Slow puncture, no spare

[audigex]

Hey guys

I got a tyre pressure warning light this morning on the way to work, (rear left, check all tyres and reset etc). I pulled over and took a look and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary: being late and only having a couple of miles to go I carried on, pulled over after half a mile and it all seemed fine, pulled over again after another half mile then continued to work.

I got to work and checked the pressures - all were down slightly as I hadn't checked them for a few weeks, at mid-high 30s (psi), with the rear left at 22psi. When I left work this had dropped to 19psi. I limped home (5 miles, very carefully with regular stops to re-check) and pumped up all 4 tyres (rear 44, front 46). This was about 7 hours ago. After leaving them to cool down for a few hours they all lost a couple of PSI, understandably because they were warm, but the rear left is losing significantly faster than the others. I just checked again and that rear left is down to 39 already.

I'm going to have to use it tomorrow to get to work, so I figure I'll pump all 4 up before I leave (petrol station is 100 yards away) and see how I get on, if necessary using a colleague's foot pump for a booster before the end of work.

My questions:

• Is this likely to be repairable
• How long am I likely to get away with pumping up before a 5 mile journey, then leaving to stand for 12 hours? Presumably it will cause extra wear
• Could/should I use the tyre weld stuff in the boot? It should seal a hole temporarily, I know, but I've heard that it gunks everything up and makes it difficult/impossible to repair the tyre.
• How much pressure am I likely to lose from that quick blast of air each time I put my pressure gauge to the tyre? I've been trying to check regularly to keep an eye on it, but if I'm just letting out several PSI of air then I'm probably doing more harm than good
• Would a 100 mile round trip be a completely stupid idea? I'm supposed to be going 50 miles on friday and back on sunday. If I filled the tyres before each leg, would I still be safe when I got to the other end, or would I be risking the slow puncture becoming something more serious?

I'll get the tyre replaced as soon as is practical, but right now I'm very poor and the prospect of two new tyres (rears are between 4-5mm tread, so it wouldn't be advisable to replace only one) isn't the best. I'm willing to forego the 100 mile journey and either repair/replace/tyre weld based on what's cheapest/most practical, but I'm not going to compromise safety to any significant degree if I can help it. Conversely, however, I've got to get to work.

Thanks

 

[audicruiser]

Get it in the tyre shop and get it fixed properly. It's either not sealed on the rim properly or you got a screw in it. This can be repaired if its in the middle of the tyre and not near the shoulder.

I would advise against keep pumping it up and trying to do a long weekend trip. That would be stupid and dangerous. Your car deserves to be repaired properly!

 

[mjr901]

Definitely do not do a long journey on a faulty tyre.

I had 6 punctures last year and I had all of mine repaired same day! All of them were slow punctures, a combination of nails and screws!

I say top up the air so its not dead flat, take an hour out of your day to make sure your life and also our lives are not at risk on the road :icon_thumright:

Its more than likely it'll be repaired, its only when its close to the side wall that the tyre shops tend to not repair.

 

[A3Kent]

As audicruiser says, get it in to get repaired or at worse, replaced. Let's hope that if it's a screw or nail that it's central. Have you even had a look around the tyre to see?

 

[Pops848]

I'm going to be an echo here. Get into a tyre shop. As I was selling my last car I got a puncture non repairable. Replaced with top quality tyre. Bought new car. Another puncture non repairable. Bought 2 new michelins to go on the rear.

never take risks with tyres, they are the only thing keeping you on the road. Avoid buying budget where possible. In wet conditions the expensive tyre is always better

 

[Sandra]

My personal opinion is get the tyre checked out. If its repairable then now is the time to do it. If not replace it. Look at it this way, how much is your life worth? Its not just your safety thats at stake here, if that tyre blows out, you are putting other road users at risk as well. Just renember this, good adice is free, takng it is optional. I know what i would do.

 

[Brodster]

Same.....get it repaired if its possible. You dont want to regret anything that was unavoidable.

 

[audigex]

Have you even had a look around the tyre to see?

Of course, I'm not in the habit of guessing, but I can't see anything. I haven't taken the wheel off for a full inspection, but I've had as good a look as I can short of that.

I'm all for safety first, I'm willing to replace it if necessary - I'd just rather not replace two new tyres for £100+ each if I have any other options. The 100 mile journey was a tad tongue in cheek ;-) I'd never do 100 miles short on washer fluid and without taking the rubbish out of the car, never mind with a faulty tyre.

Thanks guys, I'll take another look at the pressure in a minute and see if I'm right that it's losing pressure, then top it up and take it to the nearest garage.

 

[audigex]

Managed to get away to get it looked at - pressure had dropped from 44 to 28 overnight so it was definitely a puncture. Took it up the road to a garage and we found a nail and a fairly chunky looking bolt in the tyre. The nail was only embedded in a tread block and hadn't gone all the way through, but the bolt had make a nice big hole. Fortunately it was fairly square on and neat so they could repair it, and all is good in the world again - I'll be keeping an eye on the pressure though. God knows where I picked up a nail and a bolt from - it looked like two separate incidents as the head of the nail had worn slightly whereas the bolt looked brand new. Presumably the nail has been there for a couple of days and the bolt was picked up more recently, so I'm going to be keeping a careful eye out for any building sites nearby.

 

[A3Kent]

Good news, glad you got it sorted and it wasn't a replacement job!