The slimeless puncture repair thread has raised this question.

Out of curiosity it would be interesting to see just how often they occur.

Thanx for your time.

How many miles in current car or ever?

Great idea for a poll but no way to tie the puncture to mileage for an accurate picture

I'd comment,but locally we have some folks who think punctures are a joke. Bloke across road ( ex trucker ) remarked that this was the most puncture prone place he'd seen in a lot of years .

I don't know if tyres have improved over the years or if I just bought much cheaper ones in my earlier driving days. Had just one puncture in nine years of having the Octy, but had several, including a rear tyre blowout (at 70), in six years of the car before that. Most have been slow punctures, so have been easy to sort out. Worst was a rear tyre blowout on the M25, in the middle lane, alongside the sliproad with lots of traffic merging. Offside tyre and took about 20 minutes to change it - had to stop and get off the hard shoulder every time a lorry went past. This was shortly after it had opened, so traffic could actually move at 70. Wouldn't dare attempt it now!

Only had 2 in my entire driving career, however the last one was not nice. Travelling at 70MPH in the outside lane, sudden total deflation of front tyre. No amount of goo would fix what turned out to be something tearing through the tread leaving a huge gaping hole.

Great idea for a poll but no way to tie the puncture to mileage for an accurate picture

That's true.

No idea how to do it either. :headscratch:

Point me in the right direction if you like

We should get a rough average I reckon. I wasn't going for absolutely accurate figures anyway, but just a rough idea.

Edited 4 September, 201213 yr by CFB

I've had 4 punctures in the last 12 months/15k miles :(

I reckon I get one about every 50k miles. Luckily they've always been slow punctures, never had a blow out so far.

1 per 100k miles or so, excluding slows that there was no obvious reason for and an Au'tin "Maestro" (aka the oxymoron) which kept breaking the front bead seals until the tyres were tubed in desperation!

This was shortly after it had opened, so traffic could actually move at 70. Wouldn't dare attempt it now!

You'd be fine, doesn't get above 50 in rush hour and the rest of the time the variable speed restriction is 60!

It's more the volume of traffic. I only worked on the car when nothing was in the inside lane. Back then it was pretty much just lorries driving there, which gave me 30 seconds or so at a time to get the next bolt off!

2 punctures in 26 years of driving . Only had the vRS 3 weeks when I got the last puncture......fortunately I was stationary.

I MOTd 4 cars from one customer today, 3 of them got advised on having a nail in a tyre, The one wearing a 285/30 ZR 20 had what appeared to be a 10mm bolt in it.

Someone did checks/survey in Liverpool iirc recently, and 80% had at least 1 tyre with a nail in!

I think I have had two punctures in the last three years, but they were only a week apart (though in completely different parts of the country and definately not connected)

I have had company cars for over 10 years averaging 40K per year.

The only time i have had a full on flat was on my vRS Ocy back in 2004.

None since.

I've had 2 motorway blowouts, one was on a car i borrowed from work, happened around saddleworth on m62 in outside lane and was passenger rear tyre and i wasn't messing about at the time, lucky i had just changed lanes and thought it was noisy over cats eyes about 5 seconds before it went bang so i realised what was happening and managed to hold it and slow it down. It completly destroyed the tyre

The other was on a trailer that my mate was towing with a car i had just bought on it on M1 near barnsley/sheffield junction.

The trailer was the drivers side and its the first and last time i changed a tyre on hard shoulder,

Had a couple of others in 10 years of driving but they have been slow ones and i've managed to get where am going before its gone flat

I didnt vote as i wasnt sure if it was for current car or totamiles since passing test??

On a side note relating to punctures i have always hated the run flat tyres that i had on my last car. Harsh ride and bloody expensive. I always thought, and in my experience it is true, that punctures are very rare so run flats were pointless. Untill i watched fifth gear the other day.

Did you see the GTR having a blow out at 155mph? Hardly moved. Then they should us an advanced police driver having a blow out at motorway speeds. He must have spun about 4 times. Scary **** and now i think about it maybe a harsh ride wasnt such a big comprimise after all.

I've answered for my current car. However I put the current mileage (81k) for the 8 year old car. In the 6 years of ownership I've done 44k miles. In that time I've only had 1 puncture, a screw in the tread, 4 years ago.

I lost count how many I had in my previous car, I was forever changing to my spare. These I think were mainly due to rim leaks.

Edited 6 September, 201213 yr by Jim H

So the results indicate that we either do few miles or a hell of a lot.

I'm guessing that the high mileage drivers are doing so for work.

One thing is clear, however.

Punctures seem to be quite a rare occurrence, with most drivers having either none or just the one.

It is probably the higher mileage drivers who have had four or more ?

Not conclusive by any means but interesting all the same.

Thanx all who voted

Strike another for me. Only 10k since the the last one on this work car

Well, I counted all punctures except those caused by the Au'tin pulling the front beads out their seats since I passed my test, in 1983.

I did 124k in my last Octavia without a puncture (over 4.5 years) and have done 25k in my Superb without one either.

I have been covering around 20-25000m per year for the last 10 years and cannot remember the last time I had a puncture. I'll probably regret writing this especially since the farmers hegde cutting season is coming up.