Tire Hell and the "Tire Rack" and "Just Tires" saves the day....

[Bob Pommer]

Tire Hell and the \"Tire Rack\" and \"Just Tires\" saves the day....

After spending 1/2 the morning getting new treads on my M5, I take the Viper to work and run over a nail in my work garage left over from some guys doing work on the garage... DOOOHHH!!! . I get out of the car and it is "hissing" at me.... As this being my first set of "run flats", I can honestly say that they work Great... I was running 0 PSI and you could not even tell they were low... I drove 30 miles without any issues.

So I call a local dealer who tells me that he does not have a tire mounting machine big enough to handle the 19 inch steamrollers that the Viper has and oh by the way, you really need to buy a new tire. I told him it was a small whole in the middle of the tire, not the sidewall and he told me that due to the speed rating, that I would need to buy a new one... (Does he think I am a chick???) I then called around to several tire centers NTB, Some local guys and after 20 calls I got the same story. "We don't do those size tires", or "we don't do run flats",... At this point I was ready to kill someone... I called tirerack and got a quote for a tire $467... OUCH.... I then asked him about fixing the small hole. He then told me "I would love to sell you this nice shiny new big fat expensive piece of rubber, but all you need is a button patch. It is sealed from the inside with adhesive and impossible to blow out. He then directed me to a "Just Tires" in Mount Prospect IL. I spoke with "Tim". He was the coolest guy, he got me right in, took off the tire fixed it properly and even called to check on my ride afterwards. The low tire light stayed on for about 3-4 miles before it reset.

Just wanted to say "thank you" to the folks at the Tire Rack and Just tires for taking care of me when others felt the need to try and BEND ME OVER. I would recommend them to all who need rubber on their machine... I am quite sure that with 525Ft/lbs of twist on the rear tires, I will be seeing them again shortly....

 

[SRTRICK]

Re: Tire Hell and the

Bob - If I were planning on track running in the car, I personally would probably replace the damaged one. Better safe than sorry at 150 MPH. At least they are not worn enough to make replacing two of them necessary.

Also, my local "Discount Tire" also has the correct equipment and good technicians that can handle our sizes.

 

[Jerome Sparich]

Re: Tire Hell and the

Once a tire has a defect such as a hole in it, it is no longer speed rated at all. That tire is not safe at high speeds.

That defect can now cause the tire to come apart or explode from that very spot.

No matter how you repair a hole the tire is still suspect. I learned all about this and much more in schooling from Goodyear.

Don't take my word for it, check with those who run them at high speeds and depend on them for their lives.

 

[FASTRNU]

Re: Tire Hell and the

Bob,
I had three holes in the same run flat on my 98 Vette, and a button patch will work great for the life of the tire in normal every day driving with some spirited romps included. I saw 150 in my car a couple times and 120 a lot more often and never had a problem with the patched tire. Track use, I don't know, but believe me, if button patches were suspect in blowouts of performance tires, no one would repair them for the liability issues involved.

Go drive your car!

Dave

 

[riwracer]

Re: Tire Hell and the

I also had a flat tire in my brand new black SRT. The low pressure tire light came on after I took it out of the garage. It had undoubtedly leaked for several days.
My pressure registered at 6 lbs. not 0. Local tire places could not even begin to make a repair or change. My Dodge dealer found a long nail in the tire. I chose not to patch it because of the obvious hard driving I plan to do.
Ipaid $500 and waited 4 days. The delay was due to the fact that they shipped a Viper 02 tire instead of the run-flat.
I feel better with the brand new tire......
I had an MGW short shifter installed while the care sat there..this shifter is way better than stock....love it!

RIW

03 black SRT
02 yellow Z06
93 anniv. ZR1
67 435 convert
E55 AMG [to arrive in June]

 

[YellowSnake]

Re: Tire Hell and the \"Tire Rack\" and \"Just Tires\" saves the day....

Bob-

It's nice to hear a positive car story, it's rare.

 

[viperz]

Re: Tire Hell and the

I had a flat on my Porsche once(drivers side back) and according to my dealer they do indeed have speed rated patches. I guess it really depends on how you feel about it.
Mine worked safely and never had a problem even after track days.

 

[SRTRICK]

Re: Tire Hell and the

I'm not saying it is necessarily dangerous in all punctures, but the reason that the speed rating goes away is due to possible damage to the "fabric" layers that stabilize the tread. No patch that simply adhires to the inside layer of rubber, no matter how it is stuck there can replace the strength of the layers of "fabric" that may have been torn by the puncture.

I don't know if I would replace or repair a Viper tire that was going to be used on the street only, without extended high speeds, but if I were going to be using the car on a dragstrip or racetrack, I personally would be more comfortable with a new tire.

 

[Bob Pommer]

Re: Tire Hell and the

According to the Tire Rack guy and the Just Tire guy, the right type of "Button Patch" provides repair that is as good as "new". There are other type of repair methods that would be suitable for daily driving but NOT on any high performance situations. The Button Patch is actually like a metal and rubber anchor. I watched how they put it in it. The patch is a steel braided disk of metal and rubber about 2 inches in diameter, as hard or harder than the tire itself with a "stem" which is like a steel braided peice of rubber. The stem is pushed from the inside through the hole until the disk is flush with the inside of the tire. It is then laquered with an epoxy that is also as hard or harder than the tire. From the looks of it it would be impossible for that thing to come loose or blow through. Since the puncture was only the size of a nail, even the patch failed, it would only slowly leak air. I saw this as the remotest of possiblites.

I thought I would expand on this type of tire repair as I had not heard of this method myself until a few days ago. I hope it helps.

 

[SRTRICK]

Re: Tire Hell and the

I am not saying you are making a mistake here, only that I would not be comfortable on a race track with a repair. I would not be worried about air leaking, but rather a dramatic failure and pulling apart of the cords and tread.

The glued patch is only as strong as the thin layer of rubber it is stuck to and that won't hold a tire together in the case of a catastrophic failure of the internal tire construction.

FWIW, it doesn't sound like your nail would be likely to cause this type of failure, but I just couldn't be 100% certain enough for my own peace of mind if used on a track.

 

[Bob Pommer]

Re: Tire Hell and the

it was a pretty small hole...