[mb_jg]

ZeRo, ideally you should change the tire for everyone's safety, including yours & your family.
If you have no restrictions in getting a new tire just go ahead & purchase one asap. Worse come worse, if you have to drive on the damaged tire for a few days, do it only in the city & nothing beyond 40-50kmph.
Trust me, I've had a very close call, in city driving (45kmph). I had no idea the sidewall of my tire was damaged. The tire suddenly burst & the car swerved towards a pedestrian on the footpath. Thankfully, I braked in time to avoid further disaster, which I don't even want to imagine what could be.
The point is, psychologically we think nothing can go wrong at 40-50kmph in the city, but the fact remains that there is so less space in traffic that an inch of movement without warning means disaster. Overall, a lot of people think that they can handle an out-of-control car at 50kmph, but you really are not expecting anything to happen in the first place!!!!!!!!!

[dhawcash]

err. my dad's esteem had a sidewall puncture.Hit a pothole at speed, n tyre lost pressure along with a bent rim. Got it checked and the tyre cords (which support the tyre structure) were intact, with only the rubber havin a cut in it.
went to ceat's authorized dealer in jaipur, and they put a patch in there and heat treated it. Using the bent rim as spare now.The tyre is still tubeless, and has ran around 3000 kms after the incident without any trouble. the tyre had run approx 2000 kms before the incident, and was pretty much 'new'.

Although it worked in my case, i'd not recommend taking the risk if you are a frequent driver. [my car is driven mostly within congested city limits, so took the risk thinking would change the tyre if it leaks]

[W.A.G.7]

Technically, it might be possible to put in a tube in a tubeless tire. But I don't think it should be done. 3 tubeless tyres and 1 tyre with a tube? Has anyone done it before? Unless you are really sure that it won't affect the safety of you or anyone on the road; or it will not make your car un-road-worthy; better not to go for it. Better to fix the spare tyre instead and buy a brand new tubeless tyre in place of the spare.

[virkdoc]

WOuld agree with some of the comments here......strongly support change of tire.....I think ur life and that of ur family is worth more than the Rs 3000 odd ud spend on the tire....just my 2 cents

[hirajan]

I had a similar experience but mine was little costly. I changed all the 4 tyres (JK Tyre) each costing 3.3K for my Swift ZXI. On my way to office i was trying to over take a strolling city form the left and there was this road blocker in the middle of the road, my car was ahead of the city and i was forced to swerve right and i hit the barricade legs which had that big wheel fixed on the thick plate. The side of the 2 day old tyre cracked instantaneously, i kicked myself for throwing my boy. Changed the spare tyre and headed back to the place where i chnged the tyre, i've ordered a new tyre and replaced it. 6.6K for a flat tyre . I did not want to risk my or others life and hence didnt take a chance. Do not take chance with your tyres.

[hirajan]

worst case.. think of a situation where you are cruising at 100 and suddenly the repaired tyre bursts. The car runs amuck and runs over ---- and ? (I dont even want to mention that). That will be the worst situation which will keep haunting you forever. Forget about the legal side of the incident, the personal trauma is painful.

[ZeRo©]

HOLY BHAINS!!!

I was scared s**t after enacting the scenario mentioned by fellow members..in my mind, imagining myself with family flying away to the heavenly abode.

knock knock!
GOD: Who's that?
ZeRo: ZeRo & Family
GOD: ZeRo & Family who?
ZeRo: One who did not heed to the warnings by your angels in disguise at team-bhp.

Jokes apart, I will change the tyre at the earliest.

thanks guys.

[torquecurve]

Originally Posted by ZeRo©

HOLY BHAINS!!!

I was scared s**t after enacting the scenario mentioned by fellow members..in my mind, imagining myself with family flying away to the heavenly abode.

knock knock!
GOD: Who's that?
ZeRo: ZeRo & Family
GOD: ZeRo & Family who?
ZeRo: One who did not heed to the warnings by your angels in disguise at team-bhp.

Jokes apart, I will change the tyre at the earliest.

thanks guys.

That should have been Pavitra Gaumata

On other thoughts, you made a wise choice to change the tyres. Wishing you good health and happy motoring!

[alavandar]

1. In my opinion, if we are driving only in crawling city traffics, it is ok to have a repaired tyre, even inserting a tube in a tubeless is also ok. But not acceptable for long distance/ high ways driving. I had witnessed a tyre burst on a highway, happening to an Indica driving ahead of me on the innermost lane. It was very scary. There was a loud popping noise. The burst tyre completely came off the rim and was lying on the road. The car veered to right, hit the divider and suffered heavy right frontal damage. I was well behind on the outer lane. Fortunately nothing happened to the occupants of Indica.
2. This scene was embedded in my mind. So, when in my Linea, the front left tyre side wall suffered a large puncture (first puncture in about 17000 km or so after buying the car), I replaced both the front tyres with new (the spare tyre, which was brand new and one new tyre went to front and the front right went to spare).
Moral of the story:
Puncture repair - Rs 500
New tyre - RS 5000
Reliability and peace of mind - Priceless!

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by GTO

If you value your own and your family's life, always get a new tyre as a replacement. A damaged sidewall will give way under stress, and can lead to complete failure of your tyre.


I completely disagree. What if I get a puncture on the highway, and have no choice but to switch to the spare? Do you want me to drive on the highway with a damaged tyre?

