Team-BHP > Technical Stuff


Reply
  Search this Thread
4,103 views
Old 28th June 2006, 15:46   #1
Senior - BHPian
 
humyum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 2,747
Thanked: 5,416 Times
Need honest opinions

Guys have a maruti 800 1998 model carbureted in good condition run 63500 km.Although tyres appear good from outside with more tread left on the front tyres as had put the tyres with more tread on the front and less behind.
Now since a month i have changed 2 tubes in the left rear tyre and one tube in back right tyres as they keep having puntures.Had about 5 puntures since a month in back tyres.
We plan to buy an alto in about 6 months time(not fixed about the duration it can extend too) and because of the constant puntures am fed up.I think the puntures are occouring as there is very less tread thickness left in the tyres and whatever nails or small objects are directly penetrating the tyres due to lack of treads.So guys do u think i should buy new tyres on all 4 wheels(my dad is of the opinion that instead of buying only 2 new tyres as well as buy 4).He says that while we use the car we can use the new tyres and keep the old ones and when we are selling the car we can take out the new ones and again fix the old ones and sell the car.Would this be a good opinion?
Also checked the maruti 800 website and it says that maruti 800 has 145-70-R12 tyres and alto has 145-80 R12 tyres so do u think if i remove the new tyres which i fix in my maruti 800 now and when i buy the alto and after the alto tyres are worn out i can fix the tyres which i brough for the maruti 800 in the alto?
Guys give me your opinions regarding this i am really confused on what i should be doing.
humyum is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 16:20   #2
rks
BANNED
 
rks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: ??
Posts: 1,238
Thanked: 17 Times

You should not replace the stock 145/80 R 12 of the Alto with the stock 145/70 R12 of the Maruti. If at all you want to upgrade your Alto tyres, you can check this forum for proper sizes.

Regarding frequent punctures on your Maruti's rear tyres -- it could be due to worn out tyres, as you say. Check your tyres for any nails or screws that are stuck inside. Also did you check the SIZE of the tubes that went into your tyres as replacement? On one occasion, a small tyre shop guy replaced my Santro's punctured and damaged rear tube with an undersized one and when I used the tyre again, it got punctured within 200 kms (fortunately in the city, not the highway). When I checked at a different tyre shop, he told me that the tube was undersized and could so easily have burst while I was on the Expressway. So be careful to personally check that your tube size is correct.

Edit: Also if you are driving in an area with constuction work or heavy carpentry or other workshop jobs going on, be aware that these guys will spill all kinds of stuff on the road (especially the sides) that contain nails, screws, etc. I got quite 2 punctures within two months while passing the flyover construction area to my office - both times due to screws. Since then I have made it a habit to visually inspect my tyres soon after reaching the office and on a couple of occasions, I have found a half-inch screw and a small bent nail in my rear tyre -- fortunately, both of these didn't cause punctures. I would advise you to avoid getting towards the side of the roads in such areas and also inspect your tyres visually for any screws/nails.

Last edited by rks : 28th June 2006 at 16:30.
rks is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 16:24   #3
BHPian
 
sumitkalindi's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Kolkata
Posts: 376
Thanked: 17 Times

See forget about the idea of purchasing new tyres, and later use it in Alto when its tyres get bald. Now tell me how long do you want to use this car?? And what is the condition of the tyres, I mean if cracks have formed on the sidewalls?? or the nylon carcass of the tyre have come out due to overuse of the tires. If only the tread has gone thin, and the nylon carcass is still not exposed, you couls try retreading the tires, it will be as good as new. That is a cheap way out in your situation when you have to use the car, but not for so long as to justify the higher expense of new tires.
sumitkalindi is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 16:26   #4
BHPian
 
willy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 146
Thanked: 0 Times

I can understand your position now. But what i feel, If the tyres are so very bad, please goahead changing all the 4. You can add up that amount in your car value when you sell the car. That will be a added point when you sell because your car model is 1998.
willy is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 17:26   #5
Senior - BHPian
 
humyum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 2,747
Thanked: 5,416 Times

