# Tyron Bands



## impala666 (Oct 26, 2007)

There seems lots of posts about the pros & cons of fitting Tyron Bands, but no reports on punctures actually experienced,

Who has had a flat tyre with Tyron Bands fitted and what was the result. Is it possible to drive 15 km with a flat and was the tyre repairable ? 

I have them fitted and have not had a puncture ....but they do give a feeling of confidence !!!!!!!


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

*Re: TYRON BANDS*



impala666 said:


> There seem lots of posts about the pros & cons of fitting Tyron Bands, but no reports on punctures actuaqlly experienced,
> 
> Who has experienced a flat tyre with Tyron Bands fitted and what was the result. Is it possible to drive 15 km with a flat and was the tyre repairable ?
> 
> I have them fitted and have not had a puncture ....but they do give a feeling of confidence !!!!!!!


Hi Impala666,

I once ha a single axle caravan with Tyrons fitted, and experienced a blowout. I only travelled a few hundred yards to safety, and when I got out, the tyre was absolutely ruined, almost like it had been slashed in four places. The tyres were Avons, and I later learned that there was a recall for all ABI's fitted with these Avons, but it didn't filter through to succeessive owners.  
I cannot relate a similar experience to a MH..........thankfully. :wink:

Jock.


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## apxc15 (Dec 1, 2007)

impala666 said:


> There seems lots of posts about the pros & cons of fitting Tyron Bands, but no reports on punctures actually experienced,
> 
> Who has had a flat tyre with Tyron Bands fitted and what was the result. Is it possible to drive 15 km with a flat and was the tyre repairable ?
> 
> I have them fitted and have not had a puncture ....but they do give a feeling of confidence !!!!!!!


Tyron bands prevent the flat tyre beads from coming off the rim, and nothing else. If you run any distance on a flat tyre and the rim runs on the sidewall then the tyre is scrap.
If any self respecting tyre fitter sees the tell tale rim mark on the outside or the inside of the tyre wall he/she will condemm the tyre for your safety.
Pete
PS there are female tyre fitters, I had one work for me once and very good she was too.


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

Just ask yourself when you last had a blow out. (Excluding christmas dinner) and you will see why These bands don't feature on my christmas wish list.
C.


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## TR5 (Jun 6, 2007)

Tyron bands on a caravan should be fitted by the manufacturer as standard equipment in my opinion - as they should be on larger trailers.

I have had a caravan tyre blowout at the legal motorway speed with tyron bands fitted, and the unit was very stable, and allowed me to stop safely.

I have also witnessed a caravan tyre blowout without bands fitted, tyre came off, jammed in wheelarch, and flipped caravan straight over, all in a mattrer of 2 - 3 seconds.

On a motorhome or car, not so important as they are inherently more stable in the first place, but if they stop the tyre coming off and hence reduce the risk of loosing control, then why not!

You may say, "how often do you get blowouts nowadays" - well this is true, but you can only die once!

PS. I don't have them fitted on my motorhome, but may consider them for the front wheels in the future.


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## takeaflight (May 9, 2005)

If you look at the advert for tyron you will see a police officer, we camped behing him in France a couple of years ago.

He doesn't look like that now though. :lol:


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## r6demon (Aug 18, 2008)

Had a blow out on single axel caravan travelling at around 65 ish tyre destroyed but caravan controlable to slow down cross from middle lane to hard shoulder and slow to stop.

I personally was impressed with them as I did not die lol


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## bill (May 10, 2005)

Hello All - I'm in the process of changing all or just my two front tyres, front two worn to what I consider a safe limit (for me, which is deeper than the legal limit) spare is unused and the rear have plenty of wear left. All are the same age at just over five years and 26,000 miles.

I've searched and have found several prices for the Agilis Camping and the Conti Camping. The agilis ranged from £101 each at my local ATS to £160 each with Kwikfit mobile. The Conti Vanco Camper ranged £112 at ATS to £129 Kwikfit mobile. You can take a few quid off of those prices depending on how many you have I think. Some prices I got were from the internet.

My problem is the fact that I've got Tyron Bands fitted, well, when I mentioned this there was much sucking of teeth and huffing and puffing and in some cases a stunned silence. This didn't give me much confidence in their ability to do the job well, which with something like these bands which you can't see when the tyre is on, is something I need. (Because of the work involved some wanted to put the vehicle up on stands at my home and take the wheels away so I may not have been present during fitting).

So I've now not only got the dilemma of when and how many tyres to change but do I use the cheaper lower priced ATS who I won't be able to see doing the work or do I go for the Kwikfit Mobile who are the most pricey who I will see doing the work. I think it's going to have to be the latter, you can't put a price on safety. I've got this dilemma because I've been let down with 'crap' work so many times, not just on the motorhome but other things as well.

I've put this under Tyrons as I felt it fitted there better than under the tyre treads, if the mods disagree please feel free to move it. Just thought it may be of interest to those who have or are considering having the bands fitted.

