OK,new topic.
Who do YOU call when you have a tyre problem?
Driving down the tapline on the way to Kuwait,I was well freighted,it was summer,and after a few problems,I had to pull onto the desert and assess my tyre situation…
You can see the rear wing that was demolished by the last blowout.
Sorted and ready to roll again,less rear wing and lights.
How many spares did you used to carry on a trip like that bb?
2 minute job!!!..cant see what the fuss is about 
Just joking Ian…rather you than me, in the desert in the summer!!
I love the sunshine and the heat but I think that would be a little TOO uncomfortable!!
I don’t think ATS would have been much good on a call like that.
TREVS TRUCK TYRES from canning town would have that lot sorted, no problem. why didnt you ring him? 
Tagoat:
How many spares did you used to carry on a trip like that bb?
Usually two on the trailer and one on the tractor myself,depends on the firm you’re working for and how they kit you out.
bullitt:
:shock:2 minute job!!!..cant see what the fuss is about
Just joking Ian…rather you than me, in the desert in the summer!!
I love the sunshine and the heat but I think that would be a little TOO uncomfortable!!
No rush,pot of tea every half hour,I think that job lasted half a day.
Repairing your own tyres was the most common job on the M/E run.
Barry Critchlow from Banbury driving Brit Europeans only Scania.He had this tyre problem on the long run South through central Turkey.Barry only did the one trip for Brits,and I’ve never seen him again since.
On the road trains in the Northern Territory of Oz we carried 4 wheels/tyres on each trailer, that was 8-12 in all and was reckoned to be more than enough for the 800 mile round trip to Wyndham in WA. However, as the new boy on my first trip they put all the iffy tyres on my outfit and I ended up changing 16 before I got home. Had to borrow some off the other drivers.
But that wasn’t all, when I got back in addition to servicing my own truck and trailers, I had to mend all those punctures, I was sick of the sight of French chalk by the time I got to bed. 
In the Middle East,a tyre is NEVER worn out!
bodgit n scarper tyre fitters!
can you old hands tell me why a lot of the foreigners use trilex wheels?never really seen any wagons using them here,apart from the 70s when the fiats n berliets had them?are they easier to change/lighter? ugly lookin things either way
Another tyre related question too…
Why do / did all French and Italian trucks have the spare wheel covered?
They always had a rubber cover over the tread.
The answer to this can go in the urban myths page because im sure it was some sort of legal issue 
wheelnut, i am sure that if it was a legal obligation to have spare wheels covered, then that ginger scotsman would have been fining everybody at st omer, it would have been a nice little earner for the french.
whooshwhoosh:
:o bodgit n scarper tyre fitters!
can you old hands tell me why a lot of the foreigners use trilex wheels?never really seen any wagons using them here,apart from the 70s when the fiats n berliets had them?are they easier to change/lighter? ugly lookin things either way
We had them on the Fiats and the Mack on Chapman and Ball.They were easier to change,there were only 6 nuts holding the wheel on,smaller than the normal wheelnut.And you didn’t have to bollock them up so tight either!The wheel brace was about the size you would normally find on a car.
A lot of the bonnetted Mercs that the Arabs used,had 24 inch wheels.They either had normal 10 stud wheels,or a converter,like a conventional 10 stud wheel centre,but with outer lugs that took on a trilex wheel.