YACT: Flat tire yesterday, fixed, now what?

[Red]

So yesterday I was coming into work and picked up a bolt. I left the car parked for 6 or so hours at work and when I got off I was driving on the interstate at about 70mph or so and the bolt shot out (I heard it hit the wheel well) so I pulled off the side of the road and put on my spare.

I drove it to a place that plugs flat tires... it cost me $5. Should I go to a tire place and have the bolts put on at a certain lb/torque? Should I have an alignment / balance done? My car/tires have 18k miles on them and have been been rotated, aligned, balanced, etc. What should I do?

 

[Pepsi90919]

put the wheel back on using the wrench included with your jack in the trunk and tighten the fvck out of the lugnuts, then drive.

 

[Ogg]

Yeah that and send on over your fiancee for some maintenance "instructions":Q

 

[Red]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919
put the wheel back on using the wrench included with your jack in the trunk and tighten the fvck out of the lugnuts, then drive.

I did that Pepsi, but my manual says the bolts need to be torqued to a certain lb. Do I need to mess with that?

 

[McCarthy]

Don't worry about torquing to a certain number. Lot of shops used to use impact wrenches which overtightened the hell out of the lugs. Made it damn near impossible for smaller people to change flats and did damage wheels, even the ever so exaggerated brake disc warping originated there. Most decent places don't do that now thanks to years of customer complaints, but most still don't torque the wheels either. Nor is it important.

What would be important is to have the tire fixed properly. I drive on a lot of crappy side roads, pick up lots of bolts, screws, wire, etc. Plug them myself, but that's a temporary fix. Plugs can last the life of the tire, but more often than not they won't and they don't seal between layers worth a damn. Can get a leak between the layers of the tire which will cause it to fail. Take it to another shop and get it dismounted and patched internally. Then drive around on it till it's worn out.

 

[TheAudit]

Don't worry about torquing the bolts, just make sure your tire was properly patched. You should probably get it balanced as well (if they didn't do that for you).
Nothing to worry about, you are good to go.

 

[Calin]

I had also a nail in a tire, and after the tire flat out, a small crack in the flank of the tire. It was patched (on the crack), a plug was fixed at the place of the nail. I choose to balance the wheel (with the tire repaired), but as it used only 15g of lead, it might not have been necessary.
However, when mounting the new tires, one of them used (if I remember correctly) no less than 35g of lead to totally balance it.

I suggest to balance the wheels after the tire was replaced, but it might not be necessary

Calin
P.S. It costed me some 8$ for everything.