Tricks vulcanisers use to defraud motorists

An air pressure equipment and a vulcaniser at work
| credits: John Ameh

A tyre is a vital component of any functional vehicle. It is also the point of contact between the vehicle and the ground.

 Experts say that a car with a healthy engine is worthless if it lacks good tyres.

Tyres glide on the surface of roads and their condition can either cause accidents or prevent them. This underscores the importance of tyres as sensitive parts of a vehicle.

Apart from being exposed to wear and tear, the pressure of the tyre is a major issue in road safety.

According to a report posted on tyresafe.org, a correct tyre pressure is vital to the safety of human lives on the road.

Most vehicles come with recommended tyre pressures, depending on the type of vehicle; its load-carrying capacity, speed, and other factors.

Manufacturers insist that motorists must comply with the recommended tyre pressure at all times.

Tyre manufacturers, including Bridgestone, warn that under-inflation or over-inflation of tyres can expose a vehicle and its passengers to danger, including fatal accidents.

The report says, “For most passenger cars, minivans and mini-pickups, the recommendations range from 27 to 32 psi.

“The recommended inflation pressures for full-size pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, tend to be about five to eight psi higher and intended to reflect the sizes and of these vehicles.

“It is important to note that the recommended inflation pressures may differ for the front and rear tyres.”

In Abuja, many artisans who engage in the repair of tyres, popularly known as vulcanisers, do not care about these safety measures. Indeed, the typical vulcaniser is concerned with his survival, not the safety of the vehicle owner.

It seems that the unwritten rule among vulcanisers is that any car driven into their workshop or makeshift tent must have its tyres inflated, no matter the level of pressure in the tyres! In this way, the owner of the vehicle is made to cough out some money.

The experiences of many motorists in Abuja show that most vulcanisers give different readings of tyre pressure.

For example, after the first vulcaniser has said that your tyre is over- inflated, another one reads it as under-inflated. Then a third vulcaniser will commend your decision to check the tyre pressure as any further delay could have been suicidal.

“What some of these guys do is that they don’t even read the pressure at all. They fix the gauge and, in a twinkle of an eye, they shout, ‘No air.’

“The truth is that the pressure may be okay. But, they feel that admitting it may deny them the opportunity to make extra money. So they will tell you that there is no air.

“They pretend to inflate the pressure and turn around to reduce it and collect money from you,” Mr. Okoli Udeh, who operates a commercial vehicle in the city, says.

Experts have warned motorists not to inflate their tyres beyond 40psi or 280kpa. As if to buttress this, the report posted on tyresafe.org says, “Don’t inflate your tyres above 40 psi or 280 kpa. By keeping them at their optimum pressure, your running costs are also reduced. Under-inflated tyres require a bigger force to make them turn, so your car uses more fuel. Additionally, tyres that are not set to their correct pressure wear out more quickly.”

Beyond safety, some motorists cut fuel costs by maintaining accurate tyre pressures.

The Federal Road Safety Commission recommends a complete tyre change after two years, but the life span becomes shorter with inappropriate tyre pressure.

Most vulcanisers in Abuja are accused of using faulty or low-grade gauges to read tyre pressures. Some of  them deliberately empty the air in the tyre, even when they know that the reading is accurate, only to inflate it again. The owner of the vehicle is promptly billed!

“The faulty gauges they use can only fetch one result: wrong reading. That is why vulcanisers keep telling you different stories.

“It looks like a deliberate ploy to get money out of motorists at any cost,” another resident, Musa Liman, argues.

Investigation shows that many of the vulcanisers lack the basic knowledge of some factors that may account for changes in tyre pressure.

For instance, experts say that the best time to read tyre pressure is in the morning or before the vehicle is used. This is because tyre pressure tends to increase on its own in hot weather or after gliding on hot surfaces for a long time.

But, many vulcanisers lack this basic knowledge. Thus, by lying that your tyre is under-inflated, though it already contains too much air, they endanger your life.

Stressing this point further, Tyresafe.org notes, “Recommended tyre inflation pressures are always for cold tyres, which means you should check the tyres in the morning before the vehicle has been driven.

“Driving heats up the tyres and causes the air inside to expand. If you check the tyres right after driving, therefore, the readings will be at least several pounds higher than normal.

“Hot weather raises air pressure inside the tyres, while cold weather lowers it. So air may have to be added or vented from the tyres to compensate for seasonal variations as well.”

A vulcaniser named Sulieman Salihu blames the gauge used by most of his colleagues to read pressure for the problem.

He notes that when a gauge reads incorrectly, a vulcaniser either adds air or reduces it.

Salihu says, “There are times when it is obvious to everyone that a tyre needs air; you don’t necessarily have to read it because it is obvious. The tyre is without air, you can even feel it with your hands. The driver himself drove the car to your shop after detecting that the air is low. What do you do? I believe that it is not everybody that wants to cheat.”

To inflate a single tyre costs N50 in the city; an average of N200 for four tyres, if you have to inflate all.

The driver spends about the same amount again if the next vulcaniser comes up with a different pressure reading – a hole in the pocket for some people, considering that pressure checks are recommended every week.