Tire Blow-Out After Low-Pressure Light Came On?

[jamiejess1]

OK, so I have a 2010 Nissan Rogue S with 33K miles on it. I just bought it Sept.29. I'm getting on the highway today, & within a couple minutes, the low pressure light comes on & before I could reach the next exit, there was a loud popping noise. When I pulled over, it had holes in 3 different parts of the tire.. so obviously not from a nail or other road debris. I did a search on the actual tires, & there was a recall on the P215/65R16 98T Avid Touring S... I have the P215/60R16 94T(Yokohama tires).

So, I called the dealership... of course they aren't covered under warranty(even though they were brand new tires). I then called a store that carries that brand, as according to the Yokohoma website, their tires are covered under 60K miles warranty. The store said to bring it in tomorrow & they would look, but it probably would not be covered.

So, my question is, if it is not a defective tire, what could have caused this?? I mainly only do highway driving & the tires have only had about 4500 miles put on them. And does the low pressure lite have anything to do with this?

[Rogue One]

Were the holes in the tread, sidewall or both?

[ImStricken06]

1. if it is not a defective tire, what could have caused this??
2. tires have only had about 4500 miles put on them.
3. And does the low pressure lite have anything to do with this?

if it is not a defective tire, what could have caused this??
1. many things, tire pressure being to low or to high. the tires could have had a nail compromise the tire 5miles prior to the blow out (hence why the light went on) and you continued to drive on a deflating tire, that eventually had to much stress and tore apart. people need to understand (and i learned this at the racetrack with my bike) = low tire pressures, make the tire flex more. more flex, increases heat within the tire. that will raise tire pressures extremely rapidly and explode the tire, or melt its interior structure and deform the sidewall to the point where it explodes.
[EXAMPLE: take a paperclip and open it up halfway, leaving two loops. now twist it. feel the area of the twist = it gets warm. twist it again, now its getting really warm. now twist it again = and it gets warmer. thats what im talking about when i say: "UNDER-INFLATED TIRES CAUSE MORE FLEX . AND THAT FLEXING CAUSES HEAT TO BUILD UP RAPIDLY. ]

also on the flip-side, if someone over filled the tire with air, and or used a bad gauge or just didnt use a gauge, and the tire started to heat-up normally while driving like ALL tires do, due to the contact patch creating heat - the tire could have simply exploded due to over heated & increased psi inside.

tires have only had about 4500 miles put on them.
2. its irrelevant how many miles. a compromised tire will shred to absolute poo

And does the low pressure lite have anything to do with this?
3. does it? tough to say- since we were not driving your car. im so intune with my cars that the slightest deviation from what i know is normal and bells are ringing in my head. if the car was pulling gently to one side i would know instantly since i know exactly how my car operates - and that in combination with a TPMS light, would have made me pull over instantly to check my tire pressures. i get TPMS lights on all the time, and ignore them because my steering wheel is not jarred from its normal position of being almost perfect straight to make the car drive straight. also the TPMS light could have been warning you that due to cold temps outside, the air pressure inside the tires decreased and now the tires are operating under less PSI(pressure) than which they are to be operated under.
HOT OUTSIDE TEMPS = AIR INSIDE THE TIRE EXPANDS (in the hot summer months, i would drop the tire psi by a 3-5psi)
COLD OUTSIDE TEMPS = AIR INSIDE THE TIRE CONTRACTS/shrinks. (in the cold winter months, or ambient temps below 45* i would increase the tire psi by 3-10psi depending on ambient temps)

Were the holes in the tread, sidewall or both?

good question. but im sure the tire is so shred that she wont know where to begin to even look. but its worth asking right? lol
also, another good question = check inside the tire for an punctures/intrusions in the tire itself.

[jamiejess1]

It wasn't actually torn to shreds, just what looked like three very large gashes in the sides of the tire. Our exits are only 2-3 minutes apart, so it wasn't even close to 5 miles w/the lite on... closer to about 1. The shop said they cannot tell if it's a manufacturers defect, as there was rocks/gravel inside the tire that tore up the inside of the tire too much. So, I'm stuck buying another tire:( I check my tire levels every week(call me paranoid), so it's weird that the pressure could drop that quickly to cause a tire failure.

