Hi,

Yesterday I bought a Ford Mondeo Hatchback 2007 2.0TDCi Edge. It handles really well, and has plenty of acceleration. I thought (naively) that I had got a real bargain.

Today I went on a short drive, and the wheel was jerking all over the place. I pulled over and saw that the front offside tyre was flat. I drove to the nearest air pump and tried refilling the tyre, but no air would go in - it seemed as if the valve was broken.

The car came with (I think) 18 inch alloy wheels, and low profile tyres. I didn't realise at the time that these were probably not the stock wheels that came with the car. I would have much preferred normal wheels.

The guy who sold me the car must have known that it had a flat tyre, right? Or could the damage to the tyre have been caused by me hitting a pothole? What could cause the tyre valve to stop working? Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

The pothole would do it as you say it handled well if it had a flat tyre it wouldn't have. You've probably split a side wall .

20 minutes ago, pragmatix said:

The pothole would do it as you say it handled well if it had a flat tyre it wouldn't have. You've probably split a side wall .

 

It's a bit disappointing if the damage was caused by a pothole. I was driving on a 3 lane road at night which I use regularly - how could I avoid doing the same thing again? And could an impact with a pothole cause the valve of the tyre to stop working?

I've never owned a car with low-profile tyres before, so please forgive me if my questions seem a bit basic 🙂

You could have just had an unlucky coincidence.    These things can happen with low profiles but might never happen again.

12 hours ago, MondeoNoob said:

 

It's a bit disappointing if the damage was caused by a pothole. I was driving on a 3 lane road at night which I use regularly - how could I avoid doing the same thing again? And could an impact with a pothole cause the valve of the tyre to stop working?

I've never owned a car with low-profile tyres before, so please forgive me if my questions seem a bit basic 🙂

Pothole damage happens to any wheel tyre combination at times, may never happen again, I doubt the valve has stopped working unless that's where the rim got hit , I still think a split sidewall is more likely, I would check the rim for damage too.

12 hours ago, MondeoNoob said:

And could an impact with a pothole cause the valve of the tyre to stop working?

The tyre pump uses some backpressure as a reference.  If you have a totally flat tyre then the machine won't even attempt to inflate it.  There's often a 'flat tyre' button on the machines which will start the pump regardless of how flat the tyre is.  However, if it's that flat, chances are it won't hold any air anyway.

The Mk3 Mondeo Edge usually came with 16" 5 spoke alloys and 205/55/16 tyres.  If you don't want to slalem around potholes for the rest of your ownership then replacing the 18s with a set of 16s is the way to go imo.  Will massively improve the ride comfort as well.  Was it also lowered when the larger wheels were fitted I wonder?  Will look a bit strange if not!

9 hours ago, pragmatix said:

Pothole damage happens to any wheel tyre combination at times, may never happen again, I doubt the valve has stopped working unless that's where the rim got hit , I still think a split sidewall is more likely, I would check the rim for damage too.

 

I will check it out properly in daylight, thanks.

9 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

The tyre pump uses some backpressure as a reference.  If you have a totally flat tyre then the machine won't even attempt to inflate it.  There's often a 'flat tyre' button on the machines which will start the pump regardless of how flat the tyre is.  However, if it's that flat, chances are it won't hold any air anyway.

The Mk3 Mondeo Edge usually came with 16" 5 spoke alloys and 205/55/16 tyres.  If you don't want to slalem around potholes for the rest of your ownership then replacing the 18s with a set of 16s is the way to go imo.  Will massively improve the ride comfort as well.  Was it also lowered when the larger wheels were fitted I wonder?  Will look a bit strange if not!

 

I'll give that a try next time I am at the tyre machine, although as you say, it won't hold its air for long.

I've done some Googling, and it look like my wheels are 18" ST220 alloys. They seem to sell for £200-£300 on ebay. Could I replace them with "normal" wheels, and how much would it cost me?

13 minutes ago, MondeoNoob said:

 

I'll give that a try next time I am at the tyre machine, although as you say, it won't hold its air for long.

I've done some Googling, and it look like my wheels are 18" ST220 alloys. They seem to sell for £200-£300 on ebay. Could I replace them with "normal" wheels, and how much would it cost me?

I take it you've fitted the spare for now?  Driving on a flat isn't recommended.

There is one set of the original alloys on eBay for £120 but they are a bit scruffy!  Any other 16s from a Focus or Mondeo of similar age should fit and use the same size tyres though.  

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Mondeo-Connect-Edge-Alloy-Wheels-205-55-16-/353348848946?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

10 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

The tyre pump uses some backpressure as a reference.  If you have a totally flat tyre then the machine won't even attempt to inflate it.  There's often a 'flat tyre' button on the machines which will start the pump regardless of how flat the tyre is.  However, if it's that flat, chances are it won't hold any air anyway.

 

I never knew that, though I've never used a machine,  either a compressor or my trusty foot pump and a good old fashioned pencil type gauge to check the pressure 

12 hours ago, pragmatix said:

I never knew that, though I've never used a machine,  either a compressor or my trusty foot pump and a good old fashioned pencil type gauge to check the pressure 

I used to pump up my tyres at Sainsburys every week when I first started driving!  They're lucky if I do it once a year now...   (Though I do check pressures with a digital gauge occasionally)

This is the standard layout for supermarket machines.