An Insidious Problem.

While much is being publicized about motorists falling victim to tyre spiking gangs across South Africa both in traditional as well as social media, we felt it necessary to issue the following statement and do so as a proudly South African local manufacturer and marketer of a range of high quality tyre sealants/puncture preventative products.

We lend a professional stand point with Mr Mike Bolhuis in his recent stance and opinion that there is no tyre sealant anywhere in the world that will suitably and reliably protect motorists from the extreme form of tyre spikes that these gangs lay out (mostly) in the dark waiting for unsuspecting motorists.

These “strips” are low tech but brutally efficient at achieving the goal of incapacitating a vehicle and we want to categorically state as a concerned South African company and in the interest of South African public safety that tyre sealant products using current technologies are largely ineffective against these vehicle stoppers that frequently rip entire rims, brakes and suspension systems off the vehicle.

The problem, by it’s very nature, goes far beyond the tyre itself and no sealant made by ourselves or any other manufacturer is currently, or likely ever will be, capable of leaving a victim’s vehicle unscathed and any tyre sealant manufacturer or brand that claims otherwise is guilty of spreading very dangerous misinformation about the nature of these insidious devices as it would lull the motorist into a false sense of security. Any sense of security that a motorist has would only detract from the ONLY DEFENSE HE/SHE HAS and that is one is to observe the following as a very real part of motoring in SA:

· Consciously be aware of the problem at all times, especially at night.
· Wherever possible avoid travel at night all together
· Reduce your speed at night and be hyper aware of what is directly in front of you at all times. Be extra sure, before you leave on your journey, that you will enjoy 100% distraction-free motoring.
· Inform third parties of your destination, route of travel and expected arrival times and report in to them when you arrive safely. Wherever possible, leverage technology and share your trip via Google Maps.
· Be aware of spike hotspots around the country and those that fall in the areas that you travel. There is a lot of information being publicized by people like Mr Bolhuis and other fine organizations on social media. Familiarize yourself with the content and do NOT regard it as something horrible that happened to somebody else. It could be you next if you frequent these hotspots when there are alternate routes you could take.

SureSeal does enjoy a few anecdotal "real case studies" where our products have assisted at some level in spiking incidents and our opinion, to draw an analogy, is that it is better to have a flak jacket in a battle than not have one, but it will do nothing to save your tyres from the type of “artillery pieces” being left on our South African roads. We are of the opinion that it is better to have SureSeal than it is to not have it in the face of a spiking incident, but we stand vehemently opposed to any tyre sealant company making tyre spiking claims.

If you want to arrive at your destination without having to stop at the side of the road (also risky today) to change a wheel, then a quality tyre sealant is your very best bet, but it is NOT a solution to the tyre spike pandemic South Africa is facing.