# flat tyre and puncture



## catcan

Is there any difference between having a flat tyre\flat tire and a puncture in your pneumatic? In what context I should use one or the other?


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## hikesterson

I have never heard the expression, "punctured pneumatic." I am wondering if you are mis-translating pneumático to pneumatic. In U.S. English, pneumatic is not a synonym for tire. Pnuematic refers to any tool that uses pressurized air, like a pneumatic drill.
In any case, *flat tire* is the most common expression.

Edit:
After doing a quick search, I saw that technically a pneumatic tire refers to any tire that is inflated with air. But again, pneumatic is not used (colloquially especially) as a synonym for tire.


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## Kevin R

A tyre can be flat without being punctured; it may not have been inflated properly, or the air may have escaped from the tyre via a leaking tyre valve.
On the other hand, a puncture is a hole or tear in the tyre surface, usually by a nail or other sharp object piercing the tread or sidewall.

_<Spanish phrase removed by moderator (Florentia52)>_


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## MedaBeda

_<Threads have been merged at this point by moderator (Florentia52)>_

Hello guys,

are all these expressions ok?


I´ve got a flat tyre.     I´ve got a puncture.

My car/bike got a flat.    My car/bike got a puncture.

My tyre got a flat.    My tyre got a puncture.


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## Florentia52

You've asked about eight different sentences, MedaBeda. Which do you think is/are correct?


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## MedaBeda

I am asking if all these sentences are ok._<-----Off-topic comment removed by moderator (Florentia52)----->_


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## Florentia52

Reading back through the earlier posts should answer your question. Can you explain what is still confusing you?


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## MedaBeda

In this thread, there is only mentioned the usage of the expression "having a flat tyre" and "having a puncture". I have heard here many times how context is important. So I put the expression "get a flat" and "get a puncture" into different sentences to find out if the usage is possible or if it sounds wrong.

_<-----Off-topic comment removed by moderator (Florentia52)----->_


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## Uncle Jack

"I've got a flat" and "I've got a puncture" are both fine, at least in BrE.

You can use "my bike"/"my car"/"my tyre" as the subject, but don't forget the auxiliary verb.


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## sdgraham

"I've got a puncture" is not used in AE ... unless, perhaps, you have a punctured lung or something similar.


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## Linkway

A punctured tyre and a flat tyre are not the same thing.

A puncture allows air to escspe from the tyre and may lead to a flat, but there are other ways that a tyre can become flat.


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## DonnyB

Oxford Dictionaries Online label "I've got a flat" as North American _informal._

I'd always say, in BE, "I've got/My bike has got a flat* tyre*"


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## Keith Bradford

Linkway said:


> A punctured tyre and a flat tyre are not the same thing...


   I once had a puncture (a hole in my tyre caused by a nail going through it) but the only symptom was the tic-tic-tic noise it made.  The tyre remained inflated - it wasn't flat.


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## Myridon

In casual American English, any tire that has lost enough air to make it worth adding some air is a "flat tire."  It doesn't need to be literally flat (completely deflated).  You can tell that it's been punctured because it's "flat" (technically just low) so we don't bother with "punctured" .  We can say "My tire looks a little flat.  I think I'll put some air in it tomorrow."


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## MedaBeda

Thank you all for your explanations - these explanations are so much better than the first 2 reactions where I felt like on April Fools´ Day


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## zaffy

Uncle Jack said:


> "I've got a flat" and "I've got a puncture" are both fine, at least in BrE.


"The vehicle re-entered the roadway with at least one *flat* tire"

Would BE use "flat" as well in that example, or would it prefer "one punctured tyre"?


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## Uncle Jack

zaffy said:


> "The vehicle re-entered the roadway with at least one *flat* tire"
> 
> Would BE use "flat" as well in that example, or would it prefer "one punctured tyre"?
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 69226


All we would do is change "tire" to "tyre".

On its own, without "tyre", we might be more inclined to use "puncture" than "flat", but they are not the same thing, as other people have said. As an adjective modifying "tyre", "flat" is almost certainly more common than "punctured".


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## zaffy

Uncle Jack said:


> On its own, with out "tyre", we might be more inclined to use "puncture" than "flat"


I see. So this sounds fine, right?

