How often do you get punctures?

[Rusty569]

For all my previous cars I have ordered a space saver from a breakers yard on ebay and carried that round with me.

I'm often driving in the middle of nowhere i.e Scottish Highlands and having used it once on my first car it really saved a load of hassle.

The problem is I've picked up a new car and the cheapest I can get a spare kit is £220.
On one hand thats a lot of money to have sitting in the boot, on the other I feel if I don't buy it I'm going to regret it at some point.
I know the vast majority of the motoring public don't carry a spare and couldn't change it even if they did.

How often do you get punctures?
What are your experiances of the slime kits (I'm reluctant to use these as garages then refuse to repair the tyre?)
What do you carry for a flat tyre?

[Fartgalen]

31 years of driving. 2 punctures.

[AH33]

2 in the last 3 months.

Edinburgh. Potholes.

That brings me to a total of 5 in 13 years of driving.

[berlintaxi]

None for donkeys years, then 2 in the last 2 months both bloody screws.

[Joratk]

I've had 1 so far in my time of driving. And, touch wood, it remains that way

[mrtwisty]

1 in approx 100k miles/6 years.

[trickywoo]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=151...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=117...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=140...

Etc

Fill your boots.

Seems some people never get punctures, but likely have another affliction like warts and others get one every time they drive to a board meeting.

[DMN]

None for me. Although my Wife managed to get a tent peg in one of the tyres. Drove home 50 miles without noticing, and then left it for me to find first thing the next day.

[Valgar]

Once every few years, normally after I just bought the tyres aswell.

[Riley Blue]

I've been driving 40 years and had two punctures in that time, the most recent a couple of years ago when I nicked a sidewall on a rock a Scottish sheep had kicked off a mountain. Before that it was a screw through a tyre somewhere in Holland - I think I'll stay in England...

[anothernameitist]

What Car?

Jacks might be the same for another model in the range and then buy 2nd hand, same with wheel.

[Zod]

They seem to come in phases for me and are always screws, so it's either building sites or malice.

[Rusty569]

I've had a few nails and screws but only one thats left me with an actual flat tyre, the others I noticed and drove to the local tyre shop to get it fixed.

I think I'll have to stump up the money or I'll be fuming when im sat at the side of the road

[so called]

I remember 1 in the last 30 years.
I have a can of that foam stuff in the boot when I head to Spain.

[lostkiwi]

My daily commuter has no spare and no way to fit one.
I carry the factory slime kit (so far unused), a compressor (factory fitted in the passenger foot well) and a puncture repair kit like this:


Whilst these aren't legal in the UK they do work and will get you home/to a tyre shop with no problem at all.
Obviously a huge tear won't be fixed by it but for screws nails and the like they work very well.

[eztiger328]

Ive had about 5 punctures since 2011, mostly down to the terrible state of Wiltshire b roads / lanes. I think 3 of those were side wall rips so unrepairable.

Tyre places HATE the tyre slime due to the amount of time it takes to clean it out, expect to pay more to repair any tyre with that gunk in it.

I have a proper full size stock spare for the BMW and a reasonably sized stock space saver for my Golf.

[kambites]

In 18 years of driving, I've had one actual puncture which was slow enough to let me drive home then to a tyre fitter; and one catastrophic failure.

[tankplanker]

Never had a puncture in 24 years of driving that has resulted in me using the spare wheel. I have had a couple of slow punctures that have required the tyre to be replaced, normally after a couple of months with me stubbornly filling up the same tyre every couple of weeks.

[Alex_225]

I've been driving since '99 and have had four punctures, the last was repaired just last week.

Most annoying one was having just bought a brand new pair of tyres for my Megane Trophy. About a week or so later I somehow got a Stanley blade stuck in my tyre. Pulled onto my driveway, could hear the air p!ssing out and spotted it sticking about an inch out of the tyre. Gutted.

[skyrover]

Never had one.

Bent an alloy once but the tyre held its air