What actually holds a tyre onto a wheel is a hoop of steel wire moulded into each of its inner edges, and that hoop is under tension every second the tyre is inflated. It is called the bead. It sits in a machined groove on the rim, and the outer lip of the wheel, the flange, stands up right beside it. Strike a kerb hard at an angle and the tyre runs out of give long before the wheel does. The flange keeps travelling, comes down through the bead area with the weight of the car behind it, and tears the wire.
So a kerb strike does not behave like a puncture. There is no hiss, no slow settling of the steering and no time to think about it. The car drops onto the rim and pulls hard towards the damaged corner, and the useful response is both hands on the wheel, no braking while the pull is still building, and a gentle lift until you can steer it clear of the traffic. A torn bead is not repairable at any size and by any method, because the wire is the anchor and there is nothing left to bond to. It is also worth having the wheel looked at, since a flange that has folded will not seal the next tyre either.
If it went on Notting Hill Gate, you already know how little room there is to deal with it. Stopping safely is the hard part; what comes after does not have to be. We are out around Pembridge and Lansdowne through the night and on bank holidays. Old tyres leave Lansdowne, Ladbroke Grove and Greater London with us, every time. You watch it happen in Ladbroke Grove, or at the kerb in Portobello Road.
Burst tyre replacement in Notting Hill is part of our wider 24-hour emergency callout across London and the home counties cover. For burst tyre replacement in Notting Hill, call 07717 389637 or send us your details for a price.
The crescents around Pembridge Road and the streets running down towards Portobello Road are narrow, parked solid on both sides and busy with traffic coming the other way. That combination is how most kerb strikes here actually happen: not carelessness, but a car edging over to let something past and meeting the kerb at an angle instead of straight on. If it thumped hard enough to make you wince, stop and take a proper look at the inner edge of the wheel, which is the face nobody ever sees from the pavement.
A car squeezing past a delivery van on one of the crescents off Pembridge Road caught the kerb at an angle rather than square on. The tyre was off its seat before the driver had come to a stop, which is what a torn bead does.
A tyre fitted elsewhere after a kerb strike was still losing pressure overnight. The flange underneath it had a flat section from the original impact, so nothing was ever going to seal against it properly.
There is no build up to this failure and nothing to hear beforehand. One car near Portobello Road went from full pressure to sitting on its rim in the length of a parking bay, which is why we would rather talk people through stopping than through diagnosing.
The bead is a hoop of steel wire inside each inner edge of the tyre, and it is what clamps the tyre onto the rim. The wheel flange stands immediately beside it. A hard angled kerb strike drives that flange down through the area, and the wire tears rather than stretches.
No. A patch bonds to the liner in the middle of the tread, and this damage is at the very edge of the tyre where the anchor sits. Even if it could be reached, there is nothing sound left to bond to. A tyre with a torn bead is scrap.
Very often it does, because the tear is on the inner edge and hidden behind the rim. That is why the wheel comes off and the tyre comes off the rim before anybody gives you an answer. Judging this one from the pavement is guesswork and usually wrong.
Always, after an impact like this. A flange that has been folded or flattened will not hold the bead of the next tyre, and the result is a slow leak that everyone then blames on a puncture. It takes a minute to look while the tyre is already off.
★★★★★ 4.9 from 151 verified Google reviews.
Read all 151 reviews on Google →Prefer a callback? Send your details for a burst tyre replacement price in Notting Hill.