What speed does a tire blowout become uncontrollable in a high performance car?

If it were a front tire you would have some control and maybe bring it down safely. If it wre a rear tire you would most likely have lost it and hopefully not taken out some innocent family out for a sunday drive. But the good thing would bee all of the fchatters would be saying thing like RIP or he was a good person but the best of all is "at least he died doing something he enjoyed". Merry Christmas

 

I think it all depends on the type of blowout. At normal freeway speeds, you should be fine to control a blowout. Once over 100, I think it gets really tough.

 

i blew out the enitre inner sidewall on the rear drivers side tire in my M5 12yrs ago. i was going around 130+ accross the desert. my only indication was my speed started to slow. once i got down to about 80mph i noticed the noise and 'bumpy' ride. under 50mph it was a bit squirly but nothing you couldn't handle.

not sure if it was the high rate of speed, but i was suprised at how i didn't feel it. i've blown tires going 50mph that made more noise.

 

micheal schumacher can do a whole lap at interlagos.

 

I think it not only depends on the types of blowout, but also what one does when the blowout occurs. If one were to slam on the brakes after a blowout, I think you will lose the control of the car regardless if you are going at 30 or 60. We were all taught back in driver's ed to let off gas, hang on to the wheel and keep it straight, then coast to a stop or apply brakes very gently to slow the car down. But unfortunately, not all people understands this concept or follows this emergency manuver.

 

I had a blow-out at the track. You know immediately something happened; but in my case, I thought the front wheel bearing went south. It was controllable, but you knew you didn't want to go fast. Limped back into the pits and was pretty shocked to see how badly the tire had blistered.

 

I would also say it depends on the car and its setup...a light car with a tight suspension could bounce a LOT. whereas a heavy car might react differently.

correct me if I'm wrong!

 

Here's a pretty good example of a blowout while in a high-speed banked turn. Amazing how easily the windshield blows out when the air coming in through the side window hits it from the backside! I guess GT3 RS's don't have passenger airbags, either.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=y7-SDVkmga4

 

I had two different blow outs in a vette. Both were at about 70mph. I barely noticed and was able to control the car to a stop. Though, both times were on straight parts of the road.

 

depends how good of a driver you are.

 

I remember 2 blowouts written about in Car & Driver during top-speed testing.

IIRC, 1 was a Corvette, could have been a Callaway, but it was tuned for sure. Front tire blew over 160, driver let off the gas and coasted until speed was below 80, then gently applied the brakes. He retained control of the car but the tire explosion ripped apart the front fender.

The other one was when Don Schroeder was doing top-speed testing on a modified RENNtech CLK when something happened - could have been a tire, IIRC it happened in one of the turns at the Firestone 8 mile testing oval. The car went out of control and Schroeder did not survive.

 

Don't vettes have run flats? that's probably why you didn't notice. i've had a couple of blow outs but none at that high a speed. It probably depends on a lot of factors including the car itself and driver skill.

 

I don't drive a high performance car however my post may be considered useful in this case. I blew a tire coming back to Virginia from Charleston SC this past summer while doing 100mph on I-95. There was no loss of control, not even close, just an immediate rumble and I slowed down nice and evenly while making my way to the shoulder.

 

There are far too many factors but the driver is the biggest controling factor. Let's just say I'd rather blow out one of my car tires than my motorcycle...