Puncture

[Bob Culver]

When I was running my car with old stiff walled tyres I had flat tyres at rear on a couple of occasions. Unnoticed for quite a distance. Showed on a corner taken fast! Even more oversteer than usual. 

It is surprising how few car crashes are attributed to tyre failure or flats. From my own experience  in coventional vehicles and of colleagues can be big trouble even at moderate speed on the straight. The Seven habit of maintaining generous flying room  all around can pay off. Watching Russian car camera clips on Youtube certainly discourages remaining alongside trucks!

[Robert Leigh]

I am reminded of a continental trip in the early eighties I think, when Marcus Gillah suffered a lot more punctures on the trip than the rest of us put together. He had an Austin light twelve two seater and dickey with whitewall tyres, but I don't think that had anything to do his problem. He got quite slick at removing tubes and repairing punctures, but on one occasion was puzzled by two bulges in the tyre after re-inflation. After deflating the tyre again he discovered that he had dropped one of his tyre levers into the tyre without noticing!
Robert Leigh

[andrew34ruby]

   

Thanks again Duncan for letting me watch you fit the tyre. This morning I successfully fitted my 5 tyres to wheels.

[Alan]

In modern times, a puncture is a rare occurrence, and more likely to be due to potholing than a nail or other debris. Research a few years ago by a major tyre manufacturer suggested you can expect a puncture every 60,000 miles or so on average. The same probably isn’t true of tubed tyres, but sudden deflations don’t happen all that often. You are far more likely to get a slow puncture. This in itself is a problem. Tyres running at low pressure generate more heat. Excess heat causes the tyre structure to degrade. Eventually the thing explodes, or at very least sheds its tread. This is what has happened to the bits of tyre you see lying on motorways. So, the main danger these days is not being stranded at the side of the road with a flat tyre, but being stranded by the road with a flat tyre a couple of weeks later because you didn’t check tyre pressures. Of course all of this is irrelevant because all of us here check our pressures every week, don’t we?

[Roger Goldthorpe]

My most bizarre puncture was caused by a matchstick!

A burned match will leave a pointed end and if you are unlucky enough to run over a discarded match at the critical angle……etc.

Roger

[Mark McKibbin]

If you are tight for space and have discarded the spare wheel it might be a good idea to have one of those CO2 inflators that the motorcyclists use, if they can inflate a motorcycle tyre a skinny Austin tyre should be fine.  I think they use the CO2 cartridges that were used in soda siphons. Certainly less effort than a pump and much smaller.

[Austin Carr]

Tyres running at low pressure generate more heat. Excess heat causes the tyre structure to degrade. Eventually the thing explodes, or at very least sheds its tread.  This is what has happened to the bits of tyre you see lying on motorways. So, the main danger these days is not being stranded at the side of the road with a flat tyre, but being stranded by the road with a flat tyre a couple of weeks later because you didn’t check tyre pressures.  Of course all of this is irrelevant because all of us here check our pressures every week, don’t we?

I haven't noticed so much tyre debris in recent years and have always believed that the improvement in remoulds was the reason.

[Duncan Grimmond]

Ive had three punctures I the last 9 months. Two from discarded nails/screws and the most recent operator malfunction..
Prior to these I can't remember the last time I had one, but I always pick up screws and nails when I see them in the gutter. Maybe I should leave them on the carriageway so as to improve my chances, I've had three, it must be someone else's turn now

[Alan]

Austin, a tyre is made up of various layers of rubber, fabric and steel half together by the adhesive properties of uncured rubber. It’s only in the vulcanising stage that the tyre becomes bonded together. If the vulcanisation is destroyed by excessive heat, a new tyre will delaminates in exactly the same way as a remould. Its probably more likely on a remould because the tread band is maybe not quite so well attached, but will happen to new tyres too.

[Austin Carr]

Alan, the tyre pressure monitor must also have helped to reduce the problem.