Here's another question. The tires that are on the car are P215/60R16 94T. Every website I have visited for tires for my make and model of car, including the specifications that are written on the inner door of the car itself, all say I am supposed to have P215/70R16 99H. So, are the wrong size tires on my car, & could this have caused the tire to fail? These were the tires that the dealership put on my car brand new before I bought it, so can certain tires be interchanged? Or did the dealer mess up?

[ImStricken06]

It wasn't actually torn to shreds, just what looked like three very large gashes in the sides of the tire. Our exits are only 2-3 minutes apart, so it wasn't even close to 5 miles w/the lite on... closer to about 1. The shop said they cannot tell if it's a manufacturers defect, as there was rocks/gravel inside the tire that tore up the inside of the tire too much. So, I'm stuck buying another tire:( I check my tire levels every week(call me paranoid), so it's weird that the pressure could drop that quickly to cause a tire failure.

Here's another question. The tires that are on the car are P215/60R16 94T. Every website I have visited for tires for my make and model of car, including the specifications that are written on the inner door of the car itself, all say I am supposed to have P215/70R16 99H. So, are the wrong size tires on my car, & could this have caused the tire to fail? These were the tires that the dealership put on my car brand new before I bought it, so can certain tires be interchanged? Or did the dealer mess up?

well that still doesnt explain my theory that you could have caught a nail and continued to drive a deflating tire, increasing its temperature to the point where the sidewalls gave out.

regarding tire sizes = yes your dealer messed up. and yes tire sizes can be changed around from whats originally on the car/sticker. i often did this to either gain a wider tire, or a lower ride, or a higher ride.
your tire size: P215 / 70R / 16 is explained like this =
tire width / side wall height / rim size.

reducing the 70 into a 60 in your case reduced the height of the tire. that shrunk the side-wall. so not only was your rogue lower to the ground, but it had a stiff ride as well. i would go back there and tell them that you had a blow out - they installed the wrong tires to begin with, and that you would like the true tires that belong on there or you will contact the better business bureau and nissan corporate. you tell them that your ride comfort and vehicle clearance is not what it should be - due to your car sitting lower now than what it should be at. watch them replace all 4 tires for free with what belongs on there

[jamiejess1]

It wasn't actually torn to shreds, just what looked like three very large gashes in the sides of the tire. Our exits are only 2-3 minutes apart, so it wasn't even close to 5 miles w/the lite on... closer to about 1. The shop said they cannot tell if it's a manufacturers defect, as there was rocks/gravel inside the tire that tore up the inside of the tire too much. So, I'm stuck buying another tire:( I check my tire levels every week(call me paranoid), so it's weird that the pressure could drop that quickly to cause a tire failure.

Here's another question. The tires that are on the car are P215/60R16 94T. Every website I have visited for tires for my make and model of car, including the specifications that are written on the inner door of the car itself, all say I am supposed to have P215/70R16 99H. So, are the wrong size tires on my car, & could this have caused the tire to fail? These were the tires that the dealership put on my car brand new before I bought it, so can certain tires be interchanged? Or did the dealer mess up?

well that still doesnt explain my theory that you could have caught a nail and continued to drive a deflating tire, increasing its temperature to the point where the sidewalls gave out.

regarding tire sizes = yes your dealer messed up. and yes tire sizes can be changed around from whats originally on the car/sticker. i often did this to either gain a wider tire, or a lower ride, or a higher ride.
your tire size: P215 / 70R / 16 is explained like this =
tire width / side wall height / rim size.

reducing the 70 into a 60 in your case reduced the height of the tire. that shrunk the side-wall. so not only was your rogue lower to the ground, but it had a stiff ride as well. i would go back there and tell them that you had a blow out - they installed the wrong tires to begin with, and that you would like the true tires that belong on there or you will contact the better business bureau and nissan corporate. you tell them that your ride comfort and vehicle clearance is not what it should be - due to your car sitting lower now than what it should be at. watch them replace all 4 tires for free with what belongs on there

Thank you! My speedometer also runs incorrectly... I didn't know why, until I just realized the wrong tire size was on my car... it reads about 4-5mph faster than the car is actually going, lol.

