How to lose a new VW California to Fire from a flat tyre!

[Corradobrit]

I was chatting with a friend last night who said the same thing happened to him on the M25 a few years back. He was driving a Mercedes Sprinter and he noticed black smoke billowing from the back of the van. By the time he got over to the hard shoulder and got out of the van, the tyre burst into flames. Luckily for him, someone pulled over with a proper-sized extinguisher and was putting it out while he managed to remove the wheel; he said even while extinguishing, it kept reigniting, and when he managed to take it off and threw it aside, it burst into flames again. The problem is when you're driving, it's cooling the tyre, but when you stop, the heat builds up, and that's when it bursts into flames. I think the speed you're travelling at is an essential factor. He hadn't realised he had a flat tyre until he saw the smoke billowing.

Doesn't seem to be a problem for F1 cars driving at speed on a flatty. Overheating brake discs on the other hand are a huge issue.

 

[JohnCalifornia]

I had a blow out in my peugeot expert van in November and it happened half a mile from home so like an idiot I thought I’d drive home with the flat at crawling speed with my hazards on. I had to pullover after a quarter of a mile due to the noise of the tyre getting louder. I couldn’t believe how bad the tyre was after my small crawling journey. Admittedly these tyres were the original Michelin from new and were around 6 years old

 

[Corradobrit]

I had a blow out in my peugeot expert van in November and it happened half a mile from home so like an idiot I thought I’d drive home with the flat at crawling speed with my hazards on. I had to pullover after a quarter of a mile due to the noise of the tyre getting loader. I couldn’t believe how bad the tyre was after my small crawling journey. Admittedly these tyres were the original Michelin from new and were around 6 years old

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This is more the condition I would have expected to see the OP tyre in had it been driven on flat as suggested. There is more to that fire than just a hot tyre.

 

[pjm-84]

My Volvo tyre was heading in that direction. Would have been worse if it was on the front axle

 

[Californication69]

Looking at the photos , is it the tyre that burst into flame or the sliding door trim of the open sliding door that when open, as in the photo, is close to the hot tyre/ wheel?

You might be on to something there, the plastic of the door interior would be very close to the wheel!