My first AT tire - any reason this can’t be plugged?

[MilliM]

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[Cycliste]

Take it to a shop to be patched.

https://www.discounttire.com/learn/tire-repair

 

[zefram47]

Middle of the tread is fine. Any tire shop ought to be able to do a patch-plug from the inside. As long as you leave it in, I'm sure you can top it off and drive to the shop too. What's not repairable is something near the shoulder or in the sidewall.

 

[krockett]

Not anywhere close to sidewall. As long as you didn’t drive too much with the tire completely flat it should be good to go.

 

[GogglesPisano]

Plug it and forget about it

 

[opnwide]

Are you losing air? Bubbles with soapy water? If not, it may be a short screw and not through the tire and you can simply unscrew.

 

[KeithPleas]

I'm not an expert but that looks more like a tack than a nail - it might not go in much futher than the tread block.

 

[Joe schmoe]

If this were my tire, I'd get the plug kit out, along with my bottle of soapy water, and then take whatever that is out. If it's not leaking, put everything away and stop worrying about it.

If it -does- leak, then I'd plug it and if it holds air, I'd stop worrying about it.

If you successfully plug it, but the tire has a slow leak, then I'd take it to a shop and let them patch it from the inside.

If you haven't done it before, being able to plug a tire is a very useful skill--I've done it more than once on the shoulder of a rural highway at night. Having an onboard compressor makes it a no-brainer. Lots of videos on the interwebs.

 

[NY_Rob]

If you successfully plug it, but the tire has a slow leak, then I'd take it to a shop and let them patch it from the inside.

FWIW- I plugged one of our Model 3 tires, wasn't happy with the results so I brought it to Tesla to have them patch it from the inside. They told me since I plugged it... they could not patch it. Not believing that, I then took it to America's Tire.. they told me the same thing. Ended up shelling out for a brand new tire on a 4 day old car because I tried to plug the tire (and I have done lots of plugs before).

 

[White Shadow]

Get one of these kits. They are plugs, but very easy to install and have a mushroom head on the inside, so they are very effective at sealing a tire puncture. I've been using them for years now and have never had a single issue. I keep one in every car.

Cars – Stop & Go (stopngo.com)

 

[Joe schmoe]

FWIW- I plugged one of our Model 3 tires, wasn't happy with the results so I brought it to Tesla to have them patch it from the inside. They told me since I plugged it... they could not patch it. Not believing that, I then took it to America's Tire.. they told me the same thing. Ended up shelling out for a brand new tire on a 4 day old car because I tried to plug the tire (and I have done lots of plugs before).

That would be less than ideal.

At various times, I plugged three of the tires on my Tesla Model S (one of them twice). When one of the plugs kept leaking slowly, I took it to Pep Boys and they patched it from the inside. I don't remember the exact cost but it was fairly trivial. Never leaked again after that.

 

[NY_Rob]

FWIW- I plugged one of our Model 3 tires, wasn't happy with the results so I brought it to Tesla to have them patch it from the inside. They told me since I plugged it... they could not patch it. Not believing that, I then took it to America's Tire.. they told me the same thing. Ended up shelling out for a brand new tire on a 4 day old car because I tried to plug the tire (and I have done lots of plugs before).

That would be less than ideal.

At various times, I plugged three of the tires on my Tesla Model S (one of them twice). When one of the plugs kept leaking slowly, I took it to Pep Boys and they patched it from the inside. I don't remember the exact cost but it was fairly trivial. Never leaked again after that.

Trust me.. I was shocked and pissed!
I asked Tesla how was I supposed to do to get the car to them (it was in my driveway) with a badly leaking tire? They said call roadside assistance and they would have it flatbedded to them. Once America's Tire told me the same thing... I realized this must be an industry standard? These tire shops would much rather sell you a new $300-$500 tire vs a $10 patch, so they look for any out including saying they can't patch EV tires that have sound deadening material inside.

 

[chops]

FWIW- I plugged one of our Model 3 tires, wasn't happy with the results so I brought it to Tesla to have them patch it from the inside. They told me since I plugged it... they could not patch it. Not believing that, I then took it to America's Tire.. they told me the same thing. Ended up shelling out for a brand new tire on a 4 day old car because I tried to plug the tire (and I have done lots of plugs before).

no one wants the liability these days. if you took it to a gas station tire shop type place and paid cash with no receipt transaction they'd have no problem patching it from the inside. at least in my experience

 

[MilliM]

Thx, all. I was driving when I posted, but should have indicated I meant the inside-out plug. Have had it done multiple times on normal tires, but these are my first ATs so didn’t know whether it might be different.

The car did give me the low pressure warning, and considering all the others were within 1 PSI of one another I took it seriously and we found it pretty quickly.

 

[Joe schmoe]

Trust me.. I was shocked and pissed!
I asked Tesla how was I supposed to do to get the car to them (it was in my driveway) with a badly leaking tire? They said call roadside assistance and they would have it flatbedded to them. Once America's Tire told me the same thing... I realized this must be an industry standard? These tire shops would much rather sell you a new $300-$500 tire vs a $10 patch, so they look for any out including saying they can't patch EV tires that have sound deadening material inside.

Ahh, that may be a clue. I had an OG Model S, bought it in early 2015 way before the tires with sound deadening foam were a thing. I never bought a set of those, just some Pirellis that were recommended on the forums. With the sound deadening foam, I think you may be stuck with the "slime" or replacement.

I think plugging those may be like putting in drywall anchors with spray foam insulation--my garaqe has sheetrock over the foam, and it's basically impossible to use normal anchors.

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