Watching The Wheels

Set off down to Chester this morning, and it all went swimmingly until we were just a few miles away. At which point, the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree to alert me to a sudden drop of pressure in the offside front tyre. In the space of half a mile, the pressure dropped from 2.6 Bar to zero, suggesting a fairly large hole in the tyre.
Luckily, the car is fitted with run flat tyres so I was able to limp off the motorway and make it to our flat. After unloading the car, I set off to try and find a new tyre. Fortunately, there are several tyre places - and a BMW main dealer - within a mile of our flat. I started at one of the “big name” tyre places but they don’t stock run flat tyres and couldn’t get one in until tomorrow afternoon. As I needed to get to Mum’s later today, that was a non starter. I tried the main BMW dealer next. Very helpful lady on reception, but the answer was much the same - nothing in stock, though they could supply and fit the correct tyre tomorrow morning. Better, but still not what was required.
I then remembered a place I’d used a couple of times previously when I’d had tyre issues in Chester. They mainly deal in nearly new and part worn tyres, but certainly know what they’re talking about when it comes to tyres. I pulled up and, almost before I’d got out of the car, I had a man looking at the damaged tyre and correctly stating the make, size and type. He quoted £80 all in (which was about half the cost at the BMW dealer) and set to without delay. When he took the wheel off there was a large gash in the sidewall, so it must have been quite some sharp object that caused the puncture.
Fifteen minutes later and all was done. Mum will be out of hospital by teatime and I will be able to go and look after her tonight.
So grateful thanks to Chester Tyres for some excellent service at very short notice. Let’s just hope the rest of this week is somewhat less dramatic.