Tech Tips
Blowout! Be prepared in case it happens to you
By Gerry Bruder

The tire, about four years old, was too badly damaged to determine what caused the blowout.

We were southbound on Route 95 a few miles south of the tiny settlement of Vidal, California, when I routinely glanced in the pickup's side window to check for traffic approaching from behind. I saw no vehicles, but something flapping at the rear of the fifth-wheel caught my eye. "Uh, oh," I said to my wife, thinking a hatch had come open. I pulled onto the shoulder to investigate, walked back and discovered that the left rear tire had blown. The flapping had been a section of molding damaged when the tire let go. This was our first blowout in 13 years of RVing.

Despite the isolated setting, my cell phone managed to grasp just enough of a signal to allow a call to our emergency road service. The dispatcher located a service station over in Parker, Arizona, that could send out a truck right away, and about an hour and a half after the blowout we were back on the road with our spare tire in place.

So we got off relatively easy, with only a minor inconvenience and delay. It could have been so much worse.

For instance, we neither heard nor felt the blowout. I would have kept right on driving had I not noticed something amiss when I looked in the mirror, and the friction of the wheel on the road might soon have sparked a fire.

Also, we were fortunate to have an adequate shoulder on the road. A long bridge, heavy city traffic, road construction, a steep incline and other situations would have made pulling over more difficult or even impossible. Darkness and bad weather likewise would have added complications and stress. We carry an orange traffic cone in the truck bed for breakdowns, and we set it out while waiting for help. Had the blowout happened at night, though, the cone would have been of limited use. We would have had only the flashing emergency lights on the trailer to alert traffic that we were stopped and disabled. In nighttime fog or heavy rain, flashing lights might not have been visible enough.

And if it had been a tire on the truck that blew, a sudden loss of control could have sent the rig careening off the road.

Here’s what the experience taught us:

--Stay alert for any hint of trouble. Check the rig over at each stop.

--Rehearse reaction to a possible blowout or other problem when the driving is challenging.

--Allow an extra margin of safety between your rig and other traffic.

--Make sure your rig is not overloaded and that its weight is properly distributed.

--Check your tires regularly for tread wear and proper inflation. Be sure to replace them after a maximum of seven years, the limit experts specify.

With the traffic cone in place, we deployed the awning, pulled lawn chairs out of the hold and relaxed while waiting for help.

--Have an emergency roadside kit suitable for nighttime use.

--Carry a spare tire for each vehicle in your rig, and keep it inflated.

--Safety and jack weight dictate that tire changes on large, heavy RVs be done by a professional with the right equipment.

--Subscribe to an emergency road service.

The law of averages maintains a tire-blowout list, but nobody knows which RVers are on it, or where their numbers lie. Be prepared.