Flat tire (1 Viewer)

Tommy

Royal Flush
Admin
Moderator
Supporter
Joined
Mar 23, 2013
Messages
17,543
Reaction score
37,886
Location
Delaware
Got home from the dealership after having the 30K maintenance done, and noticed air leaking from my rear tire. They did rotate the tires but I did not hear air leaking when I left there so I must of ran something over on the way home. Nothing stuck in the tire but I did find the leak. It's between the tread. I am going to try a patch kit and see if that works. If not, its' $185 for a new tired installed. :(

20140203_150126.jpg
 
If its on the "tread" and not on the sidewall you will be able to plug it. Take it to a tire shop and it will be like 10 bucks. Not sure if you have a CJ's near you but they will do it for free some of the time.
 
So you've already PLUGGED it, but I'd *strongly* recommend a PATCH if it happens again. Patches are *significantly* more reliable (who wants a repeat problem?), and frankly therefore safer, too. The "safer" part becomes even more important if you have a wife and kids using the car.

Keep in mind that even if you don't have an explosive blowout from a failed plug (i.e. you just have a fast leak), there's a safety issue with having to drive on a flat tire for a short distance until you can pull over (especially on the highway), and another safety issue with being on the side of a busy road or highway as you try to change the flat or otherwise take care of the car.

The only disadvantage of patches is that they of course require that the tire be removed from the rim, and most people don't have the equipment to do that at home. All of the major tire shops around me will do patches for FREE on tires that you bought from them (and re-balance them for free). Some will even do free patches on new car factory tires (such as yours) if you've been a customer of that tire shop in the past (they want to keep your business).

Oh yeah... after plugging, there's a chance that you'll find you need to have the tire re-balanced.

One last thing... I don't know this for a fact, because I've never tried it myself, but some people say that once you've had a PLUG fail, that spot can't be PATCHED. I rather doubt this, because as long as you could completely remove the crappy goo of the failed plug inside the tire, I think you should be able to get a patch to adhere OK.
 
Last edited:
Good deal. I'm a nail magnet - I've had a tire with 8 or 9 plugs in it.

The last time I had a flat tire is when I had my Trailblazer SS. I slid on black ice right into a curb. Dented the rim too. Lucky the tire shop said the rim was OK so that saved me a bunch of money. TBSS comes with factory 20" wheels.
 
So you've already PLUGGED it, but I'd *strongly* recommend a PATCH if it happens again. Patches are significantly more reliable (who wants a repeat problem?), and frankly therefore safer, too. The "safer" part becomes even more important if you have a wife and kids using the car.

On the downside, patches of course require that the tire be removed from the rim, and most people don't have the equipment to do that at home. All of the major tire shops around me will do patches for FREE on tires that you bought from them. Some will even do free patches on new car factory tires (such as yours) if you've been a customer of that tire shop in the past (they want to keep your business).

If I have any more problems with it, I'll look into getting it patched or replaced. It's on the rear now so the next time I have the tires rotated, I will have it patched.
 
If I have any more problems with it, I'll look into getting it patched or replaced. It's on the rear now so the next time I have the tires rotated, I will have it patched.
(I edited my post above with a bit more info before I saw this reply of yours.) Your dealer or tire shop *may* tell you that they can't apply a patch after the hole was plugged, though I hope that's not the case.

If you wait until it's time to rotate again (3-5k miles?), and the plug hasn't failed, I think I'd be inclined to leave it alone.
 
It is does fail, I will just replace the tire.
 
So you've already PLUGGED it, but I'd *strongly* recommend a PATCH if it happens again. Patches are *significantly* more reliable (who wants a repeat problem?), and frankly therefore safer, too. The "safer" part becomes even more important if you have a wife and kids using the car.

Keep in mind that even if you don't have an explosive blowout from a failed plug (i.e. you just have a fast leak), there's a safety issue with having to drive on a flat tire for a short distance until you can pull over (especially on the highway), and another safety issue with being on the side of a busy road or highway as you try to change the flat or otherwise take care of the car.

The only disadvantage of patches is that they of course require that the tire be removed from the rim, and most people don't have the equipment to do that at home. All of the major tire shops around me will do patches for FREE on tires that you bought from them (and re-balance them for free). Some will even do free patches on new car factory tires (such as yours) if you've been a customer of that tire shop in the past (they want to keep your business).

Oh yeah... after plugging, there's a chance that you'll find you need to have the tire re-balanced.

One last thing... I don't know this for a fact, because I've never tried it myself, but some people say that once you've had a PLUG fail, that spot can't be PATCHED. I rather doubt this, because as long as you could completely remove the crappy goo of the failed plug inside the tire, I think you should be able to get a patch to adhere OK.

According to my tire guy, who is also my mechanic, no difference in terms of safety between plugging or patching. As neither are covered by the tires warranty, any safety concerns should be based solely on the likelihood of failure. Both work equally well, and "hold" for different reasons/methods. Never patched a tire on a car, but then again, I have never had a plug fail, either.
 
I did some highway driving today on it. Still holding at 32lbs since Monday. I think I've plug two tires previously on past vehicles. I do not believe either one of those failed. As time passes I fell more confident about it holding until I need new tires. Treads are only at 8/32 right now. I think 2/32-5/32 is the "need to replace soon" zone.
 

Create an account or login to comment

You must be a member in order to leave a comment

Create account

Create an account and join our community. It's easy!

Log in

Already have an account? Log in here.

Back
Top Bottom