[chockwald]

We were on our way home from Tempe, AZ after attending our daughter's graduation from ASU. We were about 72 miles east of Blythe, CA when the left front tire exploded, and I mean EXPLODED. I was doing my usual 60mph in the right lane, and went from total serenity ,as I listened to 60's music on XM radio, to controlled panic. At first the coach lurched hard to the left, but I remembered what I had been taught by my father to do in this situation...I took my foot off the gas (no brakes), and began to turn the steering wheel gradually (seemed longer than it was) to the right until I had control again and then was able to steer to the shoulder. I resisted the impulse to over correct and cause a bigger problem. The racket of the blown tire was deafening, and I was expecting to see major damage as I exited the coach to check it out....the Alcoa rim was on the pavement with remnents of the tire still around it, and the tread hung up on the axle. The rim was UNDAMAGED! There was very minor damage to the exterior..some scuffing, and 3 missing rivits, but otherwise everything was intact! Amazing! I've heard so many stories of thousands of dollars in damage occuring. I am so impressed with the quality of construction, and materials. To get away with just rubbing out the scuff marks, and replacing 3 rivits is testimony to how well built this rig is.

I've never had a blowout of any kind on any vehicle I have every owned, and always wondered how it would be like to have a blowout, especially on my motorhome....now I know....once is enough!

We have Good Sam Emergency Road Service so we called them...they located someone in the Phoenix area who brought out a replacement tire and got us on our way. We were about an hour and half out of Phoenix, and it took them 2 hours to get there, but once there they had us on our way in 30 minutes!