunk that afternoon. And while I was driving, I was wondering if putting a 225/45/18 tire in the back would affect the VLSD if the other tire is a stock 245/45/18.

I was freaked out, pissed, and flat out shocked all at once. This homeless guy went up to me to ask for money while I was changing the tire, and I totally freaked and started going off on my disintegrated tire. He just backed off, and said, "Woah man, don't get mad!"

Hopefully I passed my exam today, but this was plain scary.

Has this ever happened to anyone with the stock Bridgestone Potenzas? The tire still had at least 70% tread left, and I just commute on the freeways in rush hour. I don't track this car, autocross, drag, etc.

There's all this burnt rubber stuck on my fenderwell, so I keep smelling that odor, and that keeps reminding me of last night. I think I have serious PTSD.

I'm going to write a letter to Bridgestone. I've had flat tires before, but I've never had a tire totally fall apart, and I didn't even hit anything!

Any idea of my rim can be saved?

 

damn sorry to hear, good thing you made it out okay

 

wow, that looks terrible. at least you were okay and this situation didn't induce an accident.

it looks like the tire came apart and somehow became tangled with the wheel, hence the burning smell. i'm hardly an expert with the bridgestone potenzas, but it looks like the tire you had was defective.

 

That's pretty ugly... Good thing you where able to stay in control...

 

E_K: It's tough to determine for sure whether or not the rim can be saved, but it's certainly possible. They have shops around the country that repair bent and damaged rims. The one near me "The Ole Wheel Shop" charges anywhere from $75 to $125 for repairs per wheel depending on how badly damaged the wheel is. When I raced I took my bent rims to them all the time and they did a great job. If you get AutoWeek, they run a weekly ad. BTW I haven't had a wheel repaired in a couple of years so my prices could be a tad off. Good luck.

 

Thanks Fast_1.

I'm smoothing out the rim lip right now. It looks like there was only about 0.5mm worth of material at got removed, and since the tire doesn't depend on that specific portion for sealing, hopefully I'll be ok.

I'm taking the rim to a shop on Saturday. I'll see what they think in terms of the rim's roundness. There's no obvious dents or bends, and I didn't hit anything. The poor rim just had to do the work of both rim and tire last night.

I wonder if I should write a letter to Nissan USA, just to let them know that the tire they're using on many of their cars totally fell apart on me.

 

wow,do i smell lawsuit? glad you're ok.

 

Absolutely, except I think you should start with your dealer and see if they can guide you. The tire should be looked at by a Bridgestone rep and they should pay for your rim repairs and give you a new tire.

 

Man, glad you are well to speak of the incident. It was a good day . . . Depending on how you view it.

 

Not to insult your car awareness skills, but could it be possible that the tire started leaking air at a rate that wasn't noticeable while you were driving at highway speeds? I had a Bridgestone go out on me because of that. The loss of air was subtle enough that I didn't notice until the tire just shredded apart. Of course that was a 215/40/17. Very narrow side wall. I dunno...just my guess. Glad you didn't wipe out!

-Andy

 

Hope everything works out for you. Didn't the low tire pressure light go on? Just curious how reliable the sensors are.

 

dang....alien attack? or like in the movie Jeeper Creeper II?

 

Hmmm....I would have guessed the sensors would hve picked up any low pressure issue. Have you spoken to the dealer about your situation?

Glad to hear you're well.

 

Right. Good luck proving that road debris wasn't the cause. Even if it was a defective tire it is nearly impossible to prove it.

 

My car's a 2003, so no TPS.

As far as air leaking out, that's certainly a possibility. However, the tire didn't look abnormal before I got in the car. I had wiped my rims that afternoon, and didn't notice anything.