Causes of a flat tire, old tires...your experiences

Over the years I've had a few flat tires, and they have usually been the result of something like a nail or screw puncturing the tire. Today, I had a new experience. Well, not necessarily new, as I have seen it happen once before to a friends wife, but I've never had it happen to me.

What happened to me today was I pulled into a gravel parking lot, and parked. I came out less then 30 minutes later and all was OK, until I circled around the building to leave. When I pulled onto the asphalt and tried to accelerate I heard, and felt the familiar signs of a flat. Thankfully I was able to pull immeiately into the next paved lot to get off the road. Once I got stopped I took a look at the tire and was amazed at what I saw. There was no nail, screw, or anything you'd normally expect in the tire, Instead, right dead center of the tread (which was still around 50%) was a regular old blue rock, just like you'd expect find in a gravel parking lot. It wasn't in the tread, it was literally imbedded in the tire. I tried getting it out with my pocket knife but it would have taken a decent sized screwdriver to have gotten it pried from it's new home.

I've only seen this happen once before and it was on a friends wife's SUV. She picked that one up on the road, where as mine was in a gravel lot. Either way, with the hundreds of millions, plus of rocks out there the chances of hitting one that's shaped just right, and that set just the right way to go through a tire like these two did would have to be astronomical.

Thankfully our '98 Surburban has a good jack setup and a full sized spare, so a 'parkinglot repair' was almost as easy as having my service truck with me. Fortunately was able to hit my local tire shop, which wasn't but 5 minutes away, and get two new ones on the rear. Funny the guy changing them for me looked at the spare and was amazed that it looked like new (which it was), and had no dry rot, or any other signs of age, etc you'd expect on a tire nowdays. He said the date code was for 1997 so it had to be origional to the vehicle, so I was the first one to even skin the paint on the spare. Needless to say it went right back in it's inside holder and covered right back up for next time.

They say the new tires don't last as long as the older ones and in my experience it's true. The tires on my '55, that was wrecked back in '90 and has sat since then, look better than some I know of that aren't but a few years old. The tires on my old Jeep were bought back around '94 and I wouldn't have a problem riding them cross country right now. On the other hand the ones on an old trailer I was given weren't but maybe half that age and they dry rotted/cracked and ultimately just popped while sitting there. I don't know what they have done different, but personally I like the older, cheaper, longer lasting tires alot better than I do the newer, more expensive once with the shorter life expectancy.....Kind of sounds like the newer, more expensive gas that is infused with ethenol making it less powerful too....I guess we can say Thank you Uncle Sam, and the illustrious EPA for both....

Ok, got long winded there, but my question to ya'll is this. What have ya'll found imbeded in your flat tires, and what is your experience with the life expectancy of your tires before they rot off? Whats the oldest, running, tire on a piece of your equipment?

(quoted from post at 23:06:20 06/10/13) What have ya'll found imbeded in your flat tires, and what is your experience with the life expectancy of your tires before they rot off? Whats the oldest, running, tire on a piece of your equipment?

Click to expand...

My brother needed a replacement tire on the front of his 970 Case. Size 10.00x16. I checked through my "inventory" of used tires and found a good old Goodyear that I had taken off my 930 Case back in 1979. I am guessing it was an original from 1969. It has a little cracking between the ribs but otherwise looks like it will be good for a few more years on the 970. Those old Goodyears were hard to beat.

Porcupine quills or chunk of deer antler.

Oh, yeah, and a pair of pliers. One of the handles poked into the tire of the wife"s" almost new car, back in the early 90"s when low profile "rubber band 16" car tires were a new thing and $$$. But I gained a pair of pliers out of the deal! ("93 Grand Prix... still have the car!)

Strangest thing I've had in a tire was a box cutter blade, dead center in the tread. That in itself is not necessarily unusual until you think about the aerodynamics that lifted that flat blade off the highway and positioned it into the rear tire.

I've had sharp rocks go into tires before, but they were so thin a grass burr probably could have flattened them.

I had a stone go through an almost new tire on an "88 Chev 2500 once. The tires were a relatively aggressive tread, so I was surprised by it as well. The only time it"s ever happened, and I drive on gravel roads daily. Just the right stone hitting the tire at just right angle at the right speed. I think the planets were aligned that day too

I have had a screw embedded in a tire on my current F250 for the past two years, and just keep forgetting to fix it. No leak, and no air loss. It must be short. One of these days it will likely push through, if I keep forgetting to fix it.

