[Ajitsingh208]

Well I have managed 90k kms on my Bridgestone Duelers in my Safari in 4 years, I get the alignment,balancing,rotation done every 5k kms. Haven't had much issues with punctures either, had 3 till now. Planning to replace them before my next trip in August. Till then they are still good for local running.

[Rajeevraj]

Thanks all for the insights. One thing that is coming out as obvious is that Sidewall punctures definitely can impact the tyre life and safety and should be taken seriously. In my case all punctures have been on the treads and none on the sidewall. I normally run with 32's on all tyres. Maybe I should bump that up a bit.

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Are you losing tyre pressure with Apollo Alnacs even when there is no puncture? The Acelere is notorious for losing air pressure, I have first hand experience but those were on steel rims. A tyre with low pressure will pick up punctures quite fast. Especially at the front as the wheel is loaded.

I have not really noticed any significant pressure loss from the Alnacs. One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that most of the punctures were minute ones from small nails. I am surprised as to how even a small nail/screw goes through easily. It is as if the tyre is made of butter. . Never had this issue with the tyres on my earlier SX4 (I think it was the JK Vectra).

[One:1]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I seem to have been quite unfortunate with punctures on my Vento (Or maybe the Apollo Alnacs on the Vento are more prone to punctures).

A typical replacement schedule from what I have read here is 30-35K and/or 5 years.

As a Religious user of Michelin tyres on all my cars i can safely say that the apollo's I'm running now (Yes, A decision i deeply regret although due to certain circumstances i had no other choice but to buy them) are made with such a hard compound where i feel getting a puncture would be rather difficult.(The road noise is absolutely appalling )


My previous set of XM1's lasted me +/- 74000kms (around 5 years).A typical replacement would be at 45000-50000kms but then again this depends on the tyre (brand) and the way the car is being driven and where it is driven.Ive managed to pick up only about 2-3 punctures on the XM1's.


As far as tyre strength and leaks from the puncture point is concerned, it depends on the way in which the puncture is repaired, there are various methods(and materials) used to repair a puncture. It all depends on the type of repair that we choose provided the shop has multiple options.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

The basic fact is that 90% punctures occur in the last 10% of a tyres life.

Be even more careful if these are near to the sidewalls.

Yes an older tyre would in theory be more prone to punctures as the harder stickier part of the tyre would be completely worn out ,possibly the tyres could be slicks at that point . it would be easier for the initial penetration of the nail into the tyre at that life time.


A Puncture at the side wall could be disastrous .

Originally Posted by Thebat

This may be OT. Do those tiny stones lodged between the threads affect tire life in any way? The reason I ask. Is because the MRF ZVTVs on my Polo pick up a lot. Of stones which I didnt see on my previous car which was shod with accelere. I have made it a habit to remove as many as possible frequently

Almost all brands pick up stones between the treads.The tyre life wouldn't be affected, if at all, it would be in a very negligible way.You have nothing to worry about.The stones can be left there.If you want to remove them then just make sure to take out the larger sized ones but ensure that you don't damage the tyre trying to do so!

[Slowjet]

Originally Posted by Ajitsingh208

Well I have managed 90k kms on my Bridgestone Duelers in my Safari in 4 years, I get the alignment,balancing,rotation done every 5k kms. Haven't had much issues with punctures either, had 3 till now. Planning to replace them before my next trip in August. Till then they are still good for local running.

Same here. I changed my Indica turbo tyres running on Bridgestone at around 90K. Though they would have easily lasted for another 30-40K. One of my tyres was cut on the sidewall on the highway at around 67k or 70K due to a big stone and had to replace it with what was available at the earliest. Ended up selecting MRF for one tyre. I had chenged tube for one of the Bridgestone tyre since the puncturewall messed it up. When i changed the tyres , went for Bridgestone and I gave away MRF tyre. The spare wheel is still the old Bridgestone tyre. During my run of more than 100K over ten years I think the total number of punctures haven't exceeded 15 for all the old / new tyres. I have experienced Bridgestone to be better. My tyres were not and still not tubeless. They are tube type

[R2D2]

While I believe some tyre brands and models are less prone to punctures, I do not blame my tyres should I suffer a flat tyre some day.

