rudemood12

arg... 3 week old hankook VR II tires, managed to get a screw lodged in one of them while driving in the mall parking lot today. this is one day before i have to take a 140 mile trip for work. arg again.

so my questions are these - whatre the chances this is repairable? the screw is in the tread, just next to the sidewall. its clear of the sidewall however. its leaking air (or at least was earlier) so its gone through. second, how safe is this if it IS repaired? i will be leaving the same day to take my trip. im concerned about how it is going to hold up.

how do they exactly 'repair' punctures like this?

thanks guys. im still so horribly upset at this point.

Matts00GT

If it's not in the sidewall then yes its repairable. I recommend you fix it yourself bro. Go to a parts store such as advance and buy a tire repair kit. Not the patches but the small tubelike pieces of rubber with the two T-style screwdriver looking things.

Ok one of the T-handle drivers is a big needle like thing. You poke this into the hole where the screw was. It widens it so you can put the plug in. You then take the other T-handle that has a slot in the end like the eye of a needle. You put the plug in it to about halfway of the plug. You then push the t-handle with the plug into the hole about halfway so the plug folds in half and pushes together. You then cut off some of the excess plug. Takes about 5-10 min depending on how many you've done before.

You can also take a lighter to it after you've put in the plug and heat the plug up a little so it melts to the tire. It's really simple, but this should only be done if the puncture is NOT in the sidewall. Should cost about 10 bucks.

gt96stang

Doing all that costs 10 bucks... Around here that's all that shops charge to plug a hole.. Since it's not in the sidewall, they can either break the tire off and patch the hole from the inside, or they can stick a plug in it...

Brute03

yea just buy the kit and repair it your self, i don't even take the wheel off..just plug it, put some air in it and you're set

code3GT

I would highly NOT recommend a plug type fix. Take it to a tire place, have them remove the tire and put a patch on the inside of the tire. They will usually put a "plug" through the hole, clip the excess and place a patch on the inside. The "plug" only can be very dangerous.

Matts00GT

A screw is quite a large hole to patch. If it were a pin hole or a small nail then ya thats fine, but for a screw id prefer a plug. Plus if he buys the tire repair kit he gets like 5 plugs and the tools, so next time he pays nothing.

gt96stang

The patch is the BEST way to fix for a leak... Like I said, the cost to get it fixed isn't that even expensive... I know firsthand...

rudemood12

well, to bring an end to this (friggin finally) i had to buy a new tire. the screw was too close to the sidewall and they couldnt repair it. whooptie freaking do. and of course no one around here stocks the tires i had on there (hankook ventus vrIIs) i had to get a falken tire which was the closest anyone in the area. so now i have a mismatched tire... great. this is happening 3 weeks after i bought them, and was so thoroughly excited about it. now in 4 hours i have to take a 130mi trip. yay. i hate life.

bluepony4.6

Did you keep the tire? You didn't get the roadhazard warranty with them? Most people think the roadhazard warranty is a waste of money until they are in this type of situation. I had a tire that was punctured close to the sidewall that was repaired from the inside and never gave me problems. If you did have the road hazard warranty take the tire back and they should pro-rate you the difference towards a new tire of the same brand. That way you are not riding around with mis-matched tires.