How hard is it to stab a tyre?

[Arnold Cunningham]

I know this sounds bonkers, but I've just had my mum (90) round telling me she thinks her partner (83) has slashed the front tyre of her car.
I don't have a spare tyre to sacrifice - but how hard do you actually have to stab an inflated tyre with a kitchen knife to penetrate it?

I am really struggling to believe that it'd be possible for an old man (he's an old 83, not a young 83) to get down on all fours, stab the tyre with enough force to puncture it and then get back up again off the floor - let alone that I don't think he's the type of person who would do it anyway.

I think she's (again) hit a curb and got a "pinch puncture".

Does anyone have a knackered tyre in the garage they could have a go on, please? Or have experience of slashing tyres that they could comment on?
Thank you.

[magpie215]

Sidewall is easy

[Blib]

Has she asked him whether he did?

[Caddyshack]

My experience of a mother-in-law with dementia means that she thinks her stories are very real…often based on just slivers of real events.

[DevestatinDave]

Sharp knife through the sidewall is pretty easy

[rallye101]

Dead easy....not for an old 83yr old though to be fair

Edited by rallye101 on Thursday 2nd November 20:44

[Lozw86]

Does this sound likely based in his personality and behaviour?


Maybe he paid a hit man to puncture it?


Is it a run flat tyre?

[Watchthis]

Caddyshack said:

My experience of a mother-in-law with dementia means that she thinks her stories are very real…often based on just slivers of real events.

My first thought was that's the sort of thing someone with early dementia would come out with based on my experience. I hope I'm wrong

[Arnold Cunningham]

She’s becoming quite paranoid, so yes, I think there is an issue. Was convinced the Volvo garage burnt out the clutch on her V50 earlier in the year and that it couldn’t possibly have been her.

But on the basis of “one thing at a time”, in my view, I don’t think an “old” 83 year old would be capable of getting down on his hands and knees, stabbing a car tyre and then getting back up again. Let alone I don’t think he’s the type.

[swisstoni]

I don’t know what I’d be prouder of. Still driving at 90 or being a bit of a firebrand at 83.

[FMOB]

Probably better off asking some XR loons how easy that is.

[Watchthis]

I agree, its unlikely an 83yr old would have the ability to do that. Not impossible, but unlikely

[Lo-Fi]

Lozw86 said:

Does this sound likely based in his personality and behaviour?


Maybe he paid a kwikfit man to puncture it?


Is it a run flat tyre?

[Pica-Pica]

Watchthis said:

I agree, its unlikely an 83yr old would have the ability to do that. Not impossible, but unlikely

I know a few of that age who could physically do it, probably not have the inclination to though.

[GreenV8S]

Arnold Cunningham said:

She’s becoming quite paranoid, so yes, I think there is an issue.

I'd say that how likely it is somebody slashed the tyre is not the issue.

The fact that very few people that age are actually competent to drive is by far the bigger problem. Even without the possibility of dementia, eyesight and reaction times are problematic for most people way before then. Adding suspected dementia into the mix while being in control of something as dangerous as a car would scare the hell out of me. If not now, when is she going to stop?

[Arnold Cunningham]

Yes, very aware of this too. I make sure I occasionally drive with her - she's still a decent driver overall (my benchmark is - would I let her take my kids somewhere) and the answer, at least currently, is yes. She doesn't appear like 90 at all - if you met her you'd easily think she was still under 80. Was playing 2 rounds of golf a week until 87!

But I am keeping a close eye.

[Caddyshack]

In the last few months we have had the Police call us 3 times, the mother in law claimed to have had men in her house setting fire to it, climbing on her roof and running about her garden….obvs nobody there at all but to her it was 100% real.

If you met her you would think she is perfectly normal.

[Arnold Cunningham]

Caddyshack said:

In the last few months we have had the Police call us 3 times, the mother in law claimed to have had men in her house setting fire to it, climbing on her roof and running about her garden….obvs nobody there at all but to her it was 100% real.

If you met her you would think she is perfectly normal.

Yeah, this is the challenge, isn't it. My mum would appear completely normal, and more than a decade, both mentally & physically, younger than she really is. But I am starting to see a pattern of behaviour here. First things first, if I can, is I just want to disprove this bonkers tyre slashing theory, and then I can use that to build the rest of the case around it.

[TGCOTF-dewey]

It's definitely worth trying to get her assessed. If nothing else, if she is starting with it, some of the drugs can delay its progression.

[jeremyc]

Arnold Cunningham said:

Yeah, this is the challenge, isn't it. My mum would appear completely normal, and more than a decade, both mentally & physically, younger than she really is. But I am starting to see a pattern of behaviour here. First things first, if I can, is I just want to disprove this bonkers tyre slashing theory, and then I can use that to build the rest of the case around it.

I'd suggest this is not the correct approach: you are on a hiding to nothing trying to disprove what she thinks happened. Now she has this idea her cognitive decline is not likely to allow her to accept any other explanation.

Much better in my experience is to simply help her fix the problem (get a new tyre fitted) and she will soon forget about the episode (more likely it will be replaced by some even more fantastic story to explain another event).

Good luck!