Flat Tyre on the M6
Discussion
Well that didn't quite go as planned.
I was on the M6 this morning heading south taking my mum to collect something and all of a sudden there was a "rumbling" sound followed by the steering feeling "off" rather quickly.
Thought it was rumble strips or dodgy tarmac for about three seconds until the penny dropped.
By absolute luck I was by a junction so came off and pulled onto the hard shoulder of the slip road.
Rear drivers side tyre absolutely flat
23 plate car so 4 brand new tyres pressures checked last week.
Called Mazda recovery who I have to say couldn't have been better in getting someone out and keeping me updated though it was a two hour wait.
20 or so minutes after pulling up a van pulled on the slip road a hundred yards behind me and I saw the passenger get out and could see him looking at something on the van so I got out and walked up the slip road and sure enough he had a shredded tyre so we're guessing something was on the motorway.
He drove off with his hazards on.
10 minutes after that a Golf pulls up in front and a guy gets out and and I'm thinking "what?" so I got out and he said he owned a tyre place ten mins away and did I need a tyre but recovery were on the way so I thanked him and passed.
The weirdest part was when another car pulled up behind us - this is not a lay by it's the hard shoulder of the slip road off the M6 - and from what I could see in the mirror the driver and passenger proceeded to have a really f
king animated argument for literally about 40 minutes before driving off.
Recovery turned up and the driver couldn't have been better - put some air in the tyre to help get it on the flatbed - tyre was flat again within 10 seconds so whatever had done it had properly done it.
Recovered to the nearest Mazda dealer and of course service had shut and Mazda assist either hadn't told service or service hadn't told anyone who was in sales.
Ended up getting a taxi from the dealer to the train station and two trains home from there.
Cool story bro and all that but the moral of the story (for me) is that motorways even slip roads are not nice places to be stuck.
Buy a spare USB phone charge cable and keep it in the car as it's so easy to think "I've got 60% on the battery".
Get What Three Words on your phone.
Make sure you have a jacket or just something with you to cover the "what if" that you didn't think about because the journey you were going on should have been (warm) door to (warm) door.
And finally it's just tin. The car is at the dealership and I'll worry about the rest of it on Monday.
30 seconds later or a slightly different piece of whatever hit the tyre and I'd either have been on the side of the M6 or something worse.
I was on the M6 this morning heading south taking my mum to collect something and all of a sudden there was a "rumbling" sound followed by the steering feeling "off" rather quickly.
Thought it was rumble strips or dodgy tarmac for about three seconds until the penny dropped.
By absolute luck I was by a junction so came off and pulled onto the hard shoulder of the slip road.
Rear drivers side tyre absolutely flat
23 plate car so 4 brand new tyres pressures checked last week.
Called Mazda recovery who I have to say couldn't have been better in getting someone out and keeping me updated though it was a two hour wait.
20 or so minutes after pulling up a van pulled on the slip road a hundred yards behind me and I saw the passenger get out and could see him looking at something on the van so I got out and walked up the slip road and sure enough he had a shredded tyre so we're guessing something was on the motorway.
He drove off with his hazards on.
10 minutes after that a Golf pulls up in front and a guy gets out and and I'm thinking "what?" so I got out and he said he owned a tyre place ten mins away and did I need a tyre but recovery were on the way so I thanked him and passed.
The weirdest part was when another car pulled up behind us - this is not a lay by it's the hard shoulder of the slip road off the M6 - and from what I could see in the mirror the driver and passenger proceeded to have a really f
king animated argument for literally about 40 minutes before driving off.Recovery turned up and the driver couldn't have been better - put some air in the tyre to help get it on the flatbed - tyre was flat again within 10 seconds so whatever had done it had properly done it.
Recovered to the nearest Mazda dealer and of course service had shut and Mazda assist either hadn't told service or service hadn't told anyone who was in sales.
Ended up getting a taxi from the dealer to the train station and two trains home from there.
Cool story bro and all that but the moral of the story (for me) is that motorways even slip roads are not nice places to be stuck.
Buy a spare USB phone charge cable and keep it in the car as it's so easy to think "I've got 60% on the battery".
Get What Three Words on your phone.
Make sure you have a jacket or just something with you to cover the "what if" that you didn't think about because the journey you were going on should have been (warm) door to (warm) door.
And finally it's just tin. The car is at the dealership and I'll worry about the rest of it on Monday.
30 seconds later or a slightly different piece of whatever hit the tyre and I'd either have been on the side of the M6 or something worse.
When my wife got a puncture on our then new LR Discovery I was unavailable, rather than sit on the hard shoulder I told her to drive slowly to the next junction then the nearest service station. RAC were summoned from there. damage was a destroyed tyre and wheel that then needed to be replaced.
Sod sitting on any hard shoulder if it can be avoided, very unsafe places to be or stand by your broken down car.
I'm guessing no spare on your car?
and really good of the tyre dealer to offer help.
Sod sitting on any hard shoulder if it can be avoided, very unsafe places to be or stand by your broken down car.
I'm guessing no spare on your car?
and really good of the tyre dealer to offer help.
No spare the recovery driver was chatting about how he doesn't understand why even cars like mine don't come with one.
It's a Mazda 2 not like it's a sports car or something where there isn't space.
Agreed on the hard shoulder point. Not a nice place to be even where I was which was thankfully a slip road of a pretty quiet junction.
Can't even imagine that st happening on a live motorway especially with those sections that don't have a permanent hard shoulder.
It's a Mazda 2 not like it's a sports car or something where there isn't space.
