Originally Posted by
Tony (Michigan)
My friend's brother was inflating his truck tire (called a split rim) at a gas station. The mechanic told him he should use the cage. they guy said he's done this many times. The tire blew and literally took have his head off. He died instantly and never knew what hit him.
When the split rim "goes" it is not the tire that "explodes", but the split rim that splits apart catastrophically. There is a steel "ring" that fits into a groove in one half of the split rim and holds the 2 halves together. At high pressures the ring can come off "instantly" and with high velocity. This steel ring is what kills pretty well instantly.
I repeat..... It is not the tire that explodes when the split-rim "goes"...
For safety, tire shops have a steel "cage" that holds the tire upright (as on a vehicle) and the tire can be safely inflated in it and then installed. Any truck-tire shop SHOULD have one. Take a look at it, and the construction of the split rim - and the steel ring. Then imagine the force of that ring hitting someone - and killing them :-(
Not using a cage makes a "tire inflater" elegible for the so-called Darwin Award, and unfortunately often rightly so..... Apologies to the survivors, but .... safety FIRST.