Bah. On my way to work this morning I pulled onto the M62 and as I was going up the slip road I heard a sudden thudding from behind me. I'm glad I correctly guessed it was a flat as I've never had one before, so immediately pulled over and stopped between sets of cones in the roadworks there.

Eventually I got the Free Recovery, which means they just get you out off the motorway and leave you to it. I was surprised they just loaded up my car on a flatbed instead of getting it into the roadworks lane, letting me change it then sending me on my way, but oh well.

Had a look at the tyre and my hopes that it was just a nail were soon dashed. Its split pretty nicely, looks like I drove over a metal bracket or something as its sliced partway through the metal mesh too! I'm glad it was on the slip road and not somewhere else!

Anyway, as I wasn't far from home, I went back and put the summer wheels back on while I'm waiting for a replacement tyre. Hopefully we wont get another good snowfall for a bit

Spare tyre good, stupid foam bad. Would have been useless on this. Incidentally, the spare is the exact same size as the winters, so am I still limited to 50mph on it?

Gutted, could have been a lot worse if the tyre had overheated and blew out.

You can go as fast as you wany on the spare, the 50mph limit is for when it is used at the same time as the standard fit 18" wheels and tyres.

As you already have 16" winters on you'll be fine, unless of course the police spot the yellow sticker flashing around the wheel!

the limit is for space savers mainly, they are like push bike wheels and are designed to get you to the closes tyre garage, nothing more.

if its a full size steel and its got the same rolling diameter as the other wheels/tyres then you can drive normally

All the wheels for mine are 15s, I have the luck of getting them as standard on my 4x4, for super bouncing joy fun. The summers are 205/60R15 and the winters and spare are 195/65R15 so slightly different rolling radius so I guess thats why I have the sticker. But nothing some label remover can't fix

I had the same thing happen once, I found the piece of metal stuck through the mudflap. It fell of a van which passed me and I saw it bounce on the road in front of me but it was too late to do anything about it.

That damage has been caused by a plot hole in the road, Same thing happened to one of the tyres on my van, didn't pierce the tyres - slashed it.

Kwik fit are offering insurance on new tyres purchases with Inc. damage by pot holes.

Paul

Interesting that it could be a pothole especially as I didnt notice running over anything, but I have gone over quite a few potholes (not on purpose!) I hope the rest arent damaged too. Well, I can inspect them this weekend as theyre off the car. Rears are a bit worn on the inside as it wasnt till after I fitted them that I got wheel alignment one.

There are too many potholes around here, so you cannot miss them all.

It is a lottery.

We had to replace two big tyres and alloy wheels on a 5 series a few years ago and it cost us a lot of money.

Th A4 in Wiltshire is an effing joke.

Th A4 in Wiltshire is an effing joke.

I concur. Terrible.

A617 near me is a relatively new road is like a patchwork quilt, seams to be a new hole apear everyday. Surely its more cost effective to make a good road in the firstplace like the Germans do.

The A4 is pretty bad. Bristol is really bad too, im always swerving etc when at work.

In knowle in bristol there is a bit where the road has collapsed and the dip is easily 18" deep

You can claim for all these punctures/damaged wheels. I did when in Trowbridge in Wiltshire and got a puncture, the maintenance company (wales and west utilities) paid up. Although I had to go through the council

Surrey roads not good either....same thing happened to me, only had the car 3 weeks, the tyre had a gash rather than a puncture.

the limit is for space savers mainly, they are like push bike wheels and are designed to get you to the closes tyre garage, nothing more.

if its a full size steel and its got the same rolling diameter as the other wheels/tyres then you can drive normally

The 50mph limit applies to whenever you fit two different size wheels/tyres to the same axle. Taking the stickers off and/or driving over 50mph is an endorsable offence.

The 50mph limit applies to whenever you fit two different size wheels/tyres to the same axle. Taking the stickers off and/or driving over 50mph is an endorsable offence.

But what if they are not different size but have the sticker? Not something I really want to test out.

Ive examined the other tyres and they dont show any damage, fortunately.

My summer tyres are stupendously noisy, though they had 10k on them before I got the wheels aligned so they feel odd too.

I was forced to do a few hundred miles on my 16" steel spare wheel on my vRS with 18" alloys - yep after hitting a bloody pothole. Claim in with the council!

I drove as normal and never noticed any difference to the handling, up to 80mph.

I'm now a pothole vigilante, I spend 5 minutes each morning reporting a different pothole to the council each morning! They must be getting sick of me now, but their lack of effort boils my blood. Holes I reported just after Christmas have still to be repaired, grrr!

Is it a Michelin Alpin?

I'm now a pothole vigilante, I spend 5 minutes each morning reporting a different pothole to the council each morning! They must be getting sick of me now, but their lack of effort boils my blood. Holes I reported just after Christmas have still to be repaired, grrr!

Are they on the Tour de France route? - Lots of pot hole fixing in 2014 in Yorkshire for le grande depart!

Recent snow and rain has torn up all the half arsed repairs that were done last time round.