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Is it just my bad luck, or are the roads getting fuller of nails screws etc . In the last couple of years I have had 5 punctures (4 repairable ) in 20.000miles. I dont remember having this level of problem in the past!
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In the first 4 months of owning my current car I got three puntures (2 repairable, not amused about the third on a decent tyre).
Tyre repair guy said I must just be unlucky as the average is, apparently, one puncture every three years/30k miles. Interesting to hear of someone else who has suffered similarly. Two out of the three times it has been a big piece of sharp metal, both cases looked like steel, which has unidentifable as to source.
Anyone else noticed an increase in punctures as well? Whose cars are depositing large chunks of sharp metal on our roads (Renaults?)?!
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I am probably going to wish I had not said this, but I can't remember when I had a puncture last. I think my habit of running a few pounds over the recommended pressure (for sharper handling) may have something to do with it.
In general, you get far fewer punctures than 50 years ago - better tyres and fewer horses I suppose (before the war my old man had a Humber 16 with Dunlop Forts and twin side mounts and used both spares on a ten mile journey).
But it's one of these statistical things, and with so many cars on the road somebody is going to be unlucky.
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From Jan to June last year I got six punctures in the car and one on the bike. A new estate was being built near where I then lived, and in each case the puncture was caused by a nail or screw, presumably debri left by contractors. It got so that I became paranoid about checking my tyres expecting to find a shiny screw head looking at me everytime I approached the car. The local authorities should take an interest in the state builders leave the roads in where they are working.
Incidently, has anyone had a problem getting a tyre repaired after they have used Finilec or similar? Tyre fitters hate the stuff as it is murder to clean off, and in my experience they try to convince you that the hole is too big to repair and you need a new tyre.
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I have had two punctures in the last three years caused by farmers not clearing up the hawthorn hedge bits following mechanical hedge cutting.
I have argued that it cannot be right for farmers to leave thorns in the road and simply say " Tuff luck, Jimmy" when we get a puncture. They say it is the price you pay for living in the country.
Two of the punctures were on the junction of wall and tread and the tyre chappies said they could not be repaired. Two tyres for me.
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Tom
I'm convinced most of the screws/nails get onto the road through the back doors of some builders vans. It seems every time I pull up behind a van with the bottom of the back doors rusted away it's a jobbing builder, probably sprinkles any nails etc laying on the floor all over the road a treat!
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if you know who the nail or screw or hedgecuttin belongs to, for instance if you have the reg number of a builder van the dvla will tell you name/address then issue a small claims summons for the tyre value
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Could also be to do with the amount of heavy rain we've had in the last couple of years: it washes thorns, nails etc into the road off the verges and paths.
Chris
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alwyn,
the same comment applys to all the "townies" who dump/leave their crap in the countryside
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Yep, we get a lot of that at the end of our lane.
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In response to the 3rd post above, are we sure the DVLA will disclose vehicle owner info to private individuals? Methinks the Data Protection Act probably prohibits this anyway?
Punctures in sidewalls can be repaired - the tyre is sent back to the manufacturer or their repair agent and comes back with a nive vulcanised repair about a week later. But, with the competitive pricing of tyres these days, it's rarely worth the effort & expense.
Yes, hedgetrimming debris in the road makes me wince when I am forced to drive over it, but I accept in when as we live in the countryside.
Nails, screws and metallic debris are much more of a problem in towns. Think, what happens to old cars? They are eventually shredded and the 'bits' transported by truck. Bits fall off cars which haven't been refitted correctly - an example being some exhaust brackets after you've had your exhaust replaced at K**k F*t, along with brake discs, shock absorbers etc etc.
Touch wood, I haven't had a puncture for ages..........
David
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I seem to have got away with it, I've never had a puncture in my 13 year driving life.
Andrew
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I ten years of driving I've had one puncture (touch wood) which happened when the offices I was working in were having a new car park built. As such I drove over a building site twice a day for about three months and one day stopped to find a nail hanging out of the sidewall of a tyre. Never had one on the public roads (touch even more wood).
I remember hearing about a advert which was reported to the advertising standards people some years ago. The ad pictures a tyre being driven over broken glass as a demonstration of how tough this particular tyre was. Other tyre manufacturers complained that this was true of all tyres as long as the conditions were dry and that the ad implied that their tyres were somehow inferior. It seems that tyres are very tough in the dry but their resistance to punctures decreases when they are wet. Hence the fact that you always get punctures in the rain...
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I thought that was Sod's Law.
Jonathan
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