I have radial tyres now and the back tyres the tread depth is pretty less and i think thats the reason the tyre is getting puntured as even small nails are able to penetrate the tyres and reach the tube as the tread depth is pretty less.The front tyres as compared to rear tyres are good.Car is going to remain with us for minimum 6 months.
Hey sumit about retreading the tyres i though that happens only for nylon tyres does retreading also happen for radial tyres?
humyum is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 17:45   #6
BHPian
 
sumitkalindi's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Kolkata
Posts: 376
Thanked: 17 Times

yep retreading can be done to any tires provided, the carcass of the tire is intact. You can consult with the local tyrewalas rogarding this. To be honest, any tire can be retread atleast once, when the tread depth goes very low. I also think you should change the tubes, since they may be almost reduced to patches..
sumitkalindi is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 17:52   #7
rks
BANNED
 
rks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: ??
Posts: 1,238
Thanked: 17 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by humyum
I have radial tyres now and the back tyres the tread depth is pretty less and i think thats the reason the tyre is getting puntured as even small nails are able to penetrate the tyres and reach the tube as the tread depth is pretty less.The front tyres as compared to rear tyres are good.[...]
The fact that your rear tyres are getting punctured more often is not necessarily due to lower tread depth. Usually nails/screws will get thrown up by the front tyres and then penetrate your rear tyres, puncturing them -- this is an observed fact. Of course sometimes you do get front-tyre punctures as well due to nails/screws. If you have options for changing your route, you can try that-- it may solve your problem.
rks is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 19:23   #8
Senior - BHPian
 
humyum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 2,747
Thanked: 5,416 Times

Sumit about tubes MAN thats another story all together.Have changed the back left tube twice and the back right one twice too and all this in a month.I dont have how nails find their way only in my car so many times
About the Routes Rks most of the time the punture occours when the car is parked and i go somewhere and i come back and see the tyre has gone flat.Yesteday drove from ghatkopar to borivali and back nothing happened parked the car in the building.Today morning see the back left tyre is already puntured thats when got so pissed that started this thread on team-bhp.
About retreading do they actually fix a new layer of rubber to the old tyre because i have seen this in many tyres.Is that what called remoulding?confused between the two terms.
humyum is offline  
Old 28th June 2006, 19:27   #9
rks
BANNED
 
rks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: ??
Posts: 1,238
Thanked: 17 Times

Also, hope you are monitoring your tyre pressures regularly. After getting my compressor (with built-in pressure gauge), I check my tyre pressures every week and keep it at 33 psi, which is 3 psi over the recommended 30 (for my weekly highway runs). Now I haven't gotten a single puncture for the last 8 months. I think low tyre pressures can cause frequent punctures too - so check your pressures often and make sure that the petrol pump where you are filling up has an accurate gauge.

Edit: humyum, your latest post makes me wonder if there is some foul play going on as well. My suggestion is when you park your car, inspect your tyres very closely and make sure that there are no nails/screws visible from outside. Then when you see a puncture later, make another inspection and if you see a nail/screw this time, then there definitely has been some foul play. I can't imagine why anybody would want to do something like that. But it is always a possibility that worries me when my car is parked outside.

Last edited by rks : 28th June 2006 at 19:40.
rks is offline  
Old 29th June 2006, 20:48   #10
BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 385
Thanked: 13 Times

Humyum, Your dad got a point and so does Willy. Replace all 4.
Honestly if I were you I would have replaced all 4 or maybe even 5 because it will give your vehicle a new look and enhance its resale value. A substantial portion of your investment would come back to you when you sell, till then enjoy the cushiony drive. It will also tell the buyer how well you have taken care of your car.

Even a new car without good tyres looks drab. With new tyres your car would like bride waiting to find a new home.

So long....
varunroy is offline  
Old 29th June 2006, 21:08   #11
rks
BANNED
 
rks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: ??
Posts: 1,238
Thanked: 17 Times

I agree with those who recommend replacement of all tyres -- after all, the car has already done more that 60000 kms. But I believe one must first investigate the cause for the frequent punctures to the rear tyres -- is it just due to worn-out tyres or is there something else behind this? If at all tread is visible on the tyres, they should not puncture as frequently as humyum is experiencing, unless the tyres themselves have become very brittle and have visible damage. But humyum doesn't seem to have any visible damage to his tyres. So I would monitor the tyre pressures more closely and frequently, to try to pin down where and when exactly these punctures occur; then look for reasons and try to eliminate these.
rks is offline  
Old 29th June 2006, 22:58   #12
BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 385
Thanked: 13 Times

