Watch An Exploding Tire Knock A Mechanic Off His Feet

"PRBot II" (prbot2) 12/27/2013 at 10:01 • Filed to: wtfcars, lolcars

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Don't ever inflate a tire too far beyond the limit! The violence of this bursting tire makes !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! look like child's play. I feel bad for the guy. As if being knocked into the air and flipping like a rag doll isn't bad enough, the tire smacks him again to add insult to injury. Tires these days, I tell ya.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Nibbles > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:05

3

I sense a new extreme sport coming...

Velocity- Peuguette Connoisseur > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:09

3

And he sticks the landing

Tenouttaten

Bullitt417 > Velocity- Peuguette Connoisseur 12/27/2013 at 10:11

3

No he didn't - I deducted three points for the faceplant. The proper landing would've had him landing back on the tire.

PRBot II > Velocity- Peuguette Connoisseur 12/27/2013 at 10:11

1

9.95 for the backflip. Such graceful elegance to his form.

HMMMA > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:12

3

I feel bad for bad for bursting out in a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

Bullitt417 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:13

2

Speaking of playing with airbags, this is by far still my favorite video. How bored you you have to be before this looks like a viable way to spend time?

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:13

30

I always liked tire cage PSAs.

Seriously people, if you're inflating most anything other than an automotive tire (think over 65 psi-ish), use a tire cage.

PRBot II > HMMMA 12/27/2013 at 10:14

72

It's OK. All things considered, he had a pretty...

(•_•). ( •_•)>-. (_)

Goodyear.

PRBot II > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 10:15

4

Exactly. Whoever runs that place doesn't seem to care much about workplace safety.

EL_ULY > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:16

1

dude i'm still half asleep, I thought it said "Watch an exploding fire truck knock mechanic hands off feet" yup lol :]

-needs more coffee

soto > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:17

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Now watch "Battire" fight crime and win.

PRBot II > Bullitt417 12/27/2013 at 10:18

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Also, how bored, dumb, and drunk do you have to be? How this can happen any other way is beyond me.

PRBot II > soto 12/27/2013 at 10:20

1

Holy cow, I remember this one. China, if I'm not mistaken. Can't believe it blew his shirt off. That's insane.

PRBot II > EL_ULY 12/27/2013 at 10:21

0

Drink up, man! I've got my cup over here.

soto > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:21

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nananananananana battire!

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:22

3

Yeah. Whe I was an aircraft mechanic, we watched some PSAs on tire inflation (one of the shops on base did all of the wheel/tire buildups and they were manned by Crew Chiefs like me). There was also a picture (I didn't see it) of a young F-15 Crew Chief who serviced the nose tire with the high pressure side of a nitrogen cart. The description made it sound like he and the nitrogen cart created an origami swan after the explosion.

PRBot II > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 10:25

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Oh my God, I'm laughing and cringing at the same time. Seriously though, that's intense.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:27

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Split rim wheels are always good for an "Egad!"

doodon2whls > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 10:27

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I'll jump on the tire cage bandwagon.... Some of the very low profile 30 and 35 series car tires have high bead seating pressures. If you can't get a car tire to seat with lube and ~50 psi, then you are doing it wrong. If you have a stubborn tire that won't seat, then put the tire in the cage...

Here is the reasoning... Think of the tire carcass and rim as a tube. The hoop stress is much larger than the axial stress and the 'weak point' is the rim flange and tire bead seam. When you are seating a bead at high pressure, the bead snaps over the tire bead retention feature on the rim and impacts the rim flange with incredible force - sometimes enough force to fracture the rim flange. The escaping high pressure air has a frightening amount of energy. The results are almost always undesirable.

HMMMA > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:27

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That made my day, well played Mr Viper.

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 10:29

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Yeah, 140-ish PSI is what the A-10 called for. The high pressure side of the nitrogen cart starts at 1000 psi (IIRC).

That's why we used this long inflation tool:

(That's me on the jack. We were testing a theory I had about inflating while the jet was in the air on jacks vs on the ground. We just inflated it to spec and were lowering it to see if there was a change.)

