Under 1100 miles on my new MINI and I just noticed this in my tire:




No light came on to indicate I have a flat! The nail is so close to the edge of the tire. Did it not puncture something vital?
Should I take it to a dealer? Should I remove the nail?
Or should I take it to Tire Barn and see if they can fix my run flat tire?

 

it looks like it may be too far laterally to be plugged properly...don't pull it out or you'll start leaking air quickly...worth a try at the tire place...I had nails in both my reaar tires...but they were closer to the central treads...were repaired nicely at Mavis tire in NY...good luck!

 

that's not repairable. you need a new tire.

 

Run Flat's to my knowledge are not supposed to be repaired as to safety concern's. No tire that has side wall puncture should ever be repaired as to the above. I would take it to the dealer as to side wall concern's first, if no side wall damage has occurred and the dealer has a run tire in stock remove the nail and see if it leaks. No leak,no problem. If there is a leak , but no damage to the side wall your call! I had a large diameter nail in my initial run flat's, no common sense, drove it 75miles no less than 80 miles per hr as I did not believe the warning light and the car handled fine. In the morning the tire was flat. Plugged it and drove without problem's for another 11,000 miles. I did however place the tire on the rear . So I would put that tire on the back as less torque etc. there! If you decide to plug the tire I would add a can of tire seal for a couple of day's to seal better I would remove the gas and replace with air as gas will chge as to temp of tire and may trigger your light. If you go to a tire dealer make sure they can remove a run flat as it much more difficult, time comsuming etc. and special equipement is necessary.

 

Run flats can indeed be patched, but that one would be a no-go. Too close to the sidewall.
Pull the nail and hope it didn't penetrate - I've had ones that looked bad, but didn't go through. Definitely be prepared to replace it when you do pull it out. Often a nail/screw/etc. can seal the hole quite well. For a while, anyway...

 

I got one too in my runflats. its still there too 5,000 miles later..

question: wrong thread but still... can you take runflats off the stock rims and put them on new ones??

 

The main reason most tire shops won't repair runflats is because they have no idea how long you have driven on the tire flat. They don't want to take the liability in case the tire should suffer a blowout and cause an accident.

About using runflats on aftermarket wheels. Most runflat wheels have a small groove for the bead of the tire to seat on so as to keep the tire from coming off the rim when flat.

 

You should not use normal Fix-a Flat in a can. It states right on the can that it is not to be used on any Speed Rated tire above "H". The compound is not compatible on the higher speed rated rubber.

 

is that so or are they assuming the lower profile sidewalls on higher perf tires?

 

The Conti Comfort Kit tire repair fluid/pump does not have a limitation on speed rating of the tire; it just states that the car should not exceed 50 mph and 120 miles before the tire is repaired.

http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/...tkit/index.jsp

I keep this kit with my MCS when using non-runflats.

 

^^ plus that looks better in the boot than some can.

 

I have a kit with the "MINI" fluid. What I saw before was I believe a can of Pennzoil Fix/Flat that had the limit on what you could use it on.

 

Well, I got the tire replaced at the dealership. My husband reminded me that we had bought a tire warranty and so I ended up paying nothing instead of the $358 they would have charged me.

It was a roofing nail and had gone in so cleanly that there was almost no pressure loss in the tire. That's the reason my tire warning light did not go on.

Here in Indy, we recently had a lot of hail damage and a lot of houses are having their roofs repaired. The dealer told me that because of this, they have had a lot come in with roofing nails in their tires.

 

^^ sounds great that you were able to use your tire warranty!

 

That's great news. I usually don't buy extra warranties, but you proved to me it is really worth it as far as runflats go. My dealer didn't offer that warranty to me.

 

Thank god I bought a tire warranty with our new Mini Soho Edition (still waiting..is it there yet....should have it by end of next week). The cost of the warranty (unlimited tire and rim replacement) is well worth it thanks to what I'm hearing here

 

I still dont think my question got answered haha... Can you change your runflats and put them on aftermarket rims?

 

Posted this earlier........

Check with the wheel manufacturer just to make sure.

 

All good aftermarket wheels have these saftey humps, runflat or otherwise. Some vehicles that come with runflats have larger humps, for retetion at zero pressure.

Alex