I was given a 33x12.50 BFG M/T, with an 1-1/2" tear in the tread. I asked a tire shop to fix it up for use as a spare, they installed a "boot" to cover and patch the tear. He said it would work as a trail only tire and I couldn't use it on the road. I understand why and what the concerns are but just how unsafe do you think it would be to use this tire on the street/highway if nessessary?

If you do use it on the highway, run it on the back. If it blows up on the rear axle, it will be much less likely to make you crash.

Cisco

NO way man...maybe on my hay wagon, but that's about all that tire'd be good for. Your life isn't worth a $90 tire. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" />

And no offense cisco...but the REAR axle is THE WORST axle to have a blow out on. WORST. Hands down. You have absolutely NO control over a vehicle with a blown out rear tire. I promise you. Might not make sense to ya, but trust me. Just try it sometime. Ever watched a crash test video of a rear axle blow out at highway speed? The vehicle type is moot. The result is always the same. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

They have to tell you that for libilty reasons. In California they most likely would not fix it, I know they would not fix it if it was a sidewall, and doubtful they would fix it in the tread. As they told you, use it on the trail only!!!! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/coolg.gif" alt="" />

I wouldn't have guessed this, I figured when the rear blows, you can still steer with the front. Where as if the front blows, you can only steer with one tire. Having never had a blowout on front or rear I have nothing to back up this reasoning.



Maybe when I take my epic cross country wheelin trip, when I get to ohio we could do some testing. We could put some cheap tires on my truck, and then I will drive by at say 55, and you can shoot one of tires out. We will try one end and then the other. We will have to do 3 fronts and 3 rears to be scientific about it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" /> Or someone can post a link to one of those urban legend debunked sites, or some of this rear blow out footage, or maybe a state highway report or something. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

Cisco

while I couldn't readily find anything describing severity of front and rear blowouts, I did find some helpful info that I didn't know before.

Tire blowout tech

Cisco

well i'll tell you from experiance that a rear blow out sucks and is nothing to sneeze at i was doing about 60 fixing to hit an interstate interchange and it almost got real ugly really quick ,and i was in a car ,now i imagine it would be worse in a truck with a larger tire and i have about 15 years of driveing experiance behind the wheel with a lot of dirt road powerslides during the learning years ,not much scares me but that blow out sure did

Ok I get it. I wasn't planning on running down the highway at 90 MPH, but I was hoping I could maybe get to a shop at 30 MPH. I've got another spare, i got 33x9.50R15 so it'll tuck up under the bed nicly. I'll carry the one with the tear and boot on the trail incase I really need it there.
Tyler

When I was young, foolish, and poor, I had a car with lots of spare wheels and tires. I'd run the tires to the cords, and until they went flat. I went through about 6 tires this way, so have some experience. Yes I was foolish, but, I did have the advantage of expecting a tire to blow at any time, as opposed to getting suprised by the event. My experience was that I'd prefer to have a rear tire go. When a tire does go, do not make any sudden movements. Steer gently to keep the car/truck heading in the right direction. Maintain speed until you have the vehicle under control then gently coast to nearly a stop, and only then apply the brakes.
I would not run your patched tire at any speed unless I had no other choice. Then I'd drive very conservatively until I could get it replaced with a decent tire. I'd put it on the rear if I could.