King Moose SS

So, I was driving to home, approx 45 miles away, and on the freeway I notice an odd vibration on the car at around 80mph. I thought it was odd, because usually my car is straight as an arrow. I decided it wasn't urgent so I drove the whole 45miles home below the vibration point.

Anyways I get home from approximately 40 miles of freeway driving and a friend of mine points out my right rear tire is flat. I come to go look at it, and he wasn't kidding it was way low. I get my gauge to check it out, wasn't even registering any PSI. I go to check the other tires and I get 13psi, 17psi, and 25psi. The recommended for my car is around 32psi-35psi.

I'm quite upset at myself for making such a ignorant mistake, this car sat for about a month in the cold before I took it out, and I completely forgot to check the tires.

Anyways I wanted some thoughts from anyone on here who knows about tires. My 2 main questions are
1) How come my tire didn't come off and kill me?
2) Did I damage the tire putting that kind of speed and mileage on it while they were flat?

The tires are 255/50ZR17 BFG G-Force T/A's

87DJP2001

Cold weather and no movement will lower tire pressure. So what lesson and words of wisdom do you want pass on?????

Injuneer

If you actually drove it with no air in a tire (and couldn't tell that while driving????) the tire is destroyed. The wheel rim will have cut into the tire bead and sidewall areas. Probably the only thing the kept it from shredding the tire to bits is the fact you slowed down.

Additionally, driving that distance with significantly different tire diameters on the rear wheels may have seriously damaged the limited slip differential.

King Moose SS

Lesson learned, I need to move out of Michigan.

I assume since I couldn't tell it wasn't flat while driving, it probably wasn't flat until I got home (temp cooled about 20 degrees). If the wheel was cutting into the tire, there's no way I could of made it all the way back. I've driven approximately 50 miles since I've filled the tires back up, but I'm still concerned and wondering whether I should get a new tire for the one that had less than 5psi.

Also how do I know if I fried my diff?

Injuneer

A 20* change in temperature will only change the pressure by about 4%.... if it was 10psi, dropping the temp 20* would only lower the pressure to 9.6psi.

I've given you my best shot, but apparently you don't agree, so maybe someone else can give you the answer you like.

King Moose SS

My bad Fred, I think my last post came off in a more aggressive tone than I actually wanted it to be. I just figured if it didn't blow out there had to be in enough air in the tire to support itself. The tire never left the rim, and the rim never reached the inside of the tire.

I figure if it was flat, I would of been driving and it sounded and felt like this

[autostream]http://autostream.com/camaroz28/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=2543& transactionid=1329768354-6719424387&posted_by=King_autoblankauto_Moose_auto blankauto_SS_www.camaroz28.com&youtube_video_id=X_ i52wm5xQI[/autostream]

But it for sure didn't feel anything like that, and neither did the vibration at 80mph. So I'm guessing I reached the point, before that point. Sidewall was budging, but not entirely flat.

97QuasarBlue3.8

Tires will turn brown on the sidewalls and have subtle shiny/rainbow-like oil streaks on wet pavement when they are overheated. I say as long as the tire still looks "uncooked", holds air, and doesn't have any abrasion, cracking, or obvious separation, go easy and see if it holds.

The safest option is to go replace the tire and also its match on the other side if it's worn.

Dave89IROC

Have that tire removed from the rim and inspected, if there is any rubber powder in it, replace it

King Moose SS

Cool, thanks guys. I'll take it to the shop this weekend then. Haven't drove it since.

King Moose SS

I forgot to reply to this when I went to shop. But in summary Fred was right. The flat tire was destroyed. I replaced all four tires later that week.

Injuneer

Four new shoes always make the car and the driver happy