[Qashqai]

I hope dealer will replace all four tires.

I hate when dealers make such mistakes. They are the authorized Nissan dealers and the mechanics are "factory trained"...bull s***. 95% of all the mechanics in the dealers that I went were just idiots. They don't even inflate the tires according to the plate on the door sill. Last time when I went for the oil change the mechanic told me that he inflated my tires to 35 PSI ( normally it should be 38). He said, the air will expand when I drive the car (seriously?) and the over inflated tire will be worn early (really?). Yes I agree that an over/under inflated tire will cause problems, but the PSI should be 38. not higher, not lower...I am sure mechanics/engineers at the Nissan factory in Japan have higher IQ levels than him!

[ImStricken06]

Last time when I went for the oil change the mechanic told me that he inflated my tires to 35 PSI ( normally it should be 38). He said, the air will expand when I drive the car (seriously?) and the over inflated tire will be worn early (really?). Yes I agree that an over/under inflated tire will cause problems, but the PSI should be 38. not higher, not lower...I am sure mechanics/engineers at the Nissan factory in Japan have higher IQ levels than him!

i know your gonna wanna bite me sQash, but he's right lol

check this, my racebike says 36psi for front & rear tires. the tire says 36psi. but you know what us track guys drop it down too? 24-32 depending on outside temps.

as i explained earlier:

the TPMS light could have been warning you that due to cold temps outside, the air pressure inside the tires decreased and now the tires are operating under less PSI(pressure) than which they are to be operated under.
HOT OUTSIDE TEMPS = AIR INSIDE THE TIRE EXPANDS (in the hot summer months, i would drop the tire psi by a 3-5psi)
COLD OUTSIDE TEMPS = AIR INSIDE THE TIRE CONTRACTS/shrinks. (in the cold winter months, or ambient temps below 45* i would increase the tire psi by 3-10psi depending on ambient temps)

[Qashqai]

i know your gonna wanna bite me sQash, but he's right lol

no I usually don't bite...and I never bite a useful source like you!

...but, I know the hot air expands - that's why I check the tire pressures when the tires are cold. However, when engineers at Nissan write 38 PSI on the door sill, I am pretty sure they calculated the expansions and add a margin before the hot air inside is dangerous for the car. This is same with the engine coolant or brake fluid or engine oil: there is a min and max, and the level can be somewhere in between, but not below or above. So maybe the tire pressure in my car can be 36 or 41 PSI, but in average they wrote 38 PSI. So yes, the mechanic and you are right, the air will expand and 35 PSI will be 38 after driving for a while, but maybe the tires and handling etc. was calculated for cold 38, hot 41 PSI?

As a result, sometimes I listen to what the car manufacturers say. If it says inflate to 38PSI, that is what I will do.

Now it is your turn to bite

[jamiejess1]

So, I went to the tire place to get new tire put on & asked them about the tire size being off(I was on the way to the dealership next, but knew the wouldn't be able to remedy my problem that day & couldn't ride on the donut another 3 days). The guys froze when I told them what the door said, vs what was on the car. They then said, due to liability issues, they could not sell me the tire... to call the dealership NOW. I did, & explained the situation & they said to bring it right in,& they would give me a loaner for the weekend. The tire place put my donut back on & I went to the dealership.

The guy in the service depts 1st words were, "Not that it's any excuse, but what we think happened is, is when the last owner brought the car back(it was a previous lease vehicle) she had put on tires during one point that were the wrong size. When we went to put on new tires, instead of checking the door frame, we just went by what was already on the car"... Really?? But, it looks like I am getting 4 new tires that fit(although the tire place said the dealership may charge me for the one blown tire? I hope not).

You guys have been very helpful & your input was much appreciated!

[celt]

Cool sounds like you get 4 new properly sized tires..not much else you can ask for.

[ImStricken06]

awesome. i think you made out like a bandit if they may you only buy 1 new tire and you get 4 new ones. consider that a deal of a lifetime! lol