PRBot II > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 12/27/2013 at 10:29

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Wow, nice find. That's scary just to think about.

doodon2whls > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 10:33

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So what was the result ? Did the pressure change ? ;-)

There were several fellow vehicle dynamicists that debated this for years at work...

PRBot II > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 10:35

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Interesting. I'm going to guess no. But I've been wrong before, uh, many times >_<

Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole > doodon2whls 12/27/2013 at 10:36

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You know, I forgot what we found. That picture was taken in 2003. I think if there was a change, it was minimal if any.

pilaf > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 11:56

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he must be very tired after that.

doodon2whls > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 12:02

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That's exactly what we found when we compared a properly inflated automobile tire. The difference was almost unmeasurable with an analog pressure gauge. You would need to instrument a tire with a precision pressure transducer to measure the difference. Here is the reasoning: If the tire is inflated to it's recommended pressure, the tire carcass (circumferential belts) are held tight like guitar strings while the sidewalls are still relatively compliant. When you load the tire (within it's load limits) the carcass flexes radially inward to conform to the ground plane, and the sidewalls bulge out locally. The volume of air displaced by the locally flattened circumference of the tire moves to the volume created by the bulged sidewall. The total volume of the air inside the tire changes very little and therefore the pressure changes minimally. The force to deflect/stretch the tire and rubber manifests itself in a small increase in tire pressure.

However, the pressures are relative. If you have a grossly under inflated or overloaded tire, the delta will be larger, but still less than your intuition might suggest.

The bottom line is that tire pressure varies much more due to temperature than load - about 1 psi for every 7.5* F. It's probably not a bad idea to check your tire pressures (don't forget the spare !) at least monthly. As a _bare minimum_ tire pressures should be adjusted for winter temperatures in colder climes.

Tires appear to be beautifully simple objects (round and black, right ?), but the truth is that tire science and construction is still a black art. The ground/tire interface is a mind bogglingly complex thing to understand, let alone model. Common anisotropic composite tire constructions are equally complex.

I forgot to mention that the contact patches under your car/truck/motorcycle are the most important parts of the chassis that influence how your vehicle handles and rides. In motorsports where races are won and lost by mere thousandths of a second (F1, for example), the two most important engineering challenges to attack are aerodynamics and tire construction. The teams sculpt the vehicles' shape to minimize drag and maximize downforce - a challenging compromise. They also work hard to understand the tire dynamics of each construction in order to design the suspension kinematics to balance tire durability with performance - yet another difficult compromise.

What was it that I was saying ? Oh... Yeah... The tire pressure doesn't change much when you load it.

George McNally > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:18

5

This guy is a complete dumbass.

My dad managed a tire shop and anyone that is even remotely familiar with how to inflate a truck tire wouldn't *dream* of standing directly over a truck tire as they inflate it.

Worse case scenario, if you don't have the use of a tire cage....you get *far* away from the tire as you inflate it and when the bead pops on, decrease the air pressure and re inflate it to the proper air pressure. This can all be done remotely with an air chuck with a long hose attachment.

I've inflated lots of truck tires and I've only had one pop off the rim.....it scared the shit out of me, made me temporarily deaf and completely deformed the inflation cage the tire was in.

I bet this guy never does that again.

BeaterGT > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:44

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Honestly, that sucks. I was next to a tractor trailer when one of its tires blew and sounds like a bomb going off. Scary as hell

GreenN_Gold > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 13:47

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Interesting, I didn't know about tire cages.

TheWatchman > soto 12/27/2013 at 13:48

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GreenN_Gold > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:48

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I reckon he about near Dunlop'd his head off.

shirosake > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:49

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Worst fear right there.

G8GT364 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:51

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Large truck tires are nothing to fuck around with ESPECIALLY split rims ones. My fathers cousin had a dump truck tire blow up on him once and the pressure inside the tire BROKE HIS RIBS.

RiddldedTomcat > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:51

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Glad to see the tire did not land on him.

Oops > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:52

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I find it thoroughly amazing that rednecks are still capable of producing offspring.

Haven't their junk seen enough harm to just call it quits??

Oops > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 12/27/2013 at 13:54

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This would also be why I prefer machined wheels. I just can't bring myself to trust wheels that have been welded together.

