Flat Tires And Breakdowns

[JJReyes]

If you had a flat tire or breakdown in the Philippines while driving, what would you do?

I recently had a roadside flat on the RV. It was just a matter of calling AAA (American Automobile Association). They sent a repair person to do the tire change on the spot. The tow truck was in the event the roadside was too dangerous. My premium membership allows up to 100 miles of free towing. 

 

[Mike J]

Assuming you have a spare tire, you could get pretty much anyone to change it along side the road for a few peso.  A breakdown depends a lot on what you are driving and where you are.  Almost every town and village will have at least a shade tree mechanic who can fix a multicab, or simple repair on other vehicles unless parts are required.    We limped into a small town with our X-Trail.  We then had to call a tow truck out of Cebu City to come tow our vehicle to the Nissan dealer, also in Cebu City.  Round trip for the tow was about 160 kilometers and the cost was 8,500 peso.  Expensive, but this was a professional tow truck with experienced driver.  Speaking of flat tires, you will be AMAZED at how often you get flats here.  I do not recall having a flat in at least the last 20 years of my driving in the USA.  Here you can just about count on having two or three flats a year.  We are in the province, might be better or worse if living in the city.  Our mechanic, from Italy, says it is due to the poor quality of the tires.

[scott h]

8 hours ago, JJReyes said:

If you had a flat tire

 

7 minutes ago, Mike J said:

anyone to change it

I have only had one flat tire, knock on wood . and as Mike said I had barely gotten the trunk (boot to you left side drivers) when, presto, a security guard appeared. This guy (or chap) took over, changed the tire, wife slipped him 300 peso or so and we were on our way.

Break downs here? I am really not to concerned. If I cant find a tow truck any guy with a rope and a vehicle will be able to get me to a garage. That is one advantage of living here. No shortage of folks around that for the price of a meal you can get these type of things taken care of.

[mogo51]

26 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Assuming you have a spare tire, you could get pretty much anyone to change it along side the road for a few peso.  A breakdown depends a lot on what you are driving and where you are.  Almost every town and village will have at least a shade tree mechanic who can fix a multicab, or simple repair on other vehicles unless parts are required.    We limped into a small town with our X-Trail.  We then had to call a tow truck out of Cebu City to come tow our vehicle to the Nissan dealer, also in Cebu City.  Round trip for the tow was about 160 kilometers and the cost was 8,500 peso.  Expensive, but this was a professional tow truck with experienced driver.  Speaking of flat tires, you will be AMAZED at how often you get flats here.  I do not recall having a flat in at least the last 20 years of my driving in the USA.  Here you can just about count on having two or three flats a year.  We are in the province, might be better or worse if living in the city.  Our mechanic, from Italy, says it is due to the poor quality of the tires.

Same here in Pattaya Mike, I have had at least 6 flat tyres in 7 years, more than my entire life back in Oz.  Tyre quality  (for bikes) is the problem I believe.

[jpbago]

8 hours ago, JJReyes said:

If you had a flat tire or breakdown in the Philippines while driving, what would you do?

From what I have seen many times, you stop your vehicle in the fast lane. Then you and 3 others stand around blocking the rest of the road while one person sits on the road and takes the tire off with a crescent wrench. One other person is pissing on the side of the road. Then someone on a m/c takes the tire to a nearby vulcan shop while leaving the vehicle on a scissor jack in the fast lane. Traffic is backed up for 2 kilometers, horns are blowing, black smoke is in the air, and someone is walking among the cars selling water and chicharrones. 2 hours later, the tire comes back, it is installed and life goes on.

[Queenie O.]

Investing in heavy duty name brand tires and having a good spare helps to cut down on potential flats. There are always vulcanizing shops around that can fix a flat pretty quickly if need be. With our old Mitsubishi Pajero in the past, if a minor breakdown occurred you could most always find a local mechanic shop that could help. We've even asked around if in the province during a breakdown along the road and paid a habalhabal driver to transport a nearby local mechanic to work on the vehicle right on the spot.

In our town we bring all our vehicles for servicing to a great local mechanic shop. The mechanics will even come out no matter where in Cebu they told us,  if we call them in case of an emergency.

I was surprised when doing research early on before we moved here, that in Cebu City there is such a thing as the services of AAA type affiliate.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Queenie O.

[robert k]

1 hour ago, Mike J said:

Assuming you have a spare tire, you could get pretty much anyone to change it along side the road for a few peso.  A breakdown depends a lot on what you are driving and where you are.  Almost every town and village will have at least a shade tree mechanic who can fix a multicab, or simple repair on other vehicles unless parts are required.    We limped into a small town with our X-Trail.  We then had to call a tow truck out of Cebu City to come tow our vehicle to the Nissan dealer, also in Cebu City.  Round trip for the tow was about 160 kilometers and the cost was 8,500 peso.  Expensive, but this was a professional tow truck with experienced driver.  Speaking of flat tires, you will be AMAZED at how often you get flats here.  I do not recall having a flat in at least the last 20 years of my driving in the USA.  Here you can just about count on having two or three flats a year.  We are in the province, might be better or worse if living in the city.  Our mechanic, from Italy, says it is due to the poor quality of the tires.

I carry tools, spare, water, 12V tire inflator because I don't want to change the tire but I will if a blowout. That is for low tech used vehicles.

I'm buying new this time so tools, spare, water and tire inflator! I like to walk, but only when I choose to do so.

[kalibojerry]

Wow what can I say here in Kalibo Aklan I have had a tire just blow up in my carport early one morning if you looked at the tires you would say what's up the tires looked new it was on my Multicab the tire shop told me I should change all the tires because I did not know how old they were ,after that I started asking questions everyone told me that the bran of tires were not that good, mechanic I found a good one that is honest and really knows how to fix cars he works at the Petron station not to far from my place and that is important to have as there are a lot of them out there that just want your money and for you to keep coming back been there I had one from the dealership were I bought my car, the guy cost me some money that I should have never spent 

 

[Dave Hounddriver]

15 minutes ago, kalibojerry said:

my Multicab

Dang, I thought you sold that last year.  But I hear what you are saying about an honest mechanic.  I learned a long time ago that if you find one then he is worth giving a tip to.  That way he hurries back to help when you have another problem and its still cheaper than paying a dishonest one.  Now the trick is to find the honest one.

 

[OnMyWay]

1 hour ago, Queenie O. said:

Investing in heavy duty name brand tires and having a good spare helps to cut down on potential flats.

When I was young, dumb, broke and drove older cars, I learned the hard lessons of driving on crappy tires.

No more.  Now I consider tires to be one of the most important components of a vehicle, so I replace them at the first signs of trouble.  This is even more important here in a very hot climate with many poor roads.

I still have tread left on my current BF Goodrich SUV tires, and they have only 45k KM on them, but I am shopping for new ones.  The worst flat, and the most dangerous,  is a high speed flat where the tires fly apart.  I drive on SCTEX a lot, so I worry about this.  Considering Yokohama this time as I have had good luck with a few of those in the past.