Situation:
There is a nail stuck into my front tire. It happened on my way to work, approximately 0.1 miles away from my house. The car now sits in my garage, nail still in - air leaking out - and I am at work now. I suspect by the time I get home, the tire will be flat.

Solution:
I am trying to avoid using the spare at all costs, just because. So I will take the tire off tonight, and drive it to the tire store (I believe it's America's Tire Co. or Discount Tires - or something like that) They will try to fix it if possible, and order a new tire if necessary.

Question:
If they do fix the tire, they should re-balance it and I can mount the tire back on myself without any problems later down the road? If they put on a new tire, should I just go ahead and buy the other tire so they match? I have 7000 miles on the car right now. Both tires according to my untrained eye have worn down I'm guessing by 40%.

Thanks in advance

-Blue

 

If the nail is in the tread you can repair the tire. You would want to plug and patch the tire so they will need to take the tire off the wheel. At that point they will need to rebalance the tire.

Jim

 

Jim,

I agree that a tread puncture is very repairable. I had one last week on a rear tire.

I was suprised to find that the garage had some new technology (or at least new compared to the old 'mushroom' plugs.)

He used a very sticky rubber like substance, and an installation tool. The rubber piece was inserted into the puncture and the tool removed. The excess of the repair piece wore off with driving, and I have had no problem since, and the air pressure has been stable. Took all of 3 minutes, with the tire on the car.