Thought I’d share my experience yesterday.

Having spent the day visiting various sites in the Midlands for work (I’m a surveyor) I was heading home travelling along the M50. I passed a truck and heard something rattle round the off side wheel arch, got a bong and warning lights telling rear off side tyre had lost pressure I’m doing 70 at this point, but no drama, the car stayed planted, so moved carefully to the hard shoulder and stopped. Hazards on, donned the hi viz and got out to investigate. Totally flat tyre with a bolt sized hole smack in the middle of the tread

Called LR Assist at 15 .25. At 16.10 LR Assist tech appeared changed the wheel and had my on my way by 16.20. I called my trusted Main Dealer who said bring the car in first thing and they would sort me out a new tyre. By 10.30 this morning all sorted and the car was cleaned for me.

Excellent service all round, but what really impressed me was how the car behaved. It could have been catastrophic, but there was no sudden change to the handling, it was like it was politely telling me to ease off and pull over when safe. Just awesome! That said, I’m glad it happened on the M50, a lightly trafficked road and not later in the journey on the “smart” M4 - that might have been a touch more challenging!

Had a similar experience in my Sport but the bolt that I went over was kicked out of the wheelarch and up the rear quarter, causing a fair bit of damage.

Like you say, could have been a lot worse.

You used Land Rover assist to change a flat. WTF. 2017 5.0 Autobiography Supercharged
2005 Merc SL350
2005 Disco HSE 2.7 oil burner

Well sorry if that offends you, but yes I did, for these reasons:

Hard shoulder of a motorway, as dangerous a place as possible to do a wheel change, especially as the affected wheel was traffic side

no pulley gadget to lift the spare out of the well, and the wheel is heavy and bulky, so difficult to manoeuvre, especially where trucks are passing within 8 feet of you every few seconds.

It’s well known the Land Rover don’t supply particularly good jacks, which are prone to fail. Being on the hard shoulder was not the best place to try this out.

I pay for LR Assistance to assist me.

Had I been in a nice safe yard, with access to a decent trolley jack and proper wheel brace, then of course I would have changed it myself. But I wasn’t.

Well I would have done the same, that's what you have these services for. Changing a wheel on any road, especially a motorway is just too risky.

Safety first i say, you asses your situation and if the risk is too great you pay for LR assist / RAC / AA to help you in those situations. So yeah i agree you should call them it is not just your safety but other road users as well.

Could definitely have been worse and I’d have done the same, pointless taking an unnecessary risk. MY23 Panamera E-Hybrid
MY19 SDV8 Autobiography - Sold

I agree, might depends on which wheel tho. A N/S puncture I would probably attempt, as I also have a decent jack in the car. o/s, on a hard shoulder. No way. Just too dangerous. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

Agreed I would have called assist.
If I could get away with it i'd meet them at the fuel station very time I fill up but with mine they would be best following me  2020 Porsche Panamera Turbo Hybrid (V FAST)
2017 Range Rover Autobiography 5.0 V8
2018 JCW Mini Cooper
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V8Noise wrote:

You used Land Rover assist to change a flat. WTF.

V8Noise wrote:

You used Land Rover assist to change a flat. WTF.

Yes, I would have called out LRA too.

The hard shoulder of a motorway is no place to start performing DIY mechanics! 👍

Jim

Andy S wrote:

... Hard shoulder of a motorway, as dangerous a place as possible... I pay for LR Assistance to assist me... Had I been in a nice safe yard, with access to a decent trolley jack and proper wheel brace, then of course I would have changed it myself. But I wasn’t.

First reading was to ‘get’ the “WTF” reply... but ... never personally having had your experience in over 30 years of driving, your rationale is spot on and very well put...

Who said this?... “There are old pilots, there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots!” 😂

A great ‘learning’ post... will never attempt nor encourage another driver to change a wheel on a motorway... if of courses roadside assistance is available to assist

My mum was bowling along the M6 at a spirited speed in my Uno Turbo in the early 90s. She had a blow out on one of the rear tyres ( note: it was a Pirelli before you get on your high horse Brenda). Car was easily piloted to the hard shoulder where our boys in blue changed the wheel for her. They said if it had been one of the fronts then the outcome may have been a little more serious! Previous cars:
S-Max 2007-2013 (only diesel I've had, good car but expensive when diesely bits go wrong, so what's the point?)
Galaxy 2001-2007
Mondeo Estate 1997-2001
Sierra Estate 1993-1997
Uno Turbo 1987 -1993
Fiesta 1984 - 1987
Fiat 127 1982 - 1984

It is actually amazing how these cars perform (though mine is an old L322) when under "pressure".

I experienced it twice in the same period, the first time when the wheel of my boat trailer decided it had enough and came off the trailer whilst we were travelling at about 80mph. I had the trailer's wheel bearings done the previous day and embarked on a 1600km trip from Cape Town to Pretoria when it happened about 40kms into the trip. I just felt a slight tuck on the steering wheel, and then it just ran straight with the boat trailer on one wheel and the other side on the ground.

After I got it sorted, we continued our trip and then about 300kms from home, disaster struck. As I was overtaking another vehicle, I just saw smoke coming from the trailer's right hand side wheel and this whilst I was next to the other vehicle. I did not have a choice but to accelerate to complete the overtaking and then returned to the yellow lane on my side of the road. Not once did it feel unsafe to do so nor did the FFRR give any indication that there was a problem.

In both cases It was almost that it was saying "This is nothing - just part of what I do"