Anyone who spends enough time driving across rural and remote Australia will eventually hear that dreaded sound: tick, tick, tick, tick...
You pull over, walk around the vehicle and discover that something has found its way into your tyre.
Usually, it is a nail, screw or sharp rock. Occasionally, however, it is something so strange that you have to wonder how it was physically possible.
We recently asked members of the RFTTE.com community:
“What’s the most unusual thing that has punctured your tyre?”
As expected, the answers ranged from believable to completely bizarre. Members shared stories involving spanners, scissors, bones, teeth, antlers, a cow horn, a meat cleaver and, in one extraordinary case, a spider.
Spanners, screwdrivers and an entire gear lever
Apparently, Australia’s roads, worksites and paddocks are littered with enough tools to stock a decent workshop.
Paul Freeth found a spanner buried in a tyre after picking it up in a paddock. The ring end had driven straight through the rubber, leaving most of the spanner hanging outside.
Other RFTTE members reported punctures caused by screwdrivers, Allen keys, files, drill bits, socket extensions, a Leatherman, a centre punch, breaker bars and even a claw hammer.
Ian Hume discovered an eight-inch screwdriver, minus its handle, completely inside his tyre.
Locky Weir initially thought he had driven over a bolt. When the tyre was removed, the culprit turned out to be an entire gear lever around 18 inches long.
Tim Bonner recalled finding a half-inch breaker bar driven straight through the tread of a Michelin truck tyre.
“Sounds impossible, but it happened.”
An Allen key through the tyre
Jubadu Bin Saaban provided photographic evidence of an Allen key embedded in a tyre, while Matt Westbrook also recalled having an Allen key go through one of his tyres.
A T-handle screwdriver
Reg Colligan’s culprit was a T-handle screwdriver, which managed to bury itself head-first in the tyre.
Chris Radke’s unusual set of pliers
Chris Radke shared a series of photos showing a small pair of pliers that had gone through a tyre and ended up inside it.
A tyre full of screws
Some punctures involve one unlucky screw. This forklift tyre appears to have collected almost an entire packet.
Giles Gibson also reported finding six tech screws in a single tyre.
The bloke who ran over his own pocketknife
One of the best stories came from Chris O’Connor, who accidentally left his pocketknife on the running board of his Toyota.
He drove back to where he had last used it, couldn’t find it and headed home. Somehow, he managed to run directly over the missing knife.
Naturally, it went straight through a tyre that had been fitted that very morning.
“A 1,000-square-mile property and I managed to run over a pocketknife.”
That is either extremely bad luck or a remarkable display of accuracy.
When Australian wildlife fights back
Animal bones, teeth, tusks, quills and antlers were surprisingly common causes of tyre punctures across rural Australia.
RFTTE members reported kangaroo ribs, leg bones, claws and other bone fragments piercing tyres, fuel tanks and agricultural machinery.
James Constable remembered a piece of hollow kangaroo leg bone going through a tyre on a John Deere 8630 in 1979. Ali Delaney had punctures caused by echidna quills and a sheep’s spine, although thankfully not at the same time.
Jaimie Cook bought a car with a very slow leak in its front tyre. When the tyre was eventually replaced, the cause became clear: it contained 13 echidna quills.
Several other members reported punctures caused by echidna spines, while Robert Watts lost both tyres on a tandem trailer after running over an echidna.
A tooth in the tyre
Jason Polzin had encountered plenty of normal punctures during his time “kicking rocks around”, including nails, screws, wire and sharp rocks. What he had never seen was a tooth.
“But never a tooth! Until today. Yes, it has blown my mind.”
A fish bone puncture
Rory Edward added a fish bone to the growing list of animal-related punctures. Exactly how a fish bone ended up in the right position to penetrate a tyre remains another RFTTE mystery.
An antler through a tractor tyre
Brett Smoothy shared one of the most impressive photographs of the discussion: a large antler driven deep into the sidewall of a tractor tyre.
A cow horn through the tyre
Morag Tippett shared another impressive livestock-related puncture: a section of cow horn driven into a large tyre.
A pig tusk in a trailer tyre
Clint Kane found a pig tusk embedded in a mate’s trailer tyre during a trip up north. The tyre shop in Mount Isa thought it was such an impressive puncture that they repaired the tyre for free.
Mark Bradley recalled an old boar ramming a tyre during a night out pig hunting, while Steve Allen reported a camp dog biting straight through a vehicle tyre outside Alice Springs.
Troy Bullen also learnt an expensive lesson after suffering three punctures in three nights from roo claws.
The spider that allegedly punctured an inner tube
One of the most unusual tyre puncture stories came from former tyre shop owner Mick Martin.
A customer kept returning to the tyre shop with a slow leak in a tyre fitted with an inner tube. The customer returned three times before the cause was finally discovered.
According to Mick, there was a spider inside the tyre, and its fangs had eventually punctured the tube and caused the slow leak.
Mick acknowledged that there were doubts and investigations, but maintained that the story was true:
“A bloody spider!”
We cannot independently confirm the mechanics of a spider puncturing an inner tube, but it remains one of the strangest tyre stories shared by the RFTTE community.
