I got up the other morning to find one front tyre nearly falt on the pick-up. Luckily there is a Goodyear tyre shop 500 metres from the house. I drove round and they took a 1 inch stud from the tyre and repaired it. Cost 150 Baht.

Next morning I get up to find the same tyre flat. I walked round to the garage and got them to come to the house, take the wheel off, repair it again and bring it back. While they had the tyre they phoned. The g/f spoke to them. They wanted 4,000 Baht saying the tyre wall was dangerous and would soon split. (Strange they had not found this fault the previous morning when I was with the car.) I refused to pay and the g/f told them to repair the tyre.

The lad who put the wheel back on the car then gave me a 2nd bill!!! I refused to pay on the grounds that they had already been paid once and botched the job. Needless to say, the phone was quite hot when the lad got back to the garage without any money.

I examined the tyre wall looking for this 'damage'. They had put a white chalk mark and for the life of me I could see no damage. I moved the car into better light and found the 'damage'. A nick in the tyre the size of a pin head!! So much for they tyre wall bing ready to split.

On the third day the tyre was deflating. I took it to a new garage where they found yet another nail in the tyre. While they were repairing that they showed me I had only 5 studs in the wheel. One stud had been sheared off. Obviously I could not prove who had sheared the stud. Not then. When I got home I was walking around near the front of the car and found - The Sheared Stud!!! The little b*st*rd had sheared the stud off when tightening the nuts with a pipe extender on the wheel brace and tossed it to one side without a word

All that aggro for one puncture!!! No wonder people check and double check the work they have done. I know I cannot get any recompense for having a new stud fitted and the inconvenience, but I have learned now to check and double check any work being done.

So you've joined the thousands of other 6 studders running on 5!

Only until today. I'll get a new one sorted. And watch like a hawk as they do the job!! LOL

Just for anyone's info.

If you do get a punture on the side wall the tire is automatically bad and has to be replaced.

A punture on the tread can be fixed numerous ways depending on the size of the hole.

If it's small a rubber insert will do. If it's a but bigger an inner cold patch. If its really big it has to be steamed.

However I do not recommend steaming because it really causes the tire to warp and expand because of the heat spots steaming causes.

If it's a side wall puncture you can only steam but the strength of the sidewall is already compromised and like I said steaming vulcanization causes the tire to become weak and prone to heat spots and bulging.

Hi G54, it may vary from country to country but the usual practice is to circle a defect and put a white line where the valve is positioned so they can remount the tire without having to re-balance the wheel.

Snapping wheel studs is probably a Thai pastime. Never happened to me down here!