Simple Tyre Question

[Gully]

recently got back from a fairly long journey in the lex, and found that the front tyre on the drivers side was incredibly low. when i checked it out at a petrol station, it was on 10PSI, the norm being 33PSI roughly. the other tyres were fine however.

im guessing this is a slow puncture or something as I pumped it up, and it is going slowly down. however, marks on the tyre slighly worried me as if it the tyres were split or something:

i suppose i can take these to a garage and they can fix it although i am pretty clueless about the whole situtation as it has never happened to me before. can anyone help?

[Claire G]

If you take it to a garage they can let you know if it can be repaired or if you need to replace the tyre. From memory a puncture repair normally costs me @£30 and for a replacement tyre when I had Dunlop SP9000's on the IS, it used to cost about £120 per tyre.

[mcwatson]

I had the exact same problem a few weeks back. Pressure down to 10psi, pumped upto the desired amount and then back to 10psi in a few days. Couldn't work out why and then turned the wheel on full lock and moved the car forward a few inches several times checking the tyre each time. Eventually found a screw in the centre of the tyre. Happened to have a service the next day where Lexus saw it as well and said it couldn't be repaired. They wanted £150 for a new tyre. Told them where to go and took it to my local and respected tyre place and they repaired it for £12. They would have charged £120 had I needed a new Dunlop SP9000 Lexus MFS. Can't say I had the cracks in the tyre but this might be cos its been running on low pressure for a while!!

[Scorpion]

If its split on the side wall its a new tyre im afraid. :o

[Gully]

thx for the useful replies - im guessing i may need a new tyre which pisses me off cos I only bought the lex a couple of weeks ago (and i doubt it is covered under the warranty). worth a try to see if i can get it repaired though :)

[blueis200]

hi Gully the splits in the side wall are probably caused as said by running on low pressure. If it is punctured i guess tyre people will not repair with side wall damage. i got a puncture last week, nail right next to sidewall in tread, what a bummer , got a part worn like new from local garage sp9000 for £20.00 what a bargain.

[ColinBarber]

tyre may be repairable as it's not z rated however I wouldn't want to drive on a tyre with those sidewall cracks.

[Gully]

jep, was indeedy a puncture :(

bloody nail right through the middle of the tyre! :tsktsk:

no way in hell of repairing apparantely either. so after i phoned around a bit i got a quote for £125 for a new dunlop tyre. phoned round a bit more and got a quote for £89.99 which included everything including fitting it. was dead pleased at that, even though i had to wait a round a bit for it to be fitted

anyways, lex is back to normal! :D

[Rob]

eh? if its in the middle of the tread then it can be repaired, if its in or near the sidewall then u cant repair it.

[mcwatson]

Agreed, if its in the middle, it can definately be fixed unless your talking a mother of all nails. Depends where you go though as some places are out for pure profit, not customer service so some will convince you that it can't be repaired. Unless it was within an inch or so of the sidewall, you have paid £90 instead of £10-£20 for a repair!! I paid £12 for the repair of a screw through the middle of mine!!

[Gully]

well, i was told that the sidewall cracks were too big beyond repair (see piccie - although they look a lot bigger than in real life).

[Rob]

the sidewall cracks are not repairable, but a nail in the middle of the tread is.