More drivers in Lower Mainland report flat tires

It’s an expensive and inconvenient thing to get fixed and it appears more people across the region are having to dish out big bucks to deal with it — flat tires.

There are a few reasons why service calls for deflated tires in the Lower Mainland are up this year compared to last, including having more people on the road now compared to earlier in the pandemic after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.

Keep in mind, there is also a lot of roadwork happening in the region — think huge chunks of Lougheed Highway through Burnaby and the Broadway corridor in Vancouver for the ongoing construction of the subway line.

There are also residential and commercial developments and other construction projects underway, and if any of these sites aren’t cleaned up properly, it may explain why you get home and find a huge nail in your tire.

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“This year we’re looking like we’ve received about 50,000 calls for [flat] tires, so at a four per cent increase from there, you can see it seems substantially less than that last year. From one day to the next, four per cent really doesn’t seem like a lot, but over the course of a year or the course of 50,000 calls, four per cent is a substantial increase,” explains Josh Smythe, who is a veteran automotive specialist at BCAA.

He says as they try to ensure they have enough staff to handle the public’s demand, he’s asking for patience to deal with all these calls.

“It could be from debris that’s been dropped off of work trucks, nails, debris from accidents and imperfections in the road, maybe the edge of a pothole caught your sidewall.”

He suggests slowing down when you are approaching an area that has a lot of road work or lane reconfiguration. Smythe says if you notice the road itself getting a little too rough, that’s also an indication to slow down.

If you suspect you have a flat tire, there are some ways you can catch it before it completely goes down.

“Keep your window down a little bit and often you’ll hear a rotational ticking sound as this thing comes around and taps off the ground. So, if you’re pulling out of your underground parking and you hear this, ‘Tick, tick, tick,’ that speeds up as you speed up, that could be as simple as a rock stuck in the tread, which is great because it’ll get out and you’re fine, or it can be an indication of maybe a screwhead or nail that’s hitting the ground as it comes around.”

Smythe says it’s also important to check your tire pressure regularly.

“Sometimes even if you look at your tire, it might not look flat, but it could be low and if you’re consistently checking your tire pressure and you’re familiar with what it should be, then all of a sudden you find something with a 10 PSI difference, it might be worth taking a look at before it becomes a problem on the side of the road.”

He says you have to be careful of patch-up work available for tires.

“It’s not advised. There is a criss-cross of threads or steel mesh that goes into the tire and when something punctures this, it creates a larger hole in that mesh, and this is a separation of that meshing and that really messes with the integrity of the tire.”

Smythe warns when the rain does come, it’s going to make existing potholes even worse. “Something that looks like a shallow puddle, could be a pothole, so if we can do our best to avoid what looks like a puddle, more often than not, we could potentially avoid damaging a tire.”

He points out that if you’ve had your current vehicle for more than several years and haven’t used your spare tire, it might be time to get a new one because it’s likely aging out.