ScreenShot > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:56

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Used to work the night shift at a large ski area with it's own large buses - one evening, a bus driver wandered in and said one tire on his rig was flat and it needed fixing. We told him to get and line and wait, but he asked if he could just do it himself.

After getting the wheel/tire off the bus, he proceeded to break it down, find/fix the leak in the tube, and prepare to air it back up. We told him to be sure to use the cage.

Ten minutes later, we looked over and saw the tire/rim leaning up against the outside of the cage, with the driver _inside_....

Diesel > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 13:59

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Didn't stick the landing.

1 out of 10 points awarded.

IH8Tumblr > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:05

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what a tard. I used to run an automotive performance shop and even just the ~40-50 psi used to seat the beat on a car tire is horrifying sometimes.

I've shot sealing rings across the shop and even dented a wheel when a tire seats. this shit is no joke and it will kill you.

Ted > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:05

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Jeez... I had a bicycle tire blow over the rim and pop the tube immediately and that was pretty powerful at 50 psi. The ringing in my ears lasted a couple days. I can't imagine what that would be like for that big high pressure truck tire.

SlickWillie > G8GT364 12/27/2013 at 14:05

2

Unfortunately, I think we have a wizard to blame for this one. Watch the guy that ends up at the bottom of the screen. Clearly a pissed off customer. He points at the poor kid and BAM. Watch it when they switch to slow mo too. Definitely a wizard.

WatersEdge07 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:14

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Something tore his right arm open, too. He's gushing blood all over the sidewalk. That's insane.

special_k_side > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:15

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Fire the Stone-r........groan

Intrepidman > soto 12/27/2013 at 14:17

2

I think battire made the guy stab himself. Look at the ground before and after the vandalism. He also wraps is arm afterwards.

Poundingsand > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:18

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He should have used a tire cage. **psi**

Poundingsand > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:21

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And compound fractured his arm, by the looks of things...left a nice blood smear behind too!

M54B30 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:21

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I took a tire with a slow leak to a Walmart (hey, I was traveling and nowhere else was open on a Sunday) and he said he had to pump it to 50-65 psi to find the leak... I literally cringed when I heard him say that.

Tom Hegedosh > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:22

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Thats strange, he didn't LOOK very tired

Remember dialing "popcorn" for the time? > ScreenShot 12/27/2013 at 14:27

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He did "use" the cage ...

Angry Dorito > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:29

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"By the way, don't overinfla...."

PogosRevenge > Tom Hegedosh 12/27/2013 at 14:31

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I'd say it's time for him to retire.

Hindered23 > doodon2whls 12/27/2013 at 14:32

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I enjoyed reading that. it was very informative and I feel smart for understanding it. go you

Bacon > George McNally 12/27/2013 at 14:35

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"I bet this guy never does that again." You would hope so!

IMissTheOldInternet > Bullitt417 12/27/2013 at 14:38

1

Wait was the intention here to rocket an airbag into his junk, or were they trying to flip the stools or something?

Coalman > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 14:38

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I vaguely recall an article in a VW magazine wherein the author was having tires mounted onto vintage Rims and advocated bringing them to a tire shop with a cage on the off-chance they came apart due to age. So I guess even regular car tires might need a bit of extra safety now and again.

PRBot II > Angry Dorito 12/27/2013 at 14:40

2

Ha!

LordRae > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:41

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It kind of looks like the other guy was about to say something to the flyer about it and right before the word "Wait" came out of his mouth the tire blows up.

BeauM > soto 12/27/2013 at 14:44

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Whoa. Whatever he stabbed that tire with cut his arm pretty good!

Renegade > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 14:46

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YEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bullitt417 > IMissTheOldInternet 12/27/2013 at 14:52

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pretty sure the intent was to shoot a skateboard into his nuts...

pfftballer > soto 12/27/2013 at 15:11

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Holy balls that just blew his arm off. WTF?!

nandodiaz82 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 15:11

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The guy might have a future in soccer,nice bicycle kick from the explosion ....

nandodiaz82 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 15:14

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Also_Ran > Angry Dorito 12/27/2013 at 15:20

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dieselhunter444 > ScreenShot 12/27/2013 at 15:26

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That's fantastic!