_The vehicle re-entered the roadway with at least one puncture._


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## PaulQ

No. That does not work unless the context is "The vehicle then ran over many of the nails and ..."


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## Roxxxannne

In AmE it would be unusual to say, in that sentence with no context, that the car had at least one puncture.  That requires knowing why the tire was flat.


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## Myridon

Roxxxannne said:


> In AmE it would be unusual to say, in that sentence with no context, that the car had at least one puncture.


I think many Americans would ask what part of the car was punctured.


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## Uncle Jack

zaffy said:


> I see. So this sounds fine, right?
> 
> _The vehicle re-entered the roadway with at least one puncture._


No. We might use "puncture" (noun) when we know that the vehicle has a punctured tyre, but "flat tyre" is an everyday expression, and is far better when the reason for the flat tyre isn't clear.


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## zaffy

Uncle Jack said:


> No. We might use "puncture" (noun) when we know that the vehicle has a punctured tyre, but "flat tyre" is an everyday expression, and is far better when the reason for the flat tyre isn't clear.


I see. That's logical. And how about AE? I guess it only uses "flat tire" even if it's clear it's a puncture, right?


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## Myridon

Circling back to the beginning, a flat tire is the eventual result. One of the causes might be a puncture in the tire.  I had a wire puncturing my tire and I put air in it every day for three weeks.  I never had a flat tire.


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## zaffy

Myridon said:


> Circling back to the beginning, a flat tire is the eventual result. One of the causes might be a puncture in the tire. I had a wire puncturing my tire and I put air in it every day for three weeks. I never had a flat tire.


And how would you put your question at a shop where they repair punctured tires?

How much do you charge to repair a punctured tire?
How much do you charge to repair a puncture?
How much do you charge to repair a tire with a puncture?


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## Myridon

How much do you charge to fix a tire?


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## CaptainZero

I never realised until I read this thread that AmE doesn't like to use the word "puncture". If I see that my car has a flat tyre, and the tyre happens to be new, and I recently put air in it, I'd conclude that it didn't just leak air and go flat. I'd say "I must have got a puncture". What might I say in AmE? (I wouldn't say "I must have run over a nail", because it may have been some other sharp object that caused the puncture.)


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## Myridon

CaptainZero said:


> I never realised until I read this thread that AmE doesn't like to use the word "puncture". If I see that my car has a flat tyre, and the tyre happens to be new, and I recently put air in it, I'd conclude that it didn't just leak air and go flat. I'd say "I must have got a puncture". What might I say in AmE? (I wouldn't say "I must have run over a nail", because it may have been some other sharp object that caused the puncture.)


All you know is that your tire is losing air. Assuming it's a puncture is not much better than assuming it's a nail.  Could be a bad valve stem.  Could be a problem with the seal around the rim. Could be...
Many of these things are more likely with a new tire - it wasn't installed correctly, it was faulty to begin with, ...


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## CaptainZero

OK, granted. But if my new tyre suddenly goes flat, causing me to veer across the road as I'm driving, I'd conclude it had been punctured. Would I not then say, in AmE, "I must have got a puncture"?


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## Myridon

CaptainZero said:


> OK, granted. But if my new tyre suddenly goes flat, causing me to veer across the road as I'm driving, I'd conclude it had been punctured. Would I not then say, in AmE, "I must have got a puncture"?


You've had a blow out. It's not likely at all to be a puncture.


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## CaptainZero

Yes, but the point is that I've concluded it was a puncture, and I'm speaking on that basis. That also applies to my post #27.


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## Myridon

Why would I jump to a conclusion like that?  I'm concluding my tire was shot out by cloaked Klingon warships.  
We don't say "puncture" because we don't assume everything is a puncture.


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## CaptainZero

OK, I'll have one last try. My new tyre suddenly goes flat while I'm driving. It's not a blowout, just a rapid loss of pressure. It seems to me that I must have run over something sharp. In BrE/AusE I'd say "I must have got a puncture". If you also arrived at the conclusion that you'd most probably run over some sharp object, what would you say? "I must have run over something sharp"? That seems a bit wordy to me.


