Week 1 - Flat tyre with no obvious reason

[Greg P]

7 days and 130 miles into R8 ownership I arrived at the office with a flat front offside today.

Don't know how long it had been flat, but must have happened very near or at journeys end, since I felt nothing untoward during my 11 mile drive in. The long and the short is I ended up getting the tyre changed but the tyre fitters could find no obvious puncture. I asked to keep the tyre and have spent a while inspecting it from the outside and in, but can't see ANYTHING. Before anybody asks, I haven't put those lovely alloys anywhere near a curb either, but I'm suspecting the air might have escaped from the tyre rim seal rather than the tyre body itself.
Incidently, the wheels supplied weren't factory fitted, they were done as a special order at my dealer.

Has anybody else had a similar problem with their vehicles ? Another observation was that the nearside front tyre was only pumped up to around 25 psi (which I have now increased ) - could under inflation of the tyres have contributed to the likelihood of the rim seal breaking ?

[sapien]

Did you try reinflating the original tire first to see if it kept pressure?

Air regularly seeps out of tires anyway, straight through the rubber.

[Greg P]

Did you try reinflating the original tire first to see if it kept pressure?

Air regularly seeps out of tires anyway, straight through the rubber.

But within a week ?????? Don't think so.

[drifting]

You sure none of our lovely britsh chav community didn't let it down?

Did u check the valve?

[Monkey boy UK]

It's just bad luck mate, we all get it from time to time, move on and enjoy your car....

[desperado]

With four of us going to track days, we were spending way too much time schlepping rims and tires back and forth to the tire shop. Dissatisfied with the sometimes mediocre results, and given my jack-of-all-trades,-master-of-none mentality , it seemed natural to start doing our own. The point is I have a new-found appreciation for the time and difficulty involved in properly mounting today's low profile high performance tires, and the sophistication of the special tools which are required.

Incidently, the wheels supplied weren't factory fitted, they were done as a special order at my dealer.

I've learned that the OEMs use quite sophisticated process controls in their tire mounted and balancing operations. A local tire shop just doesn't have the same resources as the OEMs, and there is always time pressure on the technician to get the job done as quickly as possible. So there are quite a few areas where things could go wrong, although without inspecting your assembly first-hand I wouldn't care to speculate.

...could under inflation of the tyres have contributed to the likelihood of the rim seal breaking ?

If it were properly mounted, the tire would have to be almost completely flat for driving on it to break the bead seal .

Neumáticos y Ruedas de Desperado

[Garyhun]

You sure none of our lovely britsh chav community didn't let it down?

Did u check the valve?

This is what I would have checked first. Someone having a bit of fun in the work car park? Maybe they were going to re-inflate but as soon as saw you were replacing felt they should stay quiet?

[randombloke]

I had nothing but bad luck with the pirelli's and punctures - ended up buying 2 sets of rears in less than 10k miles and eventually changed then all over to ps2's which have been fine ever since (touch wood). if you can't see any signs of puncture then I'd definitely be thinking valve - did the dealer check it before they changed it?

[drifting]

This is what I would have checked first. Someone having a bit of fun in the work car park? Maybe they were going to re-inflate but as soon as saw you were replacing felt they should stay quiet?

Maybe its because I'm young but people don't take it well if You have nicer things than them most people are fine but others take it too far.

I've had one of my cars keyed, some fat chav sat on the bonnet(hood) scratched and dented all because I don't drive a banger. If I recall both times said car was damaged it was just after been detailed .

I did have a tyre on the Q5 go flat in the first month due to a nail but tbh what didn't go wrong with that car :/

[KfabR8]

I had nothing but bad luck with the pirelli's and punctures - ended up buying 2 sets of rears in less than 10k miles and eventually changed then all over to ps2's which have been fine ever since (touch wood).

AHA!! Another reason to ditch the P-Zeros and change to some rubber that works. Not only do the P-Zeros not hold the car to the road like PS2's do, but they don't hold air inside them like PS2's do either*.

Ironically enough, I had a rear puncture at about 1500 miles on the Zeros that came on my first car. Pretty much got it home from Houston (about 1200 miles) and ended up loosing air the first week of ownership. It was a nail right in the middle of the tread, so easily fixed. Not a single leak or flat since I changed to the PS2s either.



*Just another useless 'Lose The Pirellis' thought from you local Anti-P-Zero forum member.
I need to start a world wide campaign to get Audi to put the correct rubber on the car from the start. Who wants to help me?