[Rolebama]

I was driving along the A1(M) at 70mph in lane 1 between junctions 8 and 9. A car in lane 2 was passing very slowly when there was a loud bang at the rear driver's side of my car causing my car to veer. My first impression was that I had been hit. I started to brake and to pull onto the hard shoulder. At this point I discounted a puncture on mine because the car was handling perfectly. The driver of the overtaking car also pulled onto the hard shoulder with great cloud of sparks coming from his rear nearside tyre, or what was left of it. He had a hole with a piece of tread missing about five inches wide and four inches long. The one thing I couldn't initially understand was that if he hadn't hit me what caused the impact? We could only put it down to the released air from the tyre had literally blown the rear of my car over.

[TC1474]

You do not usually get instant deflation with modern tubeless tyres as the air can only escape from the hole around the puncture area thereby giving the driver time to slow and stop whilst maintaining control of the vehicle.

However..... I have seen many tyres instantly deflate (apart from the tubed variety) as a result of a carbuncle or large bulge forming in the tyre which can be caused through many reasons, but when they let go then can go big time causing the failure you saw as well as the delamination of the tyre.

The other possible explanation is a failure of the tyre sidewall, for example is a puncture has been picked up that has compromised the sidewall and therefore caused a major failure of the tyres integrity.

So, given the force at which the air would escape, I have seen it affect the handling capabilities of vehicles in close proximity due to the force and velocity with which the air escapes, so that may be part of the reason, but that is just based on what you have said there may well be an alternative reason.

Glad you are all OK though..

[Rolebama]

@TC1474 Thank you for your response. It was the only explanation I could think of, never having experienced anything like it before.
When I looked at the hole in his tyre, it had delaminated for about 2ins around the hole, and I was also surprised at the way the steel wires had snapped.
Thank you for last comment.

[Mark07]

This reminds me of a time earlier this year, I was driving along the motorway (lane 2) approaching a tipper lorry in lane 1 - the type that is often seen carrying large quantities of sand.

On it's rear left hand side, I saw a cloud puff up which I assumed the tyre had encroached on the dusty hard shoulder. A few seconds later, I saw a tyre had start to deflate and come free of the vehicle.

It rolled across lanes before heading back across the hard shoulder, hitting the barrier hard enough for it to bounce up into the air and head down the embankment on the other side. It took another 10 seconds or so before the driver started to pull over.

All this happened in moments, but thankfully I had enough time, space and visibility to get across to lane 3 and drop back.

I don't mind admitting that I was a little concerned at the time. If the road was a little busier or if it'd been nighttime, that tyre may have hit my car and goodness knows what effect that would've had.