Tyre damage from driving on a flat

MassiveJim

MassiveJim

MassiveJim

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22 Feb 2014
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Jumped in my car this morning and drove somewhere around 300 yards and realised I had a flat tyre.
Changed to the spare and went to the tyre place and they tell me the tyre now needs replacing.

I appreciate that you guys can't see the tyre but does it seem likely that the tyre is now unusable after such a short distance?
Tyre is a 235/35/19 Michelin PS4S and it was a front tyre on an Octavia.
 
Yeah i think the general rule is if the tyre has been driven any distance it'll have damaged the internal structure and shouldn't be trusted, if it had been flat and sat there deflated you can get away with that for a short period but even then not long.
 
It might be ok, but the inside could be shredded.

I drove a on an almost flat tyre after a puncture and there were chunks ripped off inside the sidewalls. Which is obviously really dangerous.
 
Yes, no decent tyre shop will stand behind a puncture repair on a tyre that has been driven on whilst flat. It creates a weak spot inside the tyre that can see it blow out on the motorway and kill you and your family.
 
MassiveJim said:
Jumped in my car this morning and drove somewhere around 300 yards and realised I had a flat tyre.
Changed to the spare and went to the tyre place and they tell me the tyre now needs replacing.

I appreciate that you guys can't see the tyre but does it seem likely that the tyre is now unusable after such a short distance?
Tyre is a 235/35/19 Michelin PS4S and it was a front tyre on an Octavia.
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Did you tell them you drove on it whilst it was flat or are they saying it's needing replaced purely based on examining the tyre?

Maybe the reason for it being flat cannot be repaired so a new tyre is the only solution?

Is the tyre place a national chain or a local independent?
 
OldKitMan said:
Did you tell them you drove on it whilst it was flat or are they saying it's needing replaced purely based on examining the tyre?

Maybe the reason for it being flat cannot be repaired so a new tyre is the only solution?

Is the tyre place a national chain or a local independent?
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they aren't national but they have quite a few depots Selectatyre.

I told them I had driven on it, the guy who took it out of my boot said it looked ok but he wouldn't know until he had a look inside.
when I returned they hadn't touched it so I watched another guy through the workshop window take the tyre off and inspect it inside, took him about 30 seconds to inspect the inside of the tyre and then come and tell me I needed a new one.
 
Normally they would show you the damage, well my local tyre place would almost like a form of education to say looks OK on the outside but take a look at the innards.
 
you have to remember that its the weight that could have done damage not the distance you drove.

it also depends how flat.

considering you can die in a car its better just to get a new one
 
For the sake of a couple of hundred quid, it’s not worth the safety risk for you, your passengers and other road users who might be around you if you were to re-use your tyre and have a bad blowout in my opinion.
 
MrM said:
For the sake of a couple of hundred quid, it’s not worth the safety risk for you, your passengers and other road users who might be around you if you were to re-use your tyre and have a bad blowout in my opinion.
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This. Never try and cut corners on tyres.
 
Albeit a bit of a different situation but see it all the time in police pursuit videos - when the tyre has either been spiked or damaged due to the pursuit and deflated they quickly deteriorate even at slower speeds if they continue on them.
 
IAmATeaf said:
Normally they would show you the damage, well my local tyre place would almost like a form of education to say looks OK on the outside but take a look at the innards.
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That should be mandatory for people who’ve brought in vehicles with severely worn or damages tyres, brakes and steering/suspension components.
 
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