puntures tell me of yours
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mine
last sunday, son had started playing for local team again after a few years out, got man of the match n scored, on a high, got back to the car and discovered a flatty, first in 2 years of ownership, thank f
k the jack n brace were there, crawled home on the space saver, that would be the bright yellow space saver cheers mazda you sMy worst puncture was a few years ago; I had just set off on a 500 mile trip and was driving along the lane behind my driveway with the window open when I hear a pop, and air escaping. Look out the window to see my front driver's side tyre deflating rapidly. A large gash in the sidewall was the cause. No idea what could have caused it.
This all happened within 75 yards of my driveway, so I reversed back and changed to the spacesaver. I had to delay the startbof my trip by a day until I got a replacement tyre. Cool story etc.
This all happened within 75 yards of my driveway, so I reversed back and changed to the spacesaver. I had to delay the startbof my trip by a day until I got a replacement tyre. Cool story etc.
A recent story...
South Island, New Zealand. Driving from Christchurch to Picton to catch the ferry to the North Island for a couple of days work.
Five in the afternoon and a fairly new tyre on the van blew out.
Found a bottle jack, but no handle of any sort - and the spare had to be lowered down with part of the same tool that should be part of the jack handle.
Now despite this being State Highway 1, we were 30 miles from any civilisation - and there was only about one car every two minutes. (At least we were in mobile range).
An electrical lines contractor drew up, miraculously he had the precise handle set we needed to operate the jack and lower the spare wheel down (held up by chain under the rear deck) - but no jack itself!
He had to get going, so left us his tools, we got the ferry, did the job - and met up a couple of days later on our way back to Christchurch to hand his tools back. A lucky break.
I may have written about another story before. 20 years ago - M25 at two in the morning in A Triumph Spitfire. Hit a cobble that destroyed the wheel and tyre. Had spare, wheel brace and jack - but no handle (again). Ended up using the dipstick - which didn't really fit afterwards.
Spare only had a couple of pounds pressure - limped along the hard shoulder - eventually found a garage that was open - and had to pay 20p for the air.
Probably the most embarrassing time was a worn out wire wheel on a Triumph Vitesse in Norway. A hard brake application meant the wheel came off - and it bounced into a fiord never to be seen again. This time I had all the tools.
Which reminds me of another one - different Triumph Spitfire. Puncture on the rear. Jack missing entirely this time. A couple of Belgian customers were following us to the pub, they lifted the car by hand whilst I quickly changed the wheel.
One of these days I'll check before setting out that all wheel changing stuff is present and correct.
South Island, New Zealand. Driving from Christchurch to Picton to catch the ferry to the North Island for a couple of days work.
Five in the afternoon and a fairly new tyre on the van blew out.
Found a bottle jack, but no handle of any sort - and the spare had to be lowered down with part of the same tool that should be part of the jack handle.
Now despite this being State Highway 1, we were 30 miles from any civilisation - and there was only about one car every two minutes. (At least we were in mobile range).
An electrical lines contractor drew up, miraculously he had the precise handle set we needed to operate the jack and lower the spare wheel down (held up by chain under the rear deck) - but no jack itself!
He had to get going, so left us his tools, we got the ferry, did the job - and met up a couple of days later on our way back to Christchurch to hand his tools back. A lucky break.
I may have written about another story before. 20 years ago - M25 at two in the morning in A Triumph Spitfire. Hit a cobble that destroyed the wheel and tyre. Had spare, wheel brace and jack - but no handle (again). Ended up using the dipstick - which didn't really fit afterwards.
Spare only had a couple of pounds pressure - limped along the hard shoulder - eventually found a garage that was open - and had to pay 20p for the air.
Probably the most embarrassing time was a worn out wire wheel on a Triumph Vitesse in Norway. A hard brake application meant the wheel came off - and it bounced into a fiord never to be seen again. This time I had all the tools.
Which reminds me of another one - different Triumph Spitfire. Puncture on the rear. Jack missing entirely this time. A couple of Belgian customers were following us to the pub, they lifted the car by hand whilst I quickly changed the wheel.
One of these days I'll check before setting out that all wheel changing stuff is present and correct.
A few
First driving lesson = puncture. Instructor tells me he will tell me how to change it.
Second driving lesson = puncture. Ditto
Blowout on M4 - uneventful. Nearside, wide hard shoulder quiet motorway, changed myself.
