Stories provided by our network of local commercial tyre fitters
1 – This 315/7022.5 off-side front tyre was dealt with by our truck tyre fleet management team on the A30 near Bolventor near Launceston. Our out of hours tyre fitter responded to a request for ‘new truck tyres now’ with a speedy service replacing the wheel as well as fitting a Hankook tyre. Apart from the obvious damage our fitter was able to find sufficient tyre tread to be able to report back with what remained. It had 8mm of good tread left but unfortunately this Michelin tyre suffered a blowout. The damaged wheel was a 900X22.5 10 stud steel wheel and the whole job was completed in 42 minutes.
2 –Here’s a more unusual occurrence, this is a puncture repair on a 6 ton agricultural dumper truck on a Taylor Wimpey building site in Melksham. Notably, our roadside tyre repair services couldn’t get to it before 5pm but we charged it as a ‘day rate’ tyre repair anyway, fixing this 405/70R20 NS2ND OUTER at the lower call-out rate as it was so close to the deadline. The fitter noted that there was 20mm of tread left and so this tyre lives on to traverse more mud and rubble in the coming months.
3 – Sticking with mud, if you’d pardon the pun and also sticking with the dumper truck too. This one is the little brother of the one above weighing in as just 1Ton. This DUMPER, 10.0/75-15.3, passenger front Starco tyre is also a puncture repair like its big brother. This dumper truck tyre had a nail in the tyre, the fitter added three litres of oko (tyre sealant), removed the tube which was in the tyre, carried out an external repair and bead seal. The TDR was 20 and it took 20 mins to complete the job. We are seeing an increase in this type of job on plant or building site equipment. We’re not sure if that is because we are getting more well known for these more unusual tyre repairs or because there are more of them. This commercial tyre breakdown was in Cudham, near Sevenoaks, Kent.
4 – Here is an example of our 24 hour emergency van tyre service and it could well have saved the driver from a serious accident or worse.
This Windforce 215/70R15C van tyre on a front axle is often used as a Budget brand tyre. The van tyre quick assessment was that it was an unrepairable puncture but on closer inspection this also had the wrong tyre size fitted previously on the vehicle, which is extremely dangerous. It only took 26 minutes to complete the job and it was done first thing in the morning at 8am. The indications were that the driver was driving on the old tyre for a long time which is extremely dangerous as it was the wrong size fitted. With a correct new van tyre fitted now, the roads near Bridgewater should be a safer place.
5 – This mobile van tyre fitting took place at another building site. The tyre repair or in this case, replacement was requested at Bellway homes near Wellingborough. The Firestone 215/65R16C Van tyre on a rear Axle position was replaced with a Goodyear tyre primarily because it had sidewall damaged so had to be removed and replaced. Unfortunately, as it had been driven on after it was punctured, it was shredded on the inside making it unrepairable. The old tyre was scrapped but it only had 3mm tread remaining so was at the end of its life anyway. The job was attended by our 24 hour van tyre fitter at a very acceptable midday for a pleasant change, and took just 21 minutes to complete.
6 – This was an unusual one for fleet management services to deal with. With 15 mm of tread left on a relatively new truck tyre now exposed in this photo, as the rim had a crack in it which wasn’t obvious at first or reported to us when we got the call. The 315/80R22.5 tyre on the middle axle ended up being a full wheel replacement because it was a run flat tyre. Luckily, the fitter proactively took their own rim so this didn’t incur another callout to collect a rim and re-attend the job saving a huge amount of time taking only 35 minutes to complete and it was on site at Felixstowe dock so always important to get a vehicle moving but especially so for dock freight.
7 – Initially reported as a punctured tyre, this damaged tyre was replaced with a 315/70R22.5 Hankook tyre fitted on the offside front of a truck. The truck tyre in the picture was found off the beads on inspection causing sidewall damage to the tyre requiring a replacement truck tyre. The job took 46 minutes to complete an also had a 30 minute retorque carried out to ensure the wheels were safely held in place. Unfortunately the failed tyre still had 6 mm of tread remaining and so would have had some life left. This emergency truck tyre replacement was near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire.
8 – This is another issue for fleet management services to consider, a miss match of tyres resulting in the need for two tyres to be replaced. The two 315/70R22.5 fitted on this job were as a result of this clearly unrepairable tyre damage initially reported as a truck tyre puncture! The new tyre left a large mismatch on the NSRI which meant this had to be changed also, the new tyre had 19ml of tread and the old NSRI had 5, so a difference of 14mm. The whole job took just 56 minutes to complete and the vehicle was back on its way in Rushden also not far from Wellingborough a place clearly becoming the tyre failure centre of the UK!
9 – Another pair of replacement truck tyres for this job at Canvey Island. These two middle axle truck tyres were replaced with Hankook tyres as well as a valve extension. The old tyres were removed as they had suffered cuts to cords and tyre sidewall damage. Both tyres had exactly 6mm of tread left and so were scrapped and the new lorry tyres now on the vehicle had to have the wheels removed to carry out this job and so the wheel nuts torqued to a setting of 700NM. The job was completed in 48 minutes so that the truck could complete its journey in Essex.
10 – This job came to us via our fleet services team for one of our fleet customers for whom we provide tyre maintenance services as well as 24 hour call out commercial tyres services.
This tyre, a 315/60R22.5 on a lift and front axle, was replaced with a Hankook AH31’s fitted and retorques carried out on all wheels. The Bridgestone tyres that were removed had low tread as you can see and the tyres were scrapped. Typical of the tyre maintenance programme, this job was booked in advance for the next morning in Hull. The job took a total of 2hrs and 2 minutes to complete which is not unusual for maintenance work as unlike for an emergency where the objective is to provide a truck tyre quick solution to whatever the problem is to get the vehicle back on the road in under 90 minutes.
Our next Tyre Tribulations blog will be our year end review and so we shall look back at mobile van tyre fitting and truck tyre road service throughout 2022 and as it is near Christmas, best wishes from me for a safe and successful festive season.
