This is my rear tire on the passenger side. I got this after slowing down when I started to hear a noise that was increasing in loudness. I realized that one of my tires was losing air or it was completely flat and I immediately pulled into my middle lane.
By this time I was down to 65 MPH and the car in the right lane would not let me over until the tire completely ripped itself off the rim then everyone dropped back from the smoke and pieces of tire everywhere. My X swayed violently from side to side when this happened and for 2 seconds I thought that I was going to go out of control. My wife also realized at that point that I wasn't kidding when I said 10 seconds earlier that I have a blown tire.
I was now doing 40 MPH and and knew if I didn't stop quickly, I would have a mess on my hands and may need to buy a RIM and go to a body shop. I made it to the shoulder and limped to a stop. Upon inspection, the tire ripped off a small box mounted to the inner wheel well (see pic) and I got 4 errors on my dash board (Service Engine Soon, Brake, ABS and DSC deactivated). Also, the car computer displays a message to "Check Brake Linings".
I taped the hanging wires, a small hose and changed the tire in 20 minutes. I must say the small bar used on the jack to raise and lower the car was awkward to use.
The X functions fine and cruise control does not work. I was 60 miles away from home going to a family gathering in NJ. I tried cruise on the way back when I made the discovery and it makes sense that it does not work.
The box should be easy to replace and splicing the wires as well. I now need to purchase a tire (255-55R18 Michellin MXV-4 Plus - Anyone has any out there with some good threads?)
I now know what it feels like when I see folks break down or change a tire on the side of the highway. It's not a good feeling and with a wife and two small kids with 65 MPH+ cars and trucks zooming by, it feels scary. I am glad that it wasn't at night, or it was raining or it was another SUV when it could have been alot worst.
UPDATE 9/6:
I checked the tire today to see if I could see what was the root cause and it was punctured by something that left a pretty big hole. This is a big relief as I have more faith that the tire was not defective. I still know that I will have to replace them at some point. Also, it turns out the tire on the rear drivers side was already changed since it doesn't match the date stamp of the other three. It looks like it's two years newer 0104 as the others (3, I mean two now) were stamped from 0802.
I also spoke to Michellin before I looked at the tire and they said my description of what happened is an indication that the tire lost air from a puncture and would eventually rip off if driven on when completely flat.