Weird puncture

[Littlepeahead]

My car developed a puncture today. But it's a weird one. The tyres are only a month old. The tyre felt fine on the M25, they are nitrogen filled and the sensor didn't go off. I stopped at FG1's house and didn't notice any problem when I parked then came out after the time it takes to have a cup of tea to find the tyre going down through a tiny hole like a pin***** in the wall of the tyre midway been alloy and tarmac.

No sign of damage, no scrape to tyre rubber or damage to the alloy. No sign that I've driven into anything either just that tiny hole. No reason to think anyone has vandalised it. It's a BMW 7 series, these are hefty tyres.

Any ideas how this can happen?

[Dabteacake]

No idea but you can send them off for specialist repair to sidewalls

[DJFridge]

Mrs had one on the Volvo a couple of weeks ago. Front went down without feeling weird on the steering and when she parked at the end of a 1 mile journey, the sidewall had actually split open where the rim had crushed it. They aren't even particularly low profile, let alone run flats.

[BanannaMan]

Could have been vandalism but could have been something you hit in the road.
The sidewall is the thinnest and easiest part of the tyre to puncture.
Have seen on the road punctures that did not leak until the car was parked usually depending on where the puncture was located on the parked tyre.
On the upper half generally indicates it was vandalized. However sometimes smaller punctures leak worse with the weight of the car on them (lower half).





As for the nitrogen. :rolleyes:
While it does work in theory, it's been proven not to be cost effective for most cars depending what you are paying to keep them properly inflated and what type of driving you do.

[Littlepeahead]

They stuck nitrogen in when we had the tyres changed, no extra cost at the time. What sort of driving do I do... Mostly to Sainsbury half a mile away and back, why else would I need a 3 litre beast? :)

[johnnyrod]

Oh God another nitrogen tyre thread! Pass me the rope.

Yeah weird one LPH, I can't imagine how that came around. Bear in mind that if someone had stabbed a hole in it, it would look smaller afterwards than the thing that made the hole, the runner has been pierced not cored.

[Red Herring]

May sound like a rather obvious question, but how did you discover the puncture? You say you found it going down but if the hole was so small how did you find it?

[Littlepeahead]

The hissing noise. Small enough that if I pressed my finger tip over it it stopped hissing.

[Biker Biggles]

I suspect someone has vandalised it while parked.If it was still hissing when you got back to the car it must have been fairly recent?

[NTECUK]

Vandalise one tyre seams odd ??
Two maybe .
Your just unlucky I guess

[Red Herring]

Unfortunately I can't think of any other logical explanation than vandalism. What was the neighbourhood like, has FG1 got any ongoing issues with neighbours over "parking rights"....?

[Sir Trev]

Vandalise one tyre seams odd ??
Two maybe .
Your just unlucky I guess

Got to say it does seem odd, especially if you noticed it by the hissing. The damage may be down to how dedicated your vandal is and how quick they were with the weapon/opportunity. When my car was done it was just one tyre, the car next to me two, the one on the end of the line away from the nearest house had all four done. I only noticed it because of the hissing noise too, then realised the whole line of ten or so had been done. All because we were parked differently to normal (bottom of the hill so we could get out - it was snowing hard). Are you sure FG1 has not been arguing with his neighbours? You may have thought your parking was fine but is there any chance others may have taken offence at a big BMW daring to park where they wanted to?

The damage to mine was quite obvious when I looked, but the hissing drew me in to it and the tyre was still fairly well inflated, so I missed the git that did it by moments! Reports that someone in KwikFit overalls had been seen walking along the road at about the time were never proved :)
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc413/Sir_Trev/Org%20pic%20a%20day/IMG_2760_zpsf9aedbb4.jpg (http://s1210.photobucket.com/user/Sir_Trev/media/Org%20pic%20a%20day/IMG_2760_zpsf9aedbb4.jpg.html)

[Littlepeahead]

If it's vandalism then they must have used something no larger than a needle. FG1 knows the neighbours and although I blocked them in we knocked on their door and they were out anyway. The hole is not even visible, it was only the sound gave it away.

[NTECUK]

Ice pick ? Even then. Tyres even on the sidewall are pretty tough old things

[Biker Biggles]

Ice pick ? Even then. Tyres even on the sidewall are pretty tough old things

None of that pinko Trotsy stuff on here thank you.:cool:

[NTECUK]

None of that pinko Trotsy stuff on here thank you.:cool:
;) Whatever happenned to all the heroes?
All the Shakespearos
They watched their Rome burn.

[Red Herring]

Ice pick ? Even then. Tyres even on the sidewall are pretty tough old things

Ice pick, red heads, holes where they shouldn't be..... my basic instincts are working overtime.