My first thoughts are either simple bad luck, or making sure that you're running appropriate tyre pressures, taking into consideration that it's carrying a fair bit of weight with the camper conversion

 

I'd be getting it on a weigh bridge, front, back and total, then make sure the tyres fitted are designed for the weight, with a suitable safety margin. Then make sure the tyres are inflated to the correct pressure, as low pressure causes heat buildup, and subsequent failure.

 

Neighbour with a grudge?

 

There is an extraordinary amount of detritus on the roads that comes down to luck mostly as to what you collect. Every single car I’ve had, has had multiple punctures from screws, nails, rivets you name it.

Then it’s a case of luck if it’s repairable or new tyre time. Had one on the Alpine at a smidge over 300 miles from new - that was repairable. I had one on the Taycan at around 100 miles from new and that was a compete new front tyre at over £350. Had another on the Zoe we had when our new tyres on that too. Model X had several over the years. I could go on. Every single car ever.

It’s a game of chance.

Last month I was collecting my son from a Scout camp and one of the dads was underneath his car trying to extract this beauty from his rear tyre…

 

AFAIK the tyres you have are a 92H version, & the same size I have on my considerably lighter Ioniq 38. I suggest switching to Goodyear Efficient Grip 205/60 R16 96H which is a heavier & stronger construction.

 

I have now done some head-scratching after receiving some very mixed and (I suspect) not as well informed commentary by car engineers over this last 18 months.
I have been wanting to fit Goodyear for some time now, but the accidents have caused
me to fit what the "emergency" garage offered - i.e. always Continental. Some of them rate Continental, but I now don't think that is the issue. My reasoning is now as follows, and I invite anyone to comment:
1. The car that was converted to a camper is a 5-seater Combo e-Life, fitted with ev Michelin tyres. The pressure advice on the door was presum,ably correct for that vehicle (fully loaded)
2. The conversion arguably added weight, although Wheelhome conversions suggested it would make little difference from a 5-people load.
3. The replacement tyres (4 all at the rear) have been 3 x Continental (not ev spec) and one ev Michelin.
4. I currently have two Continentals on the front wheels and they still present no problem at Combo car pressure.
5. I have looked at the pressure for the Combo ev van, fully loaded, and the pressure stated is much higher that for the ev-Life car. I have now set the rear tyre pressure higher (45 psi against a tyre max of 51 psi). It ran well on that yesterday for 115 miles home.
6. I think I am now minded to shell out a stack of money for ev tyres for the Combo van (not the car) and put them on the rear. I can't do that immediately because I am off to Orkney on Thursday this week!

I hope I am right in my logic to resolve this problem which must go back to the first puncture and the subsequent fitting of the wrong tyres!

 

You said “punctured to extinction” in your OP but you seem to be implying the the rears have failed for other reasons - so not really punctured (by a foreign body actually piercing the tyre tread / carcass) at all?

 

Not sure how each puncture happened. I believe they were all "punctures", but I question why I get caught out so often and always on the rear tyres. The first one was a genuine, no-surprise nail. The others were all in the tyre wall and looked like cuts or splits. In two cases I drove (unwittingly) too far on the damage and so ruined the tyre, even if it had been a mendable puncture (which I don't know.) It was a real shock to me that I didn't know quickly enough that I had a puncture. I now get very anxious if the tyre pressure warning light comes on for any reason.

 

Can you tell us what's the spec of the Combo van tyres you're considering plz? I wonder if they're just a standard tyre but at a higher load rating = 96H or similar rather than your 92H, or are they a sunstantially different construction that's designed to be driven over kerbs and nails at speed by white-van-man? In which case they might be great for you (not that you drive like that though ) for damage resistance, but the Rolling Resistance might knock your range down noticeably. Given the details of your proposed tyre, we may be able to estimate the range effect.

 

I will try to find out what my local garage man might suggest as a guide for "ev van man". I might not get to grips with this before I head off to Orkney. Hoever, I have bought a new hand-held tyre compressor, just in case!

 

The inside rear tyre, especially for a van or other long vehicle, turns through a smaller radius than the front, so is closer to the side of the road where the worst of the debris has been shuffled by all the other traffic. I think that accounts for rear tyres getting punctures a little more often than front, and the nearside rear having a higher risk than the offside.

For tyre grade or rating, here's my take. It's not the considered opinion of a professional road safety expert, so take it with a generous pinch of salt.

