hey guys just wanted some feedback. i recently got a nail in my driverside rear advan, it is close to the sidewall but still in the tread. after looking at it and giving it the water test, it is slowly leaking which sucks but it could still be worst. the tire guy said he could plug and patch it but i don't think iam going that route. I ask myself "why cut corners with this car". i just could'nt see myself pluging the tire so i just bought a new one instead. ans yeah they are not cheap, 316 installed. 30k for the car with a patched tire iam sorry i just could'nt do that. what would you guys do.

 

If the puncture is on the tread and not the sidewall I would get the tire patched, not plugged but patched. Its a process where they unmount the tire, apply the patch, then light a match to fill the entire pucture. I have never had any issues with this on any tires and it was only like 7 dollars.

 

I had plugged one of mine right after getting the car in 03. I bought a DIY kit for like 5 bucks. I wouldnt go autox with it but street use should be ok.

 

I plugged one on the sidewall, just after the tread blocks ended on the shoulder of the tire. Hell, I even autocrossed with it on the rear a half dozen times. Eventually the tire developed a tear north-south from the hole, but it went about 6,000 miles.

 

well thats good to know, but i ended up replacing the tire instead.

 

I had a big screw on the same position as you described (passenger side though) so I took my car to a tire shop and they used a plug. It's been like 4 months and the tire is like it never had the screw, no matter how hard I drive the car all tires work flawlessly.

 

I'm sure that you realize that replacing single tires on and AWD car is not good at all, you can screw up the drivetrain. You are supposed to replace all 4 at once. Hopefully your 3 older tires have a lot of tread left...

 

Those brown sticky plugs dont work too well and there is a good chance something may happen down the road. A patch however is still your best bet.

 

i have a nail in mine, its still in the tread part, but when i took it to a tire place they said that they couldnt patch it b/c it was too close to the curveature of the tire inside? is that BS? a patch is on the inside and it fills the hole so why would it matter as long as it wasnt in the sidewall?

 

i don't think i have to worry about the other three tire. the car has 1,800 miles with no launching or hard corning

 

I had a ZR rated tire plugged once, but I had it done by a high end tire shop (not a PepBoys). The tire handle 169 mph with out incident (not that I'd recommend doing that) and it lasted until I wore the tires down to the cords.

Actually most chain outfits won't even touch Z rated tires or at least that's what they told me when I asked them.

 

You should be ok then...

 

$7 it cost me $25, but yeah patching the tire is a good solution I just wouldn't take it to the track just to be safe.

 

Buying a new tire was a waste of $$$. I use to work at Discount Tire and I've repaired hundreds of tires. If the repair is done properly with a plug-patch, you would have nothing to worry about. Even the tire manufactures say it's perfectly safe.