This morning before my 40-mile one-way commute to work, i get the low air light. pretty obvious it was the front right so i top it off. A couple of hours later i check on the tire to see if i lost air. Turned car on, no light. I roll the tire around to see where this leak is happening and i find this:



It's a Philips head SCREW in a TREAD. Normally, i'd find nails between the treads and plug em up.

So i'm in an iffy situation. It's the tread block closest to the sidewall. This is a snow tire, so i'm expecting that gutting out the hole will take waaay longer than normal. I think the dealership or sears will talk me into a new tire. I'm a Tire Rack ***** so i'm not buying a tire at retail.

For any do-it-yourselfers, what would you do in my situation?

 

I love those Dunlops for the snow.

I would just plug it up and drive. I wouldn't hesitate on reaming it out with the rasp and setting up a plug. I really don't foresee any problem with doing so because I've done it before on my other cars and plus have never given me a problem whether in the tread block or in between. That screw isn't even all that big.

BTW did you install the front mud flaps yourself? Any tips on the install? What did you use to cut the plastic bottom?

 

thanks for the response. i love that these dunlops are directional and last longer than blizzaks

i asked a coworker about my situation and he also agreed on the plug. took care of it in about 15mins. the grips in the tread were a lil tenacious on the rasp and almost had to use a mallet on the plug driver, but i managed with some patience.

sorry, but i had the dealer install the flaps at the same time with my front dam and side flares.

Have a good weekend.
Randy

 

have the tire patched..

beers

 

Parch/plug combo works great...it's far enough away from the sidewall to be good. You also don't have to worry about high heat causing it to fail on snow tires

 

Plug. I ran the entire last year on a plugged tire I did myself on my OEM Dunlop (pull nail/ream/rasp/glue/plug. just the way a shop would do it). Typical Autozone plug kit. No worries for a plug in the tread.

 

I've plugged tires in the past and never had an issue. Glad you got it fixed

 

^^I wouldn't plug a high performance tire I was going to use at the track....other than that they work well...

I saw the results of a track tire with a plug...it wasn't pretty. It let go with a rapid deflation at over 100 mph.....Guy was lucky, he had a lot of run off...but it took a chunk out of the side of the car..and totally wrecked a rim

 

I plugged my last set of performance tires but I never hit the track. Quite a bit of "spirited" driving though

 

Big difference in track tire temps and spirited driving. Otherwise these things would fail like crazy on the street...and they don't

I just didn't want anyone to forget about the track temp thing

If in doubt...get a new tire is a safe moto...kinda hard on the pocket book though cause you usually need to buy 2

Often a used tire is a really good bargain if you can find one with about the same tread depth and the same type. Cheaper..and will allow you to use your other tire till they both wear out

 

wow, i would have never expected that. Taking a mental note now when i decide to track my car in the future. you don't happen to remember what brand he was running?

 

I think they were DOT approved "race" tires...but it really wouldn't matter...all tires will get HOT in those situations......and the patch/plug glue just doesn't stay bonded when that hot

 

There is a saying for this kind of situation. There's an inch margin on both sides of the tire where there should be no internal patches or plugs. The reasoning is the balance of the tire and wheel combination and there's not as many cords in that area. Honestly I would get a new tire since I have seen a few people have blow outs but then again it's your car and your call. I work for a Toyota dealer and the inch thing is a Toyota standard for guarantee able safety. You could plug it but definitely don't patch it because the internal patch will overlay on the sidewall and it will come loose eventually.

 

Plug it.

You don't race it.