Blew a Tire on the Highway. Found Snapped Bolts.

gilber33 · 07-13-2012, 10:27 AM

Hey guys. So last weekend I was on my way to meet and blew a tire on the highway. It was a pretty gnarly blow out:

There's also a few rips/tears on the backside of the tire as well.

Anyways, I didn't notice it at first, but after I got the tires taken off and got the wheels home, I found this on the backside of the wheel the blew out:

These are BFI bolts, but there isn't a single loose or snapped bolt anywhere else on any of the wheels. This is the only spot. Now, I have no idea what came first, did the blow out cause some intense vibrations in the wheel and cause the bolts to snap. Did something else cause the bolts to snap? I don't know.

The wheel held air. I check it regularly and keep it at 40psi and it never leaked down. I checked the tire a couple weeks before this happened and it was fine and the day of the tire appeared to be completely normal. Just before I left the tire was making noises, creaking and whatnot, more so when turning right, I assumed it was axle because I checked out the area and the axle boot was torn, and I used to go through axles on the reg, but the tire was not low when it was making these noises. So the tire must have been falling apart or something when it blew.

Can anyone explain what might have happened? Which do you think came first? I'm going to be taking the wheel apart, resealing it, and replacing the bolts and 3 or 4 bolts out from where the last not broken one is.

Ollie · 07-13-2012, 10:35 AM

Damn that's crazy. I've never seen that before. If I were to guess, I'd say the bolts snapped after the tire blew. That or it's unrelated.

gilber33 · 07-13-2012, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ollie

Damn that's crazy. I've never seen that before. If I were to guess, I'd say the bolts snapped after the tire blew. That or it's unrelated.

The more I think about it I think it happened after the tire blew. It was pretty bad. Just because none of the other bolts anywhere on any of the wheels are broken or loose, I have no reason to think these just snapped for no reason.

stinkinrich · 07-13-2012, 10:48 AM

Edit; Realised I went full retard with my question. Never mind.

michealis · 07-13-2012, 10:51 AM

Even with the blowout I can't see how it would have snapped the bolts.

gilber33 · 07-13-2012, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stinkinrich

Is the hole in the tyre at the same section of the wheel where the bolts are missing?

I have no idea. Like I said, I didn't even notice them until I got home with the tires off the wheels. I wish I would have looked right away but didn't think anything of it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by michealis

Even with the blowout I can't see how it would have snapped the bolts.

I was on a highway that was under construction and after it blew, I had to drive a bit to get over to somewhere I could pull over. I don't know, maybe that was enough?

I don't know. Maybe a bolt loosened up or something and it put stress on the other ones. I'll take it apart, put it back together and I'll just have to monitor them.

Maybe the stars aligned and this was all some sort of freak occurrence.

kbuss · 07-13-2012, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stinkinrich

Edit; Realised I went full retard with my question. Never mind.

Never go full retard.

stinkinrich · 07-13-2012, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilber33

I have no idea. Like I said, I didn't even notice them until I got home with the tires off the wheels. I wish I would have looked right away but didn't think anything of it.

Well you can see by your picture that the bolts nearest to the hole in the tyre are still in the wheel.

Hence why I removed the retarded question I asked. lol.

gilber33 · 07-13-2012, 11:32 AM

They are all still in the wheel. Only the back half of them sheared, but because there was a little bit of silicone that seeped through when putting the wheels together, the front of the bolts were held in place. Which is why I never saw the backside of the bolts missing.

MommysLittleMonster · 07-13-2012, 11:33 AM

dafuq

The best I can come up with in my head is the wheel receiving some kind of unexplainable torque when the tire blew, causing a few bolts to let go. But still... that seems pretty farfetched.

gilber33 · 07-13-2012, 11:36 AM

Thinking more about it, if the bolts snapped way before the tire blowing, even if there was some silicone holding the bolts in place, I feel like bumps, the speed of the wheel constantly spinning, etc, would have forced the bolt heads out of the holes. Where when the tire blew, I was going pretty slow and pulled over.

stinkinrich · 07-13-2012, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gilber33

They are all still in the wheel. Only the back half of them sheared, but because there was a little bit of silicone that seeped through when putting the wheels together, the front of the bolts were held in place. Which is why I never saw the backside of the bolts missing.

Gotcha

Zic · 07-13-2012, 01:50 PM

Well first of. How much did you torque the bolts to? Since over torquing them will cause them to snap after a while.

Also, just that the tire "seems" like it has air, does not mean it has. Stretch tires will hold there profile even when VERY low on air, a couple of weeks is a long time. I've always checked it every two days. Just to be on top of it.