Scissors through the tread
Annette Wilson reported finding a scissors blade embedded in her tyre and supplied the photos to prove it.
The blade had gone into the tyre with very little visible from the outside. Once removed, its full length became clear.
Another pair of scissors
Linda Gaitor also supplied photographic evidence of a pair of scissors driven through a tyre. Most of the scissors ended up inside, with only one handle visible from the tread.
Graeme Holman also reported a pair of surgical scissors puncturing a tyre.
A live .308 round, a spark plug and a meat cleaver
Some of the other objects found embedded in tyres were even harder to explain.
Angus Raleigh reported finding a live .308 round in a tyre, while Graham Stokes had an empty .223 cartridge case make what he described as a perfectly sized hole for a tyre plug.
Other unusual tyre puncture culprits included:
- A spark plug
- A wheel-balancing weight
- A windscreen wiper arm
- A truck suspension kingpin
- A spring-hanger shackle
- A wool bale clip
- A padlock
- A spoon
- A meat cleaver
- A rose thorn
- A fish bone
- A pair of surgical scissors
Geoff Kowald’s meat cleaver
Geoff Kowald would surely be difficult to beat. He found an entire meat cleaver embedded in a tyre near Carrolup in Western Australia.
More mystery metal
Anthony Peters, Brittney Drewitt and Alejandro Buzzlington also shared photographs of pieces of metal embedded in their tyres. Sometimes the photograph raises more questions than it answers.
A spring-hanger shackle on the Cape
Glenn Burkin found a spring-hanger shackle embedded in a drive tyre while travelling up Cape York.
Central Australia: spiked
Dan Stewart shared a photograph from Central Australia in gidgee and mulga country. The tyre had been comprehensively spiked through the sidewall.
Spiked on the Lake Dunn Road
Mark Cowin suffered this sidewall puncture while travelling on the Lake Dunn Road in Queensland.
“Lake Dunn Road. Spiked.”
Sticks that fought back
Sometimes the culprit does not need to be metal. A well-positioned stick can make short work of a tyre, particularly when travelling through scrub and timbered country.
Rod Sisson’s Cape York puncture
Rod Sisson was travelling on a quad bike in Cape York when a solid piece of timber drove into one of the tyres.
Sean Martin’s timber stake
Sean Martin shared another example that needed little explanation: a substantial piece of timber driven directly into a trailer tyre.
When a puncture is only the beginning
A flat tyre can be frustrating, but several RFTTE members were lucky to avoid far more serious consequences.
Leo Murtas turned from a dirt road onto the bitumen and felt his vehicle strike something. A ticking noise followed before the rear tyre went completely flat.
The object turned out to be a kingpin from a truck’s leaf-spring assembly. It had entered the tyre and struck the inside of the rim hard enough to feel as though the vehicle had driven over a bump.
Russell Lobley ran over a tent peg made from reo steel. It punctured the front tyre, ripped out the plastic inner guard and then punctured the rear tyre on its way through.
A single 10-millimetre spanner also managed to take out both the front and rear tyres on Shaun Noble’s vehicle.
A mulga branch through the tyre
David Bird described a mulga branch going through his left-front tyre and splitting the rim in two.
“The bloody thing just kamikazied onto the road.”
The grader tyre that refuses to give up
Camille Boon shared this heavily damaged grader tyre, which was somehow still holding air.
“That’s a tyre on the grader I’m driving, and I’m not changing it until it goes flat. Still going strong!”
Does anybody know what this light means?
Justin Will shared this glowing wheel hub with the understated question:
“Does anybody know what this light means? Asking for a friend...”
We suspect the answer may be: stop immediately.
A Kimberley mechanic’s collection
Raymond McCumstie, who repaired tyres while working as a mechanic in the Kimberley, had possibly seen the widest range of tyre punctures.
His list included sticks, rocks, wire, star pickets, reo bar, weld mesh, spanners, screwdrivers, knives, live rounds, cartridge cases, steel sheets, water pipes, hose clamps, pliers, multigrips, crowbars, padlocks and various pieces of mining equipment.
“You name it, I’ve probably seen it.”
That is apparently all part of the joy of repairing tyres in the Kimberley.
Tyre punctures in rural and remote Australia
From the Gibb River Road and the Tanami to Broken Hill, Tibooburra, Cape York and the Kimberley, Australia provides plenty of opportunities to test tyres and roadside repair skills.
The RFTTE community’s stories prove that almost anything can cause a puncture if it lands at the right angle, including tools, bones, bullets, kitchen utensils, wildlife and apparently even a spider.
Carry a properly inflated spare tyre (or 3!), pack a quality puncture repair kit and never assume that little ticking noise will disappear on its own.
As RFTTEJOBS.com commented when the original discussion kept growing:
“For a flat tyre post, it’s getting plenty of mileage.”
If you enjoy remarkable stories of ingenuity from rural and remote Australia, read our feature on Australia’s bush mechanics.
The stories, comments and photographs featured in this article were shared through the RFTTE.com Facebook community. They reflect the personal experiences and recollections of individual RFTTE members.
Have you got a story to share?
If you have a great story or photograph from rural and remote Australia that could be featured on RFTTEJOBS.com, email Simon at simon@rfttejobs.com.
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