I read years ago that tires are now being made out of synthetic rubber which is why they don't last long. Saw a pile of old tires and rims last year that somebody had throwed out in the road ditch. Looked like a couple of them had a rim that we wanted. I got out and throwed two of them on the trailer. When we got back and unloaded them, we noticed one of them had a good Leatherman tool halfway thru the center of the tread.

On a Belarus rear tyre, tractor was new at our dealership and the tyre went flat within 24hrs or so after delivery. A Russian Coca-Cola bottle had been trapped between the tyre and tube.

Since nearly half of my driving is on dirt or gravel roads, rock-flats are not that unusual. But the majority of my flats are caused by sharp branches & twigs from driving over Mesquite bushes. Every once in a great while I'll get a flat for no apparent reason, and when I break the tire down to find the leak it turns out to be a spine from a Cholla cactus. The spines on a Cholla cactus when viewed under a microscope show dozens of tiny barbs (similar to the barb on a fish-hook) covering the spines. These spines have been known to travel half-way around a tire before it causes a leak.

My oldest tire: my "new" factory original spare tire on my 1971 Chevy 4x4 P/U with Utility bed.

A similar thing happened here with a trailer tyre. it went flat for no apparent reason, when they took the tube out they found a broken plastic teaspoon. The sharp edge had eventually punctured the tube. The trailer was almost new so the manufacturer replaced the tube F.O.C.

Got a rock flat last fall from the crushed rock in my driveway. Ruined a 265/75R16E michelin.

Never had a rock puncture, but have noticed something else. Most of the time something really odd makes a tire flat it is on the rear. I believe the front tire rolling over many objects pops them up, setting them up so the rear catches it on the sharp edge. Also, I will not use a steel belt radial over 8 years old, I had 3 disintegrate on the highway. A friend has had at least 4 shred themselves driving normal speeds. I believe the steel belting rusts from moisture going down the weather cracks.

I have an old homemade woodsplitter and used an axle with car tires. After sitting over the winter one of the tubeless tires was flat and lost air quickly after airing it back up. I took it off, laid it on its side, had soapy water on hand and pumped air into it to see where it was leaking. Little bubbles showed all around the rim/bead. I was going to take it to a tire shop and have them reset the tire, then thought of it to get dish soap, take the valve out of the stem to let all the air out, then pounded down the bead somewhat and put soap all around the bead on both sides. The tire's stayed up without leaking since then.

back in 75 was driveing semi with tubless tires and pulled in for fuel,three of the four rear drive tireslow.1 had a park plug ,1 had 3sided file,1 had half pair of pliers. at least was able to fix them at that fuel stop,nowdays maybe 1 out of a 100 fuel stops have tire repair or resturant.

Years ago Dad had dump trucks mostly 10 wheelers. sent a truck load of fill to a job not far from where we were working. You won't believe this but the truck came back with a flat tire and it had 26 nails in it. One tire none in the other 9 some were stuck in backwards. first I thought someone with a nail gun had done it but several were stuck in backwards all in a row. I saw it and pulled the nails out myself. I still don't know how it could have happened. I told you you would not believe it. But it really happened.
Ron

I had a stone flat last summer.

The oldest tire is the ones on a trailer I have that have been on since the 60's, if they ever go flat I'm not sure how I will get them off as the lug nuts are rusted to the rim.

We have always been troubled with stone caused flats around here, but they have become much worse since the towns started using more crushed gravel and less bank run. Due to misplaced ideas of economy, and the need to fill mudholes, they specify material that would make better road base than finish gravel, a lot of it it turns out to be about 2 inch minus, without enough fines in it to cover and cushion the larger stones. My friend at the local auto repair shop says that in the spring he can tell just when the town is spreading gravel, as the flats start coming in to him. He has seen as many as five flats a day from this cause.

ive had rock caused flats too, a lot of rock flats depend on what type of rock crusher is in the local area, a impact type crusher will produce a sharper edge on the product we have both impact and cone head crushers in the county and the difference in product is dramatic, the company i worked for until recently has a cone head crusher, this type grinds the rock against itself to produce a more rounded smoother rock, never had a flat with a rounded rock yet also re bar, a file,and a screwdriver are on my list of flat tire experiences

Rock flats are common in my area. Not so much since steel radials. You more than likely didn't get the rock from the parking lot you were just in. It usually takes them a while to get embedded in the tire. Some of the more unusual things I have gotten into a tire are a kitchen eating fork and a lag screw pin from a gate hinge. Both were in like new tires. The lag screw was in a truck tire and I had it valcuanized.

