How and how long you can drive on a half flat tire: simple tips
With each motorist can happen some unforeseen trouble, one of which is a flat tire. We will tell you about how to properly move on a half flat tire and what troubles can turn into this malfunction.
Why can a flat tire
Driving on a half deflated wheel for a long time is simply dangerous. Photo: drive2.ru
A wheel can go flat for several reasons. The most common ones are:
- A puncture or cut. This is the most obvious cause and occurs in the vast majority of cases.
- Missing spool. If you find such a problem, you should first try to screw the spool all the way in with a special wrench. If this does not solve the problem, then the spool must be replaced.
- Disc deformation. In this case, the fit of the tire becomes leaky, and air escapes along the edge.
- The damage occurred because the rubber is old or there is a lot of wear on the tread. In this case, it is better to throw the rubber away. Otherwise, such unpleasant situations will occur more and more often.
- The connector is leaking. This problem is typical for tubeless rubber. If the nipple does not fit tightly to the disc, the air can escape in this place.
[stextbox от причины, нужно скорее добраться до шиномонтажа и устранить неисправность.[/stextbox]
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How much and how you can drive on a half flat tire
But it is still necessary to get to a tire fitting shop. The question arises at once: how much one can ride on such wheel? Here the answer is not simple.
[stextbox колесо спустило « в ноль», передвигаться категорически запрещено. [/stextbox]
If the wheel is half flat, you can try to get to the shop yourself, adhering to several rules:
- The movement should be carried out slowly.
- It is not necessary to make sharp turns.
- It is not necessary to hit potholes or convex irregularities of the road.
- Periodically you need to get out of the car to assess the situation.
- If it is necessary to overcome on such a wheel more than 5 km, it is better to give up such an undertaking.
If you follow these simple rules, you can get to the tire changer on your own. But it happens so that the motorist does not immediately notice that the wheel is half flat and drove so a considerable distance. What consequences may await the driver or his iron horse?
What are the dangers of driving on a half flat tire
To begin with, it should be told that the tire wheel is not just a piece of rubber that is put on the disc. It is a complex product, every inch of which is well thought out by specialists and performs a specific function. The tire is multi-layered, consisting of fibers that support the cord. The central part and the sides differ in density. The tread of a particular pattern also differs in purpose.
The following happens while riding on a half-treaded wheel:
- Полуспущенное колесо хуже поддается качению, по сравнению с другими колесами. Из-за этого создается дисбаланс и машину начинает тащить в одну сторону. [stextbox больше скорость и разница в давлении колес, тем более машина становится неуправляемой.[/stextbox]
- Fuel consumption increases because of the half flat wheel.
- When a wheel is deflated, the sides of the wheel come into contact with the asphalt, which are not designed for this at all. The strength of the lateral surfaces is much lower than that of the center section. Therefore, there is a high risk of serious damage to the tire.
- With a half flat tire, the cords do not work properly and do not perform their function of distributing the load evenly over the different parts of the tire. If you drive in this manner for a long period of time, the cords will stop working properly. Because of this, hernias can form on the tire. Of course, a hernia can be treated, but such a wheel will not last long anyway.
- While driving on a half-deflated tire, it can unexpectedly deflate completely, and the driver will not notice it in time. Such a circumstance can lead to the most unpleasant consequences. The disc starts to press the edges of the rubber, thereby cutting it. After such a ride, even for a short distance, the tire can only be thrown away.
- Немного другое последствие возможно после того, если автомобилист не сразу заметит, что колесо спустило в ноль. Резину может «зажевать» и стащить с диска. Вот тут неприятные последствия ожидают диск. [stextbox диск литой, скорее всего на нем образуются сколы краев или трещинки. Если диск штампованный, то вероятнее всего будут вмятины на краях. [/stextbox] Любая ситуация крайне неприятна, так как придется не только покупать новую резину, но и ремонтировать диск (если это возможно).
If necessary, you can try to repair the wheel on the road. One of the options on how to do this you will find in this video:
Driving on a half-deflated tire can turn out to be more than just financially costly for the motorist. Often, when there is a difference in pressure in the wheels, the car becomes completely unmanageable, and this can be the cause of a serious accident. Therefore, before driving with a half flat tire, you should estimate and understand all the risks.
Will a wheel hold up if you drive to the tire fitting shop with a flat tire?
Sometimes as a result of road accidents, two or three wheels are punctured at once. There is no time to bother with the disassembly on the spot, and you do not want to get your hands dirty. To get out of the situation, you have to drive as is. A spare wheel is put instead of one damaged one, and the second and the third wheels are used in deflated state. How long may one drive and what will be the consequences of such a trip for the tires?
From 100 meters and more
Ordinary car tires are not designed for unpressurized driving. If the damage is minor, it is better to repair the wheel on the spot. A puncture bleeds air not quickly, and sometimes it is enough just to inflate the tire to have half an hour to go to the tire shop.
If the hole does not allow you to go long, you can screw a self-tapping screw into it, which will turn into a patch for a while. Then you can inflate the tire, which will be able to keep the pressure at 1.7-2.1 atm for a few hours. It is still better to drive on inflated wheels.
Sometimes it happens that an inexperienced driver, even noticing the gradual bleeding of pressure in the tire, too lazy to put on the “spare”, continues the trip, trying to find a tire service shop, and arrives there already completely deflated tire. This should not be done categorically. There is a great risk of complete damage to an otherwise still serviceable tire. Even a hundred meters for a flat tire can be critical. The rubber begins to “chew up”, the cords are damaged, the layers are squeezed and cracked.
If you take the tire off after such a trip and look at its inner side, you will find black dust. This tears the surface sealing layer. The subsequent inflation causes blister-like hernias to swell. They come in a chain along the diameter of the damaged cord threads. Then the tire, “killed” by the driver may be sent only to a junkyard.
So, you may drive on flat tires only in extreme cases, when the tire is already badly damaged and cannot be repaired, and the “spare” is already installed on another place. In that case, you should only drive on the roadside so that the rim has a soft ground under it. Periodically, you must stop and inspect the wheels. When unlocking a flat tire, there is a risk that the disc will break, so do not drive more than 2-3 km.
From the point of view of the law, such movement is allowed. In accordance with paragraph 2.3.1. of the RF Highway Code, if a malfunction occurs on the way that prohibits the operation of vehicles, the driver must eliminate it, and if this is not possible, he can go to the place of parking or repair with the necessary precautions. In other cases, it is still better to call a tow truck.
Run-Flat Wheels.
There are wheels that can move even with a complete loss of pressure. They are known as Run-Flat. In their construction they have a very strong sidewall. In the case of punctures, the rigid inserts can take the weight of the vehicle and allow travel at speeds of up to 80 km/h for a distance of up to 80 km.
These wheels are so inspired by some premium automakers that they found it possible to completely abandon not only the spare tire, but also the narrow “dokatka”. True, in Russia, such a decision has not justified itself.
Run-Flat tires are really not afraid of small punctures, but they break on spring roads as well as conventional tires.
With hard impacts on deep potholes, air presses not only into the strong sidewalls, but also into the places where they connect to the pressure-wire ring. This is where the tears appear. The wheel disassembles and is no longer able to move.
This is why it is better to have a good spare tire in the trunk, which often comes in handy in difficult situations.
