Beware while filling up AIR

Guys,

Had a bitter experience on Saturday morning. Few of my friends were at my place and we decided to drive down to Kaas near satara. As it was finalized at the very last moment, I did not get time to fill up air in the tyres. On the way, I stopped at a road shop for air fill up. The guy was filling up air at the driver side tyre when he said, its punctured. I got out of the car and saw the tyre was horribly low. I did not remember seeing it so low the last night. I asked him to get it repaired. He then asked me to take the car a bit further and park there. This I guess was the biggest blunder I made. I was well at the road side in the first place but I did not suspect and went ahead and parked the car.

To my horror, I saw 5 nails inside the tyre. The nails were not well inside but almost 30%. He said it will take 80/- for every puncture repair. He got the first nail out and repaired the puncture. Suddenly, bell ranged in my head. I asked him to get the nails out of the tyre. I asked him not to repair any other puncture as there was no air leaking through any of the holes made by other nails. I drove to the petrol pump on highway some 10 km, and the tyre was in perfect shape. I visited Kaas, drove around 300 km after this incident and the tyre is still holding the up air pressure. I checked the tyre for air pressure when we stopped at McDonals for an hour. This was deliberate to make sure the air pressure will come down as the tyre gets colder and to its normal temp after running for 20 mins.

In the evening, when I was going through the probable reasons, I realized that, 5 nails could have leaked air within minutes when I started from home. My friend said he did not see the tyre at such low on air pressure when we started from my place. This certainly means the puncture shop person must have put them just in front of the tyre when he deliberately asked me to move the car a little ahead when it was well at the side already. Also the nails were not completely stuck in the tyre. The car which weighs more than a ton, could have caused the nails to go almost completely inside after driving 2 kms with 5 nails inside.

This has certainly taught me a lesson that I should always stick to the petrol pump air fill up or else come out of the car while somebody is filling up air. As the shop was just outside slum, I did not bother to go and ask the shop keeper for his deeds. I hope so, you guys will keep an eye while filling up air at road side shops.

 

yup it's pretty common for road side puncture wallas to do so.
I have had quite a few flat tyres of my scooter just in front of puncture wallas. They do it for making some quick bucks.

 

He saw a big beautiful costly car.... less pressure (enough to prove a puncture) so he tried to make a fast buck...

What I do is, regular (weekly) tyre pressure check is enough to tell you if there is a puncture..
And i have a puncture repair walla who i have made my regular repairman & for rotating tyres as well..
so at times on multiple repairs I get a discount...

If i'm gonna be driving within the city i let the nail be within the tyre (if air is not leaking) and drive on.. I know i have a spare tyre in case i have a flat within the city.. then get it all repaired.. Advantages or a tubeless tyre!! drive on..
If i'm gonna go on the highway I visit him and have all potential puncture's repaired (strictly b4 a highway run)

Well this is what I do.. and everytime I go for a repair, he complaints, "Saab, hamesha 3-4 puncture rehta hai... gaadi kis raaste pe chalaate ho??" (sir every time there are 3-4 punctures, where do you drive with so many nails on the road..???

 

This is the 2nd time I had puncture (Made up one). The first time it was rear left wheel. I guess its better to have a puncture repair kit handy with you along with a small air pump. I will start filling up/checking up air every week from a known air pump shop

 

Guys am new to tubeless tires :mrgreen: been driving UNO from the time i learnt driving which did not have tubeless...the question is how do i know car has a puncture .. does it go fully flat like normal tyres ?? or like neonwheels does i should i get it checked from a tyre repair guy regularly ?

 

Guys, On night while I was driving with family, I realized that steering was a bit tight. Got down and saw the right tire was punctured. Since it happened at a signal junction, I drove about 50mtrs to side of a kerb. Changed to the spare tire and got going. The next day I saw that the running board at the point of jacking was dented as I did not place the jack at the right spot in the dark . I took the tire to the repair shop and I was told the tire had got torn at the beading and hence has lost its tubeless quality. So I bought a tube and fixed it into it and now it is a tubed tire and is sitting in the boot. I can use it as a normal tire but I don't know how it would behave in combination with the other tubeless ones.

So be very careful of the point of jacking up. Do some rehearsals in advance to get the actual feel of it. It is worthwhile. It has to be at the fold of the running board and the fold has to seat inside the notch in the jack . Since the power steering masks the resistance when the air is low it is very difficult to pick up a puncture while driving a punto, unless some one points out. Other wise it results in damaged tire for sure as you will realize only at the terminal stage. I have lost one tire :cry:

Abdul

 

Can somebody point out with a pic as where to put the jack?

 

Here are the pictures, the Traingle mark(inverted) is where you put the Jack. This picture is for my Linea should be the same for Punto.

[attachment=1:2p1y868h]Jack for Linea Front.JPG[/attachment:2p1y868h]

[attachment=0:2p1y868h]Jack for Linea Back.JPG[/attachment:2p1y868h]

 

I put the jack at the marked spot only, but the actual load point is at the fold on the inside further. If you put the jack at the marked point , the load of the car will dent the running board for sure as it happened to me.

Abdul