The Stig's graphic designer cousin > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 15:41

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Something similar happened to my parent's neighbor a few years ago. He was inflating a tire on his tractor, when the side wall failed. He claimed it wasn't over-inflated, but I wasn't there to witness. Knocked him off his feet, and left him with a good sized bruise on his shoulder.

Jay > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 15:47

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this is nothing to laugh about. exploding tires can kill people. when i was on call a mechanic had a tire explode in his face. the force was such that his larynx was perforated. he had to get emergently intubated, taken to the ICU where he eventually developed descending pharyngitis and mediastinits, had to have his medistinum explored laparoscopically to clear out all the pus

Taybrego31 > soto 12/27/2013 at 15:48

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What the deuce did I just watch?! That was the tire exploding??

juggaho > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 15:50

1

Tire cage man, tire cage. I hope the shop owns one and this guy was just being lazy. I don't understand why some guys cant fathom the fact that a truck tire is basically a bomb minus shrapnel. An oldie but a goodie: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/87205/ti…

John Bulzacchelli > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 16:35

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Its amazing how much potential energy is stored in a pneumatic tire - terrifying actually. I spent years working in repair shops and I cringe when I think back on how unsafe many of the tire machines really are as you use them. I have heard stories of tires letting go as a tech tries to seat the bead ranging from wrists being blown backwards to instant death.

Any tire machine I have used has the table-top holding the tire about 2 feet from your face as you inflate it with no machine guarding. Very scary when you are fighting with a low profile or run flat tire and have 80+ psi in it to seat the bead...

appliance5000 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 17:07

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I'm thinking that the fact he had his foot on the tire saved his life - it flipped him up and out of the way of a wheel headed for his skull. Lucky while being unlucky - you take what you can get.

boxjohn > ScreenShot 12/27/2013 at 17:21

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"if it looks stupid but it works... it isn't stupid" ?

Awesome.

boxjohn > IH8Tumblr 12/27/2013 at 17:23

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So true. I'm an apprentice tech and the old timers going "just use the shop air and throw it up to 70-80" piss me off. I usually just let them do it if they don't want to let me take the time to re-lube and try it again at a reasonable pressure.

boxjohn > M54B30 12/27/2013 at 17:24

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That's pretty common, actually. I wouldn't worry about going to 60PSI with a reasonably new passenger car tire if it's just to inspect it. Driving on it would be a different story.

boxjohn > John Bulzacchelli 12/27/2013 at 17:27

1

I hate those tires that take such absurd pressure to seat the bead on.

To me, that's just an incorrectly designed tire. If your tire says "DO NOT INFLATE OVER 40 PSI TO SEAT BEAD" and every damned one needs nearly double that to inflate no matter what, the tire is made wrong. Period.

Angry Dorito > Also_Ran 12/27/2013 at 17:27

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Haha, s'good.

Drakkon- Most Glorious and Upright Person of Genius > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 17:51

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Oh come on! That unsafe? Everyone knows men inflate tires with explosive volatile solvents...

bobrayner > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 17:56

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A cage is certainly a Good Thing, but for workshops in poorer parts of the world, it can be very hard to cost-justify. For this guy, safe working meant using a long hose:

SRTPT > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 18:03

1

Now I understand why my Father never let me be around when he worked with truck wheels.. He never told me why just that I needed to get around the other side at the very minimum.. Thanks dad.. He never let me change a battery while he was around either(I know he had one explode on him back in the day). "Dude, I will be on the other side of the shop while you try that out."

whatthefu... > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 18:14

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...and clearly shattered his right arm (note blood pool).

hawkeye18 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 18:26

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When I was on deployment in 2005-2006, we had a C-2A (COD) land on the carrier. After it had taxied to its unloading position, several of the bolts holding the rim together failed, and the 240psi in the tire sent the ~70lb rim halves out at a significant fraction of the speed of sound. The rim halves went right past the prop safety chain and chopped off the legs of an unfortunate F/A-18 mechanic standing nearly 75ft away, above the knees. He very nearly died of blood loss before the medics could get to him.

