Hey all,

I picked up a screw in my front left tire, and took it down to Goodyear tire down the street, and they were able to "patch" it. Is this wise to do with a runflat tire?

I know I talked to my service advisor, and he said that they are technically not repairable, and they aren't supposed to repair them. A new runflat runs about 300.00 from the dealer as I'm told.

Thanks for any input

 

You'll get a variety of theories on this, but my feeling is that if the Goodyear dealer repaired it, they did so within the manufacturer's specifications (you have the Goodyear runflats?). If the puncture was at the wrong place - i.e., too close to the sidewall, etc. - they wouldn't have repaired.

I have put well over 15,000 miles on a patched runflat and will end up replacing the tire due to tread wear before the patch fails. So, IMO, if done properly, it's perfectly reasonable to patch a runflat.

And would you really trust your dealer on this issue when they're ALSO jacking up the price of the tire by about 100%? Kind of suspicious, don't you think?

 

It's true. The runflat part of the tire is just in the stiffer sidewall. If the screw was in the tread, it's just as patchable as any other tire. Some places will always tell you a patch/plug is bad. Usually those places also want to sell you a new tire. Hmmmm.

 

Yeah, those were my thoughts exactly... I'm gonna stick with the patched tire, I really don't feel like spending that kind of money until the tread wears out...

 

If you didn't put many or any miles on the tire when it was flat, there should be no problem in patching. The reason many dealers don't want to patch a runflat is that if it was driven very many miles while flat, the sidewalls can be damaged (after all, the sidewalls are the only thing holding the car up if there is no air in the tire). With damaged sidewalls the tire could fail at any time. You can understand a dealers being reluctant to take your word as to how far/fast you drove with a flat.

 

I got a screw in my tire which went flat overnight in my garage. What Apexer says above is what the service guy at our MINI dealer said as well. As long as I didn't drive on it and the puncture is not in the sidewall, then repair should work. Dobbs did the repair.