Semi tire retread smashed up my car

mca47

Son of a bitch! :x
Driving around 70mph on the highway this afternoon. Semi in from of me has a retread blown from his tire. Debris everywhere...the entire fn thing comes flying back and hits my front bumper and goes under my car. I was in the middle lane with cars on both sides and behind...no swerving or hard braking possible. After it hit me it then broke apart and hit about 3 more cars behind me.
Didn't get get truck number so I'm gonna have to eat the cost of the deductible to get it fixed. :x :x Bumper is fucked up and it ripped off the deflector plate underneath the car...and possibly more damage I didn't see.
I know that shit happens but here in AZ, those fn retreads litter the highways. There are a lot more here due to the heat, but this is some serious bullshit. Drive on any highway here and if your not dodging large fn chunks of hardened rubber in the road, you dodging large fn chunks of hardened rubber that are airborn and unavoidable....
If I was on a motorcycle I would have been killed.

I know there are truck drivers on here so let me ask you...

I know retreads save a ton of money for the trucking companies, but is there really not a better option?

JonnyPistachio

That sucks, glad you're ok though.
The same exact thing actually happened to me when I was driving across Florida for the last pearl jam show in Tampa. The plastic deflector under my car is held on by gas station zip ties now.

mca47

JonnyPistachio wrote:

That sucks, glad you're ok though.
The same exact thing actually happened to me when I was driving across Florida for the last pearl jam show in Tampa. The plastic deflector under my car is held on by gas station zip ties now.

I take my car in on Monday. In the mean time I have my deflector plate hanging on by an old shoe string!

SPEEDY MCCREADY

Could have been worse.
You are ok. And that is all that matters.
Your car will be fixed.

It could have been worse.

BinauralJam

Was it Mickeyrat? Glad you're O.K.

mickeyrat

BinauralJam wrote:

Was it Mickeyrat? Glad you're O.K.

HEY!!!!

No it wasn't.

At anyrate, it may not have been a retread. Even brand new "virgin" rubber can do that. Usually, based on my limited knowledge, the tire had blown well before seperation. Driver either didn't feel it or did and didnt care. The heat that builds up on a flat is what causes seperated tread from casing.

AZ heat in the summer just kills tires. Virgin rubber is best in those conditions but still , shit happens.


Question though, how closely were you following?

In the future leave room behind (look for truck mirrors) and dont travel in a pack. Leave yourself an out.

and like Speedy said, it could have been worse. You get to be on here to bitch about it!!!

mca47

mickeyrat wrote:

BinauralJam wrote:

Was it Mickeyrat? Glad you're O.K.

HEY!!!!

No it wasn't.

At anyrate, it may not have been a retread. Even brand new "virgin" rubber can do that. Usually, based on my limited knowledge, the tire had blown well before seperation. Driver either didn't feel it or did and didnt care. The heat that builds up on a flat is what causes seperated tread from casing.

AZ heat in the summer just kills tires. Virgin rubber is best in those conditions but still , shit happens.


Question though, how closely were you following?

In the future leave room behind (look for truck mirrors) and dont travel in a pack. Leave yourself an out.

and like Speedy said, it could have been worse. You get to be on here to bitch about it!!!

I was a good distance back. I could have dodged it had I not had cars on the sides and a few behind me. At 70-75 mph there wasn't much to do but hope it went under me...which it did but it also got my bumper.
Just glad the airbags didn't go off because that likely would have caused a much bigger issue. Also glad I wasn't in a regular car (I have a SUV crossover that has decent ground clearance). A regular car would have seriously been fucked up!
Mickey...had I stopped would the trucking company be liable for the damage? Would their insurance have covered it?

mickeyrat

mca47 wrote:

mickeyrat wrote:

HEY!!!!

No it wasn't.

At anyrate, it may not have been a retread. Even brand new "virgin" rubber can do that. Usually, based on my limited knowledge, the tire had blown well before seperation. Driver either didn't feel it or did and didnt care. The heat that builds up on a flat is what causes seperated tread from casing.

AZ heat in the summer just kills tires. Virgin rubber is best in those conditions but still , shit happens.


Question though, how closely were you following?

In the future leave room behind (look for truck mirrors) and dont travel in a pack. Leave yourself an out.

and like Speedy said, it could have been worse. You get to be on here to bitch about it!!!

