it's the rotor, wheel spacers don't cover the majority of the wheel

you can see at 28 second mark

 

That was actually in the southern states that I have been to. Wait until you see the Carolina Squat for yourself up close.

 

If that's what I'm thinking it is...Northern Anoka has it already. We're like you up here...early adopters.

 

True Story: I've had my 64 Falcon convertible for about 35 years now. The previous owner was my mom's cousin Bill. Bill was driving with the top down at highway speeds when he hit a tire like that. Obviously the car didn't launch and tumble like the video above, but he told me all he could see was blue sky... In a convertible... With the top down... Before the car had seatbelts!!!

As my dad would say, "he got a cold rush of **** to the heart!" To this day the Falcon, aka The Pelican has a piece of angle iron scabbed on the front end joining the two sides below the radiator where the OEM cross member should be.

 

That tire came back for more

 

It's interesting that the rotor was still attached to the wheel. Most disk brake systems, the caliper is held in place by the caliper mount that is either a part of the hub assembly, or it's bolted in place after you install the rotor. That mount assembly oftentimes will make it impossible to remove the rotor without first removing the caliper mount. There was a lot of force involved with the rotor coming away with the wheel like that.

 

See my avatar. Mines a 65.

 

That assumes that there is something like a spindle preventing the rotor from sliding out of the caliper. With the failed unit bearing and large wheel, there was nothing preventing the caliper from dropping away from the rotor. If you watch close you can see that the caliper does hold on for a moment before the relationship turns from rough to violent. Regardless of how it happened, yes a lot of force involved.

I'd like to know how fast that Soul was running. That was about a perfect $*** storm to launch it in the air like that.

While I don't regret seeing the video, I do wish I'd never seen the twitter post that went with it. Causes me to have even less respect for Tesla drivers. Concern in the post not about driver of the Soul, but about his "autopilot" saving him. The damage was already done in the colission, anyone could have avoided the tire at that point. Did you even stop out of concern about the accident, or was that the Tesla autopilot avoiding a colision too. Quit virtue signaling. In this situation, no one cares about your Tesla's collition avoidance, we care about the health and safety of the one(s) that had an encounter with Redbull the tire. Well, we care about that and being armchair accident investigators. The only interest that we have in your Tesla is that the onboard cameras gave us a good view of the accident.

 

Good points. What is also amazing is that no one slammed into the Kia after it landed.

Tesla pushed the world into electric faster but they won't sell parts for owners to repair their own vehicles. Nevermind the horrific build quality. No thx.

 

The amount of time between tire separation and Kia impact is pretty small. I'll concede that the "autopilot" on a Tesla MAY have enough reaction time to avoid that tire, but they will actually have to recreate a test situation just like that to prove their allegations.

 

You are correct.

 

Good observation. I wonder if the Chevy spindle is the fixed kind that stays on the knuckle and the hub the wheel is bolted to spins on bearings over the fixed spindle.

As for the Soul, you’ll be amazed how efficient rolling wheels are at launching anything that touches them from behind skyward. Watch any open-wheel racing series for a plethora of examples.

I think South Park captured the personality of the average EV driver perfectly.

 

Smugness is universal. Humans are bad, regardless of what they drive.

Though TBH Tesla drivers are the worst.

 

That a chevy truck looks new enough to use a unit bearing hub assembly that bolts to the face of the steering knuckle, and not a spindle with the rotor and bearings riding on it. I can neither confirm not deny this since I don't know chevies well enough to know what that one is. This is what the hub bearing assembly would look like if it did have one.

Image from Amazon



I know that Rangers had a similar setup on the 99-11 4wd, and I've heard of similar failures (not driving down the interstate) when people tried to run them for extended or abusive (heavy offroad) periods without the axle shaft installed.

Not really surprised that it can do that. I have studied a lot of physics over the years. I may not remember all of the finer details, but I do understand some of the extreme forces at play and what they can do when combined the right way. On the race track is one thing, its still shocking to see it in action on the interstate. That's a vehicle traveling at maybe 1/2 the speed (assuming around 90 mph) and probably twice the weight. I daily drive a Forte which is essentially the same platform, I doubt the structure would have held up as well as the Soul did. Of course, I'm a little closer to the ground and likely would have had the tire in my windshield/lap if I couldn't have avoided it.

EDIT: Also FWIW I was driving my 68 F-100 when it lost a rear wheel due to a failed wheel spacer. Well, it was more a failure on my part to ensure that it was properly installed. That was at (slightly) slower speeds and on back roads, I know how that wheel reacted and how far it went across a yard (through the air) and through the woods. I almost wish I could have saved the security camera footage from that house, it was impressive. Wouldn't have found the tire without it, it straight disappeared while I was stopping the truck, just a couple of scuff marks where it bounced across the yard. The one in this video was higher speeds and straight line with no obstructions and nothing to slow it down before it met the Kia.

Did you catch the airbag squib going off in the mid air twist. Like a mini directional thruster going off there. First time I've ever seen that when watching crash footage.

While making this post I was curious about the truck invoved. While searching for more information I came across this bit of armchair investigation. I think it does a pretty good job of breaking things down. It seems to have come to the same conclusion that a unit bearing failed. https://www.theautopian.com/why-did-...k-at-the-tech/

Another video about this popped on my youtube feed this afternoon. Apparently CHP is investigating, "specifically they want to know if something on that truck was modified." Like no ****, one look and it's obvious that it was modified. Lift and altered wheel fitment were obvious at a glance.

Be insteresting to see how it plays out and what type of feel good legislation they try to push from it. Optics will make this an excellent opportunity for some political virtue signaling.

 

New design 6C3Z1A131AA from Fordorama uses more robust cable with a spring at the end of the cable. Its just 2 bolts into self tapping holes holding the unit in place.

I reused the original bolt, but I recommend getting new ones if you live in rustbelt.