I agree on your point GTO but If the car is only used inside the city then this method is an easy temporary fix until you get the tyre replaced. We did the same for our old car which never left the city limits. Tyre was used as a backup.

Originally Posted by mb_jg

On what basis are you giving him this advise?
Do you even know what speeds he averages at, even if it's in the city. Even in a small place like Pune, there are a few stretches where you can easily touch 80kmph & above, only if it is only for a few seconds. Chances are really high the accidents are prone during these high speed runs & turns. It's a danger to everyone in the car & on the road.
Please stick to neutral advise sir.

Mb_Jg Sir,
The exact same thing as mentioned by dhawcash was done on our cars tyre.
I also feel that this is a short cut way or a temporary fix and isnt recommend in the long run. But this works well. And for a car driven only within the city limits with b2b traffic this should be OK for a while.
In our car the Tyre was used as a spare and ran only 5,000KM when one the other tyres got a puncture. Few years later all 5 tyres were replaced. This one still had plenty of grip left on it but we anyway replaced it.

Originally Posted by dhawcash

err. my dad's esteem had a sidewall puncture.Hit a pothole at speed, n tyre lost pressure along with a bent rim. Got it checked and the tyre cords (which support the tyre structure) were intact, with only the rubber havin a cut in it.
went to ceat's authorized dealer in jaipur, and they put a patch in there and heat treated it. Using the bent rim as spare now.The tyre is still tubeless, and has ran around 3000 kms after the incident without any trouble. the tyre had run approx 2000 kms before the incident, and was pretty much 'new'.

Although it worked in my case, i'd not recommend taking the risk if you are a frequent driver. [my car is driven mostly within congested city limits, so took the risk thinking would change the tyre if it leaks]

Alavandar my friend,
You are absolutely right. Now it might seem like pocket change, but when you are fresh out of collage without a job spending 4,000 on a tyre doesn't top the priority list.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by ZeRo©

Hi,

I am facing a somewhat similar issue, there was a puncture in the front left tyre day before yesterday. The puncture is on the tyre shoulder(outer side) and was caused by a pointed button head screw,
It was fixed normally and did not require more then one rubber glue strip.

1-current scenario is that I am having four 185/65 R14 XM1+ tyres
2-one spare tyre 175/65 R14(which is quite new and is only used till I reach the puncture repair shop at moderate speeds i.e <50kmph).

Now I need some suggestion that whether I should go for a new tyre immediately or wait for a few more days.

I came across this thread only now and was aghast as I had the very same occurrence as zero had when my tyres were 2000 km old. Now they are 21,000 kms and have been running with a sidewall puncture since then. doing spirited highway drives at speeds of 120+ . Never knew about the unreliability of the sidewall puncture. My tyres are 185/70/14 Yoko A drives and the one with puncture is now on the front left. The stepney is JK Tornado (OE) 165/80/14 new like condition.
If I buy a new tyre in exchange for the JK then all the 4 tyres will have different tread wear, not a big problem I presume. I will put the sidewall puncture in the stepney.

Any comments.

[mb_jg]

Guys we are conveniently overlooking the fact that each puncture\damage is varied in it's nature. It's impossible to have the same nature or degree of damage when we generalize "damage to side walls".
I can have a damaged side wall less prone to bursting due to a less degree of damage than another person who has a greater degree of damage to his car's tires.
Point is no 2 wounds are the same, each needs a different treatment, in this case the only logical treatment is tire replacement.

[drsk]

I too have one tyre with damaged side wall. I have put that as a spare with a tube in it just to make till the next puncture shop when the situation arises.

Originally Posted by honeybee

I think the idea of using tubes in a tubeless tyre would only work as a last resort if the tyre had had several punctures on its surfaces.

I was not aware (untill now) that tubes SHOULD NOT be used with tubeless tyres! I had used tubes with the tubeless tyres on my OHC. This was due to the reason that the rims (they were alloys!) were bent and were leaking air very very slowly. I used in this method for about 10K Kms and had taken it on bad roads and done even some high-speed cornering. Should I consider myself lucky?

[tanwaramit]

I am seeing lots of opinions of how fellow bhpians have managed to drive with a punctured wall tyre and how it is okay to drive within city limits.

While everyone agrees that it is not okay to drive with such a tyre and pose risk to ourselves.

When everyone understands that this is risky, why do it ? Save on 3-5k ? No, you shouldnt think about it.

If you can purchase a car worth lakhs spend a few thousands for tyres.

Remember, tyres and brakes keep you safe.

It about the safety of yourself and others on the road, please dont put others life on risk if he happens to be driving near you.

I would never use such a type of tyre for any kind of driving, its best to discard it and get a new pair of tyres. You wont use a shoe for office if it is torn from side !

[alavandar]

Originally Posted by goandude

If I buy a new tyre in exchange for the JK then all the 4 tyres will have different tread wear, not a big problem I presume. I will put the sidewall puncture in the stepney.

Any comments.

Hi Goandude, It is advisable to have tyres of the same wear down on the front pairs/ rear pairs. This is more so since you are habituated to driving at high speeds. If you use one new and one worn down tyre on the same pair, especially the front, however good they are individually,you would surely face mild jerks/ vibrations on the steering, giving an insecure/ something amiss feeling at high speeds. I faced his on different cars and the drive was not fun.