Tire Question

Oldest daughter got a screw in a tire over the labor day weekend. Walmart was the only place open and wouldn't fix it. They said it was in the shoulder. The shoulder is defined as the last "row" of tread on the outside of the tire.

The problem here is that the last row on her tires is very wide. The puncture was a little more than an inch off the side. Since she had to go back to school I stuck a plug in it for the time being and sent her off. The car won't be home till the first of next month. She's about 200 miles away.

What should I do? Find a matching tire where she is and have them put it on? Wait till she gets home and have a reputable shop try and patch it and replace if necessary? Or just let it ride with the plug? I've run many a mile on plugs myself but do prefer patches.

BTW, Walmart was more interested in selling me a mismatched tire than anything else. They didn't even take the tire off the car to look at it. Also her tires have less than 4,000 miles on them.

Thanks.

slim

There ain't a tire manufacturer that permit a "plug" type repair. They place emphasis on patch & plug from inside.
Doubt me? just google any tire brand repair procedure. I did this last winter and quit after 8 different brand look ups.

Shoot a bottle of Slime in it and forget about it.

I took my pickup to Walmart a while back to get a set of tires... The guy running the place told me the size I had on were "illegal" and he couldn't put that size back on.

He started arguing with everything I said - so I finally said, "Well, I'm just a dumb hick guy from the country - and I didn't know any better on the last three sets of this size tire that I've worn off on this pickup... I'm so glad you clued me in before I killed someone... Why don't you just show me what you CAN put on there??"

So he shows me the "legal" tires for my plain old '94 F-250 and I say "put a set on"...

After waiting around about an hour - and 15 minutes before the tire shop closes - I get a page to come to the tire shop where they informed me that "I have too much stuff in the back of my pickup and it is too heavy for their lift to raise it, so they can't put any tires on for me after all..."...

I almost asked if they wanted to watch me change them myself with my handyman jack, but realized it was just a losing battle all the way around...


Howard

Have her take it to a reputable tire service wherever she is and have them patch it properly. Have them put a patch inside. They have a new patch now which is kind of a cross between a plug, and a regular flat inside patch. Has a projection sticking out from the face of the patch that goes into the hole. Works well in larger but repairable holes.

Well unless it gives her problems like it is I would not worry about it till the next time she was home. I have used plugs and driven many a mile with one that is plugged. Ya not the best way but I have seen a plug hold up for years and thousands of miles

I would try to find a full size spare for her, a spare spare, at a junkyard, bet she'll never need it. I, too have had good luck with plugs but on almost new tires I get them patched with the plug-patch, that looks like a good fix. Good luck!

I wouldn't worry about the plug. If she can take it to a decent tire place and have them patch it, she should.

As for Walmart....I don't know what I can say about their tire SALESMEN. The last time I had anything to do with that part of a Walmart was several years ago when my wife had a situation very similar to your daughters. The tire was supposedly under warranty, but they wouldn't honor it due to a 'defect' in the tire. They offered to sell her a new tire and charge a lower price because of the 'warranty'. She called me to ask what she should do. After I came down off the ceiling and took some blood-pressure medicine(!), I told her to just have them put some air in it and go around the corner to another tire store and have them repair it. Get this, the walmart guy was hesitant about putting air in it because of 'liability'! I'm glad I was on the phone and not there in person as I probably would have wrung his neck. Well, he finally let her air the tire up herself. She went around the corner to the other (locally owned) tire place and twenty minutes later she was back on the road. That tire lasted us just fine until we sold that vehicle about a year later. Since that day the only time I've been in their tire center was as a shortcut to the backside of their store.

I could go on, but then it would slip off topic!

I hope it works out well for her and you, but I don't think you have much to worry about.

Christopher

A plug in the tread for a small hole should be just fine. I've done many that way and never had one fail. If you send her to a tire store they will hose her. I've heard 'em do it. Women are considered an easy mark in that business.

My vote is to just leave it plugged. I'm running a couple of plugged tire now.

plug it and it will almost certainly have a tread separation later... NO PLUGS allowed on any radial tires!!!!!! due to carcus flexing, the plug will allow air to leak between the belts and cause the tire to slowly separated..

and on the hyway, it will flip her over, run her sideways,, and may kill her and everyone else.

take it in and have it patched,or tubbed.. get rid of the plug. PLEASE, for her safety. If you tube it,, get a radial rated tube safe for radial tires...

There is a plug patch that would work well here, you demount the tire and apply it like a patch, from the inside, press the plug into the hole. The patch stops the leak, and the plug fills the hole to keep the water from getting in, and rusting the metal cords in the tire. I think gemplers sells 'em, if you can't find them anywhere else.

Hi everone: Nobody mentioned putting the repaired tire on the back? ( in case it was one of the front tires) I had a front right tire blow apart on a sharp left curve 50 years ago and I've always liked "repaired" tires put in back for a little extra feeling that my two fronts will keep responding to steering.. ag.

I can take up for Walmart on the tire thing---Remember McDonalds and the coffee??? You go to buy hot coffee and then you give it to them and get sued. Get a tire at Walmart that is different size/type from what manufacturer puts on your door jam as correct tire, you go flip the car even though tire didn't cause it, that same lawyer who sued McDonalds or one of his kind will be waiting. Oh, how about the guy that took safety shields off his new saw and cut his fingers off? It cost Black&Decker several million.

I agree with whoever said to put some Slime in it and leave the plug. Also agree that it should go on the back.
I'm sure that someone somewhere has had problems with plugged radials, but I haven't. I ran at least one plugged tire well over 30K miles without incident.

DON"T Slime it. Any tire that runs at road speed will be thrown out of balance with that product. I bought a real nice Olds 98 last year. The owner sold it cheap as he said the front end was shot and needed ball joints. He had it aligned and all of the tie rods replaced and had the tires balanced. You still could not drive it above forty without it shaking you out of the car.
Brought it home and the son checked the front end out on his frame machine. It was all fine.
Pulled the tires off and checked them for broken belts, checked fine. Went to balance them and his balancer went nuts. Would not read any weight the same twice in a row. Removed a tire and found the slime. Washed it out of all four tire and checked them all for leaks, found none. Balanced the tire and it drives like a dream. Called the old owner and asked him about the slime. The car had aluminum rims and they would leak around the beads as he drove it very little. He saw Slime in the local TSC and put it in the tires. Cost him almost two thousand dollars on repairs and a beating on resale.