Few subjects arouse such strong feeling within the tyre trade as that of sealants and many can still remember the furore when the NTDA announced in 1996 that the Association was to endorse the Holts Tyreweld® Emergency Puncture Repair sealant.

If you type the phrase "tyre sealants" into Google, you come up with something like 455,000 results, so it is plain that there are a lot of products out there. Many are designed for commercial and industrial vehicles working off-road in environments where punctures are highly likely, but there are also a number of products designed for passenger cars.

Basically, sealants fall into one of two groups; the post-puncture sealant, such as Tyreweld, and the pre-puncture sealant, where the sealant is introduced into the tyre via the valve stem and remains inactive until a puncture occurs, when it seals it instantly.

Let's be absolutely clear on this; the NTDA in no way endorses pre-puncture sealants – there is no doubt that they work, but there are inherent dangers; because they seal a puncture instantly, the driver may not even be aware that he has had a puncture and may continue driving for days afterwards with the penetrating object still in place and possibly causing further damage to the tyre.

On the subject of pre-puncture sealants, the AA says on its website that "Advice from tyre experts to users of pre-puncture sealants is to inspect the tyres VERY OFTEN, ie every time you use the vehicle."

TyreSafe takes a similar view, saying that the organisation "…does not recommend pre-puncture sealants as there is an inherent risk of the primary damage extending in service and/or of internal secondary damage. The continued use of this tyre in such a condition may lead to serious tyre failure."

Going back to information available on the Internet, many of the pre-puncture websites freely use the word "permanent" in their copy. Careful reading reveals that the "permanent" refers to the fact that, once it is installed in the tyre, it is there for ever, but it is all too easy for "permanent" to be mis-read to apply to the repair.

So, for the remainder of this bulletin, when we refer to "sealants", we are talking about the emergency, get-you-home, post-puncture variety.

A Growing Problem – Or Opportunity

Some tyre dealers flatly refuse to even look at a tyre in which a sealant has been used, claiming that the job is messy and time-consuming. This attitude is difficult to understand, as you are turning away potential customers – it is one thing to examine a tyre and then find out that it cannot be repaired, but entirely something else to refuse to even look at it and see if a repair is possible. If you were a motorist who had been treated like this, would you be keen to give that depot your business?

What of the time-consuming argument? National Tyres and Autocare produce an extremely informative Technical Bulletin for employees, which sets out, step by step and complete with photographs, the correct procedure for inspecting and repairing a tyre sealed with tyre sealant. Interestingly, the leaflet begins with the statement that "The repair of the tyre sealed with tyre sealant should take no more than two minutes extra than that of a normal puncture repair."

The NTDA publishes its list of "Minimum Recommended User Repair Charges" and one of these suggests a minimum of £5 is charged "For removing of soluble tyre sealant prior to inspection." A minimum of £5 for two minutes' extra work sounds like a good deal to me.

NTDA Service Bulletin

We have a team of tyre technicians waiting to answer your technical problems – call our freephone number 0121 386 4624 You will be asked for the NTDA members password – if you have forgotten it please call Aylesbury HO (0870 900 0600)

NTDA Technical Helpline 0121 386 4624 (members only – password protected) 03 / 09

SEALANTS ARE HERE TO STAY

The feeling is that many tyre dealers do not get involved with post-puncture sealants because they do not really want to spend time in training staff to deal correctly for what is, after all, still a minority of punctures.

A minority it may be, but it is a minority that is set to grow in coming years and, like so many things that affect the tyre trade, this can be laid at the door of the car manufacturers; increasingly, new cars are being supplied without a spare wheel, without even a 'space saver' skinny spare, and instead they have a can of sealant. By eliminating the spare wheel, the car manufacturer saves space and weight, both of which are highly desirable from the designer's point of view and we can expect to see the provision of sealants increase markedly.

Sealants have been around for three decades and millions of cans are sold every year – of course, that does not mean that millions of cans are used every year – a can of sealant is carried for the same reason that a fire extinguisher is; you hope you never have to use it, but it's comforting to have, just in case.

So what are the chances of getting a puncture? Once again, we are indebted to the National Tyres and Autocare Technical Bulletin, which says that there are 28 million cars on UK roads and around 7.3 million punctures a year. This equates to a one in four chance of getting a puncture and National Tyres and Autocare estimates that a car will incur a puncture on average every 38,000 miles.

Further evidence comes from an article, written in Fleet News by Frank Flynn, Information Manager at the RAC. The article begins "We are seeing a growing trend of call-outs from fleet drivers with a puncture or a flat tyre but no spare wheel. In fact,

8.8% of breakdowns attended by the RAC last year were for these reasons and more than 24,000 were

As you remove the tyre from the wheel, be careful not to spill the surplus sealant in the tyre

Wipe the excess sealant from the wheel and clean the area ready for reapplication of the tyre

Wipe the excess sealant from the tyre with a paper towel

Rinse all remaining sealant from tyre with clean warm water

not carrying a spare." Had they had a can of sealant, there would presumably have been no need for the call-out.

A Good Business Opportunity

What are the pros and cons of dealing with sealant-filled tyres? As was said earlier, if you flatly refuse to have anything to do with sealants, then you are turning potential business away. But if you are prepared to deal with sealants, then there are numerous opportunities to make money.

