mikey stone

have a nail in my rear driver-side tire. pressure has been slowly going down over the past 2 weeks but i didnt notice any change in the handling of the car. i filled the tire today to approx 38 psi (i know this is too high), and immediately noticed the car pulling significantly to the right under acceleration.

i let out some of the air to get back to 32 psi and got a $2 guage to check the pressure and the 'pulling' seemed to subside a bit -- not sure how accurate the guage is.

im looking for a good tire shop close to the beverly hills area where i can take the tire and have it fixed or replaced. can a nail hole be patched, or does it require a new tire? tires have 11.3K miles on them -- new with car, never been tracked , so i would like to hang on to them for another few miles.

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

TR-S2K

You should post this in Southern California forum. You will more helps from local members.

F355FTS

You want to plug it. You can buy the kit from walmart and do it yourself. Or any tire store will do it for like $10.

Patching it costs a lot more since they have to remount your tire.

Just plug it. I have never seen a plug fail.

Project22a

Pretty much any tire place can do it for cheap, it's a pretty hard thing to screw up, so I really doubt there is a "best place" in your area that does it significantly better than another place. Just go to whatever tire place you can find; even Sears or Costco can do it for you. If the place is half decent, they'll rebalance your wheel after they plug/patch it for no additional cost.

CaptainMike

You are incorrect. You should always patch.
Never plug a speed rated tire.
I have seen plugs fail, and the results can be both catastrophic and fatal.

From tire rack:Any repair attempted without removing the tire from the wheel is improper. Without inspecting the inside of the tire for hidden damage comes the risk of returning a weakened tire to service. Punctures in the tread area that looked repairable have revealed upon further investigation that the object that punctured the tire had been long enough to cut the tire's sidewall from the inside. Without dismounting the tire, the hidden damage would have been missed.

Simply plugging a tire from the outside without removing the tire from the wheel is improper. (If a tire is punctured while off-roading far away from civilization and a spare tire isn't available, a plug may serve as a temporary low speed solution that must be replaced with a proper repair as soon as possible upon returning to the road.)

Additionally, any repair that doesn't completely fill the path the object took through the tire is incomplete. While a patch on the inside of the tire reseals the innerliner, it does not fill the path of the puncture. This will allow moisture to reach the steel belts and/or the casing cords causing them to rust or deteriorate.

There are many different rubber compounds used in a tire. The tire's innerliner uses a special rubber compound that has the ability to better retain air. Once punctured, the innerliner must be cleaned, buffed, cemented, patched and coated to assure its ability to retain air has been restored. Since this can only be done from inside the tire, it's another reason that a plug-only repair is improper.

Continuing to drive on a tire with a slow leak may allow moisture to seep around the object and into the tire. This will reduce the probability that the tire can be repaired properly because the moisture will ultimately reach the internal steel and fabric cords used to reinforce the tire and possibly cause rust and loss of strength. To assure reestablishing a watertight seal the injury must be cleaned with a specially designed cutting drill that removes rust and sizes the injury properly to accept the rubber stem of the patch. Cemented in place, the stem will vulcanize with the tire to help prevent moisture from reaching the tire's reinforcing cords from the outside.

While indoor laboratory tests have shown that freshly punctured and properly repaired speed rated tires can still achieve high speeds, it is not recommended that repaired street tires, or punctured DOT-legal competition tires and racing slicks be used for track events.

How do you know which procedures a tire dealer uses? Ask them! But be aware that if they say they can repair a tire in 10 minutes for under $10 dollars without removing it from the wheel, they aren't following the Rubber Manufacturer's Association procedures. A correctly done flat repair that follows the multi-step repair procedures will take approximately 30 minutes and probably cost around $20. Driving on an improperly repaired tire is dangerous because it can further damage the tire and/or allow its strength to deteriorate over time. An improperly repaired tire driven at high speeds may suddenly fail, causing loss of vehicle control. Additionally, the use of an innertube as a substitute for a proper repair generates additional heat and should not be considered.

F355FTS

Yes the plug could fail. You can also get hit by a falling meteor. Or by the old lady who can see but likes to drive at nite.

Yes if i owned a multimillion dollar tire distributorship i would have my lawayers write up a statement to cover my ass also.

If the tire is damaged so badly that a plug is not safe then fixing the tire at all is not safe.

There are also those lovely Firestone tires that are unsafe brand new.

People are scared stupid any more.

Plugs are fine for 95% of punctures if your not sure then ask someone who knows.

CaptainMike

You are giving out lousy advice.

Patch, don't plug.