There is a lot of construction around my work ... picked up a sheetmetal screw in my right front. The screw is set below the tread and is centered on the tire. It does not affect drivability, other than the annoying ticking sound. I only have 7000 miles on the tires, so replacement isn't an option, yet. The tire does not leak (checked w/ soapy water), but I want to get it repair soon.

In the past, I have had real bad luck with external plugs leaking. Has anyone had experience with internal plugs? Patches? Recommendations?

Thanks,

 

From what I've heard and read, you want it patched (from the inside) and NOT plugged (from the outside). Patching is they only way to go for performance tires -- or so I'm told.

 

I ran over a wooden stake in my rear tire, which caused a slow leak. It had to be fixed. They patched the tire and it worked fine. I had about 3000 miles on the tire, and now it has 5000 miles, with no other problems

 

I worked at Discount Tire back in the college days - definately go with the patch on the inside - if they plug it, tell them to unplug it and patch it from the inside. Both processes require the tire to be taken off the rim, but only a few extra minutes to patch it up. You've gotta grind down a little bit of the rubber inside the tire so there is something for the glue to stick to when the patch is applied. The plug, well, its just a plug that's threaded through.

 

I run over nails all the time (NYC hazard) in my GSX (Nitto 501s and 550s)and I always had them patched/plugged with no problems. I think it all depends on where the screw is on the tire. Since you said it's centered and not on the sides I don't think it will be a problem.

 

Take it to Discount. They will most likely fix it for free.
You will probably have to pay for the ballancing though.

 

My rear tire was fixed by Discount Tire at no charge after I caught a screw or nail in the middle of the tread.

They patched the tire (from the inside) and balanced it.

When I went to pick it up, I explained that the spare was in the front because of the LSD, so they took the spare off the front, put it back in the storage area, moved the rear tire to the front again and put the patched rear back on. Then they checked the torque on all four wheels and checked the tire pressure on all four wheels plus the spare.

All at no charge! Excellent customer service!

 

Cool, thanks. Off to my neighborhood Discount Tire then.

I love this board.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by TFota:
[B]

All at no charge!