Background: I hit something on the freeway that severely cut the tread of my tire with vibration symptoms that felt like a tire blowout. The vibration stopped just as I was exiting the freeway less than a mile from the initial symptoms and when I inspected the tires and saw no indication of a problem. But as I reentered the freeway, I got a warning that the left rear tire was at 24 lbs. I watched it as it quickly ticked down to 18 lbs. by the time I exited the freeway at the next exit. I had replaced my original run-flats with standard tires to improve the ride and did not have a spare. I had a 12-volt air compressor and was able to inflate the tire to 34 lbs. to try to make it the 5 miles home. I was able to get to my exit before having to stop and inflate the tire again. Two more stops to re-inflate the tire and I got the car into my garage without damaging the wheel. I jacked the car using a jack from my other vehicle, removed the wheel and took it to my tire shop to purchase a replacement tire.

Lessons learned:

1. Anyone who does not have run-flats should carry a 12-volt air compressor even if you carry a spare tire.

2. A standard jack handle does not provide adequate torque to loosen the 110 lb. tightened bolts. I had to use a breaker bar and two-foot (pipe) extension with all my strength just to loosen them. If you carry a spare and plan on being able to change a tire you need to check to see if you can even loosen a bolt with whatever jack handle you carry.

3. The tire & wheel is very heavy and extremely difficult to lift to get centered on the wheel shaft and align the bolt holes. I found it impossible to remount the tire until I researched and found that alignment tools (about $10 each online – highly recommended purchasing 2) are almost mandatory. I found implements among my many various tools that were close enough to the bolt diameters that I could use for alignment. It still took me almost an hour to mount the tire using the jack to align the wheel height while the car was in my garage. No way I could have done it on the side of the road.

 

When mounting a tire I leave the tire on the ground.
Rotate the tire to align a single bolt hole.
Insert a bolt half way.
Rotate the tire to align the other bolt holes. (Much of the tire weight is supported by the single bolt.)
Insert the other bolts finger tight.
Finish tightening with a torque wrench.

I have standard tires with an OEM spare tire and jack kit.
I have a 110v air compressor in the car and use the 110v outlet in the console. It is much faster than a 12v compressor.
I've only had to change a tire once using this method. I use the compressor to top up the tire pressures when the outside temperature drops.

 

I have RF plus a 12 volt compressor. If I have a flat like you, I intend to use the compressor to keep the RF inflated just as you did with the non RF. I will then "limp" to my tire shop to have the RF repaired - assuming it is not a sidewall blow out. My tire shop will repair RF. (many do not and want to sell you a new tire)

Clearly the bolts on your wheels are beyond recommended torque.

Suggest while at home you back out all the bolts and retighten to proper torque. This way you will be able to remove the bolts without having to use a breaker bar and pipe extension.

 

Jime, you were lucky your leak was slow, if it had been a faster leak, you would be out of luck. Runflat would have been ideal in your situation but of you must have non-runflat, then you should have a spare tire, air compressor and a fix a flat kit. Personally, the safety of runflat always come before the slight better ride comfort of conventional tires.

 

+!

 

One of my RF tires grabbed a nail this week and I'm glad I had my 12v compressor in the car. Dashboard alerted me to low pressure. I was able to add enough air to get to the tire store without difficulty. Sadly (haha), they had to sell me a new tire but I did not get stranded, and they washed my car.

Yup, a $375 car wash!

 

I just like having an impact wrench in the car, they're pretty powerful these days and somewhat cheap. Ryobi has a decent one at 375 foot pounds of torque, should work on most unless someone tightened the lugs with an air impact gun at the shop at full force. At $100 not a big deal to keep in the trunk of the car, comes with the battery which you could also use with their $30 inflator. They have better impacts at 600 and 1170 foot pounds, but those are probably overkill. You can go with other brands too like Milwaukee's 2767 at 1400 foot pounds but it's much more expensive and their inflator is more like $100 instead of the $30 Ryobi one. Ryobi and Milwaukee are owned by the same parent company. The cheaper $100 torque wrench doesn't really have any settings unlike the 600 and 1170 foot pound wrenches where the first setting is basically 100 foot pounds so you'd have to use a torque stick to tighten the lug bolts afterwards or use a torque wrench.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ON...65K1/320033027

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ON...737D/307627867

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ON...P262/320251476

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ON...01K1/316879157

 

Which air compressor are you guys carrying? MB makes a 12V readily found on eBay.

Also, any reason NOT to use a sealant with RFs?

 

I have a Craftsman dual voltage - 12v & 110v - compressor. It works better using 110v. My car has a 110v outlet on the rear of the center console.

A sealant will gum up the inside of the wheel and the pressure sensor. It is very difficult to remove before mounting a new tire. IMO it isn't worth using it.

 

Thanks for your informative reply! I believe my AT has a 110v socket in the rear cargo area.

 

Well the 18v one I use with the Ryobi is pretty fast, lasts a long time with the 4 amp hour battery.

And as mentioned, just give up on sealants, it's a mess for the tech to clean up afterwards and in the past, they'd sometimes blow up when removing the tire as some of the sealants used were flammable. I think they've stopped that now though. But I never bothered, if the tire inflator doesn't work, sealant probably won't work either. Also some run flats like Pirelli can't be repaired which is why they had a road hazard warranty, others let you repair them.

 

Couple of points:

• Sealants: If you do not remove the sealant within a short time, less than 6 hours, I have read the labor to remove the sealant which has set, is greater than the cost of a new wheel. Even if you remove the sealant, you will have to replace the TPS.
• Pirelli: I have had my RF Pirelli Centurato P7 repaired. It was a small nail hole. Removed the nail, patched and good for another 20,000 miles.

 

If you read the Pirelli warranty guide, they have a one year road hazard warranty, used to be longer but I guess terms change all the time. Also they don't allow repairs of V, W, Y or Z rated tires so unless your tire was H rated which I doubt, the repair isn't approved by the tire manufacturer. That won't stop any shop from repairing it though. Also sealants void the warranty if used.

https://d3nv2arudvw7ln.cloudfront.ne...D-QA-018-K.pdf

 

The key point is "one year road hazard warranty": the puncture was well after one year: my choice was either to replace, $400 or repair, with balancing $40.

The choice was simple and I said I got another 20,000 miles out of tire until I had to replace it due to a bubble in the sidewall.

 

I believe it was longer in the past, they keep changing the terms and as time goes on, the terms seem to get worse and worse. As for the plug, it was probably fine as long as you didn't do the speed rating on the tire, all those V, W, Y and Z ratings are for speeds of 149 and up. Can you image a plug/tire failing when you're going 149?

 

No. The fastest I have gone in my E450 was just under 110 mph!

I believe top speed is limited to 130 mph - but could be wrong.

 

I believe top speed for non-AMG cars is 130 mph as you stated.