CITY OFFPEAK
4X4 CLUB INC

Member of the CITY 4x4 Clubs Network Inc

“Tyre Repairs 101” a morning with Mick Hutton of Beadell Tours

 

On Saturday, 23rd February, in cool and windy conditions in the car park of the German Club in Prahran, outback tour operator Mick Hutton of Beadell Tours, gave an exhaustive and extremely informative lecture and demonstration of emergency tyre repairs. This demonstration was held under the auspices of the Toyota Land Cruiser Club of Victoria but a number of our club members also had the opportunity to attend.

 

The lecture began at 9.30 am and much was yet to be discussed by the time the writer had to excuse himself at midday.

 

Mick Hutton made several key observations to the audience.

 

Most so-called tyre repair outlets are unqualified and or unwilling to repair tyres and would rather sell you a new tyre whereas many tyres can be repaired. In many instances, legal repairs can be made to the tread area or the sidewalls.

                                                    

We also learned that many of us would be capable of making many such “emergency” repairs ourselves.  

 

However, the likelihood of successful outcomes would be greatly enhanced if we had access to appropriate tools and parts. In this connection Mick demonstrated just how “useless” many commercially available kits were, chiefly because they had an inadequate supply of tyre repair patches included or had single ply patches instead of multi-ply and sometimes also came with the inappropriate type of tyre levers, i.e., with “tubeless” levers instead of “split rim” type and vice versa. You need specific patches for sidewalls and others for the tread area.

 

Bead breakers were also important in connection with removing tyres from rims but the ability to use some requires the user to be fit enough to exert a certain brute strength and a sense of balance compared to other types being designed along different principles more suitable for use by people of lighter body mass.

 

Mick made all repairs look remarkably easy but he pointed that his nonchalance and speed came from the experience gained over the last 12 years in remote parts of the country. He estimated that he repairs approximately 200 tyres a year during his expeditions.

 

There is an Australian Standard covering the repair of tyres and it can be downloaded from the website of the Australian Standards Association for a fee of $66.00. See Australian Standard 1973-1993 “Pneumatic Tyres – Passenger Car, Light Truck and Truck/Bus – Retreading and Repair Process” - s25.2.1.2. Importantly, it covers the maximum size of damaged areas that can be legally repaired.

 

Mick emphasized that the repair techniques he demonstrated were basically all considered as temporary repairs but such repairs had enabled him to safely travel vast differences on bush repaired tyres. We could too, and we could then go to accredited repairers to make permanent repairs.

Whilst not specifically promoting their products, whenever an audience member asked where they could  obtain all the tyre repair patches, tools and accessories, they were advised to contact Rema Tip Top Australia Pty Ltd at 1b Chapel Street, Lynbrook, (03) 9794 5614.

Readers might find it interesting to read more at this link http://www.beadell.com.au/tyre_information.htm.

Submitted by Geoff 24th February 2008