Adam M

Dont know if anyone lives in north west london but if you drive down Hampstead high street there is one mother of a trench in the road.

Cruising at 30mph possibly 25 since speedo is now out and hit what I thought was a pot hole. BANG BANG and the car is pulling to the left more and more as I travel down the road. I pull in to a petrol station to find a FLAT tyre with a one inch rupture in it.

The worse thing is no one in london seems to stock toyo and if any did they had to order a 215 40 17 which is an odd size apparently.

The trench was where they had filled in some pipe work and the new road had asunk about six inches.

Luckily I found a tyre in Canvey Island which a friend brought up in the back of his car. (no way Im driving on the M25 on a space saver). Jet Tyres even did me a cash deal over the phone and allowed me to pay later without taking any details. V impressed.

One more thing,

to settle the argument what is the maximum speed rating of a space saver tyre. 30 or 50.

The family Audi and BMW say 50 mph but all my freinds are arguing that I am lying and it is actually 30.

Comments?

Richard F

No comment about the space saver but I'd contact the council and if other people have notified them of this problem then I'd consider suing them for the damage to your car. They're responsible for making sure the roads are kept up to a reasonable standard and if it's bad enough to puncture a tyre then it sounds like someone's not done the job properly.

Ian Cook

Space savers are supposed to be used below 50 so your freinds are wrong

Definitely take pics of the hole and sue the council for the damage, also get the alignment checked as it could have moved that as well ?????

AlexM

Adam,

The local authority carries insurance to pay out in circumstances such as these. In the past I've had occasion to claim from Lambeth council regarding damage done to my car on an unrepaired road. I hit a HUGE pothole which left a wheel so badly damaged they were egg shaped. The impact was so violent I was sure that the wheel had been ripped off altogether. God only knows what would have happened if a cyclist had come across it.

Unfortunately it is cheaper for them to settle claims resulting from poor road surfaces than to invest in maintaining them in decent order, and never mind your safety.
The *******s.

Rgds,

Alex

mphnw11

Adam

I live in Hampstead area - blue 5dr Turbo. The place I use for tyres is down at Chalk Farm - think it's called Chalk Farm Tyres unsurprisingly enough - small place but stock loads of performance tyres. I did one of my tyres recently pulling onto the A3 off the M25 towards Portsmouth - ripped a one inch hole in rear offside clipping the last "cat's eye" on the acceleration/slip road on - and yes the space saver is 50mph which is very slow on the A3 at 8am...

Shark

Adam,

Defiantly get the tracking checked, from what you say it will almost certainly be out. Also have the wheel checked. As Alex says, the wheel can go egg shaped, though you perhaps wont see it with the wheel on.

I would suggest that you have a full report on the damage from a garage, or AA type inspection, just in case the council get funny.

Don't give up with the council either - good luck

David

Blow Dog

Hampstead is a right bodge up of a road currently, what with all the roadworks and the traffic to boot. I'm from Golders Green so I drive thru it every day.

Definately get a photo of the hole ASAP!!

Similar incident happened to a friend, he took it to a specialist, like SS, then got the guy to say the suspension, shocks and wheels were gone too. Nice tidy package he got back from the council.

Cem