2007 Mercedes R320 Explodes during blizzard - Benzworld.org

ncrews · 02-02-2007, 05:22 AM

Fully loaded, 2 month old R320 explodes suddenly in our driveway during a Colorado blizzard. See the complete story and pictures at Mercedes R320 Explosion

ronin65 · 02-03-2007, 04:08 PM

My goodness! what was the tire pressure inside? Im sure cold weather tire pressure was used but perhaps the air suddenly turned warmer whiched caused the tire to expand to the point of failure. Or a piece of debris came from behind in the blizzard and went diagonally forward from the rear corner, thus possibly explaining the apparent bumber damage. But Im just a lesser observer whos merely speculating

**ThrillKill** · 02-03-2007, 06:00 PM

Weird.............

**cmitch** · 02-03-2007, 06:16 PM

As I recall, is it still recommended that you mix a little gasoline with diesel in extremely cold climates to prevent the fuel from geling in the fuel lines? I know some who own MB diesels and they put about 1 gallon of gasoline per tank of diesel to 'keep it stable'. What I'm driving at, is it possible that gasoline fumes were the culprit or would diesel fumes be as volitile?

miroj · 02-03-2007, 10:28 PM

One of the most freaky incidents I have ever seen. You are so fortunate that the children were safe. Hope it all works out.

dklein · 02-04-2007, 08:46 AM

wow that really blew up
ok here is my scenario
1 it was a wind chill of - 20 or more
so you have a tire with an internal flaw
the cold made it brittle so with the wind blowing on it the outside air pressure can drop to 0 or -2psi now your tire has 35 psi on it and the 15 psi of atmospheric pressure just dissapears so its like having a pressure of 50 psi in the tire . its not enough to blow a good tire but it will blow a flawed tire .
i sugest you contact the dealer and have them call the tire mfg they will replace the car and repair the damages as it was thair tire that blew.

just be thankfull you werent driving in the summer doing 70 mph when it blew up as you would be killed in the accident .

please keep us posted with what happens .
good luck

kpax · 02-04-2007, 10:21 AM

I live in the northeast and we see tires explode all the time when people spin their tires when they get stuck in the snow or ice. However it sounds like in your situation you got some diesel fuel impregnating the tire compound and as a result the tire exploded in a more violent manner. The explosion from spinning the tire is caused by overheating; in your case it sounds like it also ignited the diesel fuel in the tire compound. An unusaul set of circumsatances though after reading your stroy I am not surprised at what happened.

Roch207 · 02-04-2007, 12:26 PM

You need to start feeding those kids wheaties so they can push you out of snow banks in the future. Spinach also works well.

karugs · 02-04-2007, 04:15 PM

The remaining mystery is why did the wheel suddenly turn by itself, why the car would lock itself, and why the front passenger window opened up by itself?

BeurreNoirLisse · 02-04-2007, 07:41 PM

Wow! Cars can be replaced but kids.... I hope you will keep the forum posted as to what the causes turned out to be. I further hope both MBUSA and your cars tire manufacturer contact you immediately to pursue a full investigation. Also your state attorney general and the US dept of Transportation should be notified.
We have an ML and friends of ours have had their R for about a year. As many MB owners do, we drive MBs in part for the safety of our family and for those we car pool with. Events like you have described are certainly cause for concern. And forums like this are places to find and explore information you are unlikely to find in you local paper.
BuerreNoirLisse
ML, e320,c280, c230, and one Volvo