I have a slow puncture to the drivers side rear tyre. It takes about a week for the pressure to drop from 32 to 20 (bar or psi - I can never remember!!) and for the last 2 weeks I have simply re-inflated the tyre.

Question is how urgently do I need to look at replacing this. I know this can't go on for ever but payday is not until the end of the month. More importantly I need to do a 120 mile motorway journey in 2 weeks - is this really a no no without a tyre replacement beforehand.

Thanks for any advice.

I personally would'nt risk it, get it sorted its only about £10 at ATS or kwik fit, could always blow out i suppose if air is leaking out.

Run on the spare if you haven't got time to get the puncture repaired

I personally would'nt risk it, get it sorted its only about £10 at ATS or kwik fit, could always blow out i suppose if air is leaking out.

Second that. Only £10 and takes about 10 minutes to check it. Might just need the tyre beading seal redoing.

Drop the spare on, get it repaired not replaced. If it is shot, it is shot. If it isn't, it is a cheap and safe repair and it will be 'as good as new'.

Also, once it has dropped to 20psi basically you wouldn't want to be going fast as the tyre will be heating up a lot, and that's blow-out risk :(

Drop the spare on, get it repaired not replaced. If it is shot, it is shot. If it isn't, it is a cheap and safe repair and it will be 'as good as new'.

Also, once it has dropped to 20psi basically you wouldn't want to be going fast as the tyre will be heating up a lot, and that's blow-out risk :(

As above especially if that slow puncture suddenly develops into quick one:mad: Its not nice having a tyre explode when your traveling at around 70mph, trust me.

I've had it happen to me at a low speed in a Ford Fiesta (my first car), and it scared the **** out of me. I was only doing about 30ish and bumped across something when it let go. Thankfully I skidded off the road but not into a ditch, it dug in enough beforehand

Having seen a few accidents where a car spun out and got totally destroyed by the impact, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, and for say 10-20 quid it just ain't worth the risk

Thanks everyone. I gave it a once over and I have 2 nails (typical .. not 1 but 2) near the outerwall of the tyre and between the treads. Am going to a local tyre place tommorrow to get an expert look over but I think we are talking new tyre. The tyre with the puncture has loads of tread left as well. Not my day really !!

The one between the threads can generally be repaired, the one near the sidewall may or may not be allowed to be fixed in the UK annoyingly.

It has to be in the central 3/4 of the tyre tread to be repaired, so even if it is still in the tread it may not be repairable. Every puncture I have ever had has been right on the edge and thus knackered the tyre - except one when it was bang in the middle, unfortunately it was a large piece of metal which made a 2 inch long gash so I had to get a new tyre anyway.

I agree with the other comments, not worth taking the risk.

I've had it happen to me at a low speed in a Ford Fiesta (my first car), and it scared the **** out of me. I was only doing about 30ish and bumped across something when it let go. Thankfully I skidded off the road but not into a ditch, it dug in enough beforehand

Having seen a few accidents where a car spun out and got totally destroyed by the impact, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, and for say 10-20 quid it just ain't worth the risk

It must be a Ford thing.

I was driving down the M69 on our way to Bedworth with a full load of my RC racing kit In my Escort Si. I was doing just over 70 & I had just overtook a lorry, when I heard a rumbling & then a large bang. From then on I was wrestling the car to the hard shoulder, where I found out the O/S rear tyre sidewall had exploded. A quick wheel change & I was on my way, but later after the adrenline had subsided I realised how lucky I was & left me shaking. My mate who was with me was white as a ghost the rest of the day.

The explination from a garage in Coventry that fitted a new tyre was that I must have picked something up to cause a slow puncture earlier on in the journey to lower the tyre pressure sufficiently to over heat the tyre.

Its something I will never forget.

Way back when (early 70's) when I didn't have much money I thought retreads seemed like a good idea !!!! After a sudden blowout at speed I rapidly changed my mind and decided that only really good tyres were ever going on a car I owned or drove regularly. These days I even go so far as replacing tyres that are 5 years old, regardless of how much tread they have left (old tyres go "off" and lose most of their grip).

Here in Oz we are also not allowed to repair tyres with punctures in the out edge of the tread.