Safe Speed Forums

Went out to the car this morning and noticed one of the rear tyres was flat. Yes, that'd be one of the rear tyres that just cost me £150 each and haven't done 1000 miles yet.

Removed tyre and fitted spare, breathing a huge sigh of relief to note a nice neat repairable nail hole near the centre of the tread, so hot-footed it round to tyre specialists (ok luke-warm-footed on space saver).

Oh dear. When tyre was removed inside was a cup full of tell-tale granules of rubber, indicating that the tyre had clearly been driven flat and was now therefore scrap.

My problem (apart from the £150 bill) is that I'm at a loss to know how to avoid this in future. The last journey I did in the car was about 5 miles at relatively low speeds, ie < 50mph, though involving a fair bit of cornering, but I can recall no symptoms whatsoever of the tyre being flat.

I'm aware this makes me appear a bit of a numb-skull, but the problem is that with low profile tyres there is hardly any sidewall there to start with, and necessarily it is mega stiff, so the tyre still provides a good deal of lateral support when flat.

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

some tyre firms sell insurance with well known brands

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Speed limit sign radio interview. TV Snap Unhappy
“It has never been the rule in this country – I hope it never will be - that suspected criminal offences must automatically be the subject of prosecution” He added that there should be a prosecution: “wherever it appears that the offence or the circumstances of its commission is or are of such a character that a prosecution in respect thereof is required in the public interest”
This approach has been endorsed by Attorney General ever since 1951. CPS Code

Just as a side issue, have you or any of your neighbours had builders in over the last few days?

One of my golden rules is that if I see builders, I go and pick up all the nails and screws that seem to spew from their vans to end up in my tyres. It is truly amazing what they drop.

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Malcolm W.
The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not represent the views of Safespeed.

Yup, also be careful around skips - at the office I was about to park where there had been a skip for a few weeks, so I hopped out to inspect the ground and picked up a nail and a screw!

edit: As for how to stop this, there are loads of neat devices on:

http://www.thetyrepressuremonitor.com/

At least you have a spare tyre - I don't

Some car manufacturers are offering optional tyre pressure monitoring. It is becoming law in the US for all new cars. Not sure if there are aftermarket kits here yet. If I get the option on my next car I am definitely going to go for it.

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Speed camera policy Kills

Sorry to hear about that JT!

Easily done though - especially if the car is light and the tyre is low aspect ratio. If it makes you feel any better, I've jacked a car up and checked all the suspension joints whilst looking for an explanation of wayward handling, only to find I had a soft tyre!

I got a self-tapping screw through a tyre on my company car a while back and phoned my boss to ask what to do.

He told me to make sure I put the self-tapper back into stock!

Can anyone beat my wife, who managed to get a puncture from a 10mm combination spanner through the middle of the tread????

As soon as she made it to the side of the road, she telephoned for me to come and change the wheel - worried by the noise it had made, and did not notice the 3 inches of chrome vanadium sticking out!!

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!

See my link above - £300 for a 4-wheeled vehicle, which is about what I would expect really.

I think I might have worked for him once...

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CSCP Latin for beginners...
Ticketo ergo sum : I scam therefore I am!

I believe there are certain websites you can visit if you want your wife beating

Really? Do you have some links?

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Time to take responsibility for our actions.. and don't be afraid of speaking out!