Title says it all...blew a tire while down in Mexico doing some high speed land surveillance. Not sure if I can post the video here, but tire blew north of 140. Needless to say it did some damage to the body of the car. Instead of fixing OEM, decided to go ahead and order the widebody kit for w204 sedan offered by DarwinProAero. Stay tuned for the build when kit arrives.

 

Wow sorry about the carnage, what brand tire, I think I see the date code looks like a 2017 tire so not real old.

 

The last picture appears to show something that punctured the tire from the inside out.

Did you recall hitting any debirs?

What air pressure are you running?

Glad that you didn't have more damage/destruction or lose control.

A great opportunity to upgrade.

 

A front tire at that.

Good to hear you are safe.

No damage to the wheel?

 

Yeah that's horrible but not the worst that could have happened. Lose control tear a brake line glad no one was hurt 👍
also interested in what brand of tire it was

 

That could have become nasty. Glad nobody was injured apart from the bodywork.
As others have asked, what tyre were you using?

 

First, glad to hear you're safe. Hope you were wearing your brown pants. That had to be a moment.
Second, this may become my new favorite thread here, subbed for updates. Over the last 2 weeks I've been working really hard to find ways to justify coilovers & a widebody kit for the car. The other good discussion on this is here.

Did you get the fiberglass, or splurge for the carbon options?
How much did it come out to be after shipping?
Have you looked into new wheels sizes yet?
There's a madlad on YT that put one of these on his wrecked C63 as a DIY. Seems like there's a bit of fiddling to do to make it all line up.
Are you going for a 507/CBS style hood too?
Be mindful of the rear exhaust tips. YT'er Mat (link above) apparently didn't get any in the kit.

Good luck & am excited to watch the your journey on this!

 

Gonna try to reply to everyone in one post. First, since many are concerned with how/why the tire blew, I know for sure, I didn't hit any debris or potholes on the road. I had just surveyed the area prior to doing the run. The tire I was running had around 5^32 tread depth left and the sidewall was not impaired in any shape or form, prior to the run. It was also a Pirelli PZero but, unsure of tire dimensions without going to look at the car(believe it says 225/45/R18 date code 17') As far as why the tire blew, I can only speculate. I had just drove 5 hours to location as I was headed south for business. Prior to leaving, I aired up the tire to 45PSI because that rim has a hairline crack that leaks around 5PSI per day and I didn't want to bother with airing up the tire while I was away. I had to stop for gas about 15 miles before I attempted the run. Which I checked that particular rim with the good ol' push on the sidewall for stiffness check (I know lazy). The tire felt like it had good pressure so I sent her on her way. I think over the course of driving down, the car had pressurized more than 45PSI and when I hit 140 it was too much for the sidewall to handle, resulting in the blow out. Blowout happened around 12:30am and I didn't have a spare in the vehicle(weight savings yo!) I ended up driving the car with the tire destroyed 17 miles to the nearest tire shop to get tire put on in the A.M. Took about 2 1/2 hours to get there driving 10mph...(yeah it sucked) As far as damage to the rim, not even curb rash. Have no idea how it didn't damage the rim whatsoever, especially after the 17mile limp mode. I am well aware it could've been way worse and I'm glad only the body panels were damaged. As far as the body kit goes, I opted for the "slightly" more expensive carbon fiber option because racecar. The kit I ordered comes with the altered exhaust tips as well. I actually reached out to Matt Armstrong (Youtuber you @'d) and never got a response so I'm assuming he didn't get his kit from DarwinPro and opted for a alibaba "like" kit. All in all, the kit I chose ran me exactly $4,560+free shipping. I have rebuilt wrecked cars for many years so bodywork/paint is not new to me. I realize the kit will need massaging and I welcome the challenge. Everything that has and will be done to this car will be with my own two hands (I'm a cheapskate and enjoy the fruits of my labor) The plan is to run BC Forged 3 Piece rims 10.5 up front and 11.5 in rear.(I'll figure out offsets and such when the time comes.) Hoping to squeeze a 275/285 up front and a 305/315 in rear. Suspension will be KW V3 coil overs. The 63 will be painted in Mercedes China Blue. I also plan on redoing the entire interior in cappuccino brown leather w/ white stitching. I plan on keeping this car forever and I want to take as much time as possible to meticulously build it because it's a hobby. Needless to say, thank you all for the kind wishes and I should be posting my build for years to come. Thanks all. Any advice and direction with the build is always welcomed! Almost forgot about the hood question. I am unsure yet. I like the idea of having a custom hood made for the 63(sorta like DAD's hood) but also don't want this build to become too rice/gaudy. Rest assured if there's a tasteful/performance "like" modification offered for the 63, I most likely have considered it.

 

Max PSI is probably 50, and considering you topped it up 45 cold and then had the run, I don't doubt that it was too pressurized and hit its limit

 

That's my thoughts as well...Averaged 22.8MPG on the way down there taking it easy. But lil' ol' me saw an opportunity for a top speed run and couldn't help myself xD

 

HA. I did the same thing in my C32. I was young the car was fairly new. Decided to try and top it out. I hit 150ish and cut it back after that. Today's me thinks I was crazy for doing it at night and not checking my tire pressure before I started. Amazing how much the wind resistance slows the car down at those speeds.

 

Update: Just got an email from DarwinPro saying they have a 63 kit in stock at their NJ warehouse and will be shipping immediately. Should get started on the conversion in a few weeks now! Originally, the estimated time for the kit to arrive was 5-6 months so this is mega.

 

50 PSI, or whatever the max inflation noted on the sidewall, is a cold inflation pressure, not a "this is where the tire blows up" number.

 

Yes but 140 on a max cold tire pressure is probably not what the tire manufacturer intended the tire to be under load at. I didn't hit anything and the tire was not impaired so the next logical guess of to the theory of why it blew, would be air pressure.

 

If you exceeded the speed rating of the tire, then sure. If not, then it's doubtful that a tire at max cold inflation pressure being run within its design limits would simply explode unless it was defective or something affected its integrity. These things are pretty highly regulated and tested due to the potential safety impact to the vehicle they're on and any other vehicles in the vicinity.