Punctures, One of Life's Natural Phenomena
Punctures, it’s a motorist’s worst nightmare. To be late for
work, school or to a date, it’s sadly happened to us all at the worst possible moment.
During the spring and autumnal months, nails and thorns are the most common
form of debris on our road. Apart from potholes.
Often, you only find out you have a puncture when it’s too
late often arriving at the home or work address. As we are a mobile service, we
head out to you!
This customer had called us to book for a puncture repair as the tyre had gone down quite quickly overnight. During the initial booking, we asked for the tyre size and any brands just in case the tyre was not repairable. If the tyre sits too long on the deflated tyre, the sides of the alloy can start to tear into the tyre with the sheer weight of the vehicle. Therefore, we always take a tyre as we don’t know if there has been any internal damage to the tyre!
Upon arrival to the customer’s address, we inspected all
four tyres for signs of unusual wear (indicating an issue with the alignment)
or possible punctures in the other tyres. As the car was relatively new, the wear
pattern on the tyre was normal and no other punctures could be found. Apart
from the one mentioned, the near side front (passenger side front). After the
inspection, the nuts were loosened slightly, and the front of the Skoda then
jacked up and placed on jack-stands. Once loosened fully, the wheel was removed
and inflated to the correct working pressure. From here, we liberally doused
the tyre with a solution of washing up liquid and water. This would identify
where the air is escaping from by creating large bubbles!
Unfortunately, the air was escaping from the side of the tyre
where either a large rock or branch had caused a slit in the side of the tyre. As
this was on the side wall and was also quite long, this would not be repairable
as the chords would have been damaged! To replace the tyre, we removed the valve
core so the tyre could lose pressure, we broke the bead and then removed the
tyre in full. To ensure peace of mind, we inspected the alloy just in case the was
any damage to the rim. All was good! The new Michelin tyre was then installed,
the tyre inflated and finally balanced on our mobile balancing machine. After a
final inspection, the wheel was installed back onto the Skoda and the nuts tightened.
Despite Covid-19 restrictions slowly being lifted, we are
still-and will continue to do so- wear protective equipment to ensure the safety
of the public. Payments can still be made on our card machine which will always
be wiped down before and after payment has been made!
If you were looking for a puncture repair, new tyres or your
winter tyres to be swapped for your summer ones, why not give us a call on 0333
444 5454 or send an enquiry to info@hometyre.co.uk!
HometyreGroup
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