1. Check the online services for the speed letter and load rating your car or van needs. In my case the load rating's listed by (for example) Goodyear online as 90, which isn't made in my size, so I choose a 92, and the speed's a humble M, so any speed rating will do.
2. Get tyres which are (of course) the exact size but equal or higher grade for speed and load.
3. The tyre will have a maximum rated pressure of 350 kPa (all XL tyres and most tyes for EVs) or 320 kPa (smaller, lighter-load tyres) and that's what the tyre makers designed and tested it to use at its maximum load. Those are 3.5 and 3.2 bar, or 51 and 46 psi.
4. Look up the actual axle weights for your vehicle, or for a camper conversion get it weighed and add its maximum load of passengers and Stuff, or estimate. The maximum axle loads may be on the door pillar sticker. Divide by 2 to get the expected maximum load on each tyre. (In my case the front axle's 1080 kg and the rear 1170.)
5. The high pressure for best tyre wear and best energy efficiency is likely to be TyreMaxPressure * CarMaxLoad / TyreMaxLoad. That runs the tyre at the same shape as its maker designed it for. (In my example, with 350 kPa XL tyres, this is 300 kPa front and 325 kPa rear, 44 and 47 psi.)
6. The lowest pressure you should use is the one on the car's door pillar sticker. But if the highest for the tyre as calculated above, is a bit more, that may work better -- unless you need best rally-car handling out of your tyres. If that highest pressure is less than the sticker value, be very worried.

XL tyres are generally just the ones with a higher load rating than non-XL of the same size, and higher rated pressure so as to carry that load.

 

This thread is very light on actual information, like the vehicle weight, and size / load rating of the tyres in question.

 

If I search on mytyres.co.uk for 205 60 R16, choose extra options & select C-type (Van) tyres, it comes up with a single Hankook offering. Efficiency rting in the dry is D - translates to Dismal! Going to clobber your range I expect.

Change the options instead to Extra Load/Reinforced and also Electric-optimised tyres, it finds a lot of choice.
These are the ones I'd consider, as I'd want an A rating for efficiency.

Michelin E Primacy 205/60 R16 96H XL EV £201 & A-rated for energy efficiency. Darned expensive! the 55 size is about half this! Avoid.

Continental EcoContact 6 - ContiRe.Tex 205/60 R16 96H XL CRM EVc £119.87 limited stock.
A-rated for efficiency. CRM means some recycledpolyester yarn, EVc means optimised for combustion. hybrid & Electric cars. (The A-rating for efficiency I guess).

Continental EcoContact 6 205/60 R16 96H XL CRM EVc £134.47 in stock. Looks the same tyre, but maybe a newer batch? Maybe a discount on the prev entry to clear out last-years run? I'd be tempted by that discount!

Continental EcoContact 6 205/60 R16 96W XL EVc £141.47 limited stock. High-speed tyre, no point. Avoid.
Continental EcoContact 6 205/60 R16 96W XL EVc £143.95 in stock. High-speed tyre, no point. Avoid.
Continental EcoContact 6 205/60 R16 96W XL EVc £150.83 in stock. Expensive. Avoid.
Continental EcoContact 6 205/60 R16 96W XL EVc £170.51 in stock. High-speed tyre, no point. Avoid.

Personally I'd jump on that £119.87, get them to post you a set or 6, and then you can take them whenever to your local convenient fitter at your leisure. That one looks a no-brainer bargain to me.

blackcircles.com seem to have a smaller choice, but similar tyre makes & sizes.

 

A search in asdatyres.co.uk finds a few, including Goodyear EfficientGrip Performance 2 205/60R16 GYEAR EFFIGRIP PERF 2 96H XL at a respectable price. Also a Hankook, the Continental and Michelin tyres already quoted. Worth checking -- same business as etyres.co.uk, who pioneered mobile tyre fitting but neither brand is anything special now.

 

Thanks for this. I am returned now from a 1650 mile trip with NO tyre problems, other than to pump up once, both rear. This seems to suggest that the higher tyre pressure is the answer for now - then I shall look into the Goodyear Efficient Grip.

I learned a lot through this experience and Speakev chat. Thanks all!

 

3 punctures in the first 6 months with my previous Audi etron.
So I was thinking is it the tyres, or the weight of the car?

Then none over the next 3 1/2 years.
So just a series of random events, that I tried to make fit a pattern to explain.

 

Whilst a Taxi driver i got a puncture on 5 consecutive days leaving an outpatients department of a local hospital.

 

There is a bin labelled "sharps" for things that can damage tyres inside the hospital.

Joking aside, I had the first puncture in 35 years and over 500,000 miles earlier this year after a trip to Heathrow. Fortunately I spotted the loss of pressure and filled it with air, saw it was slowly losing pressure and went straight to Micheldever tyre.. £30 for a puncture repair, but also I took my wife as a training trip for when I am no longer fit to get the car fixed.

 

EMMG whatever tyres you fit keep an eye on the wear pattern across the tyre. Too high & the centre will wear more, too low & the outer edges will wear more. Assuming same size front & back if you only change two tyres put them on the rear & best of others on front.
Online tyre suppliers usually have arrangemnts to get your tyres delivered to a tyre shop & to fit them for a charge.