Saw a tire completely come off a bus

[y_p_w]

Just took my kid to Sacramento this weekend, and driving home I had to get out of the way of what looked like an intact bus tire just in one lane of a two lane onramp. Then maybe a quarter mile up the road I saw a large charter bus off in the shoulder resting on a wheel with absolutely no tire. Now I suppose that could have been a different tire from a different bus or truck, but it seemed pretty logical.

Anyone see anything quite like it? I've seen plenty of shredded tires or partial tires on the road or off to the side, but never one that came clean off the rim.

 

[supton]

Yes. Well, I didn't see it come off, but saw the after effects.

This past summer I was driving home after picking up my son. My mother was up, and she sent me a text about how my house was blocked by a bus, and that it'd be the site to see when I got home. Ok ma, whatever.

10 miles from home I came across a tire leaning against the guard rail. Did not think much of it. Got home, and on the side street to me is a tour bus. Stuck. Missing... a tire. Rim still in place, but no tire.

Best I can tell is that the tire rapidly lost pressure and then came off the rim; it was on the trailing axle though, not drive nor steer. Well, I say not steer; turns out that rear axle does turn. Anyhow, he rimmed it 10 miles to my house, where he overshot the road, then made a U turn (had to back up) and then attempted to go down my road. When he figured out this was not the right road (gee, a narrow one lane dirt road?) he couldn't back up, as the bus kept going to the ditch. Had to wait for a truck to come and install a new wheel.

 

[Danno]

Hoping the DOT officials take a close look at the maintenance records for the bus - and any pretrip inspections the bus driver performed.

Someone screwed up somewhere (obviously).

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Probably went flat and the driver didn't notice.

 

[01rangerxl]

A lot of those small bus companies with cheap fares are really sketchy, especially when it comes to maintenance. There have been many news stories on the $1 buses.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
A lot of those small bus companies with cheap fares are really sketchy, especially when it comes to maintenance. There have been many news stories on the $1 buses.


One of those lines had a fatal accident a few years ago when the driver ignored multiple signs for a low bridge and hit it full speed.

 

[Fleetmon]

There have been more than a few heavy vehicles that have lost a rear wheel/tire assembly...typically left rear. A lot of places don't practice re-torqueing wheels after changes which is something Alcoa and Accuride and probably a host of other wheel manufacturers require.

Normally, if just a tire is found then it's a case of a flat; an entire wheel/tire assembly is normally failed/loose lugs; and an entire drum/wheel/tire assembly is normally a failed wheel bearing.

WheelCheck sells a device that fits over the lug nuts of a vehicle that gives a visual indication that a lug nut may be loose and their website has several stories of the tragic results of wheel-offs of commercial vehicles.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Fleetmon
There have been more than a few heavy vehicles that have lost a rear wheel/tire assembly...typically left rear. A lot of places don't practice re-torqueing wheels after changes which is something Alcoa and Accuride and probably a host of other wheel manufacturers require.

Normally, if just a tire is found then it's a case of a flat; an entire wheel/tire assembly is normally failed/loose lugs; and an entire drum/wheel/tire assembly is normally a failed wheel bearing.

WheelCheck sells a device that fits over the lug nuts of a vehicle that gives a visual indication that a lug nut may be loose and their website has several stories of the tragic results of wheel-offs of commercial vehicles.


Those open you up to sabotage. Someone could losen the lug nuts and make them all match ...

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Just took my kid to Sacramento this weekend, and driving home I had to get out of the way of what looked like an intact bus tire just in one lane of a two lane onramp. Then maybe a quarter mile up the road I saw a large charter bus off in the shoulder resting on a wheel with absolutely no tire. Now I suppose that could have been a different tire from a different bus or truck, but it seemed pretty logical.

Anyone see anything quite like it? I've seen plenty of shredded tires or partial tires on the road or off to the side, but never one that came clean off the rim.

I know SFMTA/Muni runs Firestone City Transport tires, while AC Transit in Oakland runs a mix of Michelin XZUS and Goodyear rethreads. I haven't seen their tires fail.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: Danno
Hoping the DOT officials take a close look at the maintenance records for the bus - and any pretrip inspections the bus driver performed.

Someone screwed up somewhere (obviously).


Better watch out. When I made the comment that drivers should be responsible for their tires, I got all kinds of flak.

Apparently that is too much to ask.

Despite the fact that LARGE cunks of rubber, or worse, can to REAL damage to a vehicle, let alone a motorcycle!

 

[Chris142]

A truck or bus tire can go flat and put chunks all over the road without the driver knowing. So until they come up with tps this will keep happening and its not the drivers fault.an 11r22.5 or 24.5 can easily come off the rim when flat.they do not have safety beads

 

[Cardenio327]

It's quite common in the trucking industry.

I've had it happen to me personally. Liftable tag axle, rearmost tire on the passenger side. It was still there when I dumped the last load of the night, about 3 a.m. When I was fueling and doing the post-trip inspection it was gone! Tire, wheel and drum gone. The spindle was still there, as was the cotter pin and adjustment nut.

The boss was a little [censored], asked me if I was sure I hadn't seen, heard or smelled anything. I didn't, it was at the very rear of a 53 foot long trailer, at night, and on the passenger side, and besides it was lifted on the trip back, not even in contact with the ground.

Where I unloaded the last trip you have to make a tight u-turn to line up with the unloading area, it probably broke then and fell off later.

 

[eljefino]

I saw a mangled driveshaft in a lane of travel with a (presumably disabled) cement mixer perilously stopped in the break down lane right where an incoming ramp was trying to merge. There were also a couple cars pulled over, not sure if they got entangled in the chaos.

I can only imagine the time needed to dispatch a heavy duty wrecker, and then if they had to toss the cement...

 

[TechnoLoGs]

Watch at 1:20.

 

[mikered30]

Bus tire blow out

 

[andyd]

In the last few weeks, a NH State Police Colonel was involved in a fatal accident caused by a wheel falling off a semi trailer. A woman was killed. The driver didnt realize what happened until he stopped. They shut down a cheap bus line. for numerous equipment violations

 

[cjcride]

A lot of large vehicles use retreads on the rear.

 

[Kruse]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w

Anyone see anything quite like it?


It's been quite a few years ago, but I was driving on the interstate and a rear tire off of a semi trailer that was in the lane to the left of me came off, rolled in front of my car and steered off into a pasture along side the road. Another trucker behind us told the trucker that he had lost his wheel (I watched him key the mic in my rear view mirror), and the truck pulled over about a mile down the road. It could have been bad.
As a person with a CDL, I know they are supposed to rigidly inspect their tractors and trailers each time they lose sight of their load, but hardly any of them do.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Anyone see anything quite like it?


Ive put a LOT of miles on this year, and have hit two retreads flying around and something else in the road that put a hole in my tire, twice... plus a big screw in another.

Ive only had one blowut and no other flats over hundreds of thousands of miles since Ive started driving. And Ive put probably 20k miles on my own cars on average per year since I first got my license... Plus my wife does another 10-12k/yr.

This is the year of horrid tires and junk in the road. Never before...