All the best

bill


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## navman (May 10, 2005)

takeaflight said:


> If you look at the advert for tyron you will see a police officer, we camped behing him in France a couple of years ago.
> 
> He doesn't look like that now though. :lol:


He retired years ago.... :lol:


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## impala666 (Oct 26, 2007)

<Hello All - I'm in the process of changing all or just my two front tyres, front two worn to what I consider a safe limit (for me, which is deeper than the legal limit) spare is unused and the rear have plenty of wear left. All are the same age at just over five years and 26,000 miles. 

I've searched and have found several prices for the Agilis Camping and the Conti Camping. The agilis ranged from £101 each at my local ATS to £160 each with Kwikfit mobile. The Conti Vanco Camper ranged £112 at ATS to £129 Kwikfit mobile. You can take a few quid off of those prices depending on how many you have I think. Some prices I got were from the internet. ?



Hi Bill,
I have 5 tyres with Tyron Bands. About 3 months ago I had two Aglis Camping tyres fitted by Kwickfit Mobile for £105 each....but I had to haggle after quoting ATS prices. The service was very good. My rear tyres are 2003 vintage but with plenty of tread still after 29000 mls, and I am thinking about getting them changed. Have just rteturned from a 1700 ml trip to Spain and have put 65 psi in all tyres the ride and tyre noise was OK. Also I use air assisted rear suspension at 65 psi, which makes a big difference to the handeling on my AutoSleeper Nuevo.

Hope this helps...let me know what you achieve.

Rgds Brian


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## bill (May 10, 2005)

Hello Imalla666 - Thanks for your coments. I note what you say about the £105 with kwikfit mobile and I will try quoting the ATS price. Sadly, I don't think I'll have much luck as the cost per tyre for five was £160 each from kwikfit mobile. However, nothing ventured nothing gained. At £105 or close to it I'd get all five done. I'll let you know.

Did you get a recent 'dot mark' on your deal?

Regards

bill


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## bill (May 10, 2005)

An update. After a number of phone calls to Kwikfit Mobile and ATS this is the situation.

ATS got back to me and said that they had ordered and received four Agilis Camping (I'd not asked them to do so) and that the price of the tyres would be £125 each. The original quote was £112. I questioned this and was told the difference was due to having to come to my house to collect wheels (ATS branch has limited room in their garage) and the fact that when ordering they had to search at the warehouse for the latest dot mark, which had to be paid for???? Anyway they had four week 3408's which was a bit older than I would have like but just acceptable to me. Anyway I managed to get them down to £118.

Kwikfit mobile said that they would match the £112 each original ATS quote but would not be able to tell me the dot mark until they were ordered and received. They were not willing to allow me to cancel the order if the dot mark was not to my satisfaction as it would waste their time. I was not willing to take a gamble on the dot mark and left it at that.

So ATS it is then, they will collect the wheels from my home 2/3 at a time (don't like the idea of four stands at a time under the pride and joy) and fit the tyres using my tyron kit which has instructions with it so I hope they will do a good job.

All this may be me being too picky and cautious but hey I'm the customer. I think I've got a reasonable deal considering the quite small price differences that there may be at other suppliers. As for not being able to see the bands being fitted, well, I decided that ATS are unlikely to take a short cut and not refit the bands (risking safety issues if I have a blowout). The choice was preferable to committing to an unknown dot mark.

Sorry that this has been very long winded but as questions come up from time to time about tryons I felt the info might be helpful regarding the implications of having them fitted. Had the bands not been fitted the process would have been more straight forward. I hope the info is useful to someone.

All the best

bill


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## short-stick (Jul 23, 2007)

I Had a blowout on a caravan, middle lane at 60mph. Unit was controllable and entirely safe even though remaining tyre caracass flailled out the caravan floor... I didn't have Tyron Bands fitted. In fact the steel wheels didn't have safety rims either... I bought new steel wheels fitted with safety rims (Standard on all vehicles these days) and new tyres and was entirely happy and safe.
I don't believe Tyron's offer you any more "real" safety on a motorhome than decent wheels and tyres will, my opinion. I do know that you will always have problems getting new tyres fitted to wheels fitted with Tyrons. As people have mentioned here...


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

I whould totally agree with you short-stick. Tyron bands are only a real benifit to older type wheels that do not have the saftey hump in he rim.

All a Tyron band can do is stop the tyre bead falling into the well of the rim. 

Dont forget they also add weight to you vhicle where you want it the least.


Richard...


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## oldun (Nov 10, 2005)

RichardnGill said:


> I would totally agree with you short-stick. Tyron bands are only a real benefit to older type wheels that do not have the safety hump in he rim.
> 
> Don't forget they also add weight to you vehicle where you want it the least.
> 
> Richard...


Can you please explain further the first statement, unfortunately it is not something I understand (the differences in the design of the wheels)?

As to the second statement I cannot imaging that the extra weight of th bands will have too much effect on the rather clumsy suspension system of what is fundamentally a goods van. To me the extra safety that it gives is well worth the extra weight. If the Police and Ambulance Services use them they must have some real safety value.

