mandyfig

Was going out for a drive, beautiful night. WtheF, I have a flat on the DR Rear. It was good that I detected it and I did not get off the garage too far. I saw long streaks of black marks coming from the tire.

I put in air and I investigate nothing on the side wall, good. Lo and behold a screw head shows up and a hiss.

Took the tire off, pulled the screw, it was a 4 inch screw, bent 90 degrees. I scratch my head, where did I go driving last, it is a blur.

Fortunately I had a few more strips for tire repair. After a grueling 15 minutes, pumped air and done.

I normally check my tire pressure every week. I have not done it for about 6 weeks.

Lesson learned. Do the routine checks. Mini-crisis averted.

Bgw70

sorry to hear about the flat, you must have done the TPMS disable.

how did you do the repair?

DshngDaryl

So did you plug the tire yourself?

Harold57

These tires are a challenge to remove and replace. I'm glad that you caught it early.

GmanSC

It's not difficult to plug the tire, as long as it's not a sidewall hole. 15 minutes. Costco will do for free if you purchased the tires from them.

mandyfig

I plugged it myself. I just did the same thing on my daughter's RX350. Again luckily it was not near the sidewall.

Any tire store will do it for you for free here in Atlanta, fyi.

OBP

Man sorry to hear about your flat Mandy. Still riding on the Sumis and Tourmalines ? Went through another winter with my TAP Ecru and just swapped out the OEM wheels with winters for my after markets with BFG all seasons. Mileage and usage really reduced now.

mandyfig

I have to take a picture of the screw, it must be at least 5 inches and will post. I am trying to imagine what part of town I drove in to deserve this. Maybe the strip club I went to…nope.

DshngDaryl

I am more of a patch guy than a plug person. Even though you can plug yourself, I am always afraid the tire pressure high speed on a highway might blow out the plug.

They have those new patch w/ Plugs, but I can never find a tire shop with them.




Most tire shops just use a normal flat patch. It usually costs me $12 from an independent or free from where I get my tires from. (Discount Tire/Costco/Sams Club)

Jabberwock

Glad you got it fixed and were close to home. Technically a plugged tire should also be pulled and patched from the inside to be considered 100% safe. If it happened to me I'd plug it myself (if in a repairable area) and then have the Costco techs dismount it and patch from inside the next time I had my tires rotated.

Years ago I on the way to work I ran over 3 carpet strip chunks. Contractor rehabbing a house down the street, the strips likely spilled out of a dumpster being picked up or delivered at the site. Result 3 out of 4 tires flat about 2 minutes later. After that fun event I think I went 25 years before the next flat tire.

mandyfig

I still have to take a pic of the screw.

I have done plugs for quite a few tires on my fleet.

Depends on the location of the puncture and the amount of plug you can manage to get in there.

And as long as you maintain your pressure correctly, the plug should be leak proof and will stay put.

mandyfig

Here was the monster screw!

Harold57

Yikes, that was a big one. I just had a large bolt removed from my tire. First flat in a very long time. (It actually didn't go flat but was on the way down. My TPMS caught it for me before it reached the flat state.)

mandyfig

I do have remnants of the black streak on the driveway when I took the car out of the garage, there are 2...means i rode on it twice..I heard tire squeak and then I found the flat. Do not know how long the tire has been delated. But after repair everything looks fine.