DISQUS

ppp · 3 months ago

Wondering - how safe is a DIY tire patch job such as you described? I've seen one accident where the tire patch failed on a van going at highway speeds (roll over, family killed).

DR1665 · 3 months ago

Like any repair, it's only as safe as long as the tire is in good condition. Since making this repair back in January, I've daily driven the car all over the Phoenix area, in temperatures exceeding 115*, at speeds in excess of 80mph, and even taken the car out to the wilds of south central Arizona to carve up some dirt roads, spending a particular amount of time sideways with the car. The ride is smooth and steady and there's just as much air in the tire as when I last filled it.

In this case, I *plugged* a hole between treadblocks with a plug. I've seen the patches used before, often for slices in the tire (such as when someone runs over a piece of jagged metal that makes an incision). Depending on the extent of the patch job, the tire will lose a degree of integrity. Were this instance a slice in the tire, I would have replaced the tire.

Without knowing all the details of the van and rollover incident, I might suggest that the speed of the van and road conditions may have lead to the blowout, while driver panic resulted in the rollover. Short of a comprehensive, forensic analysis and witnesses, there's really no way to be sure one way or the other, but a blowout doesn't necessarily mean rollover, just as rollovers don't necessarily mean death.

If you've got a nail or screw in an otherwise good tire on the tread, I see no reason to pay Wal-mart $20 to spend two hours waiting for something as simple as this. Thanks for the comment!

Swing Sets · 2 days ago

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