How to appease the flat tire gods?

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

I've had two flat tires in the last 5 days. The first was last Wednesday, which I discovered when the low pressure light on my Fusion lit up as I left work. The left rear was down to 20 lbs. Didn't look low (nose-heavy FWD car), so I guess the sensors are a good thing after all. Since I was on my way to the Need for Speed preview at North Hills, I stopped at Mr. Tire in RTP, had them inflate the offending tire (and my spare) and went home to switch cars for the trip to Raleigh. Luckily there were plenty of seats left when I eventually got there. (Art's movie review -- I can't review this movie objectively: In the first race sequence the hero drives a '69 Torino GT Fastback. Yes, he beats the '67 GTO. And then there's the NFS Mustang. If the plot or dialog or character development aren't up to the high standards of, for example, the Transformer movies, I just don't care.)

Got the tire patched at the Roxboro Rd Discount Tire. Roofing nail.

Sunday, I mounted my suddenly-too-narrow-to-be-competitive Rivals on the '07 Mustang and took it out for a short drive to see if the 2nd rebalancing of the tires helped. The shimmy seems to be gone, though there is still some vibration. Parked the car in the driveway, planning to drive it to work Monday to further assess the situation. Monday morning the left rear was absolutely flat. Pumped it up to 20 lbs and and moved the car into the garage. When I checked it Monday evening, it still had 20 lbs. Took the wheel off the car, examined the tire... only problem I could see is a tiny hole in one of the outside tread blocks, no larger than the head of a finishing nail. Hopefully this can be patched.

Now.. bad things happen in threes, right? Am I doomed to another puncture between now and Saturday? Which car and which tire will it occur on? Should I drive my '90 Mustang the rest of the week, hoping that the flat tire gods will rain their wrath on it, thereby completing their sweep of my fleet? Should I remount the M&S Pirellis on the '07 Mustang and hope they choose it again? Should I trailer my Rivals to NCCAR, giving up the primary benefit of Street class, and risk a puncture of a trailer tire? Should I get out of bed in the morning?

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:18 am

As they say, sh!t happens. Call it a day and press on good sir. Bring the mustang on Sat and have some fun....

Richard Casto · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 10:32 am

Sweep up the pile of nails at the end of your driveway!

Seriously, sorry about the bad luck.

Richard

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:27 pm

Carry a plug kit and roll with in. :thumbsup:

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

Turned out the Rival was not punctured. It was leaking around the bead on the back side. Interesting, since it's been mounted since last July and showed no signs of leaking before. Brad @ Digital Chassis said neither the tire bead nor the rim showed any damage, so he remounted it with some sealant on the bead. I think I'll trailer the Rivals up there and whine about changing tires. Invested in a new spare tire for the trailer, and I found my can of fix-a-flat.

DickRasmussen · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 10:14 am

Cash Davidson wrote:

Carry a plug kit and roll with in. :thumbsup:

What kind of plug kit and what tools, etc. are needed to plug the tread of a high performance radial?

Plugs don't work well with Hoosier bias slicks (fortunately the original leak was slow and the tire was dead anyway) but that is because the tread carcass is THIN.

Thanks!

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:01 am

This is what I use:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/victor-heavy-duty-tubeless-tire-repair-kit-22-5-00106-8/1910035-P?searchTerm=tire+plug+kit

It has really sticky goop covering a rope-like material. Probably plugged a half dozen tires over the years and never had one leak.

Cash

Jordan Normark · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:11 am

Cash Davidson wrote:

This is what I use:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/victor-heavy-duty-tubeless-tire-repair-kit-22-5-00106-8/1910035-P?searchTerm=tire+plug+kit

It has really sticky goop covering a rope-like material. Probably plugged a half dozen tires over the years and never had one leak.

Cash

+1 on this. I have plugged lots of tires with this kit on all my cars. I usually plug it on the car if I can find the nail and if so, it only takes 5 minutes. Never had a problem with this. I usually carry the kit with me to autocrosses and on long trips too.

JamesShort · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 12:30 pm

Jordan Normark wrote:

Cash Davidson wrote:

This is what I use:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/victor-heavy-duty-tubeless-tire-repair-kit-22-5-00106-8/1910035-P?searchTerm=tire+plug+kit

It has really sticky goop covering a rope-like material. Probably plugged a half dozen tires over the years and never had one leak.

Cash

+1 on this. I have plugged lots of tires with this kit on all my cars. I usually plug it on the car if I can find the nail and if so, it only takes 5 minutes. Never had a problem with this. I usually carry the kit with me to autocrosses and on long trips too.

On my 98 civic, I got new tires and within a week I had a puncture, Plugged with a 'goopy rope' plug and put 66k miles on those tires without that tire every leaking/bulging/delaminating etc

.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:25 pm

I'd autocross/dd on a plugged tire, but no way would I put one on track. - AB

JamesShort · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:35 pm

Aaron Buckley wrote:

I'd autocross/dd on a plugged tire, but no way would I put one on track. - AB

Truf^^

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

Maybe its just me, but I still view goey rope plugs as only a way to get me by until I can take it to get properly plugged (or patched I guess is the proper term, the plug from the inside).

JamesShort · **Posted:** Wed Feb 26, 2014 6:07 pm

BriceJohnson wrote:

Maybe its just me, but I still view goey rope plugs as only a way to get me by until I can take it to get properly plugged (or patched I guess is the proper term, the plug from the inside).

Mushroom plug/patch. Apparently 'Z rated'. Anyway, I've never had an issue with a rope plug. Hell I realized that when I did setup last year in my wife's Accord (sold the SI and Jeremy wasn't there for setup), I was tossing that 3200lb beast around on uber high profile tires inflated to 30 psi with a rope plug in the front passenger tire....no problem there (got about 20k more miles on those tires before they were changed).

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

What I've heard about plugs is that the act of digging a larger hole through the tire carcass before inserting the plug causes more damage to the steel belts than the puncture itself. Hence Aaron's advise against running a plugged tire on track.

In daily driving, I've only had one plug go bad.

Jeb Brookshire · **Posted:** Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:56 pm

You know we (Discount Tire) will fix flats for free even if they aren't from us. Internal two piece patch and plug.

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How to appease the flat tire gods?

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