OT: tires

[Jim K...]

Sounds about right for a BMW owner.

[Jim K...]

For a price...

[Tim Streater]

OK - so the tire pressure warning light was in fact telling us something after all. After two months of it going on and off, and both front tires looking, hmmm, not quite OK, so I'll put some air in both, SWMBO just called as nearside front is flat as a pancake. GreenFlag will attend.

Meanwhile, what actual repairs are tire places allowed to do on tires these days? If it's just a hole, can they patch that from the inside? Or is in obligatory new tire only. We've done nearly 30k miles on it so far.

Also: can anyone recommend an accurate tire pressure gauge? I've got one of those ballpoint pen sized ones which I used the other day when adding air. The airpump at Tesco was telling me the front tires were at

35 PSI (33 was needed) but my gauge was telling me they were both only at 30.

And is it worth having a foot pump or do they take an hour of pumping to get up to pressure?

[charles]

I have a foot pump. but it sits on the shelf since I bought a 12v one in Halfords.

[Tim Streater]

Ah, that sounds like a better option.

[Andrew]

Neighbours BMW 320 estate has run-flat tyres and a pressure warning system.

When the warning light came on he just cancelled it and assumed run-flat tyres could do just that.

After about 10 days I pointed out to him as he, his wife and two kids got out of the car after going to McDonalds or wherever, that the rear nearside tyre was too hot to touch and for 10 days had made the sound of a flat tyre. It was at that point that he said he had cancelled the warning. Big brass screw in the tyre.

New tyre cost £200, and he had had a complete new set of tyres fitted only about 3 months previously.

[alan_m]

Yes as long as its not in the sidewall or too near the edge.

How much tread left? If its legally marginal the tyre place possibly wouldn't patch and recommend a new tyre.

I have (amazon UK link)

but five years ago it was no-where near that price.

Get a cheap (less than £20) electric compressor that plugs into your car

12V power socket (cigar socket). With manufacturers no longer supplying spare tyres on some cars they supply a tin of gunk and a compressor hence plenty of second hand car manufacturer branded compressors on Ebay when I purchased mine.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It depends where the hole is. In the centre of the tread can usually be repaired. Near the edge, not.

Most cars would be lucky to get 30,000 miles from a tyre, so if near the end of its life, perhaps less trouble to replace that pair.

[Michael Chare]

I bought one of these:

I also own what might be a hand bycycle pump. I hold one end with my feet and use two hands to pump. It is supposed to go to something like

100psi so more than enough for a car tyre, but effort is needed.

[Pancho]

If you mean a bike "Track Pump", yes, they are surprisingly good for car tyres too.

60 strokes took my tyre from 30 to 38 psi, in less than a minute. Should come with a good pressure gauge. They also have a dual adapter.

They should easily go above 100 psi.

On the other hand using a car foot pump on bike tyres seems to destroy the hose, due to the higher pressure.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I'd guess an electric one is cheaper than a decent foot one anyway?

If only they included an accurate gauge. ;-)

[Mike Clarke]

Except that a cycle pump has a much smaller diameter than a car footpump so it can produce higher pressure but much less volume per stroke. It will take much longer for a cycle pump to have much effect on the pressure in a car tyre compared to a foot pump.

[Andy Burns]

why would you ignore a warning light for 2 months?

if it's not on (or close to) the shoulder, they can ream the hole out and glue in a plug.

I have a dial type, similar to this, it agrees with the digital gauge on my inflator

yes.

[nightjar]

Punctures in the tread can usually be repaired with a plug. Sidewall damage requires a new tyre.

Never found those terribly reliable.

I use the dial gauge on my foot pump, which seems to agree with the gauges on garage airlines. I assume the latter need to be regularly calibrated.

I always carry one, along with a torque wrench. The length of the latter makes it much easier to undo the wheel nuts than trying to use the wrench they supply with the car and I know the nuts are correctly tightened after changing a wheel. I have both winter and summer tyres, so change all wheels at least twice a year. The pump is more for topping up after fitting than trying to reinflate a flat tyre. The latter simply isn't going to be worth doing.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tread only - anything in the sidewall is new tyre.

30k is fair on a tyre, you may need a new set anyway.

Trust your gauge more than tescos

Get a halford electroic pump that goes in cigar lighter socket

[mm0fmf]

I used to dream of getting 30k miles out of tyre. I was lucky to get over 12000 and that was with rotating them about. Y rated tyres seem to be made from butter!

[The Natural Philosopher]

My land rover defender was sold with original tyres on at 50k miles BF goodrich pattern

[mm0fmf]

Most I ever saw was 16k out of a set of Continental Sport Contact 3. But they were well on the wear bars when they were swapped. I used to notice the handling going off at about 9k as the side walls started to age. Never got near that again on the same brands.

[charles]

We had a village garage where the proprietor owned an elderly Rolls Royce. He liked driving it on the Italian Autostrada which had no speed limits. "Trouble is," he said "you only get 1200 miles out of a set of tires when driven at speed."

[Pancho]

But a foot pump is more choad like. The extra length of the barrel of a Track pump compensates for the smaller diameter,