Blowout on M5 - uneventful. Offside and narrow hard shoulder. fk that - awaited AA.
Sidewall gash after catching it on a sharp kerb. Uneventful, but gash Renault wheel brace failed. Changed by AA.
Flat tyre - 5AM at home in December. Not happy it was bloody cold.
Nail in Side wall - changed myself in a bus stop. Bus drivers not happy. Neither was I as I was on the way to pick up the lorry to move house, and it was not convenient.
PS changed my partners wheel which was going flat at a Petrol Station. Went to put that flat tyre/wheel in the boot and she asked me why was I doing that and not chucking it in the skip we were parked next to. Very blonde moment.
PPS not had one for several years. Bad omen.
First driving lesson = puncture. Instructor tells me he will tell me how to change it.
Second driving lesson = puncture. Ditto
Blowout on M4 - uneventful. Nearside, wide hard shoulder quiet motorway, changed myself.
Blowout on M5 - uneventful. Offside and narrow hard shoulder. f
k that - awaited AA.Sidewall gash after catching it on a sharp kerb. Uneventful, but gash Renault wheel brace failed. Changed by AA.
Flat tyre - 5AM at home in December. Not happy it was bloody cold.
Nail in Side wall - changed myself in a bus stop. Bus drivers not happy. Neither was I as I was on the way to pick up the lorry to move house, and it was not convenient.
PS changed my partners wheel which was going flat at a Petrol Station. Went to put that flat tyre/wheel in the boot and she asked me why was I doing that and not chucking it in the skip we were parked next to. Very blonde moment.
PPS not had one for several years. Bad omen.
Last year. Road trip from Kent to Suhl Germany and then on to the Austrian alps for a week before returning home. 2 new Toyo proxy 888 fitted to the rears. Just cleared the Belgium roads and had around 550km to go.........nearly all on deristricted autobahn 
Moments later at around 110-120mph the left year Toyo picked up a puncture and blew. Stopped on the the narrow hard shoulder straight away to find the Toyo had pretty much melted and remoulded itself in to a completely different shape. In short the tyre was shagged. What followed was 500 odd km on a deristricted autobahn at 50mph with the space saver. Yawn
Top marks to a friend that was already at the hotel and particularly the receptionist who spent the rest of the day phoning around trying to locate me a new tyre. Not easy as a 315/35 17 is an ultra rare size however she succeeded and located one at a huge tyre distribution warehouse just over an hours drive away from the hotel. The following day it was all sorted and I was 350 Euros lighter.
Moments later at around 110-120mph the left year Toyo picked up a puncture and blew. Stopped on the the narrow hard shoulder straight away to find the Toyo had pretty much melted and remoulded itself in to a completely different shape. In short the tyre was shagged. What followed was 500 odd km on a deristricted autobahn at 50mph with the space saver. Yawn
Top marks to a friend that was already at the hotel and particularly the receptionist who spent the rest of the day phoning around trying to locate me a new tyre. Not easy as a 315/35 17 is an ultra rare size however she succeeded and located one at a huge tyre distribution warehouse just over an hours drive away from the hotel. The following day it was all sorted and I was 350 Euros lighter.
I had a front nearside blow when doing about 85mph on the M25 near Heathrow one morning. Luckily the road was curving to the right and the traffic wasn't too bad, to I could put my hazards on and cruise in a straight line to the hard shoulder. Sods law dictated it was a new tyre, and the garage had torqued the bolts to infinity and beyond.
The Vauxhall wheel wrench managed to begin bending without budging the nuts, so I had the embarrassment of calling the AA to change my wheel. The attending AA man had a chuckle at he got out of his van, wrench in hand. He stopped chuckling and went red, before getting a considerably longer wrench and eventually getting the wheel off.
The Vauxhall wheel wrench managed to begin bending without budging the nuts, so I had the embarrassment of calling the AA to change my wheel. The attending AA man had a chuckle at he got out of his van, wrench in hand. He stopped chuckling and went red, before getting a considerably longer wrench and eventually getting the wheel off.
Several over the years. I have also had three blowouts in our various horse lorries - two back tyres and one front. The front was frightening.
I brightened the day of a guy sat in his car while in the supermarket car park when I noticed a front tyre was flat on the Legacy. The space saver wasn't allowed on the front so it seemed to cause him immense amusement to see me removing the rear tyre first, put the space saver on that, then put the good rear tyre on the front. You could almost see him thinking "you are changing the wrong one!" I used to hate driving that car with the space saver on as the rear diff got very noisy when it was on.
