Drats.. my focus has a flat... my right rear is flat.. FIXED! NAIL in the Tyre in between Treads.

[rival]

T-I -R-E

 

[Evadman]

Evadman, thanks for the good advice. That's exactly what my friend who works at Firestone said, to make sure they patch it instead of plugging it. I don't know what it means, but I sure am going to insist on it. Going to discount tire tomorrow.
Thanks.

Basicly there are 2 ways to fix a flat. one is to stick in a piece of rubber coated in rubber cement that is about 4" long intot he puncture. All that is holding it in is the rubber cement. This is a temorary fix, but one that many concider permenant.

The other is to stick that plug in, then use a self vulcinizing rubber patch on the inside of the tire. It is 2-3" in diameter and basicy adhears to the inside of the tire permenantly,a nd much better than rubber cement ever can. This is the only real way to fully patch the tire. You can tell if they do it this way by watching what they do to the tire. If they take it off the rim, they are doing it this way. it MUST come off the rim to do this.

Be aware, that both are still a patch. your tire now has a week spot, so go easy on it. They will probably tell you not to exceed the speed limit as the patch can fail. (which is possable since the tire is not "whole" any more) but you should be fine if you keep it senseable. no 120+ runs on that tire

little more info and a pic of repairable area.

 

[XMan]

Only Manjul would think to share the horrendous pain of having a flat tire with 100,000 of his closest . . . err . . . umm . . . friends.

My next thread: I cut myself shaving today.

 

[SuperTool]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Evadman, thanks for the good advice. That's exactly what my friend who works at Firestone said, to make sure they patch it instead of plugging it. I don't know what it means, but I sure am going to insist on it. Going to discount tire tomorrow.
Thanks.

Basicly there are 2 ways to fix a flat. one is to stick in a piece of rubber coated in rubber cement that is about 4" long intot he puncture. All that is holding it in is the rubber cement. This is a temorary fix, but one that many concider permenant.

The other is to stick that plug in, then use a self vulcinizing rubber patch on the inside of the tire. It is 2-3" in diameter and basicy adhears to the inside of the tire permenantly,a nd much better than rubber cement ever can. This is the only real way to fully patch the tire. You can tell if they do it this way by watching what they do to the tire. If they take it off the rim, they are doing it this way. it MUST come off the rim to do this.

Be aware, that both are still a patch. your tire now has a week spot, so go easy on it. They will probably tell you not to exceed the speed limit as the patch can fail. (which is possable since the tire is not "whole" any more) but you should be fine if you keep it senseable. no 120+ runs on that tire

little more info and a pic of repairable area.

Hi, Evadman. I usually keep it below 100, but from that diagram, I am right on the borderline.
Pic
The white shiny dot is the screw.
What do you think?

 

[The Stigenator]

They plugged my tyre not patched it.. apparently it was a bit too big to be patched.. so he plugged it..

well if it holds another few montsh I will upgrade to 16" alloys and high perforamnce tyres and new shocks and springs so i will dump teh OE set.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy
They plugged my tyre not patched it.. apparently it was a bit too big to be patched.. so he plugged it..

well if it holds another few montsh I will upgrade to 16" alloys and high perforamnce tyres and new shocks and springs so i will dump teh OE set.

I thought you were asian. Why are you using the british spelling of tire?

 

[Evadman]

Hi, Evadman. I usually keep it below 100, but from that diagram, I am right on the borderline.
Pic
The white shiny dot is the screw.
What do you think?

That is pretty damn close. Honestly, I do not know just how close to the sidewall the belts go on different brands of tires, or if there is a standard for radials. They will have to see it When you patch, you must patch through those belts. Only they have enough strength left with a puncture. I have seen patched sidewalls (not shoulder, sidewalls) before. It is not even close to safe, but I have seen it done. Even I will not patch a sidewall of my own tire. Shoulder yes, but not sidewall.

No one will patch it if it is the shoulder or sidewall because of legality issues, so if it is determined to be a shoulder, you are SOL.

If they are not able to patch it, then do not get just one tire. Replace both on that axle or you can get wierd handling motions, and the car will likely pull to one side, expecialy if that is a "driven" tire. If that happens, look on the bright side. You now have a full size spare.

 

[SuperTool]

Originally posted by: Evadman

Hi, Evadman. I usually keep it below 100, but from that diagram, I am right on the borderline.
Pic
The white shiny dot is the screw.
What do you think?

That is pretty damn close. Honestly, I do not know just how close to the sidewall the belts go on different brands of tires, or if there is a standard for radials. They will have to see it When you patch, you must patch through those belts. Only they have enough strength left with a puncture. I have seen patched sidewalls (not shoulder, sidewalls) before. It is not even close to safe, but I have seen it done. Even I will not patch a sidewall of my own tire. Shoulder yes, but not sidewall.

No one will patch it if it is the shoulder or sidewall because of legality issues, so if it is determined to be a shoulder, you are SOL.

