Reusing tire after driven while flat?

[David.Ullrich at ferguson.com]

Yup chuck it. I was told once that if it was driven more than a mile, ditch it. The tire might be OK, but why risk it? Remember that your only connection with the ground is your tires. They are the MOST important safety feature of any car. It's just not worth the risk. Good tires are a must.

Dave

Too Many Toys:
2002 VW Jetta GLS 1.8T Tiptronic
1993 RX-7 R1
1987.5 Audi Coupe GT "Special Build" 2.3 - Anthracite Black
1985 Chevy Impala Interceptor
Former:
1981 Audi 4000 5+5
1982 Audi Coupe
1988 Audi 90 Quattro
1998 VW Passat GLS 1.8T



-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Newbold [mailto:chris at newbold.org]
Sent: Wednesday, June 26, 2002 1:37 PM
To: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: Reusing tire after driven while flat?


Anyone have any opinions or guidelines for reusing or discarding a tire
that's been driven while flat? It's not known exactly when the tire went
flat, but it was driven 10 miles or less at low speeds, under 40MPH.

Other than not being able to find the cause of the air loss, the tire
looks fine (e.g. side walls not shredded, etc.) but there is a
pronounced bluish band of wear around both sidewalls where they
collapsed. Despite being removed from the car, the carcass doesn't
really want to pop back into it's original shape, either, remaining
visibly flattened at one point with the sidewalls a little deformed.

My instinct says just chuck it and buy another, but maybe it would pop
back into shape and be fine with air pressure...

Obligitory Audi content: fortunately this happened on my VW Golf and not
the S4 :-)

-Chris
2001 S4 Avant 6spd
(1993 90CS 5spd)