AA Zone

I recently called out a mobile tyre fitter after noticing that a tyre had a slow puncture - turned out to be a large rivet.

Is there anything you can do to avoid punctures, or is it just bad luck?

In answer to your question Supervan, it's sheer bad luck.

Same thing happened to me. I had the spare tyre in the back but ineptly jacked the car up before loosening the wheel nuts.

I couldn't undo them so had to call the AA out. A very nice man gently showed me the error of my ways.

Luckily I was vindicated because the garage who'd originally put them on had used an air gun so they were on way too tight anyway.

But my ineptitude prompted me to go on crash course in car maintenance soon afterwards.

All because of a stray nail. Begs the question, do they clean road surfaces any more?

It's not just the puncture, it's the attitude of ATS and Kwik Fit in only repairing MINOR punctures (in the central 70% of the tyre tread area, area T as defined in BS AU 159f :1997 to which they allegedly work.

Damage outside this central area is in zone W, and IS REPAIRABLE in accordance with the same British Standard. The statement they make "that can't be repaired" is intentionallyy misleading, and costs the customer a new tyre, (far more profitable), whereas if they said "it is repairable but we don't have the expertise and can't repair it", the customer could possibly go elsewhere. This one certainly did.

I speak as a disgusted motorist with a tyre in such a condition, only three thousand miles old, and at £180 each tyre, as against £15 for a repair, (there's the profit).
How many people just accept the notion that it can't be repaired?

A positive decision has been taken at board level in these tyre suppliers to rob the motoring public of their hard earned cash, by not carrying out repairs approved by the British Standards Institute. How does it go? "you can't get better than a Kwik fit fitter!" Baloney.

Maybe it's time for the Board of Trade, the AA and the RAC to investigate this rip off, as that is what it is, and is just as damaging as back street garages ripping customers off.