First of all, you could stock and sell the sealant itself – all you need is some shelf space and every can sold is extra revenue. Next, examining the tyre – earlier we said that there is a minimum NTDA recommended charge for this, whether or not the tyre can be repaired. Of course, if the tyre can be repaired, this is additional profit and, if it cannot be repaired, then the motorist may decide to purchase a new tyre there and then – especially as he has no

spare and you have just removed the tyre with sealant in it.

Once or twice in this bulletin, the name of National Tyres & Autocare has been mentioned and the company has enthusiastically embraced sealant-related business. So much so that the National logo appears on a flag attached to every can of Tyreweld, along with a dedicated helpline number. The motorist rings the number and is directed to his nearest National depot. The flag, incidentally, offers 10% off the price of a new tyre if the tyre cannot be repaired.

There is little doubt that tyre depots will be seeing more and more sealant-filled tyres as more vehicles carry a can of sealant rather than a spare tyre – it may take a few years, but these vehicles will trickle down to the replacement market.

Then there are the marketing efforts of the sealant manufacturers themselves; Holts, for example, spends a seven-figure sum every year on TV advertising for Tyreweld® in the UK and, the more cans sold, more sealant-filled tyres will be making an appearance in UK tyre depots, so if you don't handle these tyres, you will be turning away more and more customers.

Go to any blog or motoring press forum and there are almost bound to be questions and comments regarding tyre sealants. Some of the answers are informative and some are downright irresponsible, but the following will give a flavour of just how much education is needed on the subject…

Q "…picked up my new car last week and forgot to ask if there's a spare wheel. I can't see one and I reckon a can of foam is the answer, but which one?"

A1 "Tyreweld is what most people use. I don't like it, as apparently once used any puncture can't be repaired. Can anybody correct me on that point?"

A2 "Correct. If you've used Tyreweld on a wheel, you can't then repair the tyre…probably as the stuff sets all around the inside of the tyre and all over the place…"

A3 "I thought that you could repair the tyre after using Tyreweld, but that most places don't want to do it because they have to clean the inside of the tyre out first and it's messy."

A1 (again) "I was a bit inaccurate earlier – see below"

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Holts said:

Q How does Tyreweld work? Is it a long-term measure?

A Tyreweld is an aqueous latex emulsion, contained in an aerosol container, propelled by a hydrocarbon propellant. The latex emulsion locates the source of the puncture, penetrates the hole and cures to form a 'get you home' repair. This is therefore only a short-term measure and at the earliest instance the tyre should be repaired or replaced.

Q Does this type of repair cause unbalancing?

A Tyreweld is a liquid formula and therefore spreads itself evenly around the tyre when driven, prior to curing – therefore it should not affect the wheel balance. Also, as the car should be driven home at moderate speed, minor effects on the wheel balance will not be observed.

ON-LINE THOUGHTS ON TYRE SEALANTS

Q Can a tyre be repaired after the use of Tyreweld?

A Yes. Should the tyre be safe to repair, Holts Tyreweld can be flushed out of the tyre. Always follow the advice of the Tyre Repairer.

Q Is this product endorsed?

A This is the only product to be endorsed by the National Tyre Distributors Association.----------------------------------------------------------------

A4 On the side of the can it says that the repairing tyre people may add a surcharge for removing the Tyreweld to repair the tyre. In reality, I called around

half a dozen local places when I had used it and none of them would offer that service.A5 Welcome to the Motor Trade! Let me guess, they offered to sell you a tyre instead?

A range of opinions there, with the final answer illustrating the sense of cynicism and distrust that can be created when the customer thinks that he is being taken advantage of. At least he said Motor Trade, rather than Tyre Trade!

It is also interesting to note that Holts presumably keeps an eye on such sites and, judging from the response, steps in quickly to dispel the myths surrounding sealants and to make sure that some motorists at least are in possession of the true facts.

The NTDA's most recent Technical Bulletin examined the debate about where new tyres should be fitted – rear axle (as recommended by most tyre manufacturers, fat-fits and tyre dealers) or the drive axle (as recommended by car manufacturers and their dealers). The confusion over the issue was neatly summed up by letters which appeared in the "Answers to Correspondents" column of the Daily Mail.

A question was asked about why you should never mix cross ply and radial tyres on the same axle and, on 4th March, a comprehensive reply was published, from a man who described himself as a "former senior tyre designer. The reply went into detail about the differences in construction between the two types and suggested that tyres should ideally be bought in pairs, as the difference in diameters between a new

and worn tyre could adversely affect handling. The penultimate paragraph of the reply read "and your best tyres should always go on the driving wheels."

Less than a week later, another letter appeared from the same tyre designer, which began by saying that, in his previous letter, the penultimate paragraph should have read "…your best tyres should always go on the rear" and not "your best tyres should always go on the driving wheels."

The reasoning is that tests in the past had shown that wet grip drops to about 20 per cent by the time the tyre is half worn, so with new tyres on the front, an oversteer situation could easily develop. The letter ends: "This is more difficult to recover from and control than the opposite situation of understeer; the likely outcome of new tyres on the rear."

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Although great care has been taken in the compilation and preparation of this bulletin to ensure accuracy, the publishers cannot in any circumstances accept responsibility for errors or omissions or advice given in this publication.

Copyright ©NTDA 2009

Published by the NTDA

Edited by Peter Gardner

Thanks to National Tyres & Autocare forthe pictures used in this bulletin

FITTING NEW TYRES - UPDATE