A very dead Goodyear Eagle F1 and a bit of a disaster

[jbenekeorr]

Hi all,

Currently on holiday in Cornwall and this morning on my way to Wadebridge, I had to pull over as the car suddenly started squirming around just as I had got up to speed on an A-road.

When I pulled over I immediately saw that my near side rear was totally flat. 
I was gutted as it's an Eagle F1 and hasn't been on there long, with around 95% tread left!
It then became obvious, the reason it had gone flat - there was a massive gash (calm down lads) in the sidewall! WTF HAPPENED TO IT?!?!? The roads round here are in awful condition, and just before I had driven over a cattle grid which I can only imagine was the cause, I had set the tyre pressures 48 hours before which the AA man confirmed were all spot on so that can be ruled out.





I had been able to pull into a lay-by, so I pulled onto a flat bit of ground, stuck it in P and put the handbrake on tight, cracked the wheel nuts and put the jack under the jack point.

Just as the tyre got off the ground, the jack creaked, then violently bent over to the side and collapsed. The car came down to the ground with a thud. Scared the  out of me.


Thank god the wheel was still on the car. I had to call the AA out to put the space saver on for me as the jack was totally unusable, it doesn't wind up or down. I would never use the standard widow maker jack given the choice, but at the side of the road there's no choice if you don't carry a spare.



It was quite a nasty experience and I will consider carrying a small trolley jack with me which perhaps has an adaptor to fit the jacking points.


I dropped the wheel off at a tyre place attached to a Ford dealer who matched the blackcircles price for a new Eagle F1 and am picking it up tomorrow morning.




Oh and one more thing to add - the tyre pressure monitor never noticed the flat tyre, it only alerted me there was a problem after I had driven 15 miles on the space saver!!!

[lukemk5gti]

Very unfortunate! On a good tyre too!!

What's the problem with the stock jack? I've used mine a million times and never experiences this? Was the ground slightly angled or was it by chance resting on a stone

[flashp]

Buy the S3 jacking point kit. Great mod and will preserve the metalwork. They're 4 'pads' which fix to existing points on the chassis. They're about £45 iirc.

[jbenekeorr]

Thanks all, I have sent an email to Goodyear just now - never know, might get something out of them!

I will definitely look at the S3 jack point kit as I could use a trolley jack with it then.

I don't know what happened to the jack, I have used it a few times before and it has been fine. I've certainly been a lot more careless with them on previous cars (naive). The ground was flat as far as I can tell. It just seems like the jack gave way, It sort of went diagonally towards me and forwards as it went. Oh well - no harm done. I think I was as sensible with it as can reasonably be expected so we'll just put that one down to experience!!

[Sug]

I think you have been very unlucky and just clipped some kind of debris in the road, can't understand the jack as I've also used mine plenty of times and it's been fine.

[xjay1337]

I'd love to know what caused it. Perhaps a mail to GY with your displeasure, might get some tokens or even a new tyre?

I am no tyre engineer but it clearly looks to me to be a gash mark caused by hitting something..whether a stone/brick/treeroot/sharp curb.
Does not look like a structural failure of the tyre.

[jbenekeorr]

Collected my wheel and new tyre today, all back to normal now. I managed to get the jack to wind back in so that I could store it back under the boot carpet until I'm back home but the winding system is all to cock. Does wind in and out but seems to slip. It'll never lift the car again.