One of those days ...

[Stringent]

OK remember I had the balancing problem? Well took the car to a proper place and they rebalanced all the tyres. The guy said because of the type of alloys I have the best way would be to stick the weights on the outside, but it wouldnt look nice. So he tried first off sticking the weights on the inner rim. Same effect. So I took it back today, and had the weights stuck on the outside.

So I thought try it out. Go on the M25, hit 60 all fine. 70... all ok. 80 (yes I know don't say anything ... ) great. Sitting at 80 on the outside lane I hear a 'chonk' sound, and see something fly out behind me. Then you know the feeling that something isn't right ... then a few seconds later it dawned on me, the front near side had blown. Thankfully I managed to pull over onto the hard shoulder. Stuck on the stupid space saver wheel, by which time my dad got there to follow me just in case. Nearly got mowed down by a lorry when we tried to rejoin the motorway ... Anyhoo, the guys at the garage were surprised to see me back. New tyre. *sigh*.

Could have been a lot worse. I've seen worse at lesser speeds on a tyre blow out. Oh, the valve had bust ... think it became brittle in the heat.

Anyways, I am still here to pester you all.

[Nemeliza]

How do the rims look with the weights on the outside?
Can you take a pic??

All these stories of blow outs on motorways put me off motorway driving it seems to happen waay too often. how much are those run on flat tire thingys?

wonder what it feels like to drive on iron wheels.....so much for ride comfort.

[5lab]

on average a car suffers a puncture, of any sort, once every 150,000 miles. chances of that being on the motorway? minimal to none i would say, as there is typically less debry. after saying that, even if you have a blowout, you should only loose control if you swerve or owt, simply decellerating and steering, you should be fine

[BenW]

Not sure on that figure!

I dont drive but my dad gets a puncture at least every 30,000 miles. Could be to do with his journey to work, small country lanes to the motorway. Always getting a nail/screw in the tyre. Having said that mum hardly gets them at all but she had a 4x4 until recently with thicker tires. Had one in the focus in about 20,000

[Stringent]

Looks poo if I'm honest ... I'll get a pic up later. So any contributions to the 'I need new alloys' fund?

[Mike Fishcake]

on average a car suffers a puncture, of any sort, once every 150,000 miles. chances of that being on the motorway? minimal to none i would say, as there is typically less debry. after saying that, even if you have a blowout, you should only loose control if you swerve or owt, simply decellerating and steering, you should be fine

One puncture on average every 150,000 miles? Are you sure? Sounds like a very high figure, when you take into account the national average of 12,000 miles per year!

[Konan555]

Makes more sence if the average wheel gets one every 150K.

[BenW]

So if every wheel get ones every 150k miles thats like a puncture every 37,500 miles unless its a reliant robin which would have a puncture every 50k miles.

[5lab]

i'm pretty sure the average number of miles twixt a car having a puncture is around 150k - this was mentioned when people started fitting run-flat tyres. its citainly not 40k - remember these are actual punctures (that stop you driving), not tyre replacements due to lack of tred etc. i know some people who manage 50k on a set of rear tyres (fwd cars) before replacing them..

[Stringent]

It also depends on how much you wheel spin.

[Nemeliza]

It also depends on how much you wheel spin.

So i should stop doing that

[Konan555]

i know some people who manage 50k on a set of rear tyres (fwd cars) before replacing them..

My Dad put 90K on a set of michelin despite my best efforts.

[schmunk]

i know some people who manage 50k on a set of rear tyres (fwd cars) before replacing them..

My rears are still going after 52,000 from new, though the tread's getting fairly low now - they'll need changing within the next few thousand.

[dkmech]

So if every wheel get ones every 150k miles thats like a puncture every 37,500 miles unless its a reliant robin which would have a puncture every 50k miles.

But reliant has 3 lines of tyres, whereas normal cars have two. So a reliant would be 1.5 times more likely to have a puncture as its covering that extra bit of tarmac with its front wheel. So (150/1.5=100)/3=33.3k for the reliant.