fltsfshr

I ran across alligator alley today. On the way home a boxter and a cayman and I were cruising up in the triple digit range when my right front S02 shredded. Totaly tread separation, the tire came completely apart. I never felt anything till it happened. I don't think I hit anything and I'd checked the pressure this morning before I left.

The S handled it well, I never lost any control, brought it safely to a stop. The cayman behind me stopped. He couldn't believe it. All he saw was a chunk fly and it was gone. I've got some tire black on the rf fender and a small tear in the fender liner. Damn it.

Anyway I had to sit out there on the alley because my spare, which I never use, was flat. Be sure and check the pressure in your spare. Normally I have a compressor and things in my car from autox but this time I'd taken it all out.

Fortunately I called a friend and came out in his S4. I want that jack that comes with an s4. That is sweet.

Now to the gators. It took Jared a couple hours to get out there. So I sat in the S and watched the canal next to the road. It was full of them. They were all floating high and soaking up sunshine. I'm glad there was a fence between me and them.


fltsfshr

Rdrunner

Sorry about the damage.

Sounds like you were really lucky, at that speed a whole lot can happen quickly.

Gators

Kyras

Good that you're fine and the S handled it alright. The damage doesn't show, does it, unless you get under the wheel area?

Aligators are scary to me. Only seen them in the zoo. They look so prehistoric.

What's a s4?

fltsfshr

I can't say enough about how well my S handled it. I was in awe when I stopped and looked. I'm running a tein suspension and I'm corner balanced, I don't know if that helped or not but I stayed true after the intial correction and never lost any control.

One thing I did discover is I'm faster than a cayman. We ran them up and down a couple times.

My car looks funny with a safety spare on it


fltsfshr

mikegarrison

Sounds to me more like he did what he was supposed to do, and didn't panic. In general, tire failure should not mean crashing the car. Usually if that is the result, it is because the driver screwed up. (There are exceptions, though, such as when it happens in a high speed corner.)

One question, though: when was the last time you checked your tire pressures? That's the usual reason for tire failure.

fltsfshr

Mike

I checked them this morning before I left, 32 all the way around. I had to do it as I was autoxing the weekend before and had them up at 34. I also walked around the car before I left from Pompano Beach and never felt a thing until the failure.

I'm going to take the tire in and give to them to look at. There's not much left. I'm wondering if I had a separation. If I hit something, I never felt it.

The alley is a 100 mile drive with only 2 exits and everglades on both sides of he road. I never felt anything before the failure, not even a chatter or bump. tires had lots of tread left about 10k on them.


fltsfshr

fltsfshr

Patty an S4 is an Audi. Nice car. Nice jack too.

fltsfshr

oakfloor

how old was your tire?

mikegarrison

Hmm. Maybe you picked up a nail on your drive, causing the tire pressure to go down. Or maybe it was some other kind of failure. It would be interesting to find out.

raymo19

I'm wondering about that too. Dry rotting perhaps? I'm glad if it had to happen it was a front instead of a rear - that may have been much more interesting.

How many miles of that speed had the tires had prior to today?