If they are not able to patch it, then do not get just one tire. Replace both on that axle or you can get wierd handling motions, and the car will likely pull to one side, expecialy if that is a "driven" tire. If that happens, look on the bright side. You now have a full size spare.

These are $120 Bridgestone Potenza RE950's with less than 5K miles on them. I am only going to get one tire if it's punctured on the shoulder.

 

[Evadman]

These are $120 Bridgestone Potenza RE950's with less than 5K miles on them. I am only going to get one tire if it's punctured on the shoulder.

5k is very little. I assumed there was mroe mileage on them. 5k is probably less than 1/8" of tread wear. you should be fine with one tire. wear is a funny thing. I wore out a set of 285/5 r16 coopers in less than 5000 miles. (down to the wear bar) Sears was not happy with me Got them to give me new onee for free

 

[The Stigenator]

Originally posted by: pulse8

Originally posted by: The_good_guy
They plugged my tyre not patched it.. apparently it was a bit too big to be patched.. so he plugged it..

well if it holds another few montsh I will upgrade to 16" alloys and high perforamnce tyres and new shocks and springs so i will dump teh OE set.

I thought you were asian. Why are you using the british spelling of tire?

Well i was educated under the british system..

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy
They plugged my tyre not patched it.. apparently it was a bit too big to be patched.. so he plugged it..

well if it holds another few montsh I will upgrade to 16" alloys and high perforamnce tyres and new shocks and springs so i will dump teh OE set.

If it is too big to be patched it is no good. Massive integrity has been lost. Be careful driving with it!

 

[TuxDave]

Anyone else bothered with the spelling of tyre? Although I do sometimes write armor as armour and scepter as sceptre... so I'm partially guilty...

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: TuxDave
Anyone else bothered with the spelling of tyre? Although I do sometimes write armor as armour and scepter as sceptre... so I'm partially guilty...

Who cares about spelling? As long as you can get the general meaning out of a post it's all good. it is a forum, not a resume. That is also the Brittish spelling IIRC.

 

[SuperTool]

I think I am going to take it to a store that doesn't have the RE950 in my size in stock.
That way there will be less pressure to buy instead of repair. I want them to be sure they can't repair it. Does it matter that the screw came in at about 45 degree angle and not straight in?
This is pissing me off big time.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
I think I am going to take it to a store that doesn't have the RE950 in my size in stock.
That way there will be less pressure to buy instead of repair. I want them to be sure they can't repair it. Does it matter that the screw came in at about 45 degree angle and not straight in?
This is pissing me off big time.

Angle: no, doesn't matter.

Stock: Doesn't matter with Discount tire at least. They make more on the repair then they do on the tire I have never had anyone from there lie to me or anyone I sent there. Does that mean it is not possable? no. It means so far they have been good Of course, make your own decisions. We are just voices on the internet who should be taken with every grain of salt you can find.

 

[SuperTool]

This $10 is just for the repair? They are still going to charge me for installation and balancing?

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: SuperTool
This $10 is just for the repair? They are still going to charge me for installation and balancing?

nope, just $10 IIRC. Call them up and ask. And you get it back if you buy your next tires from them which is cool.

 

[flavio]

Somebody still needs to teach the_good_guy how to change a tire. Otherwise people are going to think he's a little girl.

 

[amdforever2]

say "tyre" one more time.... :|

 

[The Stigenator]

Originally posted by: flavio
Somebody still needs to teach the_good_guy how to change a tire. Otherwise people are going to think he's a little girl.

I know how to change a tyre.. but I just dont have the strenght or maybe the inclination to get down and dirty..

I have done it before on my old tercel.. so its not like i am a clueless geek (though in some cases like dating and relationships with women I am quite close to that).

Sometimes that X crossbar removal tool is not long enough to dislodge.. I used to carry a longer bar that would extent the leverage but i no longer do.

 

[mztykal]

Originally posted by: The_good_guy

Originally posted by: flavio
Somebody still needs to teach the_good_guy how to change a tire. Otherwise people are going to think he's a little girl.

I know how to change a tyre.. but I just dont have the strenght or maybe the inclination to get down and dirty..

I have done it before on my old tercel.. so its not like i am a clueless geek (though in some cases like dating and relationships with women I am quite close to that).

Sometimes that X crossbar removal tool is not long enough to dislodge.. I used to carry a longer bar that would extent the leverage but i no longer do.

First off, it's T-I-R-E. Secondly, my g/f can take the lugs off a car. Just step on one side and pull up on the other. It's not that hard. And a cross-bar is one of the easiest things to use when changing a tire. Try using on the of those stock Dodge/Chrysler lug wrenches. They feel like they'll break if you torque it hard.

And no offense, but unless you're making "bank" you should at least know how to wrench on your own car.

 

[SuperTool]

Looks like the nail went through the thread and punctured the inside of the sidewall
So it's $150 to replace now.
Oh well