After all a rubber tyre rolling over a sharp object when under a load of 100s of Kgs is asking for trouble. Something has to give and it won't be the road or the sharp object

What that makes me do is drive a little carefully, avoid construction sites as far as possible. Since I started driving 30+ years ago I've covered several 100s of thousands of kms on bikes and cars and have suffered very, very few flat tyres. I put that down to a bit of careful driving, taking good care of tyres viz tyre pressure, cross or 5 tyre rotation, balancing and of course regular/annual inspections.

My life and the lives of the passengers depend on those tyres. I replace tyres at the 1st sign of structural compromises like cracks & especially sidewall cuts as I use my car mainly on highway runs. I don't wait for the TWI to appear. Zero compromises on safety. A set of 5 Michelin tyres cost me only 32K, about the same as just one HID headlamp assembly for my car (price may have reduced or increased by now). But the point is, when it comes to deciding between tyre replacements v/s taking on inherent risks - the decision is a no brainer.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

My references are entirely based on my own experience with the recent set of OEM Tyres that I changed on the Yeti.
With age, the rubber hardens and there is wear and tear in parts.
When driving over roads like we have in Bangalore which are full of loose concrete jelly and nails and other construction debris - at least in the newer development areas in this city, my experience in the last one year has been several punctures.

Yeah Shankar, Our roads are full of stuff that should not be there. Sometimes its a miracle we do not have more punctures. And yeah, it makes perfect sense to change tyres every 3-5 years, or depending on the usage, or if the rubber has hardened too much.

Hope your new set is serving you well with no punctures as yet. I've recently changed to a new set of Goodyears, and its lovely driving on fresh rubber. The car feels like a different vehicle altogether with grippy rubber.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by Thebat

Is because the MRF ZVTVs on my Polo pick up a lot. Of stones which I didnt see on my previous car which was shod with accelere. I have made it a habit to remove as many as possible frequently but they seem to be getting stuck at a rapid pace, am I being paranoid and should I take it easy? Or is there any other solution for this?

I have seen the exact same occurrence in my Polo as well. However, my car is shod with Apollo accelere tyres.
I do not think it is a problem. I have seen this in practically every car.

[agnimidhun]

Hello,

With experience (and no science) I agree that the chances of a puncture increase as the tyre life increases. Like SpoiledBratt, I had a day when 17 punctures were fixed on the four tyres of my car (~3 years/28K km). From then on, the tyres have been a mess. They would always keep losing pressure and I have had a horrible FE.

Last week, I took up the task to get them replaced from the stock Apollo Accelares to Yokohama Earth-1 (after ~39k kms) at the SLNP Pitsop, Varthur Road, Bengaluru. I went with Yokohama after reading through numerous posts on team BHP (main one being this). Michelin XM2 was my first choice going by the popularity and reviews. But they cost 5400 v/s 4700 per tyre of Yokohama and Yokohama was giving a 5 year warranty against 3 years by Michelin.



A bit off topic but still related to "Tyre Life", aren't the caster and camber angles part of wheel alignment and balancing? My car had these parameters off the recommended limits and SLNP did not fix them. Instead they asked me to get it fixed at a ASC. It seems they just do the Toe adjustment as a part the wheel alignment. I was surprised as I think they had all the equipment and skills to do it but brushed me off as they had a queue of customers.

[ambivalent_98]

Well here are my few observations which may be similar or different from the other members.(I hope I am not sermonising but just sharing some common things that we ignore and I have learnt lessons the hard way )
1) Punctures occur usually if the air pressure is less.
2) Brand new tyres can be destroyed and of course the warranty clause is grossly misleading. So your buy brand X with warranty , it says they would take care of a manufacturing defect but in case you have a puncture and made the thickest side of the tyre which is the wall cracks open then you don't get warranty neither is it reparable.
I had this experience with Bridgestone and Apollo. Of course Apollo were stock tyres that came with my car when it was new about 5 yrs ago.
3) If the tyres are good quality they run fairly reliably with multiple repaired punctures. I have used my Michelins for 50K kms with around 4-5 punctures on a single tyre.
4) Do not tempt fate with bad roads , shortcuts over smoother roads. I mean you might save time but then by taking bad roads you are shortening the life span on the tyres (and other car parts).
5) As far as possible go to a puncture shop (which sells tyres preferrably) that is reliable. This can't be a choice out on the highway but it is important that the person repairing the puncture uses good material to fix it. The usage of good fixing material usually affects re-occurence of the puncture.
6) Make sure that on long drives your spare is in excellent condition. It has happened to me only once and that too in the city that post puncture I fitted the spare which too became deflated due to very little air pressure in it. From that day on I ensure that the spare is in top nick too.
7) On a highway if you have a puncture and you replace the tyre with the spare , please try to get the puncture repaired at the earliest and not drive the whole way. Every km you drive on the spare you don't have a spare to back you up.

