Tire Blowouts

Has anyone heard of a tire blowing out sitting in the driveway? We just purchased 4 new Goodyear Viva2 tires from Walmart. There was 20 miles put on it driving home. Approx. 2 weeks later the tire blew on the inside top sidewall. Walmart told us it was vandalism and wouldn’t replace. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Vandalism usually happens on the outside sidewall. See what Goodyear says. You may not be required to return to Wal-Mart to get an adjustment. You may have to deal with Wal-Mart if the tire is different than the normal Goodyear tire.

If you bought or got road hazard warranty it should be covered under that. My guess is you hit some kind of debris causing the damage. If would be covered if it was a road debris you need to work your way up the ladder until it is replaced.

I agree that this is probably a case of road debris having caused a puncture in the inner sidewall. As PDV stated, a vandal would have taken the easy way, and would have punctured the sidewall where it was more easily accessible.

The only way that a tire could “blow out” while sitting stationary is if the tire had been GROSSLY overinflated when cold and then was sitting in direct sunlight on a very hot day–and while that scenario is theoretically possible, it is really a stretch.

Since road hazard warranties are a significant extra charge at most tire dealerships, most people skip them. Next time, consider buying your tires at Costco where the prices are good to begin with, but those low prices also include a lifetime road hazard warranty at no extra charge, as well as free rotations, free rebalancing, and free puncture repair for the life of the tread. If a puncture is not repairable, Costco will give you a new tire, gratis.

You hit an unseen object in the road, any sharp piece of glass or metal, and cut the tire…Buy a replacement and move on…

It would seem the “Viva-2” line of tires are made exclusively for Wally-World and like most of their stuff, they are probably Asian made. You can determine where they were made by decoding the serial on the tire sidewall…

http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=61307

I have had two bicycle tires blow out while the bicycle was parked. I knew that I didn’t over-inflate the tires and I attributed the problem to a weakness in the sidewall. I suppose the same could happen to an automotive tire.

Also check the production dates on the wally world specials.

My personal “unattended blowout” was because of age and sun u.v. exposure. ( only 400 miles on tires )

But on supposedly new, el cheapo tires I’d be suspect of the pre-sale storage age of the tires and the unknown ; Where and how were they stored before sale ? It very well could be that they were stored outside, uncovered. Sun & age could play a part then.

Look at the spot of the blowout. If it looks like a single break and the adjacent area is smooth, you ran over something.
Age evidence would be additional small surface cracking around that break and elsewhere around the sidewall.

Bingo. When you see at tire made exclusively for say Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club. It just screams “Built to a price”. I would rather buy tires that I know are of good quality even if they cost more. Tires are a saftey item.