"Boom" went the tyre
Major excitement was to be had when one of our tyres blew out dramatically at high speed, relatively speaking, on the main road from Krakow to Košice in Slovakia.
This was 5 days into our 2010 trip and I see that Iva already wrote about it in her post about that day.
Twice I’ve been in vans which have suffered flat tyres driving flat out on the motorway, but neither time was I the one driving. I can only conclude that keeping control of a 3 tonne vehicle under those conditions is a piece of cake, because Iva didn’t so much as flinch.
Our van weighs about 2.8 tonnes and so our tyres are quite unusual in terms of the amount of weight each one has to be able to bear (I just checked and it’s 850kg per tyre). Factoring in how narrow they are, it’s no great surprise that when they go, they don’t go quietly. Fortunately I’m gained some experience in changing tyres after driving a rental car into a metal curb in Reims, France. It didn’t take me long to work out that changing the tyre on a Ford Mondeo is infinitely easier than on a camper van.
Long story short, the wing-nuts were rusted to buggery, the wrench was too short and the jack wasn’t high enough to lift the tyre off the tarmac. After half an hour of grunting, sweating and swearing I admitted defeat. There was nothing for it but to call the ADAC and accept professional help.
Investigating the Tyre Situation: The Tyre Situation is Not Good
