A pothole hit can do something worse than a bulge, and it is easy to miss because of where it sits. When the tyre is slammed against the edge of a hole the casing is crushed at the point where it wraps around the rim, right down in the last inch of sidewall above the wheel lip. What you get is a split or a crease low down, half hidden by the rim, and the tyre often keeps holding air for days afterwards while the damage sits there doing nothing visible.
That area is not repairable under any circumstances, and it is also the part of a tyre under the most concentrated stress. So when somebody rings after a heavy bang on the Old Kent Road, the low sidewall gets checked all the way round on both faces, not just the part you can see standing up. Sometimes there is nothing and the tyre keeps its life. When there is something, it is shown to you before anything is fitted, because a photograph of the actual damage settles the argument better than any explanation.
"It still drives fine" is true of almost every dangerously damaged tyre we replace. We do that where the car is parked, in Nunhead, Peckham town centre or anywhere in between and fit the correct replacement on the spot if that is what it needs. Midnight in Bellenden, midday in Queens Road, the same call either way. School run in Nunhead or 1am in Bellenden, we answer the same. The SE15 postcode and a street in Nunhead: that is enough.
Broken tyre replacement in Peckham is part of our wider 24-hour emergency callout cover. For broken tyre replacement in Peckham, call 07717 389637 or ask us for a quote.
The roads through Peckham town centre and out towards Camberwell hand out plenty of hard hits, and the damage that follows is not always the obvious bulge people expect. The lower sidewall is where it hides. It gets checked properly where the car is parked, and if the tyre is sound you keep it and pay for nothing.
A car came in from the Old Kent Road with a fine split in the last inch of sidewall. It was still fully inflated and would not have stayed that way.
A tyre near Bellenden had a ridge running around the lower wall that you found with a thumb rather than with your eyes. The casing had been folded against the rim.
A driver on Rye Lane was braced for bad news after a heavy bang. Both walls and the bead area checked out clean and the tyre went back on with nothing spent.
The bottom inch of the sidewall, where the tyre curves in to meet the rim, on both faces. That is where the casing gets pinched and it is the part hardest to see.
Not on its own. A crushed casing can hold pressure for weeks and fail suddenly when it is loaded in a corner.
No. Nothing outside the central tread can be repaired, and the lower sidewall is the least forgiving part of the whole tyre.
Always, on the tyre, before anything is fitted. If it turns out to be sound you get told that just as plainly.
Checked at the same time. A hit hard enough to crease a sidewall will often have flattened part of the rim lip too.
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