I brightened the day of a guy sat in his car while in the supermarket car park when I noticed a front tyre was flat on the Legacy. The space saver wasn't allowed on the front so it seemed to cause him immense amusement to see me removing the rear tyre first, put the space saver on that, then put the good rear tyre on the front. You could almost see him thinking "you are changing the wrong one!" I used to hate driving that car with the space saver on as the rear diff got very noisy when it was on.
Trevor450 said:
Several over the years. I have also had three blowouts in our various horse lorries - two back tyres and one front. The front was frightening.
I brightened the day of a guy sat in his car while in the supermarket car park when I noticed a front tyre was flat on the Legacy. The space saver wasn't allowed on the front so it seemed to cause him immense amusement to see me removing the rear tyre first, put the space saver on that, then put the good rear tyre on the front. You could almost see him thinking "you are changing the wrong one!" I used to hate driving that car with the space saver on as the rear diff got very noisy when it was on.
We heard you the first time I brightened the day of a guy sat in his car while in the supermarket car park when I noticed a front tyre was flat on the Legacy. The space saver wasn't allowed on the front so it seemed to cause him immense amusement to see me removing the rear tyre first, put the space saver on that, then put the good rear tyre on the front. You could almost see him thinking "you are changing the wrong one!" I used to hate driving that car with the space saver on as the rear diff got very noisy when it was on.
not mine but I was in the vehicle. Toyota 4wd minibus type thing. Driver belting down a forrest track in eastern Russia. Tyre blew out and we slewed from side to side for what seemed like a very long time. I nearly shat myself. Then realised that if he didn't have the tools we were in deep sh*t being 300ks from the nearest habitation with no mobile signal and a flat sat phone. Fortunatly al the tools etc were there.
South Africa, 1996...
On neighbourhood watch in a 4x4 'bakkie' (pick-up) and we get a blow-out on the front left tyre driving through a sugarcane farm.
While replacing the wheel there is a 'pop' sound from the 'cane and a loud-ish metallic noise from the back of the pick-up. One of the chaps (three of us) investigates and there is a bullet hole in the tailgate! Not right through, just the first skin. So we had been shot at, obviously.
Terrifying. The 'cane is over two metres tall and all around us, with only a narrow dirt track for a road that winds it way through and it is pitch black. Suddenly it didn't seem such a good idea to scout through the 'cane after all but we thought it might be an idea since it was where burglars arrived from and escaped to.
Our role was not to engage with burglars, only to notify the cops via radio of any suspicious activity so finding ourselves having to change a wheel whilst under a bit of stress was challenging.
I fired a round into the ground to demonstrate we were armed too but there were no further shots fired by anyone. We assumed that there was a thief nearby who must've thought we were after him.
Made us realise that it is easy to sign up for Neighbourhood Watch etc and be all gung-ho about it, but it can be deadly serious.
The cops met us on the dirt road a bit farther along - we had radio'd in - but that wheel-change would've done some F1 Teams proud
On neighbourhood watch in a 4x4 'bakkie' (pick-up) and we get a blow-out on the front left tyre driving through a sugarcane farm.
While replacing the wheel there is a 'pop' sound from the 'cane and a loud-ish metallic noise from the back of the pick-up. One of the chaps (three of us) investigates and there is a bullet hole in the tailgate! Not right through, just the first skin. So we had been shot at, obviously.
Terrifying. The 'cane is over two metres tall and all around us, with only a narrow dirt track for a road that winds it way through and it is pitch black. Suddenly it didn't seem such a good idea to scout through the 'cane after all but we thought it might be an idea since it was where burglars arrived from and escaped to.
Our role was not to engage with burglars, only to notify the cops via radio of any suspicious activity so finding ourselves having to change a wheel whilst under a bit of stress was challenging.
I fired a round into the ground to demonstrate we were armed too but there were no further shots fired by anyone. We assumed that there was a thief nearby who must've thought we were after him.
Made us realise that it is easy to sign up for Neighbourhood Watch etc and be all gung-ho about it, but it can be deadly serious.
The cops met us on the dirt road a bit farther along - we had radio'd in - but that wheel-change would've done some F1 Teams proud
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