I was bringing the family home from a shopping weekend in Alberta yesterday and with no warning...BAM..THUD.... THUD... THUD..THUD. Couldn't hold it staight. It pulled me into the ditch. I first thought I dropped a driveshaft with the amount of noise it was making. When the dust settled got out and found the right front tire flat, mudflap and fender liner gone and flare half ripped off. The kids got so scared from the noise that they cried the whole time I was changing the tire. Went to the tire shop to see if the rim was salvageable(not) and he showed me where the lip on the edge of the bead on the rim was worn razor sharp. He said that he has seen it before where from underinflation and dirt buildup on rim (usually only on the inside) it grinds away at the rim until it is sharp enough to cut the tire. That is what he figured happened here. Whe I bought the truck 6 weeks ago the tires were all at 30 PSI. I have been running them at 50 PSI ever since.Found a shop that had 4 used rims and two of them were almost worn through the lip on the bead. Picked out the best used rim ($150), ordered a new tire($321), was able to pick up most of the pieces off the highway to put the fender liner back in.
Just a heads up to check your factory alloys for this wearing and perhaps prevent a blowout. I will be checking the other 3 of mine.

Man that sucks atleast it wasnt worse.

Was this on your (new to you) 2001 Silverado with factory alloy wheels? So the tire bead had rubbed the rim until the rim was sharp enough to cut the tire........Right? Never would have thought that would happen, guess someone must have driven it 200,000 miles with the tires about flat to wear the "rim lip" till it was razor sharp.

I checked the other 3 rims and they have some wear but not as bad as the one that blew. I must not be the only one because of the condition of the other used rims at the tire shop. Two of them were pretty sharp. And the rim shop that repairs rims said that he has had those rims come in that were so thin on the lip that they were cracked partway around the rim.

Any chance the wear is caused by running too wide a tire on a stock rim..??

another good reason to air them up

WOW, thank the good Lord you and your family are ok! Could have gone very different...

Wow never heard of such a thing!!!, great info!!

I wish you had some pics. Any chance you could take some?

Glad everyone was ok!

What size tire are you running?

Tires to wide will definately exagerate the issue.

three of my rim did the exact same wore right through and cracked off, im pissed, and i never put oversised tired on mine just put the same on since the truck was new

three of my rim did the exact same wore right through and cracked off, im pissed, and i never put oversised tired on mine just put the same on since the truck was new

How many miles on the wheels? How many on the tires? Which wheels are they, steel or the forged aluminum? Which tires?

If you're worried about it and consider replacing the rims, a little advice. DOn't pay $150/ea for your rims. There are tons of factory takeoffs for sale, on here and other sites, ebay, etc, local paper. I just sold my OE alum rims, new condition for $250 for all 4. Dodge 8 lug rims fit as well. Find yourself a deal on all 4.
Glad everyone was ok after the blowout!

Had a flat a few weeks ago. Those nice OEM aluminum wheels are made in Hungary. My truck is getting more international all the time. Glad you and your family came out OK from the high speed blow.

Factory alloys with a little over 200K on them. The tires have always been 245's.