My money is on over torqued bolts, and low air pressure. If you take the tire of, can you take a picture of the inside, i can tell right away if it has bin driven for a long time on low pressure.

electricalbox · 07-13-2012, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zic

Well first of. How much did you torque the bolts to? Since over torquing them will cause them to snap after a while.

Also, just that the tire "seems" like it has air, does not mean it has. Stretch tires will hold there profile even when VERY low on air, a couple of weeks is a long time. I've always checked it every two days. Just to be on top of it.

My money is on over torqued bolts, and low air pressure. If you take the tire of, can you take a picture of the inside, i can tell right away if it has bin driven for a long time on low pressure.

QFT, overtorqued bolts would be my guess. OP I would suggest you remove and properly retorque all the wheels (only if they weren't torqued properly at first). It is weird, but it makes sense that the tire blew (constrution/stretched/whatever reason) and the wheel took a huge sudden shock to it. So bolts that were overtorqued just needed a little stress to snap.

Glad no one got hurt.

motocaddy · 07-13-2012, 02:36 PM

I had an issue where bolts were breaking on one wheel pretty regularly. Turned out that the face was bent. A local shop straightened and machined it for about $150 with good results. To check for this, put it on a tire balancing machine with no tire and watch for movement.

A friend also had some bolts break after he hit something on the highway and bent his lip. Straightened lip, new hardware and no more issues.

AMGwheelwhore · 07-13-2012, 02:38 PM

I just realized I had my rears torqued way too tight last night after i broke the extension off my friends breaker bar whoops... And my guess would be you had not enough psi in the stretched tires which caused the blowout, I check mine every Monday before work

gilber33 · 08-06-2012, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by electricalbox

QFT, overtorqued bolts would be my guess. OP I would suggest you remove and properly retorque all the wheels
)

I will be way more careful this time torquing everything down this time around.

Quote:

Originally Posted by motocaddy

I had an issue where bolts were breaking on one wheel pretty regularly. Turned out that the face was bent. A local shop straightened and machined it for about $150 with good results. To check for this, put it on a tire balancing machine with no tire and watch for movement.
.

Thanks! I will check for this too.

Thanks for the replies. Well, I now have my answer to which came first, the blow out or the snapped bolts, it was indeed the snapped bolts. Driving home yesterday after I got the wheels back on the car just this last Thursday and the sound right before the tire blew out last time came back. Pulled over quickly to find the tire on the same wheel super low and 6 snapped bolts, right in the same spot (well, 3 in the same group as before and 3 more over), but generally in the same area.

I'm taking the wheels apart and am going to use OEM hardware and get rid of the BFI bolts. I will also check for any irregularities in the face, barrel, or lip.

What I don't understand is that I drove on these for close to three months with no issue. Then one day 7 bolts snap and I blow a tire. Replace the bolts and get the wheel back on the car and then 4 days later it happens again.

Zic · 08-06-2012, 09:03 AM

Crazy.

How much are you torquing the bolts?

gilber33 · 08-06-2012, 09:07 AM

I had a setting on my drill that I was using and it was torquing them to about 13ft lbs. I did that so it would be consistent. I've read that everyone recommends 15-18. Maybe that just wasn't tight enough. I only have a 1/2" torque wrench and it's a complete PITA to use, I need to pick up a 3/8" one and do it all by hand.

The fact that the wheels were on the car without issue for 3 months kind of makes me believe that the problem isn't in anything being straight or not. Probably with more inconsistencies with torquing. At least I hope so.

So if anyone has some OEM hardware, please let me know!

stinkinrich · 08-06-2012, 09:32 AM

That is pretty crazy. Better hardware as you've said will hopefully work.

gilber33 · 08-06-2012, 09:36 AM

That's my hope. I hear about people snapping BFI hardware quite frequently. I should have taken my friend's advice from the get-go and kept my OEM hardware.

Car was looking so nice this past weekend too with the smaller adapters in the rear and larger tires.

Zic · 08-06-2012, 10:17 AM

Wow, that's crazy low torque settings you got there.
I've always torqued them down to 22-25 ft/lbs, 33-34 Nm. I got that advice from a man that has refinished a LOT of wheels, and he has not bin having any problems and either have I.

stinkinrich · 08-06-2012, 10:25 AM

You're not using a mix match of bolts and nuts are you? Like stainless steel nuts on aluminum bolts or something silly?..

gilber33 · 08-06-2012, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zic

Wow, that's crazy low torque settings you got there.
I've always torqued them down to 22-25 ft/lbs, 33-34 Nm. I got that advice from a man that has refinished a LOT of wheels, and he has not bin having any problems and either have I.

OK, then I will torque them down tighter this second time around. I'll go with 25 to be safe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stinkinrich

You're not using a mix match of bolts and nuts are you? Like stainless steel nuts on aluminum bolts or something silly?..

Nah. They're all the same gold bolts from BFI.