The repairable area of a tyre is a band across the middle of the tread. On an ordinary tyre that leaves plenty of room. On a low profile it leaves much less than owners expect, and the reason is the shape rather than the rule.
A low profile has a short, stiff sidewall and a wide tread that curves into the shoulder sooner. The stiff wall pushes the working, flexing part of the casing further in towards the centre, so the shoulder region, where no repair is permitted, takes up a bigger share of what looks from above like tread. A nail a couple of inches in from the edge can be comfortably central on a family hatchback and right on the boundary on a car running thirty five profile rubber.
There is a second problem. A low profile holds less air for its size and runs at a higher pressure, so it deflates faster and gives less warning before the rim reaches the road. The gap between noticing a puncture and losing the tyre is short. That is the argument for leaving the car where it is.
The usual routine is to pump it up, hope, and drive somewhere to be told whether it can be saved. We come to the car in SW16, take the wheel off where it stands and inspect the tyre inside and out before anybody commits to anything. On Crown Lane, day or night, Thornton Heath included, arrival across SW16 runs 30 to 60 minutes. We are out on London Road at 2am and in Green Lane at 2pm. SW16 takes in Pollards Hill and Norbury, and we work the lot.
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Plenty of the cars parked along the streets in SW16 sit on large wheels with very little rubber between the rim and the road, and the surfaces along the A23 and the roads feeding it are not kind to them. Between a narrower repairable band and a smaller cushion of air, a low profile leaves less margin in every direction.
A screw in a thirty five profile tyre off the A23 looked central to its owner and sat on the shoulder boundary once the tyre was off the rim. A replacement went on, and he was shown where the repairable band ended.
A nail in a wide low profile near Norbury Avenue turned out to be well inside the band despite looking close to the edge from above. Reamed, plugged, patched from the inside and rebalanced. The owner had expected the worse answer.
A driver with a low profile front tried to reach a tyre shop on the flat. Two miles was enough to destroy the liner and score the rim. The puncture had been repairable when it happened and was not by the time we saw it.
At the shoulder, where the tread begins to curve away towards the sidewall. Roughly the central three quarters of the width can be repaired and the edges cannot, which is what BS AU 159 sets out. On a low profile that line sits further in.
Not to pick up nails, no. They are far more likely to take impact damage, because there is very little rubber between the rim and the road and the edge of a hole reaches the wheel easily. That damage is never repairable.
Less air volume. A tall sidewall holds a big cushion of air and loses pressure slowly through a small hole. A low profile holds far less of it at a higher pressure, so the same hole empties the tyre in a fraction of the time.
Yes, and it matters more on these than on anything else, because a stiff sidewall passes every imbalance straight through to the steering. The balancer travels on the van and every wheel gets done before it goes back.
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