Agreed on the hard shoulder point. Not a nice place to be even where I was which was thankfully a slip road of a pretty quiet junction.
Can't even imagine that s
t happening on a live motorway especially with those sections that don't have a permanent hard shoulder.Blib said:
Pleased you got home safely.
How car companies were allowed to stop supplying a spare in each vehicle beggars belief.
In this 'no one must come to harm' age, this is a complete no-brainer.
I buy spares for my cars if they don't come supplied with one.
Substantially less than 1/2 the population would be able to use one assuming no seized nuts etc. Admittedly the recovery people would be able to sort it, but you're still waiting beside a motorway for ages until they arrive. (And then someone has to crawl around sorting it with traffic piling past.)How car companies were allowed to stop supplying a spare in each vehicle beggars belief.
In this 'no one must come to harm' age, this is a complete no-brainer.
I buy spares for my cars if they don't come supplied with one.
I can see the argument that they're superfluous for most. And those if us that care can carry a spare round if we want.
I'm convinced the lack of spare tyres is a good part of the reason why you have to wait so long for breakdown assistance now.
Even if nobody was capable of changing their own tyre, if the car has a spare tyre, a call-out for a puncture would only be about 5-10 minutes to resolve instead the much longer time to recover the vehicle etc. In my case, the RAC patrol drove my wheel a couple of wheels to the nearest tyre shop a couple of miles away and hung around while they fitted a new tyre - must have been over an hour they were assisting me.
I'm surprised that breakdown companies aren't offering discounts for people who carry spare tyres - punctures must account for a good chunk of their call outs these days.
Even if nobody was capable of changing their own tyre, if the car has a spare tyre, a call-out for a puncture would only be about 5-10 minutes to resolve instead the much longer time to recover the vehicle etc. In my case, the RAC patrol drove my wheel a couple of wheels to the nearest tyre shop a couple of miles away and hung around while they fitted a new tyre - must have been over an hour they were assisting me.
I'm surprised that breakdown companies aren't offering discounts for people who carry spare tyres - punctures must account for a good chunk of their call outs these days.
Ardennes92 said:
Think the reason a spare isn’t supplied with most cars is WLTP, has an effect on mpg and emissions don’t you know and they are more important than being stuck at 4am in the middle of nowhere.
Maybe, but it’s mostly cost. Not fitting a spacesaver at £15 (factory price) multiplied by 500k cars per year is a big saving. Then having a space for a tyre and selling them as an accessory for £90 gives a decent chunk of revenue.Then there is the liability of providing tools to fix a spare without the training of the general public to fit it properly.
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Maybe, but it’s mostly cost. Not fitting a spacesaver at £15 (factory price) multiplied by 500k cars per year is a big saving. Then having a space for a tyre and selling them as an accessory for £90 gives a decent chunk of revenue.
Then there is the liability of providing tools to fix a spare without the training of the general public to fit it properly.
Can you hear my eyes rolling? Then there is the liability of providing tools to fix a spare without the training of the general public to fit it properly.
SkodaIan said:
I'm convinced the lack of spare tyres is a good part of the reason why you have to wait so long for breakdown assistance now.
Even if nobody was capable of changing their own tyre, if the car has a spare tyre, a call-out for a puncture would only be about 5-10 minutes to resolve instead the much longer time to recover the vehicle etc. In my case, the RAC patrol drove my wheel a couple of wheels to the nearest tyre shop a couple of miles away and hung around while they fitted a new tyre - must have been over an hour they were assisting me.
I'm surprised that breakdown companies aren't offering discounts for people who carry spare tyres - punctures must account for a good chunk of their call outs these days.
Tyres and Battery's account for a lot of call outs, the battery's are a good spinner as they sell & fit you one on the spot for a tidy profit, double bubble as the driver said to me when I agreed to him fitting a new one.Even if nobody was capable of changing their own tyre, if the car has a spare tyre, a call-out for a puncture would only be about 5-10 minutes to resolve instead the much longer time to recover the vehicle etc. In my case, the RAC patrol drove my wheel a couple of wheels to the nearest tyre shop a couple of miles away and hung around while they fitted a new tyre - must have been over an hour they were assisting me.
I'm surprised that breakdown companies aren't offering discounts for people who carry spare tyres - punctures must account for a good chunk of their call outs these days.
Having worked on motorway hard shoulders with live traffic, I can agree it's not the safest of places. There's usually speed restrictions while work is in progress but not usually while a survey is in progress.
There was a video a few years ago that we had of our TM wagon actually on the hard shoulder when a truck piled into the back of it. The lads jumping for safety seconds before the impact.
I no longer work for that company, I'm retired, but working in live traffic is something that will always stay with me. I do stick to speed limits in road works or when there's work going on, cursing the clowns who speed past, sometimes shouting insults at the guys doing their job.
Getting back to the tyre, I think I'd have taken up the offer from the tyre guy. Quicker and probably cheaper. (He hadn't been scattering tacks on the motorway had he?)
There was a video a few years ago that we had of our TM wagon actually on the hard shoulder when a truck piled into the back of it. The lads jumping for safety seconds before the impact.
I no longer work for that company, I'm retired, but working in live traffic is something that will always stay with me. I do stick to speed limits in road works or when there's work going on, cursing the clowns who speed past, sometimes shouting insults at the guys doing their job.
Getting back to the tyre, I think I'd have taken up the offer from the tyre guy. Quicker and probably cheaper. (He hadn't been scattering tacks on the motorway had he?)
Edited by Skyedriver on Saturday 16th December 18:32
Forums | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff