Tube blowouts

The only way a tube can blow is sudden, massive decompression. This requires the tire to come off the rim, even it is temporary and goes back into place after the blowout. The most common cause is getting a portion of the tube under the tire bead. It can also be caused by inflating the pressure too much and by damage to the rim that prevents the tire bead being secure.

What do I look for on the rim? Should I see the damage or can it be minor enough to miss without knowing what I'm looking for?

rwinthenorth said:

What do I look for on the rim? Should I see the damage or can it be minor enough to miss without knowing what I'm looking for?

Not sharp bits - they would likely cause a leak but not a blow-out. Bro is right, the tire has to come off the rim for you to hear an explosion. Really unusual that it did so on your car and not on your ride.

Look for a bent section or a deformed part that might allow the tire bead to slip. A bike shop can help you with this.

Give us more details about rim and tire size and pressure, but it's not likely you're using something completely incompatible. I have seen some wheels that are a smidge smaller than normal and tires that are a smidge bigger.

I remember a customer having this problem with his kid's Huffy. The tires for those never fit real well and you had to work hard at inflating it and making sure the bead was seating correctly. I have had a few blow up in my face. When inflating, keep watching the bead around the rim on both sides, if a tire doesn't seat correctly during inflation, it could come off and explode. Also, the tire and rim make and pressure would help in diagnosing the problem. Good luck!

rwinthenorth said:

OK, brand new to this forum, but I think I'm cursed. I just blew a tube while driving, yes driving, home from a 35 mile ride. It sounded like a gunshot in the back of my Pathfinder. Ok, the question: what are some of the common causes of tire failure? This is the 2nd tube I put in, because the last one wasn't holding air. My son's bike blew 2 tubes up literally in my face (enlightening). I replaced his rims because they had small, sharp nicks in the frame. I don't think this is the case with my wheel. Any suggestions?

Was it a SUNNY DAY?

Do you inflate your tires to 120PSI, or more?

Are you using a tube that is one-size-smaller like someone I know who uses 700-20 tubes with his 700-23 Continentals (WHICH SEEM LIKE everyone else's 700-25 to me, for UNKNOWN reasons ...)?

Do you have DARK rims?

If three-out-of-four, then your rims may have "super-heated" (akin to riding the brakes during a l-o-n-g descent) ... subsequently, the volume of air probably tried to increase by a factor of two and the tire wasn't capable of maintaining the tube's integrity ...

Let about HALF the air out of the tires after your ride, next time.

DiabloScott said:

Not sharp bits - they would likely cause a leak but not a blow-out. Bro is right, the tire has to come off the rim for you to hear an explosion. Really unusual that it did so on your car and not on your ride.

Look for a bent section or a deformed part that might allow the tire bead to slip. A bike shop can help you with this.

Give us more details about rim and tire size and pressure, but it's not likely you're using something completely incompatible. I have seen some wheels that are a smidge smaller than normal and tires that are a smidge bigger.

The tire is a Vittoria Zaffiro Aramid 3D compound 25-622 , 700 x 25c. Rim is a Mavic CXP22 s6000 ; 622 x 15. I was told at a shop today that it could be heat expansion. Long hot ride, and put the bike into my hot car. KABOOM! It makes sense... But here is the info in case anyone else has an opinon. Thanks

rwinthenorth said:

OK, brand new to this forum, but I think I'm cursed. I just blew a tube while driving, yes driving, home from a 35 mile ride. It sounded like a gunshot in the back of my Pathfinder.
Any suggestions?

dont drive, just ride...

SEGFTG said:

dont drive, just ride...

I'm getting to think that too.

rwinthenorth said:

I'm getting to think that too.

its bad enough getting a flat when on the bike, but if you dont even get the pleasure of the ride it really sucks.

Put some air in my tyres the other night in anticipation of an early morning ride, got up and the front was flat, appears that i got a slash in the sidewall on the last ride which had just nicked the tube but not punctured it, pumping up to full pressure again was enough to stress the tube and *pop*

not happy at 6 in the morn having to change tube and tyre...