I’m currently binge-watching for the second time the excellent British cop series “Inspector George Gently,” which is set in the 1960s. In today’s episode, the Inspector fires a single bullet into each front tire of the bad guy’s car to prevent him from pursuing. The shot immediately and completely deflates each tire.
That wouldn’t happen with a modern tire, would it? I mean, in days of old, I’ve driven around with a nail in my tire for I don’t know how long and didn’t even notice it until I actually looked at the tire and saw the nail.
According to these guys’ tests, it does indeed depend on the bullet. A 9mm will flatten a tire about as well as a nail. A rifle or a shotgun is an instant flat, though.
“With a nail in it” isn’t really comparable to a bullet. First, bullets are much larger in diameter than nails, and a bullet hole can be larger yet. Second, a nail in a tire will usually stick in the tire and plug its own hole.
Old tires are sometimes used as backstops for backyard gun ranges. From what I’ve heard and read, though, ricochets are not uncommon when using handgun rounds and low-caliber rifle rounds (e.g. .22LR). I am assuming this is due to the steel belts and curvature of the tires, with the latter affecting the angle of impact.
Not necessarily, if fired head on it would go thru the steel belts & then hit the rim; depending upon the bullet it may or may not have enough force to do damage/go thru the rim. If I was shooting out a tire, I’d shoot out the weaker sidewall, then you’d probably get an entry & exit hole.
This speaks to my question. I have the idea (as an ordinary driver, not a tire expert *) that modern tires are built to withstand assaults from the outside in ways that hadn’t been invented in the 1960s. Did tires back then still have inner tubes?
There’s the scene in older movies where someone easily sticks an icepick in a tire and it deflates immediately. Could a person of average upper-body strength be able to drive an icepick into a modern tire with one thrust?
In this show, Inspector Gently shot at the tires with a small gun (borrowed, because even though he was a cop, he did not own a gun and rarely carried one)–not the kind that has the bullets in the handle, but the kind with a cylinder that you put bullets into. (Aside: I know nothing about guns.*) He fired one shot into each tire, immediately whoosh!, tire instantly flat.
* You might well ask, what does ThelmaLou know anything about? Cashew fudge, that’s what.
Every so often you read a news story of some neighborhood waking up to tire vandalism & 30-40 tires are flat across 15 or so cars, with some having one flat & some needing to be flatbedded to the shop to get four new tires. The sidewalls aren’t nearly as strong as the road surface & can be punctured.
I’m not an expert, but my father was a tire designer and I know a little bit about them. I’ve also attended demonstrations of run-flat and other “bullet resistant” tires for military and security vehicles.
A round from a handgun fired into the sidewall of a tire will be pretty effective. It’s basically a pressure vessel and the sidewalls are not really intended to take a puncture, especially when the object does not remain in place. I’m sure that some small caliber bullets might fail to penetrate, but I believe that most will (.22 LR, .32 ACP, .380, 9 mm, .38 SP, .357 magnum, etc.) Demonstrations I’ve seen have included 9 mm, .223, and 7.62x39 rounds fired into an “ordinary” tire and then into an ACME Super-Tough High-Security Run-Flat Absolutely Bulletproof Tire Made by The Best Defense Company. The ordinary tire didn’t stand a chance.
Tire tread, on the other hand, varies a lot more. I’ve used various tires for backstops and sometimes the round penetrates and sometimes it doesn’t. Depends on the type of tire. But (and it’s a big but), they were not inflated at the time.
As far as an ice pick…yeah, I can tell you from actual experience that an ice pick, screwdriver, or thin bladed knife will flatten a tire when applied to the side wall. Doesn’t take as much pressure as one might think.
Easily, if it’s reasonably sharp. The steel belts are just a mesh of wires. Thin, sharp objects can go right between them. That’s just for the tread. The sidewall isn’t even belted at all.
Yes. I had the unfortunate opportunity to see that, when the link arm joints wore away. Front tires looked fine from the outside, but if you bent down to look, the inner edge had a fine array of tiny wires sticking out most of the way around - both of them. Oh well, they had enough mileage on them it was about time for a new set anyway - and then get the car serviced. The fun part was sitting in the car on top of a flatbed tow truck all the way to the nearest town.
OTOH, angle matters. The only time I was firing a rifle (303) we were shooting at a spray can of paint from a distance, and the first good shot ricocheted off the side of the can without puncturing it.
I always wonder why police don’t shoot at the tires of escaping cars in those Hollywood dramas. I guess a less dramatic car chase. Meanwhile, shots from the front rarely seem to affect the radiator, unless it’s central to the plot.
I highly recommend the 2007 series Inspector George Gently. Great straight-arrow cop, reminiscent of Christopher Foyle. I’d like to shoot Gently’s Sargeant John, however. I’ll bet he’d deflate instantly.
