I got a flat tire today. Can the location of the picture be repaired? I am going to plug it and see that it holds air. I know its controversial if the location is repairable or not.

Story: on my way to work out and hit this HUGE pothole. 4 minutes later the flat tire indicator goes off and I pull over. Passenger rear is flat. Wife and I walk one mile back to the house and get her car and a spare tire and then change it.

Good thing is I was wondering if a Chevy Cobalt donut spare fits. It does, perfectly.

Now back to the question... What about the repair. I am planning on at least repairing it and putting it back on the car to take to a tire shop tomorrow. Its going to be a pita to have to buy a new tire on tires that have 50% or less tread all around.

Thanks,
k

 

That's definitely outside the 'repairable area' as delineated by Tire Rack.
I'd bet that a shop won't patch that

 

but you're off the main part of the belts, and it's not wise to do so. If you're stuck in a pinch that's another matter, but not for a long term fix and definantly not for high speed or hard cornering.

Matt

 

A dedicated tire shop repaired this tire with a mushroom patch from the inside Clicky (plug is dead center in the pix).

Not quite as a bad as your location. It is holding up fine so far.

Also, mine was a screw puncture.... not sure how well a pothole pinch puncture, like yours seems to be, would repair.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I put a plug it it and the first plug did not stay. I doubled up on the plugs this time. Do you have to wait a certain amount of time to let the rubber cement in the plug kit dry? I started putting air back in the tire and noticed it moving a little so I backed off.

If possibly I would like to be able to put this back on the car to drive it to school and then to the tire shop. I have a feeling they are going to have to order the tire and it may take a few days to come in.

K

 

The tire shop may have a used tire you can roll with until you need to replace all 4. Some tire shops save pull-offs that have tread left and sell them for these circumstances. Just sayin.

 

The plug did not stay!... I let it sit for a probably 10 minutes and then filled it up with air. After 5 minutes the plug came out and shot somewhere obviously under high pressure.

Did I do it wrong or is the hole just that big that it won't plug? There was a bulge in the rubber where the plug was...

 

There is no belt in the sidewall. That is why the plug came out, and why most tire shops will not repair sidewall issues. Throw that donut spare back on and hit up the tire guy for a used replacement to get you through til you need a set.

 

no tire shop will put a patch or patch/plug in that spot due to major liability issues. you'll need a new tire, especially if it's a rupture from a pothole on the shoulder. $250.00 is a small sum to pay to be safe.

later

 

no, i would not consider that repairable. it might hold air for some time, but
that repair could fail any sec.

 

you also have delamination of some of the rubber layers, that's why there's a bump. To put it simply: That tire is hosed!

For information, it does take a while for the glue to set, but with the way the sidewall will get worked, it will probably pop out even if you let it set overnight. The proper repair (with a pull through patch) uses a vucanizing compound, that bonds the patch with the rubber of the inner tire surface, and the plugs can't do that, no matter what.

Matt

 

I checked the donut spare tire pressure and put it at 50lbs and will be driving that tomorrow to go to the shop. They had to order these tires as they did not stock them so it will be interesting to see how it works out. My current tread depths on the other tires range 6/32 in the center to 4/32nds on some of the edges. I ran too low of pressure for a while...

Bummer is I have some team dynamics wheels that I am going to put summer tires on, its just to early to do that!

K