How far have you driven on a flat tyre?
Discussion
cant be sure...
but was with a work collegue in Germany, driving from Saabruken to Frankfurt... down a few nice derstricted autobahns.. keeping a nice pace... when we get to the speed limit zones, slow down, and have people gesticulating at us.. now fair enough, the car was on Dutch plates.. but after a while we figure somethings up, pull off, and find one of the rears was flat!
We hadnt felt a thing, and can only guess at 130kph+ the inertia kept the tyre up, then slowing to 100kph it started to 'soften'...
but was with a work collegue in Germany, driving from Saabruken to Frankfurt... down a few nice derstricted autobahns.. keeping a nice pace... when we get to the speed limit zones, slow down, and have people gesticulating at us.. now fair enough, the car was on Dutch plates.. but after a while we figure somethings up, pull off, and find one of the rears was flat!
We hadnt felt a thing, and can only guess at 130kph+ the inertia kept the tyre up, then slowing to 100kph it started to 'soften'...
Me? About 100yards to a place that was safe to stop and change it.
I think if you drive longer than nessecary before stopping then your're a fool. Driving with a defective tyre is an endorsible offence (3 points), and it is very likely to be actually dangerous. (There can't be many circumstances where you could reasonably argue that it wasn't dangerous. Particularly if it's raining too.)
I think if you drive longer than nessecary before stopping then your're a fool. Driving with a defective tyre is an endorsible offence (3 points), and it is very likely to be actually dangerous. (There can't be many circumstances where you could reasonably argue that it wasn't dangerous. Particularly if it's raining too.)
Fidgits said:
cant be sure...
but was with a work collegue in Germany, driving from Saabruken to Frankfurt... down a few nice derstricted autobahns.. keeping a nice pace... when we get to the speed limit zones, slow down, and have people gesticulating at us.. now fair enough, the car was on Dutch plates.. but after a while we figure somethings up, pull off, and find one of the rears was flat!
We hadnt felt a thing, and can only guess at 130kph+ the inertia kept the tyre up, then slowing to 100kph it started to 'soften'...
I had a similar experience a few years ago.but was with a work collegue in Germany, driving from Saabruken to Frankfurt... down a few nice derstricted autobahns.. keeping a nice pace... when we get to the speed limit zones, slow down, and have people gesticulating at us.. now fair enough, the car was on Dutch plates.. but after a while we figure somethings up, pull off, and find one of the rears was flat!
We hadnt felt a thing, and can only guess at 130kph+ the inertia kept the tyre up, then slowing to 100kph it started to 'soften'...
I was travelling from Milton Keynes to South Wales a couple of times a week at the time - in a cheap old Nissan Primera.
I did suspect something was wrong whilst I was on the motorway, but only really noticed it when I went round a roundabout and the back end stepped out.
It's possible I'd done over 100 miles on a flat rear.
mrmr96 said:
Driving with a defective tyre is an endorsible offence (3 points)
My god, you sound like a policeman. I expect wearing a loud shirt in a built-up area during the hours of darkness is an endorsible offence too.I've only had one serious (catastrophic) tyre failure - possibly caused by running it too-low a pressure - but as it's a 245/45 18" it's almost impossible to tell. Much as you would have liked me to stop immediately, that would have meant parking my car in a place such as to be hazardous to other road-user, which is of course also an endorsable offence, so weighing up which endorsable offence would be the least likely to get me five years in the slammer thanks to some over-vigilant cop with nothing better to do, I chose to limp on at about 40mph (any slower would have meant my causing an obstruction which would have been an endorsable offence) to the nearest layby.
Lucky to get home without being arrested really.
Towie said:
Managed six miles last night.
Tyre went bang, it was pissing with rain, I knew the tyres were almost at the end of their life and I wanted to get home.
A bit noisy and smelly by the time I got there though.
About the same for me. Tyre went bang, it was pissing with rain, I knew the tyres were almost at the end of their life and I wanted to get home.
A bit noisy and smelly by the time I got there though.