Caravaners have more problems with puncture than we do as it takes some time to notice that the caravan tyre has partially deflated. By then the tyre has usually been destroyed. Tests have shown that a caravan is more likely to turn over if the tyre leaves the rim. Tyron bands stop this happening thus improving the safety of the van.

With cars and motorhomes (I imagine) the tyre deflation can be detected sooner and thus action can be taken before the tyre is totally destroyed.


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## sandyketton (Apr 13, 2006)

_Did you get a recent 'dot mark' on your deal_

I know nothing about tyres except that they are black and round.
Would any one please explain what a dot mark is and what it signifies?
Thanks
Sandy


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## loughrigg (Nov 10, 2008)

oldun said:


> RichardnGill said:
> 
> 
> > I would totally agree with you short-stick. Tyron bands are only a real benefit to older type wheels that do not have the safety hump in he rim.
> ...


I spent some time talking to someone on the Tyron stand at the NEC (I think he said he was the ex-MD) and watched an impressive film of a testing session. If I remember correctly, a front tyre of an MH was blown by an explosive charge at around 60mph - the MH carried on in a straight line with the driver waving out of the window. Admittedly, they didn't have a comparative film of an MH going through the same procedure without bands fitted, but I don't think I'd fancy being on board.

Mike


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

basically all modern wheel rims have a lip on the bead making it much harder for the tyre beads to come away from its seated position on the rim when flat and fall into the well of the rim. 

I have worked on Police vehicles that had Tyron bands fitted and have never removed a tyre that had gone past the normal rim safety lip and onto the tyron band even after being ran flat. 

The only Police vehicles that I am aware of that have or had these fitted were what we called the "riot vans" (I might be wrong though) 

As to the weight any unsprung weight is quiet important to your vehcles suspension set up. 

I would never advise anyone on what safety precautions they should take, these are just my opinions based on my experience. 

Richard...


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## loughrigg (Nov 10, 2008)

sandyketton said:


> _Did you get a recent 'dot mark' on your deal_
> 
> I know nothing about tyres except that they are black and round.
> Would any one please explain what a dot mark is and what it signifies?
> ...


I thought the DOT code was something to do with the US Department of Transportation regulations - is this question actually about the date code?

Mike


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## RichardnGill (Aug 31, 2006)

The "DOT" code tells you the week and year of manufacture 

IE DOT2108 = week 21 in 2008. 


Richard...


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## sandyketton (Apr 13, 2006)

Thanks Richard


Sandy


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## oldun (Nov 10, 2005)

RichardnGill said:


> basically all modern wheel rims have a lip on the bead making it much harder for the tyre beads to come away from its seated position on the rim when flat and fall into the well of the rim.
> Richard...


I have been told by a motor mechanic that "aluminium wheels do not hold the tyres as securely as steel wheels".

Can anyone offer me info on the validity of this statement?


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## short-stick (Jul 23, 2007)

I'd say your mechanic has no real life qualifications in asessing wheels and tyres. Alloy and steel wheels are all the same shape in terms of rim and safety hump. 
Extra info, if you drive a "normal" tyre when deflated, with or without Tyron bands, it's scrap... Normal includes motorhome specific tyres... Runflat tyres can be operated defaled for a period of time, after that then they're scrap too...
Finally, vehicle suspension geometrty has come a long way and if a front tyre deflates, the steering geometry changes and actually helps counteract the drag from a deflated tyre... All you have to do is not panic and do not impose sudden steering movements, otherwise the tyre and rim could "dig in" with or without Tyron Bands.
How many cars come with Tyron as standard, or vans, or trucks?
How many motorhomes come with a narcotic gas alarm as standard?
Safety sells, but research what they are selling and how they sell it to you...


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## bill (May 10, 2005)

*tyron bands*

Hello All. 
My Tyron saga has now ended. I'll try and explain keeping it a short as possible.

The ATS man came today with his van to fit 5 Agilis 215/70 R15 Camper at my home. Well, the problems he had getting at the bands were such that it took about three hours to remove the bands alone. The 'spider' thingy to depress the tyre away from the bands may be okay with car tyres but with the solidly built Michelin XC Camping it was a different matter. This wasn't helped by the tread on three of the tyres being quite deep (I was changing for age reasons).

Seeing the trouble he had made me decide to have the bands removed completely and to change my school of thought regarding them. Originally I thought only of the safety issues and not a lot more but now, well, I just don't want the hassle again when changing tyres. This particularly applies to when abroad.

The bands would be okay if you don't mind being tied to KwikFit Mobile as they carry a machine to depress the tyre away from the bands.

The fitter said similar things as have been said on here about the shape of rims, taking care of tyres, likelihood of blowouts and so on. The actual bands do not weigh an awful lot but with the 'spider' kit it would be about 3kg I would think.

So bill's tyron saga is over thank goodness, in future it's a simple case of finding the best price and 'dot' mark.

By the way I was surprised to hear from Mitchelin that the tyre pressures for the agilis is 60psi front and rear for 1750kg front and 1900kg rear max axle weights. I'm looking forward to a run on them to see whether I notice any difference.

Sorry, I've gone on a bit again, but I hope the info is of some use to someone.

bill


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