A bulge in a sidewall is not a slow puncture and it will not settle down once you put air in it. It is the casing cords letting go underneath the rubber, generally after a pothole or a hard kerb, and the only honest verdict is a new tyre. Worth knowing before you ring anyone, because it is the one kind of damage where waiting is dangerous rather than merely awkward.
Most of what we get asked to look at is far less clear cut. Fine cracking across the shoulder of a car that lives outside at Southwold is often age rather than injury, and the date code stamped on the tyre tells us more than the cracks do. A scuff picked up on the tight streets around the Town Centre might be purely cosmetic, or the casing might have been crushed against the rim on the way past, and nobody can tell those apart from the outside. We say when a tyre is fine and leave it on the car. Equally, a kerb hit hard enough to mark an alloy has usually asked a serious question of the rubber too, so both get looked at.
There is a short list of damage that cannot be repaired at any price, and it is worth knowing it. What we can do is come to the car in Bicester, confirm which of them you are looking at, and put the right tyre on where it is standing rather than sending you off to find one. Tight in Bure Park, easy in Langford Village: neither stops the job. Level in Town Centre, sloping in Southwold: we set the car straight first.
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Bicester roads are a mix of brand new estate surfaces and older lanes towards Brackley, and the two damage tyres in different ways. Whichever it is, we come out to Oxfordshire with tools and stock aboard, so an inspection at Kingsmere can turn into a replacement without a second trip if that is what the tyre needs.
A driver coming off the B4030 felt the steering go odd and found a swelling the size of a thumb on the outer wall. Nothing about that is repairable, and we would not have pretended otherwise even if the tread had been new. Replaced on the drive within the hour of arriving.
A low-mileage car at Graven Hill had a wall full of fine cracks and the owner assumed a fault. The date codes put the set well past the point where rubber stays flexible, so age had done it, not anything on the road. Two went on that day and two were booked for later.
A kerb strike parking in the Town Centre had left a bright scar on the rim edge. The alloy was the visible casualty, but the tyre bead had taken the hit as well and was weeping air slowly. Both got dealt with honestly rather than one being ignored.
Yes, and more to the point it can let go without any warning at speed, which is a worse problem than a failed test. Treat it as a car that should not be driven to Banbury or anywhere else on that wheel.
Sometimes, and sometimes not. On the same axle a big difference in tread depth or construction is worth avoiding. If the other side is genuinely fine we will say so and you keep your money.
Tread depth against the 1.6mm legal minimum, the date code, the state of the bead where it meets the rim, any cuts deep enough to show cord, uneven wear that points at alignment, and the inside of the casing if the tyre needs to come off anyway.
Not always. Plenty of damage is visible with the car on the ground and the wheel turned. Anything that might have hurt the inside gets the tyre dismounted, because guessing there is not good enough.
That happens regularly and it is the whole point of asking someone to look. A tyre that is sound goes back on the car and you have paid for an opinion rather than a tyre.
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