Left gf's house at 5am so I could get packed for a weekender before work, got a good few miles down some bumpy, twisty country lanes when I thought I could hear something over the music. Turned the stereo off and sure enough there it was: 'bumpf-bumpf-bumpf...'. I stopped and discovered that one of my rear tyres had gone bang with a 3 inch long rip in the sidewall. So as the gf has a Punto too (but no licence), my spare wheel (+ the jack and all the other kit) was at home and the tool for removing the wheel bolts was also at home being used to crank my replacement engine for my other Punto over I'd have to get back to her house as the AA would tell me where to go. So I drive back over these horrible bumpy roads at 15mph all the while the noise getting worse until I finally make it to her house and pull up outside. Get out to take a better look at the tyre in the light from the streetlamps and see that the small gash has turned into the whole tyre basically detaching itself from the wheel

So call the missus and tell her what has happened and she agrees to let me borrow a wheel. So I swap the space saver onto her car and fit the wheel to my car using the jack. Only the last c\/nt to work on the car had crosssthreaded two of the wheel bolt holes! So I had to drive the car home on two wheel bolts and then borrow my dads Yaris to drive to Minehead.
Finally got home at 7am with no time to pack!

About the same for me too! (truck)
Parked on the hard shoulder once I finally realised, but police moved me on as it was a rather narrow hard shoulder. Pulled in a further mile down the motorway with the tyre smoking lightly and police following.
Had a chat, police disapeared, 10 minutes later tyre burst into flames and burnt the trailer out!!! Oh eck!
Parked on the hard shoulder once I finally realised, but police moved me on as it was a rather narrow hard shoulder. Pulled in a further mile down the motorway with the tyre smoking lightly and police following.
Had a chat, police disapeared, 10 minutes later tyre burst into flames and burnt the trailer out!!! Oh eck!
mrmr96 said:
Me? About 100yards to a place that was safe to stop and change it.
I think if you drive longer than nessecary before stopping then your're a fool. Driving with a defective tyre is an endorsible offence (3 points), and it is very likely to be actually dangerous. (There can't be many circumstances where you could reasonably argue that it wasn't dangerous. Particularly if it's raining too.)
Does your high horse not need shoes rather than tyres?I think if you drive longer than nessecary before stopping then your're a fool. Driving with a defective tyre is an endorsible offence (3 points), and it is very likely to be actually dangerous. (There can't be many circumstances where you could reasonably argue that it wasn't dangerous. Particularly if it's raining too.)
Driving on a flat tyre could easily damage the rim, and if the tyre starts to break up it could start flailing around damaging the bodywork. Conceivably it could even jam or damage the suspension or steering. So purely from the point of view of damage limitation it's a bad move.
If it's in a dangerous spot it might be sensible to drive it a short distance at walking pace to get away from an immediate danger. It would need some pretty exceptional circumstances IMO to justify driving it any further or faster. There are some fairly obvious dangers to other people from loss of control, bits of wheel/tyre being thrown around, and debris left on the road. You would need a pretty compelling reason to justify doing that.
If it's in a dangerous spot it might be sensible to drive it a short distance at walking pace to get away from an immediate danger. It would need some pretty exceptional circumstances IMO to justify driving it any further or faster. There are some fairly obvious dangers to other people from loss of control, bits of wheel/tyre being thrown around, and debris left on the road. You would need a pretty compelling reason to justify doing that.
GreenV8S said:
Driving on a flat tyre could easily damage the rim, and if the tyre starts to break up it could start flailing around damaging the bodywork. Conceivably it could even jam or damage the suspension or steering. So purely from the point of view of damage limitation it's a bad move.
If it's in a dangerous spot it might be sensible to drive it a short distance at walking pace to get away from an immediate danger. It would need some pretty exceptional circumstances IMO to justify driving it any further or faster. There are some fairly obvious dangers to other people from loss of control, bits of wheel/tyre being thrown around, and debris left on the road. You would need a pretty compelling reason to justify doing that.
Compelling reasons:If it's in a dangerous spot it might be sensible to drive it a short distance at walking pace to get away from an immediate danger. It would need some pretty exceptional circumstances IMO to justify driving it any further or faster. There are some fairly obvious dangers to other people from loss of control, bits of wheel/tyre being thrown around, and debris left on the road. You would need a pretty compelling reason to justify doing that.
It`s £200 worth of diesel mondeo
The wheels are steels
The tyre was at the end of it`s useful life
It was 2am
It was dark
It was raining
I am a lazy bastard.
It is 'offically' 50miles at 50mph.
However, this is with maximum load and absolutely zero pressure. Light weight, lower speed, not beeing on a driving or steering wheel all make a difference
They have been tested far beyond this, but obviously the manufacturer could not recommend this.
However, this is with maximum load and absolutely zero pressure. Light weight, lower speed, not beeing on a driving or steering wheel all make a difference
They have been tested far beyond this, but obviously the manufacturer could not recommend this.
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