[carrerastrax]

I cannot say if there's a correlation. My second set of tyres lasted 50k. I had 3 punctures on one tyre alone. All three in the first 40K kms. This was the pattern in the first set as well. Just one tyre had 2-4 punctures.

It seems logical that a new tyre will have a deeper tread and that's the only additional defense it has over an older and used tyre. Maybe it can hold up on small nails better as they won't have the depth to cause a puncture and will stay embedded in the rubber. Or maybe better tyre tread depth can deflect nails better. The differences are nominal. A nail with sufficient depth can puncture both tyres with almost equal chance. I would like to think it's coincidence.

[commonman]

Adding my two cents from last 20 years of experience, with punctures.

Tyre punctures can happen, by an external object, quality of tyre or just by design of the vehicle.
1)For example, A Wagon R Lxi Duo is heavier than a Wagon R Vxi, but the duo comes with smaller and less wide tyre as stock (R13/145 mm), by which the tires are prone to puncture. A tyre which is more wider solved this issue (R14/165 mm).

2)High speed driving: A tyre which is not suppose to touch 180Kmph is run at 140Kmph for a continuous stretch, the tyre quality will decline and chances of punctures increase.

3)Age of tires: Older tyres can start leaking air through the sides or rims and become prone to punctures.

4)The place you drive: If you drive through roads, that have lots of construction activities and debris being carried, there is a chance of increase in tyre punctures.

[Ashdel]

My Swift Vdi has covered 1,25,000 kms and running on Continental 185/65 R14, since day 1 and to most of the BHPians surprise, I have never used my spare wheel ever in the 5 years of ownership. Having said that, it definitely got punctures, but never got completely flat, so I was able to drive to the repair shop and got it fixed.

Its not that I drive on moon, but I got the recommendation from my friend, which holds to be true.

In my experience, couple of punchers should not affect tyre life or performance, unless they all are really close to each other, however once you have a side hole, for which local shops fixes with a "Mushroom Puncture" which is basically fixing it from inside with some rubber kind of stuff. I think this will weaken the tyre performance and reliability if driven in certain conditions.

[Doge]

In the first few weeks of driving the ecospprt, i had at least 8 punctures in the front. I don't know how bad a puncture is for a tyre but filling the puncture up through a nail (standard practice by tyrewalah) must be considerably damaging the tyre.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

Yeah Shankar, Our roads are full of stuff that should not be there. Sometimes its a miracle we do not have more punctures. And yeah, it makes perfect sense to change tyres every 3-5 years, or depending on the usage, or if the rubber has hardened too much.

Hope your new set is serving you well with no punctures as yet. I've recently changed to a new set of Goodyears, and its lovely driving on fresh rubber. The car feels like a different vehicle altogether with grippy rubber.

These new Falkens are really nice. It really feels great to drive on brand new tyres. No doubt about it.

[King_pin09]

Well, in my opinion punctures are unavoidable on Indian roads. I remeber the front tube on my bicycle during school days carried as many as 31 punctures so much so that the surface of the patches was much higher than the original surface. The tyre serviceman (Tyrewalas), then used some cementing compound (“Bedrock” brand, if I remember correctly) and a piece of old tube to seal the puncture. Thereafter, during 90’s, came “Omni” readymade patches with self adhesive glue. Just peel off the wax paper and apply them on punctured surface, much like the medicinal plaster.

Now with the tubeless tyres, what worries me the most is not the very object that has caused the puncture but the tools used by the service man for expanding the puncture to install the filler sticks (which at times are more than 1). I always get a feel that more damage is being done to the tyres in this process than by the nail itself (which is substantially thin) that has pierced into the surface. Anything like old patches applied from inside would enhance the usable life of the tyres.