Pic attached:


Today was the exact third anniversary of owning my F-Type.
So I duly renewed the custom plate and rego, that will be $1040 thank you sir, bend over and do you want lube with that?
Seems the car wasn't impressed and decided to give me a present - an almighty blowout of a front tyre while cruising down the freeway at 110 km/h.
Only minor loss of control/steering but nowhere to pull off and stop, it was on the part of the freeway where what would normally be an emergency stopping lane is instead a truck lane.
Had to go another km or so before I found an exit ramp where after another km or so I found a spot where I could safely pull over and park.
Inside half of the left front tyre split most of the way around and shredded to smithereens, a miracle the rest of the tyre stayed on the rim.
Long story short I was able to contact my daughter and arrange for her mother (my ex) to make an emergency trip to my joint (80 km way the other side of town from where I was), collect the space saver spare from my garage and deliver it to me. I removed the spare from the hatch the first day I had the car as it takes up way too much room. Destroyed tyre removed and space saver fitted without any major hassles, inspected the rim and it looks completely undamaged so some good news.
So nearly four hours after originally setting off I finally get home with a space saver on the front left and no chance of getting a new tyre for at least five or six days seeing as it is a Saturday. The main good news is I can honestly say no critters or people were harmed in the production of this little episode, if you discount a couple of skinned knuckles on yours truly.

 

The best part of this story. When my rear tire was suddenly deflated on some construction debris at 70mph, it too reacted without drama. In fact, it was only the sudden warning lights on the instrument panel that indicated a blowout. Reasonable to expect a front tire blowout to offer more substantial steering feedback as notification.

 

I had something similar on a previous car - the rim nearly cut all the way through the tire by the time I found somewhere safe to stop. I took it to the dealer and asked if he could patch it.

Oz, you do need to post a picture of the space-saver on - that must look odd/funny. Have you figured out what spacer to use with the space-saver?

 

Funny bugger!
The only real hassle with fitting the space saver is it has zero voids/holes for the OEM lugs to fit into, the mounting face is dead flat, so the spacer had to come off.
Not easy on your lonesome with a front wheel as it just wants to spin, with limited tools available and working in a tight space (only about 30 cm between the side of the car and the crash barrier where I parked) you need someone in the car with their foot on the brake pedal so you can crack the nuts.
Luckily I foresaw this problem and caught the ex just in time before she drove off and left me stranded!

 

Here's a couple of pics of the spacer saver on the car.
Not great as it's in my garage at night with no room to back away and crappy phone camera.

 

Glad it (finally) turned out safely. Changing a tire on a busy highway is STRESSFUL even without waiting for hours.

Gotta say, I like the red wheel better than black wheels. You need 3 more!
(DISCLAIMER: My wife says that all my taste is in my mouth.)

 

I wasn't on the highway when changing the wheel, I was on an off ramp, a one lane one way road (which coincidentally led to the old main highway that I used before the freeway was built some 25 years ago). It wasn't at all busy, just the odd car or bike every few minutes, but there wasn't a helluva lot of room for them to pass me. I pulled over and parked on a straight stretch in the half-width emergency lane on the left, about 30 cm away from the crash barrier on the left (you can see it behind the wrecked tyre) as I knew I had to leave just enough room to be able to get the jack under, the wheel off and the space saver on. It was tight and my right side wheels were still partly on the main part of the road. I really had nowhere else to park without going several more kms and who knows what that would have done to the wheel. I was lucky in a way that it was a left side wheel and not a right side otherwise my **** would have been sticking out into the road while I changed the wheel!

 

OzXFR, thankful you are safe and sound. I've had two flat tires now while out of town in the last 3 months.. Although I bought the tire repair kit and have a portable inflator, my biggest concern is what you experienced- being on a highway with no place or no safe place to pull over and possible wheel damage. I've been luck that both flats deflated slowly and were not when on a highway. One of the great things about buying in USA is the roadside assistance that comes with the warranty. JLR will flatbed your car to a Jag dealer. Land of Oz may have it's challenges in that regard.

Anyway, glad you made it through to safety.

 

Something that never occurred to me - I have a bright red space saver in the XE. That might fit on the F-type?

 

Looks like a manufacturing defect on the tire.

They owe you a set.

Not a lot f people know, tire manufacturing is a bit of alchemy. And mistakes happen to the best of them. Found this out with my Michelins. Which started disintegrating on their own. They quickly gave me credit for new tires.

 

Maybe, maybe not.
The F-Type space saver is a 19" version specifically to fit over the 380 mm front brake calipers, but I don't know what size the XE version is.
Easy enough to have a squiz at it to determine the size, and if it's 19" it will probably work on the F-Type but if it's only 18" I'm pretty sure it won't.

 

I don't think so.
A few seconds before the blowout I had the symptoms of a nail or screw in the tyre but being on the freeway I couldn't even slow down much let alone pull over, and then it was too late and she blew. The annoying thing is that even though the tyre was two years and 12,000 miles old it wasn't even half worn!

 

You really must try harder!

 

Good point. Might fit on the back (325mm for me), unlikely on the front. As I have 18” wheels on the XE, I doubt the spare is 19”.

 

I suspect Jag offers just one size spare regardless of the wheel size delivered on the car. The tire sizes are established to maintain the same outside tire diameter regardless of the wheel diameter. It’s possible they use the same spare across all they’re cars. (SUVs not included).

 

Good thing you had the correct tires on otherwise you have faced the gauntlet of tire-shaming. Glad to see you were able to make it off the road safely; my last blow out was at about 40MPH and I was able to maintain control, but they can be a bit scary when they catch you by surprise or if youre in traffic.

 

I pondered the same thing. Confirmed it’s an 18” space saver in the XE.

 

OK... won’t work on the super performance brake package.

 

Even if it fit on the rear of my high-performance brakes, the tire is a different diameter, which I doubt the LSD would like. Seemed like a nice idea, until reality intruded.

 

Dang - what a bummer to say the least! Thankfully you're alright.