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## Myridon

CaptainZero said:


> "I must have run over something sharp"? That seems a bit wordy to me.


"Puncture" seems a bit formal to me.  A puncture is a small round hole caused by something shaped like a needle.  I may have run over a jagged piece of metal and torn a large gash in my tire.  I may have hit a pothole and separated it from the rim or caused a impact bruise that then blew out.
Punctures were a big deal back when there was an inner tube inside the tire.  Steel-belted radial tires are less suseptable to puctures and have different problems.


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## sdgraham

I cannot recall anyone ever saying "I have a puncture" in AE. 
(And I fixed many a "flat"  when I worked in a service station/truck stop in my younger days. )


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## CaptainZero

OK. What I'm still trying to determine (even though I said before that it was my last try ), is what you'd say in the event of the scenario I gave in post #33.


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## kentix

"I must have run over something."


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## LVRBC

CaptainZero said:


> OK. What I'm still trying to determine (even though I said before that it was my last try ), is what you'd say in the event of the scenario I gave in post #33.


I would say "D*G* it to F*Hell, I've got a flat; must have run over a nail or something."


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## zaffy

LVRBC said:


> *I've got a flat*; must have run over a nail or something.



"A flat" is a casual way of saying "a flat tire", isn't it? Does BE use it too?


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## sound shift

zaffy said:


> "A flat" is a casual way of saying "a flat tire", isn't it? Does BE use it too?


I don't. I don't know whether other BE speakers do.


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## Wordy McWordface

I wouldn't say "I've got a flat".  I'd say "I've got a flat tyre". 

It only takes a millisecond longer to say and it avoids any ambiguity in BrE (i.e., you won't get anyone saying "Congratulations, when are you moving in?").

Like Sound Shift, I don't know whether other BrE speakers say "I've got a flat". It can't recall hearing it.


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## Roxxxannne

My tire suddenly loses a lot of air and I veer across the road at 55 mph but I manage to stay in control enough to avoid spinning off the road.  I call home and say "My tire blew out on [the highway, route 27, wherever]."  In the first sentence of the phone call I don't explain which tire because adrenalin is still racing through my body.

I'm about to get into my car when I see that the left front tire is flat.  I say to the neighborhood in general, "Shit! I got a flat."/"Another flat?!??"/ etc.

I think the steering feels a little off so I check the tire pressure.  The right front tire pressure is low and the tire looks a little "saggy."  "Hmm, must be a leak. Maybe there's a nail in it [see Myridon, #24]."


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## kentix

Yeah, no ambiguity here. A flat can't be an apartment and can only be a tire, especially in a transportation context.


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## Uncle Jack

"Flat" in relation to a tyre is an ordinary everyday word for me, but this is in the context of railway wheels, where a "flat" means a flat spot in the steel surface, from where the stationary wheel (with brakes applied) has slid along the rail head. 

Even though I am familiar with AmE "flat" meaning a flat car tyre, I still don't think I would say it myself.


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## Linkway

Roxxxannne said:


> and say "My tire blew out on [the highway



I say that  "tire blew out" is NOT the same as "tire flat".

If a tire blew out, it was badly damaged and cannot be repaired simply by mending a puncture repair.


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## Roxxxannne

Linkway said:


> I say that  "tire blew out" is NOT the same as "tire flat".
> 
> If a tire blew out, it was badly damaged and cannot be repaired simply by mending a puncture repair.


I agree.  Having your tire blow out so that you veer across the highway is not the same as its going flat due to a puncture.


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## Packard

I had a new roof put on.  The roofer did not sweep up all the old nails and I drove over one which punctured the tire but did not allow the air to escape.  

A few days later the “low air pressure” indicator went on and I added air and saw the nail imbedded in the tread.  

So a punctured tire does not necessarily mean a flat tire.  And sometimes the air will not leak out for several days.

So a tire repair shop may say, “It looks like a nail puncture.  I can plug that right away.”

But a driver will say, “I have a flat” or “My tire is low [in pressure]” or “I think I am getting a flat.  It looks low to me.”

Blowouts were a frequent occurrence in tires with tubes.  Tubeless tires (almost all passenger tires are tubeless) almost never experience blowouts.


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