Punctured Tyre

[camrul786]

Hey guys, at 5.30am I drove my car to pick up someone, I drove 2 miles in total with a punctured tyre. Called AA and they changed it for me. But some of my friends are sayig that I shouldn't have drove the car with a puncture, as it was fully flat and therefore have wrecked up the suspension.

How do I know if I've caused a lot of damage to my car by this stupid decision of mine? Thanks, Abit worried ATM

[FROSTYBALLS]

I would think there was more damage done to the tyre than your suspension. Unless the car has been misbehaving or has become noisier since your flat tyre, I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure if there had been an issue as regards the suspension the AA would have said something to you.

If you're concerned, have the garage that you use check it - especially check the alignment if it was one of the front tyres that was punctured.

[korat102]

Driving any distance on a flat tyre damages the sidewall of the tyre but I'd be very surprised if it damaged the car itself unless you drove so fast and so far that the tyre disintegrated...as Frosty said, if you're worried get it checked. Worth the price for peace of mind I'd have thought :)

[Cyker]

Yeah, the suspension should be fine.

If you drove it totally flat, then the sidewall and the internals of the tyre will be damaged so the whole tyre will deffo need to be replaced. Also your wheels rims may need inspecting to make sure they are not damaged.

If you re-inflated the tyre so that there was *some* air in it then you're probably okay and could probably get away with just repairing the puncture.

The last puncture I had, I was able to over-inflate the tyre (To like, 50+psi; Doing that with a footpump was quite 'tyring' :P) and that got me to an open tyre place, by which time it had dropped to 20psi (I've noticed puncture tyres tend to stabilise around 20psi for some reason...)

[FROSTYBALLS]

The last puncture I had, I was able to over-inflate the tyre (To like, 50+psi; Doing that with a footpump was quite 'tyring' :P) ....

That's been blown up out of all proportion .....

[Mike169]

Did you damage the metal wheel because you drove on a flat tyre or does the wheel rim look ok?

If the wheel is damaged you will of course need another wheel and it would be advisable to get the suspension checked out......if the wheel is ok then there's a good chance the suspension will be ok too.

Mike.