Check your tyre pressures

After 12 years of driving the inevitable happened - I had my first puncture

Of course this didn't happen in the Punto, Micra or Van with their cheap tyres it was the Supra and of course it was a fairly new 275/35/18 that had the problem...

I'm fairly good at checking tyre pressures, once a week at least, but two days after the last check the car just didn't feel right, of course this first became apparent on the motorway and at *cough* mph. I slowed down, continued the half mile to the next junction and checked the pressure - 11psi!

Anyway I put air back in and checked a few hours later, 5 psi down and then after leaving the car at home yesterday the tyre was completely flat.

Why is it I always think the worst though? It's a hairline crack in the wheel, it's a puncture than can't be repaired... it's a fatal disease and I'm going to die....

Anyway it was a small nail in the tyre, it could be repaired and it cost £9.00 so after expecting the worst it wasn't anything to worry about.

I'm going on a bit now but the point of the message is that even at 11psi a 35 profile tyre looks OK but isn't exactly safe, keep an eye on your tyres people

Egg sucking lesson over.

Good advice, I check mine quite a bit mainly because they cost a bomb to replace, so I dont want uneven wear

Yep, good advice Mike. I checked my pressures after the Dragonball and they were all 0.2 BAR down from before I left...

'Before commencing a journey' they get a good kicking.

I also check them every time I wash the car...hard to see the gauge sometimes, in the dark and pouring rain:)

Ive had five punctures in four years....each time it was a nice shiny 2 inch cross-headed, csnk self tapper, courtesy of the company car parks. Which is annoying and also worrying, as people have been sacked for taking screws off company premises before.

i've still got the standard 17s on mine and have read so many conflicting threads about what they should be even spoke to 2 different wheel specialist companies and they differ too. So i stick in 30 psi in all 4. they seem to wear evenly and feels ok.

When I parking with 2 wheel on the pavement and 2 in the road, I always get told the 2 in the road look flat which worries me for a bit then i drive off everythings fine.

good stuff mate when ever i get a flat it always goes in an area that can't be repaired just sums up my luck

i've still got the standard 17s on mine and have read so many conflicting threads about what they should be

Well according to Toyota who designed and built your car, they should all be at 36 psi. A lot of people drop the rears to 34/32 to add a little bit of grip when flooring it.

Yeah I run 32 on the rears too.

Well according to Toyota who designed and built your car, they should all be at 36 psi. A lot of people drop the rears to 34/32 to add a little bit of grip when flooring it.

Agreed. 2.5BAR/36psi is the general concensus on UK 17"s. Arghjae's car felt really odd once, and they were only under by 8 or so psi.

What do you all use to measure your pressures? Fancy gauges or the kind that come with the footpump?

Well according to Toyota who designed and built your car, they should all be at 36 psi. A lot of people drop the rears to 34/32 to add a little bit of grip when flooring it.

best i get pumping them...

What do you all use to measure your pressures? Fancy gauges or the kind that come with the footpump?

Digital gauges...home or forecourt...amazing how different the readings are between 'the pump I found in the back of the garage' and a new digi one.

I had this with a tyre it was a 17" 40 profile.

And it looked like it needed a touch of air in it.

I went and found it wouldn't take any air. So I went to a national tyres outlet and asked them to change the valve. They found that they tyre had a 6" gash around the rim on the inside, you could get your fingers in it. He said it would have got low on air and then the rim will have cut into the tyre.

He said that although low profile tyres look the mutts they need to be checked regularly. He said that the reason they don't appear to be flat, is because the side walls are a lot thicker than normal tyres, due to the low profile.

The worrying thing for me was I was always thinking the back end was twitchy before that, and put it down to a slightly sticking caliper.

As I've found to my cost, you dont have to travel very far on a flattish tyre to wreck the side wall. What would have been a £20 repair turned into a pair of new rears. I laughed when the guy told me the little screw was going to cost me big time, but then he showed me the inside of the tyre and it was terminal.

people have been sacked for taking screws off company premises before.

what should the n\a 16s psi be

michael 9 quid for a puncture repair.last one i got done was 5 quid and guy did a great job.thought i had to buy a new tyre.

...I'm going on a bit now but the point of the message is that even at 11psi a 35 profile tyre looks OK but isn't exactly safe....

I've got stock wheels and tyres (ofcourse ) and when the rear dropped to single-digit psi figures I couldn't tell by 'eye-balling' that something was wrong. The car looked straight and the tyre looked inflated.

I actually thought that the valve was not contacting the gauge properly when it didn't show any pressure. Tried another gauge --- the same.

Scrary, eh?

The tyres were quite old and the sides probably stiffer than normal, but this could have ended in pain...

Digital gauges...home or forecourt...amazing how different the readings are between 'the pump I found in the back of the garage' and a new digi one.

The digi gauges in forecourts aren't reliable Ewen.

The one a Texaco near me is out (under) by 1 lb, but the one at Tescos is out by +7 lbs!!....

I keep a digi gauge in the car...

The digi gauges in forecourts aren't reliable Ewen.

The one a Texaco near me is out (under) by 1 lb, but the one at Tescos is out by +7 lbs!!....

I keep a digi gauge in the car...

Shit thats bad...the one at Tesco should be illegal considering how much its out and the possible effects. The forecourt I use is not that bad, and I double check when back home as I've found at least 2psi difference on the same gauge between hot and cold tyres.