The cause was later found to be counterfeit bolts that had snuck into the supply system; they were supposed to be grade 12 but ended up being about grade 3.

The moral of the story is, never stand in front of, behind, or 90° to a tire while inflating or deflating - stand at a 45° angle. Sometimes, though, it doesn't matter. Luck is, after all, blind.

Tom Hegedosh > PogosRevenge 12/27/2013 at 19:05

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you're right, his job blows. At least it took off really quick, and turned his world upside down

Vincent Davidson > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 12/27/2013 at 19:06

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Yeah, the tire shop I worked at after high school wouldn't even mount these. I heard from an old timer that he watched a guy get decapitated from one.

Vincent Davidson > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 19:10

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This is my greatest fear while mounting tires. Fortunately its car and light truck tires, and not HD truck.

smokeycretin9 > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 19:14

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dogisbadob > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 19:33

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Firestone?

PRBot II > dogisbadob 12/27/2013 at 19:35

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That would explain a lot.

Monsterajr > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 20:11

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Been in a similar situation years ago. I worked at the now defunct Levitz Furniture warehouse. One night someone left their U-Haul's spare on our front dock. My turn to do garbage so I grabbed the rim and took out the handy utility knife I had to cut the air valve knowing that a full tire in our compactor would be bad but NOT knowing that the tire was filled to truck pressure. When I couldn't cut the valve stem (Duh its reinforced for a reason moron) I opted to cut the sidewall. It was laying flat on the floor and I was kneeling over it while my two coworkers looked on from about 20feet away. They were standing about 2 feet from our roll up doors which were closed. When I got the knife to bite the next thing I remember is being on my back with my ears ringing and my knee feeling very cold. I looked at my jeans and saw a very nice 3/4 inch cut in the jeans. Stuck y finger in the jean hole and felt blood. Two buddies had been blown into the roll ups and one came over to help me to the bathroom to check the wound. I was blown about 1o feet off the tire and had luckily been holding on to the knife with two hands or it would have blown into my face and not my knee. The knee meanwhile had a cut the shape and depth of my utility knife blade. I cleaned it up and put butterfly bandages on it. Never found my watch that got blown off my wrist and my hearing was crap for the rest of the night. Never mess with truck (light or heavy) tires.

Widget_Master > WatersEdge07 12/27/2013 at 20:14

1

likely the knife he used to stab the tire

Howie > Dukie - Jalopnik Emergency Management Asshole 12/27/2013 at 20:57

0

40 psi is what the RMA recommends these days I think.

boobaru > PRBot II 12/27/2013 at 21:02

1

Exploding tires ain't no joke. I knew a guy who's buddy was literally blown to pieces by a truck tire exploding right next to him in Iraq.

RapidFire88 > George McNally 12/27/2013 at 21:03

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Ya know man, if he was stupid enough to do this in the first place, then he's stupid enough to do it again. I guess you can say I've lost my hope in humanity

Howie > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 12/27/2013 at 21:03

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Friend of mine used to work at a shop that had a mangled ceiling. when he asked the owner about it the owner told him a former installer had forgot to chain a split rim while inflating it. The rim separated and took the installer's head off with the ceiling finally stopping the rim.

Howie > George McNally 12/27/2013 at 21:06

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Probably fucked him up - I know of an instance where a guy mounted 16.5" tires on a 16" rim with predictable results. When they reconnected the loose parts of his arm, he had about 20% in terms of functionality left.

soto > Taybrego31 12/27/2013 at 21:22

0

correction...that was the tire fighting back at a tire slasher.

soto > pfftballer 12/27/2013 at 21:23

0

Nah, it probably just blew the knife he was slashing the tire with back into his arm.

soto > Intrepidman 12/27/2013 at 21:24

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Yup, Battire don't care.

paulwallfromthecountry > Monsterajr 12/27/2013 at 22:21

1

I just happened to smoke a fatty and wanted to let you know that you officially made me paranoid of tires exploding all around me.

DocV2 > Bullitt417 12/27/2013 at 23:12

1

Well… at least there's a strong likelihood he won't be passing on his genetic material after that brilliant stunt.