To keep you going

H. Kishie Singh

Years ago, 40 to be exact, I imported a car to India. It was shod with the best tyres, Michelin and of course tubeless. As is wont to happen, one day I had a puncture. I was in the heart of rural Punjab, long way from home, and the one thought was to repair the puncture. Driving along a pot-holed road I saw a reassuring sight, a tyre hanging from a tree. It pays to advertise! I drove in and there was the tyrewalla with the tools of his trade, a tyre lever and a 10 kg sledge hammer. That’s it!

He set to work, hammering the tyre lever to separate the tyre from the rim. That done, he put his hand inside the tyre to pull out the tube. There was none! Flabbergasted, he said, “How the hell did you get here? There is no tube!” Of course there wasn’t! But radial tubeless tyres had not got to Sangrur in 1975! The tyre-wala had a brilliant solution. He put a tube into the Michelin tyre. It worked. It took me back 15 years. That was the last time I had driven on tube-type tyres.

Recently I got confirmation that radial tyres had arrived in India. The donkey-cart delivering building material in our colony was riding on radial tyres.

It may not have made a difference to the driver, but surely the donkey noticed the difference and was grateful. A radial tyre is perfectly round and as such the roll-ability is better. This is why radial tyres on cars will get you better fuel consumption. Since it rolls easier, the donkey has to expend less energy. Same as your engine.

Radial tyres are superior to cross-ply tyres. These last longer, give you better fuel average, are better in braking, cornering and most important, straight line adhesion to the road. Another great advantage is that radial tyres hardly get punctured. But when these do, these must be fixed properly.

If you go to any tyre-wala he will fix it in double-quick time. He has a special steel tool with which he pushes a rubber insert/ plug in the punctured spot. It’s called a templug (temporary plug). Very simple, easy and quick, because the tyre is not removed from the rim. The downside is, you cannot assess the damage to the inside of the tyre. This is a temporary measure according to the tyre manufacturer. If applied properly and with the right material, it can work. The problem is a Made-in-China plug. That may leak and let you down.

The proper and permanent repair method is called the Mushroom Plug (see picture). For this, the tyre must be removed from the rim. The mushroom-shaped plug is inserted into the puncture from the inside. It has a wire-lead in the stem to help it push-pull till it comes out from the other side. The protruding bit is then chopped off. The large mushroom area seals the puncture from the inside. It also allows you to assess the damage to the tyre.

Because the tyre was removed, it is time consuming and you will need a wheel-balance at the end of it.

Happy Motoring!