Range Rover with Nexen Roadian 285/35/22V in NW8

Repeat customer called to say that one of his tyres had gone down; I asked him if he had driven on the tyre while it was flat and he said only for a few minutes. As his details are on our system I picked out a tyre and loaded it into the van in case the puncture could not be fixed. Arranged to meet him in the afternoon when he would be back at home.

Arrived at the flat and started to investigate the problem, got the locking wheel nut key out of the boot and removed the wheel from the car, inflated it to check for a leak, after checking the tyre found no puncture so started to check the seal between the tyre and the wheel, again no leak found.

Last think to check was the valve, the customer had aftermarket wheels on the Range Rover, and these do not have the standard rubber valve but a solid metal valve instead. First check of the valve showed no leak but on closer inspection the valve could move and let a small amount of air out, so it looks as if when he was driving the centrifugal force was moving the valve and letting air out but once he stopped the valve would return to its normal place and seal again. The customer then said that he had been filling the tyre with air and the valve was moving when he attached the inflator and he thought he could hear a small hiss of air leaking while he was inflating the tyre.

Put the wheel on the turntable and removed the tyre, the inside of the tyre had started to break up so the tyre would have to be replaced, now to look at the valve. Unbolted the valve and the problem became apparent, the inside of the valve had started to corrode and the rubber seals had started to crack. We don't carry replacements for this type of valve but a standard rubber valve will fit and do a much better job of sealing the valve to the wheel.

Explained this to the customer but he was worried that his chrome valve caps that matched the wheel would not fit onto the valve, this would be no problem as the diameter of the old valve and the new valve are the same, popped the dust cap onto the new valve to show him and then he was happy to have a rubber valve fitted.

So cleaned up the wheel and checked that it had no damaged from when it had been run while deflated. No damage found so fitted the new rubber valve and mounted the tyre, inflated until the tyre had 'seated' and then adjusted to the correct pressure.

Once mounted the wheel was put on the wheel balancer, parameters all set for the size of wheel and tyre and the wheel was spun up, came back needing 35grams of weights to be added. Added the weights and re-spun the wheel, came back needing zero weights to be added.

Now to put the wheel back on the car, this was a big hefty wheel so I had to take care that I did not damage it. Once the wheel was back on the car I set the torque of the wheel nuts to the manufacturer's specification

Put the locking wheel nut key back in the boot and marked this on the invoice, put all the tools away and then just checked all the other tyres for tread depth and tyre pressure and adjusted the tyre pressures as required. Had a quick conversation with the customer and agreed that as each tyre is changed we would swap all the valves over to rubber valves. Took the payment and left the job.

If this is the kind of service you would like to receive and have your tyres replaced on the drive then call 0800 783 93 10 or 0333 444 5454 or look at out contact page.

p.s. that evening I received a text from the customer thanking me for such a good, prompt and professional service.