When you slash someone's tire, does it explode?

Question

My friend & I are having a bet, but since we can't go around testing the theory, I though it best to ask here.

What exactly happens when you slash/stab a car's tire? Is there a difference between stabbing the treads vs. the white wall?

Also, is there anything hazardous about it, like pieces of rubber flying out from the internal pressure?

Not sure how many people know about this, but I figure someone has to work at an auto body shop or Discount Tire...

Answer 1

Technology in tire manufacturing has come a long way baby so that answer is "yes" and "no". Explosion as we would see in the movies, basically "no". When the tire is stationary and an object protrudes the side or thread there will be a loud sound because the inside pressure rushes through the hole that was punctured. When the tire is in motion, there are more elements coming into play -- added pressure from the load, heat from the friction on the asphalt so the explosion is louder because heat generates greater pressure by heating up the air inside the tire. On the highway one finds many pieces of truck tires which have torn as the tire "explodes" and that's because of the added pressure and friction. In a truck stop you will see that 18 wheeler tires are placed in a "cage" when they are being repaired because the bead on those tires is held by a steel ring that sandwiches the WHEEL unto the tire and if you want to know the damage -- stop by any truck stop and see the cage's damage as many tires have exploded inside the cage while being repaired.

Answer 2

Slashed Tire

Answer 3

The pressure in a car tire is relatively low, and the tire itself is relatively strong. If you stab the tire and pull out the knife, the air will escape through the hole. It won't explode, and it isn't particularly hazardous (unless you get caught). The main difference between stabbing the tread and the side is that it'd be a hell of a lot easier to penetrate the side.

Answer 4

on most automobiles, there wouldn't be anything hazardous from the tire, although the vehicle owner may cause you to be in a hazardous situation.

If you were to do this to a larger truck, or even a semi, you would risk injury - the heavy trucks will have tires with pressures up towards 80psi in some cases, and the big rigs can be up into the 130psi range - this amount of pressure would cause the tire to nearly explode, and this force could cause injury.

Those tires are also more expensive, and the vehicle owners would surely be hazardous to your health.

Answer 5

From reading the above responses - It's VERY OBVIOUS that most of the people have NEVER done this action. Yes I have done it once. I was young, stupid and VERY ANGRY. Wish I could take it back but I can't.
Anyway - when you jack a knife or sharp object (I used my Spyderco Endura) there was a LOUD POP!!! Then a hissing sound. The POP was VERY LOUD and the hissing was pretty loud.
I hope you do not go through with this because you will regret it like I do but if you do - that is what you can expect.

Answer 6

No, it merely deflates. The sidewall is "easier" to cut than the tread itself.

Mythbusters worked on the Exploding Tire Story and determined that it would have to be an extremely rarifed set of circumstances to hurt or kill a person with an exploding, fragmenting tire

Answer 7

We know, my daughter was married to an alcolholic, and he was trying to force her into the car and make her ride with her while he was wayaaa wasted.

My son, her brother, slashed the wall of his big ol jeep tires, its is faster out the side wall, it goes pstttttttttttt really quick. No explosion.

BTW the cops came, after the alcky called them he was pretty upset those tires were 200 each. The cops laughed and said thank you for keeping a drunk off the road

Answer 8

No, it will not fly apart like that. The air will release rather fast, but a tire is not like a balloon which is stretchy rubber, it is thicker so it will not explode. It also has steel cabling in there preventing it from exploding.

Answer 9

Here's what happens.
You slash the tire. It goes "FSHHHHH" really loud as air rushes out of the slash mark, the tire deflating all the while. As the air pressure decreases, the loudness of the "FSHHHH" noise decreases. Then the tire is flat.
Pieces of rubber don't fly out. Nothing explodes.

Weird question though. x]

Answer 10

If one were to use a pick-axe head mounted on a Louisville Slugger, the likelihood of an explosion would be proportional to the speed of the impact. Barry Bonds swing without steroids = no explosion. With = explosion.