At some point when you walk up to your car, you might notice the glint of a nail stuck inside it.
Picking up bits of stone or gravel within the grooves of the tyre is all right, but a nail is a different matter.
You might not even know that there’s been a nail in your tyre, given how little air leaks out of it.
It’s totally possible to drive with the nail stuck in the tyre too.
But once you spot a nail embedded deep in, you should act quickly to prevent further damage.
- Check your tyre pressures. Keeping an inexpensive tyre pressure gauge in your car (if you don’t have a tyre pressure monitoring system) is a great way to know if your tyres need inflation or not, especially so now that you have a nail in one of them. If the pressure is too low, find your way to your nearest air pump, or change to your spare.
- Keep the nail in. Keeping the nail in as you drive to get it fixed is a surefire way to keep the air in your tyre. Removing the nail from your tyre could cause it to deflate much faster if you don’t have tyre sealant, or a run-flat tyre.
- Get the tyre repaired. A whole set of tyres could cost you dearly, especially if you drive on premium tyres like these. Have the puncture repaired by a professional mechanic.
It is true that running a tyre with a nail embedded in it isn’t a life-threatening situation at first, but when water starts to seep into the tyre, it could corrode the steel belt and cause all sorts of unpleasant situations thereafter.
