Any hope to patch?

[bob]

Holes 2" apart all in the tread.
Firestone said they do not have the correct patch sizes.

[EzyStvy]

Inner tube comes to mind.

[SpywareDr]

Inner Tubes & Flaps:Countrywide

[rwest]

I think I'd buy the repait kit and try it myself first, before I paid for a new tire or an inner tube.

[MaxRat]

I've plugged worse than that when I worked in a service station...

go get a repair kit and plug it yourself... 1 plug in each hole should do it with scuffing and the vulcanizing compound

easy peasy.... as long as you arent trying to run down the highway 100mph it will be fine

[doubledragon5]

What kind of tire is that from? Personally if that belongs on a car/truck that is used on the road. I would spring for a new one period.. I personally would not feel comfortable driven down the road, knowing I have a tire with that many holes patched..

[HAL9000]

Meh... I would do as Maxrat posted.. go to your local auto store, get a plug kit. I had an autoshop teacher show me that you get some contact cement that is flammable..., clean the punctures with the rasp included in the repair kit...put the cord on the install tool (two cords if the hole is pretty big), dip it in the contact cement, push the plug in to the point where the ends are still sticking out nicely, then pull the tool back out (which doubles over the cords in the hole)... pull out a lighter and light the cords and contact cement on fire.. let it burn down good. I've NEVER had one leak doing it this way... ever.

[MaxRat]

Yep....

thats the way to do it... plus there are steel cords all over the tire... you really have to rip one for it to blow apart. I've plugged 1,000s of tires over the coarse of my years and I have yet to have one come apart...

now the old Nylon tires are another story and the days of those are long gone

[David M]

I doubt Bob is serious about patching it....he is yanking our chain.

No tire shop in this litigious state is going to accept that kind of liability. I recently had a hole in the tread and a shop that I went into said that the hole was too close to the sidewall. It looked to be maybe an inch and a half to two inches from the sidewall and it was still too close. They said this is the law (I assume in California) and they could not legally patch it.

BTW, I ended up purchasing 4 new Continental all seasons with a 550 treadwear rating for my Mini.

[HAL9000]

I would still have called bull on that tire shop David... I've plugged tires within half an inch of the sidewall.. never had a problem.

[bob]

My issue is moot because the tire is over 10 years old. Now I need 4 new tires. To bad they only have 18,000 miles on them. grr.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

[juppy]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 ... pull out a lighter and light the cords and contact cement on fire.. let it burn down good. I've NEVER had one leak doing it this way... ever.

Quick question.....what's the purpose of lighting it on fire? We use those plug kits (which work great, BTW), but ours never mentioned anything about setting it on fire afterwards. Is it just to burn off the excess plug stuff that's sticking out of the hole so it's not just flopping around when you drive or what?

[HAL9000]

It just melts it down good conforming the the hole.

[David M]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I would still have called bull on that tire shop David... I've plugged tires within half an inch of the sidewall.. never had a problem.

At least the tire shop that said this never got the satisfaction of selling me four new tires, I went to a different place, a place that would replace run flats with non-run flats.

[SARGE]

Gal bud had an object. Weird how got into tire. If it's 1/4 inch or less they use special cone shaped plug. Nada if more than that. Was new tire anyway and had road hazard so got new tire anyway. He laughed about objects he's seen. Tree branches, hairbrush, scissors

[MaxRat]

the worst for me was many years ago...

I had a 1974 Chevy 1-ton van that I bought and after a new engine I put on 16in rims and some Pathfinder tires... boy were those JUNK... heavy and no traction on spit. I worked as a drywall finisher and the guy I worked for lived out in the country and they had corn planted in the fields... after the crops were done I took a drive out in the field. I didnt make it very far and I had corn stalk punctures in the tires... ya for road hazard and 4 new tires...

[DOS_equis]

Originally Posted by HAL9000 I would still have called bull on that tire shop David... I've plugged tires within half an inch of the sidewall.. never had a problem.

They make more money on the tire sales than patching plus the shops get spiffs from corporate when they attain sales goals for the month. It's not about the customer anymore and hasn't been for a long time.


DOS_equis

[SARGE]

A tire most important thing between you and road. I've accepted and plugged tires but always depended. If it was old Bug, a no brainier. If on vehicle I drove on highway, also a no brainier.

[EzyStvy]

I drove an 84 Honda Accord for ten or eleven years... I had more flat tires with that car that any ten people combined... Bet I had 20 sumptin flats.. Many of them, I saw the nail,screw, you name it, before the tire went down..

Couple tires had inner tubs for a while...Had to replace a couple of them too. I also had to replace the tires.. At one point all four tires had different mileage on them...Thing drove like a tank with the odd ball mileage tires.

Guessing it had a lot to do with the Michelin tires being magnets or something


Haven't had a flat tire since then.

[bob]

I may as well ask where the tire deals are. National dealers would be best since I can not go to far to get them. Sales? Pepboys has a sale but it costs more after the extra costs. Costco is ok. Reminder they are (4)16" SUV tires and I am replacing them because they are over 10 years old. I also need to get some tires for my hauling trailer. Those tires are 26 years old. I was hauling 2500 pounds of gravel on those two old 13" tires which were rated about 1300lbs each - not counting the trailor weight.
There is no reason I should drive on tires that may fail.

[EzyStvy]

My favorite place to start is ConsumerReports.org (have to have paid membership) or you can search "tire reviews."

CR breaks tires down into these catagories:
Performance all season tires
All season tires
Ultra high performance all season tires
Ultra high performance summer tires
All season truck tires
All terrain truck tires
Winter tires
Performance winter tires
Winter truck tires

Anyway, you'd want to narrow it down to a couple of brands and then search for the best price... Do you have "Discount Tire" store where you live?

Attached are the top tires from CR.... Looks like the top ones are rated the same...

[bob]

My tires will get no more than 20,000 miles before I replace them in 10 years - now that I know. I live in the largest city (Los Angeles) - or second in the country so all national companies exist close.
The roads are paved so offroad is not important as well as tread life but they do need to look like they fit on my 2001 chevy surban 1500 5.3L
I tow a bit so the load rating should be 109 or 110 but that isprobably already factored in for the correct tires for the truck.
I would like to get 4 installed under $600
I checked about my OLD loyal tire shop and found they were cheap because they sold "new" tires that were many years old

[SpywareDr]

Tire Search Results

?

[bob]

Originally Posted by SpywareDr Tire Search Results ?

Thanks for the effort but Costco beats the price installed with road hazard included. I will probably go to Costco unless I see a better deal. Remember a close out probably means the tires are dated and mine have probably 30,000 miles of tread left but I do not need the risk of running on old tires.
I will probably have to spend $800+ but would rather get a deal and treat myself to a nice meal for not just going to the closest shop.

[martson]

Adds a new meaning to coming across a fork in the road.

[SARGE]

I get Hankook tires at Kwik Kar. Although an oil change place each franchise can do as they wish. My guy does more mechanic work than oil changes.

[glc]

Bob, your best bet in LA is Costco. They have name brand tires at decent prices, a great warranty/service package, and they inflate with nitrogen. No Costco here, so I use Sam's Club - same warranty/service package except they don't use nitrogen.

Your best bet for trailer tires is a RV dealer. You should NOT use car tires on a trailer, you need "ST" rated tires.

If you tow heavy with the Suburban, you should get "LT" or "XL" rated tires, not "P" rated. If you get "LT", load range "C" or "D" should be sufficient, load range "E" rides terrible when unloaded. If all you tow is that single axle utility trailer, that's not considered heavy - I do that with "P" rated no problem.