I was a good distance back. I could have dodged it had I not had cars on the sides and a few behind me. At 70-75 mph there wasn't much to do but hope it went under me...which it did but it also got my bumper.
Just glad the airbags didn't go off because that likely would have caused a much bigger issue. Also glad I wasn't in a regular car (I have a SUV crossover that has decent ground clearance). A regular car would have seriously been fucked up!
Mickey...had I stopped would the trucking company be liable for the damage? Would their insurance have covered it?

I would expect there would need to be some kind of report filed for ins to cover. I havnt heard of one paying though. Doesnt mean it cant happen. I suppose it would depend on circumstances. Could it be proved that the driver knew it had blown and kept on at speed? Thats the only thing I could think that would make them or the driver liable. otherwise its an act of god thing.


So the lesson is where ever possible leave yourself an out, expensive to learn to be sure . But it could save a life in the future.

elvistheking44

mca47 wrote:

mickeyrat wrote:

BinauralJam wrote:

Was it Mickeyrat? Glad you're O.K.

HEY!!!!

No it wasn't.

At anyrate, it may not have been a retread. Even brand new "virgin" rubber can do that. Usually, based on my limited knowledge, the tire had blown well before seperation. Driver either didn't feel it or did and didnt care. The heat that builds up on a flat is what causes seperated tread from casing.

AZ heat in the summer just kills tires. Virgin rubber is best in those conditions but still , shit happens.


Question though, how closely were you following?

In the future leave room behind (look for truck mirrors) and dont travel in a pack. Leave yourself an out.

and like Speedy said, it could have been worse. You get to be on here to bitch about it!!!

I was a good distance back. I could have dodged it had I not had cars on the sides and a few behind me. At 70-75 mph there wasn't much to do but hope it went under me...which it did but it also got my bumper.
Just glad the airbags didn't go off because that likely would have caused a much bigger issue. Also glad I wasn't in a regular car (I have a SUV crossover that has decent ground clearance). A regular car would have seriously been fucked up!
Mickey...had I stopped would the trucking company be liable for the damage? Would their insurance have covered it?

If you had a flat and your shit hit the car behind you would your insurance cover it? It was a flat tire, this shit happens.

SatansFuton

Pretty much the exact same thing happened to my dad, but he panicked and swerved, hitting the car next to him to avoid the debris. But Werner (the trucking company) paid for all the bills for both drivers.

Also, years ago I worked as a service writer at a diesel shop. One night this same thing happened to two trucks. The company of the lead truck paid for the repairs and roadcall fees for both their truck and the one that was damaged behind.

Because of those two instances I assumed that whoever's equipment was responsible, that's who was liable. Even if there was no operator error or maintenance issues. Nobody said "Shit happens" or "Act of God" in either of those instances. Maybe they paid to avoid further entanglements. But that instance with the two trucks, the company that paid were VERY unhappy about it. If they weren't liable, I don't think they would have paid. That's mainly the only reason I remember the incident, because I spent half the night arguing with some guy over the phone about the bill and not being able to get a PO from him. My boss had to work on them some more the next day to get it. And also because he was complaining about recaps, blaming the blowout on a recap and saying they should be outlawed, then when he didn't like our new tire prices wanted recaps.

Mike's Side

Retreads are dangerous. Had one curl up under my car and snap my crankshaft in a freshly built race motor when I was about 19. No fun

mca47

ofthegirl99 wrote:

If you had a flat and your shit hit the car behind you would your insurance cover it? It was a flat tire, this shit happens.

Yeah. If my car blew a tire, or did anything to cause someone else to drop hundreds of dollars on a deductible, then I'd expect my insurance to cover them.

brianlux

Scary stuff, mca47! Nothing like shit flying at you on a freeway! Glad you got through ok, but bummer about your car.

I've heard ladders are one of the more common freeway dodge balls.

At about 70 MPH I once saw a 10 foot 2x12 board slide off a pickup truck rack in front of me on US 101. The board landed flat and slid straight back and my little Riley 1.5 (an MG sedan) managed to skim right over it without a nick. Totally fucking lucky.

Mamasan23

Yikes!!! Glad you're OK tho

rick1zoo2

oh, retREad......at first glance, I read that wrong..... :fp:


glad you are ok, sounds like a scary moment.

mickeyrat

rick1zoo2 wrote:

oh, retREad......at first glance, I read that wrong..... :fp:


glad you are ok, sounds like a scary moment.

well now you have to tell us what you thought it was. We can handle it. we're grown ups.(mostly)