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by rks
I agree with those who recommend replacement of all tyres -- after all, the car has already done more that 60000 kms. But I believe one must first investigate the cause for the frequent punctures to the rear tyres -- is it just due to worn-out tyres or is there something else behind this? If at all tread is visible on the tyres, they should not puncture as frequently as humyum is experiencing, unless the tyres themselves have become very brittle and have visible damage. But humyum doesn't seem to have any visible damage to his tyres. So I would monitor the tyre pressures more closely and frequently, to try to pin down where and when exactly these punctures occur; then look for reasons and try to eliminate these.
When the tyres have worn out so much, the side walls become weak ans crack at times. This may be pinching the tubes internally, hence the puntures.

So long....
varunroy is offline  
Old 30th June 2006, 00:02   #13
Senior - BHPian
 
humyum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 2,747
Thanked: 5,416 Times

dear varun yes i will change all the 4 tyres in a weeks time.Will keep the front one tyre with a little good tread as stepney.Also i am plannig upgrade the tyre size a little as what ram has done and mentioned in another thread 145 80 r12 which is there in alto and zen against the 145 70 r12 which i have right now and which maruti puts in the current lot 800.The new tyre 145 80 r12 wont fit in the stepney bay as ram said as its diameter is a tad bigger than the 70 ratio tyre.
Rks=Hey the tyres are not 60000km up.When the car was brand new the tyres came with the cross ply thin tyres which used to come with the 800.They lasted for around 25 thousand km of constant highway use.And after that i changed to these radial tyres.The radials are around 39000 km up.The radials were also used in constant highway driving with speeds of 100 and 120 and trips to bangalore many times and couple of trips to gujrat and rajasthan too and yeah the tyres are more than 4 years up.The tyres that are back now used to be in the front so the difference in tread depth as the front tyres wear pretty fast as compared to the rear.Before around 8000km i changed the front to back and the back to the front.The front has comparitively more tread left now as compared to the rear.I monitor the tyre pressure atleast twice a week.I usually fill 500 rs petrol which runs for about 3 to 4 days then again 500 and everytime make it a point to check tyre pressure.I do it so that even if there is a small leak in the tyres due to some punture i can get to know as the tyre pressure in that tyre will be 4 to 5 psi less than the rest.
humyum is offline  
Old 30th June 2006, 00:24   #14
rks
BANNED
 
rks's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: ??
Posts: 1,238
Thanked: 17 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by varunroy
When the tyres have worn out so much, the side walls become weak ans crack at times. This may be pinching the tubes internally, hence the puntures.
humyum says in his recent post that the tyres are only 4 years old and have done only 39000 kms. So such a failure is not expected so early, at least in radial tyres. In any case, your theory can easily be tested-- if what you say holds, then humyum's punctures should be occurring at the *sides* of the tubes (where they make contact with the side walls of the tyres). In fact this is exactly what happened to me with an undersized tube sold to me by a small shop in Bangalore several years ago (as mentioned earlier in the thread) -- the tyre was spare for several years in B'lore and punctured when I used it in Pune recently; the local tyre mechanic pointed out to me that the tube was undersized and had side wall punctures. So humyum should carefully investigate his punctures and see if any nails/screws are found, or is the failure occuring at the side walls as you expect. It is always good to know the reasons for the failure precisely and then act on the basis of this knowledge, rather than taking blind shots in the dark.
rks is offline  
Old 30th June 2006, 12:43   #15
Senior - BHPian
 
humyum's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 2,747
Thanked: 5,416 Times

Rks the puntures happen because of a small nail or a small object penetrating through the tyre and into the tube.As i said that the tread depth is pretty less so a medium size nail could easily penetrate through the tyre and punture the tube as it has to travel very less distace to reach the tube as compared to the tyre which has good tread left as the nail would get stuck in the treads rubber and not reach the tube.In my case the tread is less so it penetrates the rubber and reaches the tube.
Hey is 39000 km for a radial tyre less?also the front tyres which were back before seem like they can make another 10000 km of use.But the back ones i guess will last max 5000 km if the punturing thing stops happening.
humyum is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks