Tires: anecdotal confirmation of a post seen last month on DU.

[DemoTex]

At least, I think it was on DU that I saw a post on how .. in the face of $5/gal diesel fuel .. truckers are running tires longer and/or replacing them with cheaper re-caps.

Yesterday I drove 196 miles from Greenville, SC, to Griffin, Ga.: I-85, I-285, I-675, and I-75. The sides of the interstate highways, and often the roadways, were littered with what must be .. in the aggregate .. tons of truck tire debris. Sometimes it became an obstacle course in my little low-slung Prius. The roads did not used to be this way.

On I-75 southbound I witnessed a scary incident involving truck tires. In heavy, fast-moving traffic an 18-wheel truck ahead of me had to slam on brakes. The trailer started fish-tailing and trailer tire shards (from rear tires on both sides) started separating and hitting the cars immediately behind the truck. A melee ensued, with the truck and several cars coming to smokey stops on the roadway and shoulder. Amazingly, none of the vehicles collided.

A little later I related my experience to my brother who drives I-75 a couple of times a week to visit our mom in the nursing home in Griffin. He had seen a similar incident on I-75 north of Atlanta just last Thursday.

[Tesha]

1. I've noticed this as well.

An alternative explanation, of course, is that the
State Police (etc.) are less willing to pull the
shards out of the roads than they used to be, but
I think you've got the better explanation.

Tesha

[A HERETIC I AM]

2. Tire tread separation happens to original tires too, not always recaps.

The primary reason for it is improper inflation vs. load. Improperly inflated tires heat up to a higher degree than properly inflated ones and that can lead to the tread releasing from the tire body.

Also keep in mind ambient air temperature and the temperature of the road surface. Has it been particularly hot on the stretch of road you are referring to? This can add to the frequency of heavy truck tire failure.

[DemoTex]

4. It happens to Boeing 737-400 tires (220 PSI) too!

I had a main gear tire blow on takeoff roll at about 140 knots coming out of PHX on a 37C day (100+F degrees). We barely felt it and would not have known what it was except the tower reported a puff of smoke and tire debris on the runway after our liftoff. We had already retracted the gear when tower called. There was no wheel-well fire light, so we pressed on to PHL (we might have re-cycled the gear once to cool things off .. I really can't remember). At Philly we made an uneventful landing (long .. minimum braking) on 9R.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I've seen a lot of truck tire FOD lately, too.

I assumed it had something to do with the crappy condition of the freeways around here. But maybe it's the cheaper tires?

[Canuckistanian]

5. Warmer weather takes it's tolls on truck tires as well.

As they get more sustained heating, the separation cracks accelerate.

I notice it here in Canada where we have a big difference between winter and summer temperatures.