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Yesterday was a nice cool day here in central Florida, so I figured I would take the jag to work, as a sort of last hoorah before pulling drivetrain for the swap, took it to gas station, filled both tanks with premium gas and set off for work. Being as my issue is oil pressure dropping off, I kept eye on everything and decided if it blows, oh well, work is only 10 miles from home and I can get it towed, so, off I go!
Minding my own business on the freeway, all of a sudden........ you guessed it.. BANG!!!! Followed by a massive shaking.. I instantly check gauges and all seems fine, I pull off to side of road and pop hood, still ticking over, no noise, hmmmmm, walk around car and voila... had a massive blowout!!!!
Soooo. Not as bad as I had thought, but still, it did hurt the paint in a few spots, anyways, got her home and and backed Into garage so I can start pulling drivetrain soon... but gotta repair the stripped lugs first, as two of them just spun and spun, made getting the wheel off real fun!!!
The tire was entirely my fault.. it's a Firestone, and in the 13 years I have owned the car I have never bought a Firestone tire, which means i I screwed up when I had a nail in a tire and put the spare on not paying attention to its age... of course being as it's a full size spare, I never swapped ot back out!! Best guess is tire was at least 15 years old, like I said, all my fault!!!
The nuts would barely move on the lugs, I had to stand on the wrench to get them. M.k loving, then once they went a few turns, they just spun, totally stripped and chewed up.the lug too, luckily they are screw in, so not a massive job!!!
I am a fanatic about tire dates. The rule of thumb I use is 7 years (the same as the statute of limitations). The rubber gets progressively harder with age. Paul Walker, the fast and furious actor died when his Porche lost grip on a fast corner. The rare car had ultra low miles and the tires looked brand new but they were old and the rubber had hardened.
My collector cars get driven about 2000 miles a year. So after 7 years the tires are still like new. Breaks my heart to rip them off and replace them. Google how to read date codes on the tire sidewall and make sure yours are ok. If your tires don't have a date code (in the US at least) they are way past their expiration date. If you can't find the date code, look on the inside of the tire - sometimes tire store jockeys mount them wrong side out.
Good day turned bad...
