I should have posted this earlier. I had 4 Specialized tubes with seam splits. Yes, 4 and they all had seam splits. The last one blew out the front tire, the worst possible scenario. My only saving grace was that I was coming to a stop at a light. But that was it - I had enough.
All of the tubes were inspected and confirmed to be seam splits at my local Specialized dealer. It was very easy to see. The solution was to not just go with a different brand, but to be sure we were going with a different plant (as there are really only about 3 major plants that these tubes come from). Perhaps just a bad batch or maybe bad quality control? Whatever, I wanted out of this tube source.
I use Q-Tubes now and have not a flat since. The tubes feels more substantial to the touch, but bottom line is - no seam split flats in as many months. Take it for what its worth. But this little public service announcement of mine "seams" to be ringing true in another thread as well and decided to post it clean for others to see. (Pun intended)
I don't care (thread)
For the record, I was/am running 28's with 48mm stem.