Driven on flat tyre - Help

-Mike-

-Mike-

-Mike-

Soldato
Joined
22 Dec 2002
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10,165
Location
Minehead
Hey guys,

I've already got a new tyre on order, but stupidly I didn't notice this morning that my six week old :( Conti had gone somewhat flat. When I got towards work I noticed the car felt funny, stopped and saw a lovely screw in it.

The sidewall has a slight mark around it presumably where its rolled over. Would you even entertain the idea of getting it repaired if the tyre place says its ok? Tyre fitters said if its safe they'll repair it but I'm questioning whether I should just replace it so its not on my mind. Unfortunately it means my rear left rubber will have cost me £160 in six weeks :(

Thanks
 
It will be fine so long as you've not worn through it or exposed the cords. Tyre places wont repair it if its not safe.
 
Tyre centre will probably be able to tell if the wall is damaged.

A nail in the tread itself isn't a big issue.

Drove on a flat a few months back. No hard shoulder on the dual carriageway coming up to a roundabout so just kept going - albeit slowly. Tyre ripped to shreds!!
 
I would take it to a tyre place and ask them to inspect the sidewall whilst repairing the puncture - it's not the outside that will be your problem its if there is any damage inside. If it's safe, its safe I wouldn't think any more of it.

Gut feeling says that will probably be ok, my sport contacts seem to have incredibly stiff sidewalls, to the point where I was running around on a tyre inflated to only 15psi for what must have been a couple of days and could barely tell by looking. Yours are of a far larger profile though so I'd guess it looked pretty flat.
 
Sidewall looks a bit burnt, you have to take the tyre off to tell though, we have had plenty of tyres like that which have dropped half a kilo of burnt rubber debris that has ground itself off the inside of the tyre.
 
My tyre went flat as i was driving, went straight to the garage and asked them to repair the puncture, tyre got scrapped because it was run flat :(
 
The inside of the tyre wall will be destroyed, i know, as i drove 1/2mile on mine when it was flat and the chords were showing on the inside.

It's FAR too risky
 
As above, if you've driven on the tyre when flat there will be a load of "run flat dust" in the tyre from where the insides of the tyre have ripped apart by the alloy/road.

I learnt this the hard way, a few weeks after getting a brand new £170 tyre. :(
 
acemastr said:
The inside of the tyre wall will be destroyed, i know, as i drove 1/2mile on mine when it was flat and the chords were showing on the inside.

It's FAR too risky
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This!
Had a puncture and within the 5minutes it took to find a safe stopping place, the tyre had demolished itself on the inside, the outside wall looked fine.
When the tyre fitter guy took it off it was just full of rubber dust.
 
rodenal said:
I would take it to a tyre place and ask them to inspect the sidewall whilst repairing the puncture - it's not the outside that will be your problem its if there is any damage inside. If it's safe, its safe I wouldn't think any more of it.
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Inspect the sidewall for what exactly?

You can't simply look at the tyre and see how it's structure has been damaged.

I wouldn't risk it, the last thing anyone needs is a blowout at motorway speeds.
 
If you drive on a flat tyre, it will compromise the sidewall steel band integrity, and could be very dangerous.
At a minimum it will balloon/bulge, and at worst will blow out.
 
Thanks guys. I'll just get it replaced regardless. I've got to take my mother to bristol when my sister drops..... I can't handle the thought of a blow out being caused by my negligence (sp?)

Ho hum, £155 for the rear left in total woo! :(
 
Firestar_3x said:
Inspect the sidewall for what exactly?

You can't simply look at the tyre and see how it's structure has been damaged.

I wouldn't risk it, the last thing anyone needs is a blowout at motorway speeds.
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Any damaged tyre i've seen coming off has been more than obvious on the inside, usually loads of rubber , obvious marks or exposed chord. Looking at the sidewall on the outisde will tell you nothing, I agree on that.
 
I wonder if an internal banding problem would eventually show in the form of an egg on the sidewall?

Like you say the rubber usually burn, running on a flat smells terrible after a very very short time, however even without the telltale surface damage i personally couldn't bring myself to load others in the car knowing the tyres history.

But perhaps that's just me; afterall I’m a safety engineer by trade.
 
Not at all Firestar. I completely agree with you and when I change cars the tyres are the first thing that I try to change.

I didn't need a new NSR tyre either which makes it more annoying but I wanted matched tyres and ones that I knew the history of. I'll get a new one fitted, its £80 but its lesson learned...... never park at my friends house!
 
-Mike- said:
Hey guys,

I've already got a new tyre on order, but stupidly I didn't notice this morning that my six week old :( Conti had gone somewhat flat. When I got towards work I noticed the car felt funny, stopped and saw a lovely screw in it.

The sidewall has a slight mark around it presumably where its rolled over. Would you even entertain the idea of getting it repaired if the tyre place says its ok? Tyre fitters said if its safe they'll repair it but I'm questioning whether I should just replace it so its not on my mind. Unfortunately it means my rear left rubber will have cost me £160 in six weeks :(

Thanks
Click to expand...
if you can never run a tyre when flat. As the inside of the sidewall gets chewed into rubber balls by the rim and the road. I would scrap it
 
Update :

Took the car to the tyre place, the tyre I wanted hadn't been delivered :( Tyre guy said he'd take tyre off and look at it and it had about as much rubber dust as would fit in a dustpan inside.

He said I was quite lucky it didn't let go as the inside wall has a small section that actually looked shredded. Spare fitted and new tyre to go on tomorrow :)

Thanks for all your help guys :)
 
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