Can this be patched or does it need to be replaced? It's a 235/30/19 Dunlop SP9000 and has never been patched previously. It also never lost pressure or was driven on with the nail so I'd be surprised if the sidewall was damaged - when I removed it, the pressure was 35psi. The only shop that I've talked to said that it needed to be replaced, but the guy seemed like he just wanted to sell me some tires. Thanks.

 

too close to the sidewall ..... replace

 

Bummer - Any recommendation for other tires to look at, since I'm likely going to be replacing them all?

 

With all respects to Luke (who I agree always makes good recommendations) I have a story to tell about tire patching....

I had a Pirelli Drago P800 (P8000?) set of tires on my car and one had a screw lodged in it basically almost the same area as where your nail is although my screw was about half an inch lower to the sidewall. (Therefore, much more jeopardized compared to yours). Brought it to a tire dealer in NYC to patch and they said the tire needed to be replaced. I would have accepted their recommendation and bought a new tire, however, I found tout that Pirellis no longer made the Drago P8000 (P800?) tires. I believe it was a Sears exclusive brand from where the former owner of my car bought them. However these tires were only 5 months old and all four HAD A LOT OF THREAD LEFT on them. What made it more complicated was that these tires were unidirectional so I could not rotate the left with the right. Basically I had to buy two new tires since I did not want to replace all four and getting only one would have totally caused some alignment issues.

So I figured, screw this screw and I went to a gas station to have the screw removed and the tire patched. As soon as the fellow pulled the screw off, the tire completely deflated. He took all of 5 minutes to patch the tire. I was hoping the patch would last at least a week for me to figure out what to do with buying new tires.

To make a very long story short, I drove that patched tire for more than three years without a single problem. Never flatted on me and never rattled, never shook, never misaligned, through rain and snow, winter and summer. From New York, I drove it twice to Florida, and twice to Atlanta and multiple times to Washington DC and Philly in those three years.

Clearly eventually they had to be replaced because the thread was already thin and before I replaced them last February, I could still see that little tiny patch job that was worth every single penny I paid for it.

 

Wagonman, I'm glad you had that result, and with all due respect I think that's probably more an isolated incident of luck than an appropriate recommendation to fellow enthusiasts. Anecdotal evidence is rarely scientific; I used to be in tires and Luke's advice is dead on.

Radial tires by design flex the shoulder of the tire not only when cornering, but also in regular straight-line travel. That means that the carcass is pulling and stretching the patch with every rotation of the tire. While a potential leak is one thing, a patch near the shoulder can also result in sudden deflation (if the patch rips half off) with an accompanying loss of control, and if it happens at speed you're also looking at tire disintegration and a possible accident. Thus, nowadays no one who's scared of lawsuits will patch a tire with a leak near the shoulder.

In your case, if it took the service station 5 minutes I'd guess he more likely put a plug in it. Tire professionals are not fans of plugs because they too can simply pop out, with a resulting sudden loss of pressure. Often you also have to enlarge the hole in order to install a plug properly. And as the tire wears, the plug is more likely to fall out.

That said, if I were facing Frisco's issue, and I didn't want to replace the tire -- for whatever reason -- I'd be more likely to plug a hole near the shoulder than patch it, because the plug is somewhat less likely to be affected by the flexing carcass than is the patch.

And that said, I still think I'd be buying a tire. The cost of a tire is much less than the aftermath of an accident.

Just for the fun of it, let's reverse your story. Say you had driven off happily and after a week you figured, what the heck, it's fine I'll keep driving on it. And a month, six months later you're enjoying some spirited mountain driving when all of a sudden you lost control and went through the guardrail, 150 feet down a slope before hitting a tree. Miraculously you survived without serious injuries, but the car was demolished. An investigation reveals that the patch failed, causing the loss of control that sent you over the side. If you were at that point able to go back in time and reverse your decision, there's no doubt you'd say, absolutely, replace the tire. And you'd be jumping in here telling Frisco to not cheap out, do the right thing, get a tire.

Seriously, I am glad your tale had a happy ending, but far too many similar ones do not, which is exactly why Luke said, "REPLACE IT".

Take care, folks, and enjoy the ride,
Greg

 

im not a tire salesmen, but i have patched and plugged tires in many areas except the sidewall without a problem and at least use it as a spare if it has alot of tread left. With tires its more of a questoin of when and where a blow out will happen. I have personally driven on a bubbled tire for a year, it was a michelin pilot sport and I ran it down to nothing. The buble was not big by anymeans, it was barely noticeable, but it was there. If it looks dangerous it probably is...

 

Thanks for all the input guys - I'm still driving around on one of my 'spare' Brabus rims and am planning on replacing the tires.

 

I love my Goodyear Eagle F-1's but they're expensive. I've also heard a lot of good things about the Nitto NT-555s and they're a lot cheaper, looks like one of the best values.