Only time I've had problems with sharp rocks puncturing tires is when they're wore pretty much bald. Had it happen twice. Both times I was able to put a plug in before it went flat.

Sharp rock flats are common.My son had the long end of an allen wrench stuck in the thick part of tread on his truck.I found a spark plug in a tire.Tire Warehouse has a collection of junk found in tires on the counter.

Got some old tires on trailers that are out of the 20's or 30's. They say rayon on them or cotton. Have one that has the white under layer then the tread. Or what is left of the tread. There are at least 5 of them all on rims in use.

Get stones in tires occasionally. Had one put a hole in an 11L15 yesterday, but then it has been running without its middle rib since September of '11. This is the first of 8 Goodyear farm utility tires on my two older feederwagons to give out. They've been in use since July or August of '91.

It has been my experience in the tire biz that if the tread on a tire is worn enough that a rock can make contact with the casing, it's easy for most any rock to puncture the tire.

I had it happen to a almost new tire a few years ago, deep tread holds rocks real well. I fixed it with a plug until I got it into a tire shop that put the patch inside with the plug attached, I have had good luck with them. One reason for more rock flats is MN is running out of natural gravel and is using more crushed rock. We have a lot of bedrock where they drill, blast and crush for aggregate.

My daughter lives in the flint hills of Kansas. A few years ago, they bought a new Dodge van in ElDorado, maybe about eighteen miles from their farm. On the way home, they had a flat on that brand new van!

The common factor in all of my flat tires is, no air in the tire.

I managed to shove and engine valve right in the center of a front float tire on my dumptruck. that's was a nice 900 dollar boo boo

The next county east of me gravels roads with crushed rock. A tire man in a town in that county told me he saw a lot of rock punctures for awhile because the limestone quarry was getting into some granite and the granite that went through the crusher ended up in sharp pieces. Jim

Craziest thing I ever had that caused a flat was a piece of straw. Somehow I hit it just right and in it went. Took about 2 minutes for all of the air to escape out from 50 psi to oh crap. Worst part about the entire process is that the entire set of tires only had been on the truck for 2 days with less than 100 miles on them. I complained to the dealer and got nothing in return. Needless to say I have NEVER bought that BRAND of tire again and have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING GOOD TO SAY about the dealer that I purchased them from.

About two years ago, the county needed to put down some gravel on a well-traveled local road. This road ran right past a church. They thought that their usual source was getting a little high on their prices, so they bought several loads of rock from a place that they had never used before. The local tire shop had a list of all the people who had gotten flats from this new rock. My name was on that list, except in my case, it ruined a tire. For quite a few people, they would get to church and find out that they had a flat tire when they went out after service.
Anyway, these new rocks were thin and looked like small arrowheads. It took about three months before they worked down enough that people were no longer getting flats. Needless to say, they never bought any more rock from them.

I tore up a front tire on my Kubota with a piece of flat steel attached to a old cycle mower in high grass. Replaced with a new tire and about 200 feet farther stuck a deer antler in the same tire. Went just as flat as the first time but just had to patch a tube this time.

Left the house to go 10 blocks to the grocery store. Drove over a large black bird previously dead. Open the door at the store, heard the hiss, drove straight back home so I would not have to remove in the parking lot. Sure enough-bird beak!

picked up a spoon handle once going left at a stoplight, the tire made about three rounds and was flat.

now a days it seems like every time the county grades our road one of us gets a flat

Most common cause of a flat tire is lack of air.

I have had a "rock" flat on a nearly new steer tire on a school bus.

Rick

I've had soybean stubble go through two light pickup tires. The puncture is in the sidewall just above the tread so the tire is ruined. Jim